| The Oroboros, the self-devouring serpent, is
an archetype submerged deep in the ocean of the collective unconscious.
Archetypes are the numinous*
primordial images that are dreamed by every human being, regardless
of cultural influence. Mythology is made up of these archetypes,
and an understanding of mythology can lead to an understanding of
the development of consciousness, both racial and
individual.**
The Oroboros is the first mythological stage in the evolution
of consciousness. It symbolizes the ego-less consciousness of the
human infant before it realizes it is a being separate from its
mother.
It is also the final stage, reappearing at the end of ego development,
when the goal of life becomes detachment from the world. Like a
rainbow spanning life and death, it is the Alpha and the Omega,
the Tao, and the great Mandala.
* Glowing, charged - from "numen", the
creative demon within.
** "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" (Darwin)
- as the race has evolved, so does the individual evolve.
Read: The Origins and History of Consciousness - Erich
Neumann
The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution - P.D.
Ouspensky
|
