In search of essence – still!!!
Jean Houston writes that archetypes link people in space and time and perhap individually we are part of a collective of one specific archetype – an archetypal source – that evolves as the universe and mankind evolves. Each archetypal energy she writes is a family into which our individual essences are born again and again. Jean’s is the Athena field. Her life and energy is in service to wisdom,compassion and service. Christians gather within the field of Jesus energy and Hindus into the yogic energy. Perhaps within each energy archetype an individual’s life purpose is to help that energy evolve into greater dimensions within the larger collective consciousness of the source. I say perhaps because there seem to be more people on this planet with little consciousness, more violence, less tolerance and greater hatred.
I read of a sniper attack on police in Dallas during a non-violent demonstration for “Black Lives Matter” (an archetype for tolerance). Or Isis, a terrorist group with the name of an Egyptian Goddess though that was not the derivation. The terrorist Isis is an acronym; yet, the Goddess Isis, the patroness of nature and magic, might be trying to resurrect herself through the evil of this group so the world will see how sorely missed her feminine energy has become. The Christian Virgin Mary is a relative of Isis. It is upon Isis’ temples that Christian churches were built.
In search of essence and archetypes I went to Picasso Museum to see the Le Jeune Peintre – the painting Picasso did right before his death. James Hillman said it was a self-portrait of the deeper self of Picasso. He believed it was the portrait of the painter’s essence – his entelechy – that haunted and inhabited Picasso his entire life. Hillman wrote that it was only at the end of Picasso’s life that his true essence showed itself, the seed of his soul, that could only be painted by his mature, fully realized self. Entelechy is a Greek reference to the seed within the greater whole as from the acorn, the oak. As I get older I like that idea.
The Picasso Museum is stunning. Simple white walls, an old restored building, massive casement windows and restored old wood beams accent the simple sculptures and some paintings. He was nothing if not prolific. The painting I went to see was not on display and I was immensely disappointed until I happened upon a self portrait painted in 1904 at the beginning of his career. The concept of our essence taking root and shining through at the end of our lives was never more evident than in these paintings.