Li Patterns of the Collective Psyche
I don’t know what’s in your head when you use the word “archetype.”
Most of the time when I see the term in articles, tweets, or books, it seems to mean something between “stock character” and “type of character,” which isn’t my understanding of the idea at all.
As far as I can tell, archetypes are form, not content.
One helpful analogy (or example?) might be li patterns. David Wade describes these as presentations of “an order that arises directly out of the nature of the universe.” These patterns are recognizable and appear in many situations, but aren’t as regular, geometrical, or predictable as patterns we often pay attention to. Here’s a quick gallery of examples of li patterns:
Any given one of these patterns, these forms, can be embodied in any number of places, any number of materials. That bottom left one could be an insect’s wing, a leaf, a map of ancient agricultural land use, any number of other things. These patterns have a natural, timeless quality, a balance of chaos and order, they emerge naturally from different types of interactions in the world.
Archetypes might be thought of as li patterns in the collective psyche. They’re the natural outcome of certain types of interactions, capable of being expressed in any number of mediums. Just like a leaf and an insect’s wing aren’t the same, but can embody the same pattern — a thuggish old man and a clever boy who takes too many risks aren’t the same, but can embody the same archetype.
The pattern is the pattern. The content that embodies any specific instance of that pattern is something else, even as it participates in the pattern.
That’s my understanding of archetypes. They’re recognizable, repeating patterns that emerge from the natural order — but the ways they repeat can and are consistently unique and individual, rarely predictable.