(Part 3: Personal and Collective embodiment)
Now with a more robust understanding of the savior archetype, we can explore this archetype’s practical resonance, both personally and collectively. What does the Savior archetype look like in our human lives and do we actually have the capacity to be world-saving superheroes?
Brief Note on Archetypal Inflation
Firstly, when discussing how we can embody archetypes, it is extremely important that we do not get caught in what’s known as archetypal inflation. In Jungian psychology, inflation is what happens when we conflate the power of an archetype with the power of an individual, a form of psychological hubris that is not sustainable, effective or healthy for the psyche. Archetypes are transpersonal, egos are personal. Identifying as an archetype is attempting to fit the transpersonal into the confines of the personal, like attempting to fit an ocean into a cup. We can dip the cup into the ocean, but attempting to fix our cup’s hold on too much of the ocean compromises the structure of the cup. A healthy, flexible, integrated ego is one that knows that it is not -nor can contain -the whole ocean. (However it also knows that it’s domain is indeed part of the ocean, and that it’s sphere of influence can ripple out far beyond its physical vessel).
The “savior” is an archetype with a particular propensity towards inflation. If we are not careful with our egos this often results in a savior complex. A savior complex says: “i am the chosen one and no one else is. the fate of the world depends on me alone”. It can turn even well heroes into villains. The savior complex and it’s antidotes will be explored more in depth in the next part: Lex Luthor.
The One =The Whole
With an awareness of the ego’s desire to be “The one” in the back of our minds, lets explore what a healthy – and more realistic – interpretation of “the One-ness” of the savior could be:
To re-iterate from the previous sections, what a fictional representation like Superman allows us to do is see the power of the archetype imagined in one character.
The fantasy is that the singular nature of Superman is a singular individual.
The reality – I propose – is that Superman as a symbol for the savior of humanity is a singular unified collective.
And that this singular collective comes about when each of us as individuals find our unique way of connecting to and participating with the collective.
Personal Influence
On the personal level, we should also not fall into the trap of underestimating just how impactful our capacity for influence is. It’s a product of habitual perception, language and culture that when we think of the world, we think of one thing we all live in. But let’s really look at each living being. Each of us is a world. When I die, the entire world I’ve experienced dies with me. To a person suffering and isolated, their entire world can be experienced as cold and harsh.
Each life is an entire world.
If we are able to make an impact on another person’s life, we have played a part in the salvation of a world. And world’s do not exist in isolation, but are interrelated with the worlds of all who are in relation with that being, however briefly. Each of our worlds are entire worlds that overlap with the worlds of those we interact with, whose own worlds in turn overlap with those they interact with, and so on until we get a whole network of interdependent worlds.
So while it may not be immediately evident that our actions play an impactful role on The World, an act towards goodness for someone else’s wellbeing has an immeasurable ripple effect on the interdependent web of Worlds. Now imagine the effect of the force of a life lived as a hero’s journey in service to the collective wellbeing.
It is true it may be compassion that still grieves that we can’t literally be Superman and stop all wars and harm with the power of our super-strength, but it is the ego that says anything short of that is futile. And the more people embody this responsibility, is this not the mechanism of change through which the collective world at large actually does change?
Which brings us to the collective level of the savior archetype.
Unified Collective as Savior
An imagine that is made up of smaller images of itself is called a Fractal Image, and it is the perfect metaphor for demonstrating the relation of each of us to the collective.
When we turn on the savior within each of us, we do our part in ushering the savior of the collective… which IS US as a unified collective.
Each of us, living in accordance with how Life seeks to unfold from our souls, is an image that – like a piece of the puzzle – is the realization of the collective image that is the collective savior of humanity. We each become the hero, and The Hero becomes. This idea… that the savior of humanity is the sum total of each of us activating collective consciousness individually is found in many eschatological traditions around the world… perhaps most popularly with the most well known Savior archetype. Here is just a handful of remarks* that illustrate this point:
“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” – Ephesians 4:16
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” – Colossians 3:15
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” Corinthians 12:12
“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Romans 12:5
Saadi Shirazi, a 13th century Iranian poet, similarly wrote that:
“Since Human Beings are members of one body
Created of One essence
if one member feels pain
other members uneasy will remain”
An Ideal to Strive Towards
Characteristically of the fractal nature of archetypes, not only does this self-similar pattern of the savior find resonance in both personal and collective functions, but it also serves various functions throughout time. Having an ideal to look forward towards can be a powerfully motivating factor, especially when we feel like our values are at odds with the society around us. It gives us an orientation, that although perfect and thus unattainable, inspires us beyond our self-limiting ideas about our selves. If we can keep the voice of the ego that nags that anything less than perfection is futile, this orientation can help us, step by step, day by day, set into motion major forces for personal and collective salvation. So in addition to motivation, we arrive at what Savior symbols are perhaps most known for evoking, which is hope. But hopefully this far through our explorations, this hope is no longer seen as passive, but intimately linked with sustained action.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9
Final word
Perhaps the biggest take away from this archetypal exploration through various dimensions is the reality that we are not alone in our striving to create a better world. It is categorically at odds with the metaphysics of change for us to think so. Hopefully, after the initial resistance of the ego to unburden itself from the responsibility of the entire world softens a bit, this becomes a source of refuge, inspiration and motivation and deepens our appreciation of one another – in turn deepening are commitment to doing our part in making the world a better place for eachother.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” – 1 John 1:7
“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” – Ephesians 4:16
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” – Colossians 3:15
Stay tuned for part 4: Lex Luthor
*note: Christianity is the tradition that the parallels of the Superman figure seemed most obvious to me and my knowledge. I don’t doubt that parallels from other traditions would be fruitful and resonant. If organized religion, or Christianity in particular, does not resonate with you, I hope these passages still stoke interest how various symbols throughout time seem to evoke certain perennial spiritual truths.