What is the collective unconscious

What is the collective unconscious? The “collective unconscious” is Carl Jung’s term for the collection of images and symbols that all people carry with them in their subconscious mind.

http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/ftquestions2.htm

The idea of the collective unconscious was originally proposed by the psychologist Carl Jung to explain psychological traits shared by all people. He theorized that the collective unconscious appears as recognizable patterns and symbols tha…

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-the-Collective-Unconscious?&id=374607

I first heard about the “collective unconscious” from novelist Borden Deal, who was a great student of C. G. Jung. To me, it is every experience that a writer has, all of the background, the history, the scenes of growing up: being in that …

http://www.southernscribe.com/zine/culture/Greenhaw_Wayne.htm

Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

Past lives? What are your thoughts on the collective unconscious?

Q: I do not believe in past lives but instead I believe those memories are from the collective unconscious. If you don’t know what collective unconscious is look it up — it is a very interesting concept.

A: I think it is more of a collective consciousness. We are part of it and I think we can be born from it over and over again. When we are in it we are fully aware, when we are here in this world, we can become aware of it if pay attention to things like coincidence and “gut” feelings.

Is Q&A a simulated substitute for the collective unconscious?

Q: I’ll try to explain:Through our relationships and friendships we receive positive and encouraging strokes that make us feel good about ourselves. (In transactional analysis strokes are social recognitions that you exist; a primary thing that humans seek.) We all have a personal unconscious. Then there’s Jung’s Collective or Universal Unconscious: the part of our unconscious which is common to all human beings. It contains archetypes, forms and symbols that are manifested by all people in all cultures. We might tap into this through our dreams or through meditation. Is Q&A almost a simulated substitute for this collective unconscious, giving us the chance to tap into other people’s minds and learn from the experience? Universally, we meet each other on a mental level and gain mental ‘strokes’ and reinforcement that make us feel good about ourselves. (Or in some cases I suppose, the opposite!) No doubt it sounds crazy and answers will be just as crazy but what do you think?

A: Well, yes, you could think of this forum as a simulated substitute of the collective unconscious.I, however, believe that the restrictions placed on individual interactions obviate this hypothesis.We usually do not interact at a personal level. I, personally, feel that too many people project an imaginary or perfunctory persona that bears no resemblance to their own life or anyone else’s life.So, yes, we communicate here, but in an artificial fashion. The comments and questions that are presented here seem to be several standard deviations away from the societal norm.But, still, we can learn much from our experience here. YA is tending toward a YA norm that most crave to adhere to, rather than a societal norm. We have created our own little society to play in. That’s a wonderful and enriching experience.

Is it possible that all minds are linked together somehow in a collective unconscious so that when one suffers?

Q: the whold unconscious suffers a bit also; thus, harm to one person is harm to the whole. In this way we would all reap what we sow?

A: Theoretically, anything is possible.