(Continued) ...
The Child
Our determination to remain young and healthy in mind, body, and spirit relies upon the positive energy of the Child Archetype. However, this “shadow child” may manifest itself through an inability to grow while taking on the responsibilities of an adult.
This negative pole can result in an extreme dependency on those individuals or institutions assuming responsibility for another’s physical and emotional security. Providers of security that manifest themselves include spouses, extended family, friends, or various levels of government.
As with many such archetypes, the core issue of the Child Archetype balances upon the scales of dependency and responsibility. This balance considers our need for and perception of safety, nurturing, loyalty, and belonging, along with wounds, abandonment, dependence, and innocence. Furthermore, this learned balance leads us to know when to take responsibility or when to maintain a healthy dependency. It also leads us to know when to take opposition to a group or when to embrace a community and its rules. In summary, tendencies of both light and shadow characterize the inherent balance of light and shadow.
The Victim
Negative impulses of the Victim manifest through self-pity and a pang of hunger for sympathy, while the positive traits of this archetype emerge as a warning sign of danger that protects us from being victimized. If we become victimized, it may result from our passivity or carelessness. Positive impulses emerge to alert us to our potential to victimize others for personal gain.
The shadow side of the Victim may encourage us to play the role of the Victim for rewards of pity or sympathy. In form, the Victim tells us that others always take advantage of situations that occur through our fault. The Victim archetype may present itself as a trickster who fails to recognize inappropriate emotions in ourselves and others. Instead, we live to learn how to handle challenges and outrun our fears to avoid victimization. Therefore, we need to develop clarity of insight that helps us to grow a larger pragmatic vision by learning both the nature and the intensity of the Victim within ourselves.
The Saboteur
The Saboteur Archetype reflects low self-esteem, consisting of fears and related issues that block our self-empowerment and success. For example, we may begin a new relationship and destroy it because we imagine a painful outcome. Having fallen into a recurring destructive pattern, we may start a working relationship with another person only to find ourselves in a power struggle.
However, we can reverse this bundle of emotions into an ally that warns us of being sabotaged by others or sabotaging ourselves. Embracing Saboteur emotions as allies, we may save ourselves the grief emanating from redundant mistakes. In contrast, failing to harness the negative side of this archetype, the shadow Saboteur may manifest itself through self-destructive behavior or as the desire to undermine the visions and optimistic plans of others.
The Innervalues Sellout
The Innervalues Sellout Archetype revolves around emotions related to integrity. Specifically, this archetype relates to the sale of our integrity and spirit out of fear of maintaining our physical and financial survival. Resultantly, this archetype activates emotions unconsciously associated with seduction and control.
Within this state of being, we may sell our powers to others by buying control over another person. Like the other three Archetypes of Survival, the Archetype of Innervalues Sellout exists universally. For example, musicians, visual artists, and politicians may feel they must sell out their talents, ideas, morals, and ethics for financial gain. The core learning related to this strongly negative archetype revolves around the need for rediscovery and refinement of integrity, self-esteem, and self-respect.
Takeaway
Hopefully, this brief introduction to the world of spirit and emotion embodied in fundamental archetypes helps us to grow in awareness: Most of the work undertaken on our vision quest exists in our preparation. Analogously, we are musical instruments. As with a harp or other string instrument that lacks proper tuning, we expect it to sound quite dismal.
In order to succeed, we need to apply our understanding of “Animal Spirits” to economic decision-making for redevelopment and growth throughout our bi-national region. We must understand what we need to form a vision before we proceed with our actions. Nevertheless, we know that our emotional drives are modeled here through a series of archetypes to develop a pragmatic vision. We must learn to direct them toward the successful development of our Vision of the future before moving forward to action. This Vision should form a pragmatic one through our preparatory work. By developing a sound economic base for a harmonious whole of public and private sectors, we will achieve a new level of greater prosperity.
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Dr. John F. Sase teaches Economics at Wayne State University and has practiced Forensic and Investigative Economics for twenty years. He earned a combined M.A. in Economics and an MBA at the University of Detroit, followed by a Ph.D. in Economics from Wayne State University. He is a graduate of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (www.saseassociates.com).
