Human Archetypes

The patterns of religious life seem to be very similar around the world. A Christian monk and a Buddhist monk, a Jain monk and a Taoist monk have their differences but the similarities in practicing the simple life of chastity, poverty and obedience far outweigh the differences. We could allow for some cross fertilization but the deep similarities bear all the marks of a universal human form of life – an archetype.

While the power of the archetypes of the divine are very obvious and powerful, the patterns of the archetypes that are applied to the believer are often more subtle. Nonetheless as anyone in the power of the archetype of the monk knows they can exert a very powerful influence on an individual’s journey of faith. It is worth noting the often very religious nature of these archetypes, whereas archetypes of the divine often relate to fundamental human dimensions such as fatherhood, the archetypes such as priest are more uniquely to do with the function of spirituality.