Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype

21 Pages·2009·0.08 MB·English

Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
Most philosophers who deal with

psychology limit themselves to a review
of the work of Freud. Here we will look
IDEA, ESSENCE, at Nietzsche's psychology and his
EXISTENCE, AND relation to the psychoanalysis of Jung.

Jung split from Freud and established his
ARCHETYPE
own approach to psychoanalysis but

much of the impetus for that comes from
his interpretation of Nietzsche.
Nietzsche and Jung, Hillman and
Nietzsche's psychology is far more
Giegerich, Jesus and
sophisticated than that of Freud which is
Muhammad
basically mechanistic and also is

conceptually incoherent in many
Kent D. Palmer, Ph.D. respects. Nietzsche's philosophy
culminates in the concepts of the will-to-
P.O. Box 1632
power and eternal return. Jung's
Orange CA 92856 USA
psychoanalysis inherits much of its
714-633-9508
sophistication from Nietzsche and
[email protected]
expands out to other influences

including mythology, ritual, religion of
Copyright 2001 K.D. Palmer.
many other cultures, or archaic practices
All Rights Reserved. Not for distribution.
Version 0.30; 02/09/18; ia00v03.doc in Western culture such as Alchemy.
Cultural practices from across the world

were interpreted as signs of the

operation of archetypes. A fundamental

move for Jung was from ideas and
Keywords:
essences that philosophy normally

discusses to dealing with archetypes.
Archetype, Essence, Idea, Existence
Archetypes are the dual of ideas. Where

Ideas posit unities of presences, or some
Summary:
other aspect of Being. Archetypes posit
totalities of absences, or some other
aspect of Being. One of the major thrusts
In this paper we will explore the relation
of this paper will be to look at this
between Archetypes, Essences and Ideas
duality that is captured in the move from
based on the work of Nietzsche and
Jung, and various phenomenologists1 as Plato's original definition of ideas as the
unity of presences, to Nietzsche's
well as the concepts developed in the
first two essays in this series2. revolution against Plato that posited
reality over truth as the fundamental
criteria for metaphysics. Nietzsche also
emphasizes the preeminence of Art
Metaphysics of Idea and Archetype
which Plato denigrates as a degenerate
form of presencing. Finally Jung inverts
1 Such as Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty this concept of the idea completely and
2 Primal Ontology and Archaic Existentiality, produces the concept of the archetype as
Nietzsche's Madness, see
the opposite of the idea that appears in
http://dialog.net:85/kent_palmer.html
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
consciousness, giving rise to the attempt to struggle anew with the same
archetype that organizes the unconscious sorts of issues that both Jung and
instead. This whole question of the Nietzsche attempted to deal with,
relation between archetypes and ideas is especially if we put that into the context
fundamental to our understanding of the of post-modern continental philosophy,
Western worldview and our place within and especially phenomenology.
that worldview. Most philosophical
scholarship on psychology has in a sense Our starting point is with something that
been led astray by not recognizing the became clear in the essay on Nietzsche's
inherent connection between Jung's Madness. This based on Heidegger's
philosophically sophisticated explanation of Nietzsche's relation to
psychology and Nietzsche's Plato. In that explanation the concept of
psychologically sophisticated the Idea in Plato is laid out. The idea is
philosophy. Jung's philosophical seen as a unity of presences. But this
sophistication has not been given due unity of presences has a particular
recognition and Neitzsche's psychology structure that we have attributed to what
has been mostly ignored. So here we are called the exotics and related to
will attempt to push the envelope of our universal algebra. The idea has various
understanding of the relation between states. One state is the image in poetry
ideas and archetypes by talking about associated with logos. Another state is
Jung's analysis of Zarathustra in which the made artifact created by the
he confronts the case of Nietzsche from craftsman associated with physus.
a psychological point of view and by Another state is the natural thing
talking about the elements of Nietzsche's produced in creation without human
philosophy which can be seen as the intervention associated with the physus.
precursors to Jung's enterprise. It was And finally there is the state associated
Jung's appreciation of Nietzsche that was with the pure idea which is sometimes
among the things that drew him away called the original form that is beyond
from following Freud slavishly. Freud manifestation. The pure idea never
wanted to found a science and for manifests in-itself. However, the idea as
everyone to follow his way of looking at the origin of many natural objects
the mind and its unconscious shadow. through the unfolding of the physus.
Jung attempted to re-found that science When the results of that physus is
on more philosophically sophisticated manipulated by craftsmen certain things
grounds and also to go beyond what that never existed before in nature are
mere science can approach to deal with produced by human workmanship. Poets
some of the more fundamental questions and other artists make images of these
regarding the nature of the human soul. artifacts in various media, one of which
Jung was willing to appeal to many is language.
strange cultural forms such as Alchemy
When we make a phenomenological
to approach the soul in ways beyond
analysis we find that there is a more
what western science could manage on
complex set of ideas than this at play,
its own. All this, the works of Nietzsche
beneath the surface of our familiar use of
and Jung, provides us with a rich
ideas in our life. Husserl distinguishes
primordial soup out of which we might
noema and noesis as the combinations of
draw many interesting concepts, if we
the intentional morphe (form) and the
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
hyle (content) of intentional forms. idea unifies the presences of a thing the
Husserl goes on to distinguish the archetype totalizes its absences. The
noematic nucleus of the object that is brilliance of Jung following the insights
seen from a roving viewpoint or multiple of Nietzsche is that there is a level of
viewpoints. The noematic nucleus is the archetype beyond the representations of
external coherence of the object. On the things that appear which is the obverse
other hand the internal coherence of the of the idea. It is not a projection but a
object is called the essence. It is the source from which the essence unfolds
constraint on the attributes of the object step by step to eventually give rise to the
that gives it internal coherence under noematic nucleus which can be projected
deformations of various kinds. Husserl on by ideas.
presents a method of altering objects to

discover the limits of their essences in
imagination. He says that we Idea = unity of presences
immediately intuit essences of things
and that it is through this ability that our Noematic Nucleus = totality of presences
fundamental relation to the world is
Essence = unity of absences = constraints
established. Essences are completely
different from abstract glosses called
Archetype = totality of absences = sources
ideas. Ideas are projections on the thing
while essences are the inherent nature of
If we premutate the concepts of unity and
the things themselves as we perceive
totality with the aspects of presence and
them in our world. There has always absence we find that we can generate the
been this fundamental confusion that see spectrum of states between the idea and the
essences as "simple ideas" which archetype. The noematic nucleus is the
Husserl attempted to rectify. Ideas are totality of presences from a moving
viewpoint or a multiplicity of viewpoints.
projected abstract glosses beyond the
Essences on the other hand are constraints
external and internal coherence of the
and thus they are a totality of absences. We
things. Plato also confused essences and
do not see the constraints except by what the
ideas which is a fundamental problem
attributes can and cannot do in relation to
with his philosophy of presence. When
each other within the objects permutational
we disentangle these two concepts then
space. Archetype totalizes the absences
we realize that the sources of things while the idea unifies the presences. The
must be something different from ideas. reason we do not see archetypes, i.e. the real
The sources of things must be their sources of things in Plato behind the ideas is
archetypes for which the various that it defines the entire permutational space
of the essence, i.e. the totality of meta-
representations of things are the ectype.
constraint that give rise to all the objects of
Archetypes are beyond the thing in a
that kind.
different direction than the ideas. Ideas
hover over the things as projected
Another way of looking at this is to think of
abstract glosses. Archetypes are
the Idea as being composed of four schemas.
immanent within the things and give rise
to their essential nature beyond their Idea =
representations. Archetypes are also
different in as much as they represent Form (Pure Being)
totalities and not unities. So where an
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
Pattern (Process Being) We can see that essence is related to system
and the noematic nucleus is related to the
Trace (monad) (Hyper Being) meta-system. Essence provides the
wholeness that is greater than the sum of the
Propensity (facet) (Wild Being) parts. Noematic Nucleus provides the
wholeness that is less than the sum of the
Archetype = parts. All the views are vacancies that are
fulfilled when we view them. This means
Pluriverse (Wild Being
that between the noematic nucleus and the
essence are special systems structures that
Kosmos (Hyper Being)
have not been guessed at before at various
stages between the internal and external
World (Process Being)
coherences of the object.
Domain (Pure Being)
As we know the relations between the
aspects of Being (presence, identity, truth,
Archeoidea =
reality) provide us with the six properties
(coherence, verification, validation,
Formal Domain
completeness, consistency, clarity).
Coherence is just one of these properties.
World Pattern
We could say internal and external
verification, internal and external validation,
Kosmic Monad
internal and external completeness, internal
and external consistency, or internal and
Faceted Pluriverse
external clarity (well-formedness). Presence
is also just one aspect out of four. So we
What we see here is that the two ends of the
could say unity/totality of presence/absence,
set of schemas have a reciprocity that is
or unity/totality of identity/difference, or
unexpected.
unity/totality of truth/falsehood, or
Pluriverse unity/totality of reality/illusion. See the field
Kosmos that is opened up merely by knowing all the
World aspects and how they generate the properties
Domain of the formal system.
Meta-system
Idea = unity of identities
Special Systems
System
Nucleus = totality of identities
Form
Pattern
Essence = unity of differences
Monad
Facet
Archetype = totality of differences

We already know that between the system
and the meta-system levels that there the
Idea = unity of truth
special systems that are together a model of
existence. Above that level are the totalities
Nucleus = totality of truth
that together form the archetypal while
below that level are the unities that together
Essence = unity of falsehood
form the ideas.
Archetype = totality of falsehood (mythos)
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
is in terms of the dichotomy introduced by
Nietzsche between Apollonian and
Idea = unity of illusion Dionysian views of thing within the Greek
tradition. Nietzsche identifies with Dionysus
Nucleus = totality of illusion and we might say that Jung Identifies with
Apollo by specifying the ideal of
Essence = unity of reality individuation as the goal of his
psychoanalysis. We might add that
Archetype = totality of reality
Dionysus is related to Shiva in the Indian
tradition and Apollo is related to Brahma.
Essence and Archetype are associated with
Shiva is the destroyer and Brahma is the
absence, difference, reality and falsehood.
creator. In other words one brings order and
Idea and Nucleus is associated with identity,
the other destroys order. Jung would bring a
presence, truth and illusion. Notice the
mandala like order to the totality of the
inversion related to reality and illusion.
individual which marks him uniquely. On
Ideas articulate all the positive aspects of
the other hand, Nietzsche would give up that
Being except reality. Archetypes articulate
order to affirm the fundamentals of life
all the negative aspects of Being except
which at times over powers all sources of
reality. It is precisely due to this asymmetry
order to assert its preeminence. Life at times
that Nietzsche can turn over Platonism and
over comes all bounds set by society,
still have something. There is still reality
because it has an primordial urge to survive
over and against identity, presence and truth
and maintain its viability at all costs.
which are the sought after aspects. Taking
Nietzsche recognized this principle as
these three but leaving reality gives
fundamental and based his understanding of
idealism which is the fundamental
psychology on it. Jung on the other hand
orientation of the Western philosophical
believed in the order that individuals may
tradition. Because of the symmetry breaking
assert over their own lives which welled up
you cannot have all the aspects at once. You
from archetypal sources, which at times also
can only have three. In order to get to the
went against the conditioning of society
archetypal that occurs in the shadow of the
when they took into account their whole
idea and has reality Jung must put up with
selves rather than the partiality of their
difference, absence and falsehood, all signs
socially constructed egos and personas. In a
of the unconscious. Nietzsche inverts Plato
way one could see the Apollonian
by saying that reality is the most important
individuation as the piecing back together of
aspect and he gives up truth which is now
Dionysus who was torn asunder by the
seen as a lie, he gives up identity and
Titans. We must remember that Apollo was
embraces a soul which is disunited and
a wolf god, and was master of initiation. In
immersed in difference, he gives up
many ways Apollo is as sinister as Dionysus
presence and settles for absences and thus
when we look closely. Apollo’s order is
discovers the unconscious. However, it is
initiatory, i.e. a reordering, made necessary
left to Jung to unite all these aspects to
by war of all against all between the city
specify the unconscious as something reified
states of Greece. Youth were instantiated at
as Freud does. For Nietzsche the
seven and trained for seven years in warfare
unconscious is not yet a thing-in-itself, but
so they could defend their city and raid other
something that wanders through his works
cities. For that they entered the no-mans-
haunting them.
land between the cities and foraged for
themselves taking part in raids, learning the
arts of war, and learning to distinguish
Shiva/Dionysus//Brahma/Apollo
between friend and foe of their city. The
order that Apollo introduces is the new order
Another way to contrast Nietzsche and Jung
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
of initiation in the liminal state of the want us to equate dreams with the
werewolves who haunt the landscape underworld. But there is only a faint
between the cities. Dionysus is a child, he is recognition that the underworld which is
lured off by the Titans and then like the dream is actually that described in
dismembered. Apollo is there at the limits of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. There is a
childhood to pick up the pieces and to put realm beyond the nihilism of
them back together in a way that is useful Shiva/Dionysus and Brahma/Apollo which
for these societies that are constantly at war. we discover in the second initiation which
After initiation there is Athena who leads prepares us for death. As Hillman indicates
the men of the city to war. Artimis is the this is a different psychology from that of
initiator of girls who allows them to express Freud or Jung, and we might also add here
their wildness and unity with nature before different from Nietzsche as well, who would
being tamed by marriage and imprisoned in affirm life above all else. Both Nietzsche
their houses. Dionysus leads these and Jung are avoiding looking at death.
imprisoned wives back into the wilderness Hillman brings our attention back to that
as Meeads. Athena and Dionysus are authenticity that comes from looking death
nihilistic opposites paired with Apollo and straight in the face, which Heidegger talked
Artimis. They express the two faces of Zeus, about with respect to Dasein. But what
too light as lightening and too dark as storm Hillman failed to see was that the
clouds. This suggests that the psychologies Underworld of the Greeks that he equates
of Jung and Nietzsche are similarly with Dreams is modeled almost completely
expressions of nihilism that are expressed in on the vision of the next world supplied by
the history of the nihilistic Western cultural the Egyptians. When he quotes Heraclitus to
complex. The alignment of Jung’s say that Hades and Dionysus are the same,
psychology with Apollo and the recognition he does not realize that this sameness is
of the links with the wolfgod causes us to Osiris. The recognition of the importance of
recognize at its root a kind of inner darkness the three thousand years of Egyptian cultural
in spite of overt light similar to that can be history as a deeper foundation for our
seen in Nietzsche’s identification with psychology is crucial. The Greek gods came
Dionysus which is a darkness with an inner ultimately from Sumeria but the underworld
light. The inner light in the case of Dionysus came from Egypt. The Indo-European gods
is the affirmation of life. The inner darkness defined castes, groups within society, and
with respect to Apollo is the initiation into thus vanished into ritual practices. The
the ranks of the werewolf who breaks the Greek gods were the pantheon over the city
rules of society in order to defend it. This is as a whole. But the Egyptian gods inhabited
addressed by Plato in the Republic with his the underworld of the Greeks. Our
question Who guards the guards? In a archetypal history is split between the
predatory world someone must exert the Egyptians, the Indo-Europeans, the
power to protect society from itself. Those Sumerians and the Semites. Each
who do that are the graduates of the contributed something significant. Egypt
initiation process. But in Greece there were and Sumeria were each long lasting and old
two initiation processes. One for children civilizations where as both the Semites and
into manhood or woman hood overseen by the Indo-Europeans were nomadic either
Apollo and Artimis while the other was the caught in the middle or on the outskirts of
initiation into the cult of death at Eleusis. We these ancient civilizations. Some Semites
do not know what comprised that initiation. like those at Ugrit followed Sumerian
This is the best kept secret of the ancient models. Others like the Jews followed a
world. But we do know that the underworld mixture of Sumerian and Egyptian templates
of the Greeks was a borrowing from Egypt to produce a radical monotheism. What is
of the vision of the afterlife. Hillman would interesting is that the Greek Synthesis neatly
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
compartmentalizes these different Underworld from Egypt, it reflects the
influences. From the Egyptians they take the monotheism of the Akhnatan and the Jews,
view of the underworld. From the Sumerians it reflects the Indo-European castes, and it
and Ugrit and Mesopotamia they take the also reflects the family of gods taken from
family of the gods. From the Indo- the Sumerian and Ugritic as well as Hitite
Europeans they take the idea of the castes Sources. Each set of archetypes play an
and associated gods which they express important role in the life of our souls.
mostly in ritual according to Burkhart. And
from the Jews and Egyptians they take the If we consider that our souls mirror the
idea of a single monotheistic creator god worldview, then we have to admit that our
that functions at the root of the Pantheon. souls have the same breaks in them that are
For the Greeks like the Hindu’s the concept exhibited by the worldview at an archetypal
of the unity of God does not conflict with level. So these orthogonalities are not
Pantheism and expresses itself simply conglomerations of influences but in
philosophically in Plato and other fact are different streams within our souls
Presocratics. We need to recognize all these themselves. This means our souls have
influences, but especially to appreciate their structure. They are not merely unstructured
compartmentalization in the Greek amorphous unities. But rather they are
worldview. The underworld from the structured by the orthogonalities that are
Egyptians does not conflict with the apparent in the worldview itself.
Pantheon of gods taken from the Sumerians
and Ugritic origins. These gods do not Hillman talks about the monotheistic spirit
conflict with the structuring of Greek as arrayed against the polytheistic soul as if
society in terms of Castes as expressed in we can take the side of one against the other.
ritual. And they do not conflict with a The soul is seen as the font of imagination
recognition of the unity of God taken from while the spirit is seen as something more
the Egyptians which was very similar to that intellectual and rational and unified like the
taken by the Jews from Egyptian origins of ego. However, we should think about the
monotheism. This non-conflicting of sources fact that the spirit comes from a word that
amalgamated in Greek culture is important. means to breath air, while the soul comes
It gives structure to the Western worldview from a word that means the tides of the sea.
which is mirrored in the western psyche. Thus if we were to compare them to the
Archetypal Psychology tends to only pay Arabic spirit would be equivalent to nafs
attention to the Sumerian-Ugritic-Greek and soul to ruh. Nafs is related to the air
pantheon. But it should really pay attention breathed and ruh to the breathing motion
also to the structure of the underworld taken itself. So Nafs and Ruh are inverted in
from Egypt, to the structures of society in significance from their corresponding
terms of Castes taken from Indo-European concepts of Spirit and Soul. For our tradition
sources, and also the concept of the oneness spirit is higher than soul, but soul is deeper.
of God taken from the Jews and ultimately In the tradition of the Arabs Nafs which is
from the Egyptians who invented the heresy more like the ego is superficial and Ruh is
of monotheism and attempted to bury it at foundational. But ultimately Nafs and Ruh
Amarna, but it was resurrected by Moses, are seen as two aspects of the same thing,
The Egyptian3. The Western psyche has because one is the air breathed and the other
structure, but that structure is articulated by is the breathing process itself. Clearly they
these various influences that are maintained belong together. We cannot appeal to roots
in an orthogonal relation of non- in our tradition to give us the same insight
interference. The Archetypes reflect the that Spirit and Soul are two aspects of the
same thing. Taking a position against one
and for the other is madness even if we do
3 cf Jan Assmann so only to right an imbalance. In Egypt and
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
Greece as well polytheism existed along side four moments: inhale, stop, exhale, stop.
the idea of the oneness of God without Thus the soul should be thought of as having
interference except when monotheism as an four moments at least. And this should be
idea of exclusivity prevailed as a heresy. distinguished from the air that is breathed
That idea of exclusivity tended to tip the which is the root of spirit. The air that is
balance into a singularity when it called for breathed is what is shared by all living
the destruction of all other gods but the one things. It is a part of the earth. It is what the
true god. In Egypt this heresy resulted in the Indians call the Great Spirit which connects
erasure of the reign of Akhnatun and all living things including ourselves. Spirit is
Amarna from history. In relation to the Jews what comes into us from outside ourselves,
it resulted in a radical separation of their whereas soul is what is ownmost to
tribe from all other polytheists. The one god ourselves. But what is ownmost is divided
(Elhom or Yhwh) was taken as the god of orthogonally into four moments. The
their people specifically. Many attempts underworld is where we go when we expire,
were made to erase the tribe of Israel in i.e. when the breath stops when it is exhaled.
history which they survived until the The inherent oneness of god that is at the
Christian era when non-jews were infected heart of Hinduism, Egyptian Religion and
with the concept of monotheism. However, we see among the Philosophical Greeks is
this argument between polytheism and the gathering together of the gods. So we
monotheism, soul and spirit, takes our can think of it as the result of the inhalation
attention away from the fact that in Greek process which is an ingathering. So we
times and Egyptian times the concept of the might think of inhalation as related to the
unity of God existed along side of polytheism, in which the many airs are
polytheism, as it does in Plato and other brought together into the lungs of one
Presocratics without falling into the creature. But the manyness of the gods is
exclusive heresy of monotheism. And it also contrast to the manyness of the castes of
takes our attention away from the fact that men. We can think of this other manyness
there are two other strains of influence with which share the same air as part of the
regard to the underworld taken from Egypt exhalation process. So we breathe in the
and with regard to the caste structure taken manyness of the gods and hold them at the
from the Indo-Europeans that are equally stopping place of the unity of god then we
important for our understanding of the breathe out the manyness of men and their
relation between soul and spirit. It is as if we stopping place is Hades for they are mortals.
needed four concepts rather than two to do Four moments of breathing make up the soul
justice to the orthogonal aspects of the and this is contrast to the unification with
Western worldview. Plato would understand other souls in spirit, i.e. shared breath that
the soul based on the separations of caste inspires us together. We should also
structure. Hillman would have us understand consider the C02 – Oxygen cycle between
the soul based on its relation to the animals and plants. When we expire we feed
Underworld which is based on Egyptian the plants the gas they need to breath and
models. Both of these other two streams are when they expire they feed us the gas we
left out of account in the soul (polytheism) need to live. So there is also a
and spirit (monotheism) dichotomy. What complmentarity between plants and animals
we see as a dichotomy is in effect a fourfold that needs to be considered in spirit as we
relation. We need to develop a new interact with the wider environment. Spirit
terminology to deal with this strange has to do with the meta-system while soul
situation. There is more than just the has to do with the system. But as B. Fuller
breathing and the breathed. There is a says the system in inherently fourfold, and
minimal system of elements that are that fourfold nature is made up of these
orthogonal to each other. Breath itself has orthogonal cultural currents that are
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Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
combined in our worldview which we can fundamental differences between the
think of as the worldsoul. The structure of Egyptian gods and those of Greece inherited
the worldsoul gives us some insight into the from Ugrit and ultimately from Sumeria.
structuring of our own soul. It is not just an Egyptian gods are called ntr which can be
amorphousness because it is mirrored seen as “powers of nature” rather than
outside us in the larger picture of the superhuman immortals. Egyptian ntr are not
worldview and the worldview has these immortals, yet unlike the Greek gods they
historical roots that are combined are lords of fate and time. The Greek gods
orthogonally to give it structure that we have are subservient to both fate and time. There
difficulty recognizing. But as Plato says in are interesting qualitative differences
the Republic we need to consider the society between Sumerian, Ugritic and Greek gods
as the model of the soul. And he gives us and their Egyptian counterparts. It is as if
various models of society in the various there was a lattice of possible gods and the
cities that are represented in his works. Egyptian ntr are at the bottom of that lattice
Those various cities represent the Special below humanity and the Greek gods are
Systems4 which Plato says come to us from above humanity in that lattice. This is
the Egyptians. So somehow the underworld reflected in the combination of human and
that we inherited from the Egyptians have a animal forms in the representation of the
principle that differentiates the various kinds Egyptian ntr. The ntr start with animal
of city, and thus the various kinds of representations go through a combination of
pictures of the soul. The Egyptians were animal and human forms up to fully human
also the source of the idea of the unity of forms. Greek gods on the other hand are
god and Monotheism. What they did not represented as perfected humans on which
contribute was the family of gods taken time and fate and causation do not act as
from Sumeria or the Caste structure taken they do on humans. Yet the immortal Greek
from the Indo-Europeans. But half the gods do not control fate and time while the
heritage of the worldsoul is from Egypt. So Egyptian Gods do despite their mortality.
the Egyptian roots of these other archetypes
needs to be considered. Differentiating the Greek and Egyptian
notions of godhood allows us to distinguish
the sky gods from the chthonic gods. This
Egyptian Sources difference was used to slip in the Egyptian
view of existence into the underworld
The fundamental idea that needs to be without disturbing the Sumerian and Ugritic
understood is that the Greek Underworld view of the Sky gods. So our hypothesis is
that Hillman wants to associate with dreams that the Egyptian view of death and the
is a version of the same underworld that was mythology of Osiris has been substantially
developed by the Egyptians. The deities of taken over into the Greek view of the
that world have something in common with underworld through mythological
the Chthonic Titans of Greek myth that were transformations. The mysteries of death in
driven off to the underworld by the Greece at Eleusis may fruitfully be seen in
Olympians. In all Indo-European traditions the context of an understanding of the
there is a difference among the gods, for Egyptian book of the Dead. What gave the
instance the asuras and devas in India. This Egyptians hope for a next world for three
difference is exploited by the Greeks to thousand years in another form gave hope to
place the Titans in the underworld as the thousands of Greeks who underwent the
defeated precursors of the Olympians. But if initiation of the Greater Mysteries and also
we look carefully we can see some other initiations like those of the
Pythagoreans. However, in this paper we
4 See The Fragmentation of Being and the Path will not try to prove this hypothesis, because
beyond the Void. it needs further study. Instead, an even
9
Idea, Essence, Existence and Archetype -- Kent D. Palmer
bolder hypothesis will be put forth. That These eight exist under the mound that was
hypothesis is that the Egyptian ntr the first land to rise above the primal waters.
themselves are a model of the Special These eight represent the octonions that are
Systems and the Emergent Meta-systems the mathematical basis of the Reflexive
and that they provide the basic structure of Special system. Then out of the hill arises
the Western worldview. The Special Atum also called Re which is the creator
Systems were discovered by studying the god. It is symbolized by a bird that alights
texts of Plato, especially the Laws in relation on the first mound of earth. This creator god
to the Republic. Once a systems theoretical is associated here with the quaternions that
perspective was placed on the cities of Plato are the mathematical basis of the
it became clear that they were no ordinary Autopoietic Special System. This is because
systems. Plato attributed the ideal of long the Autopoietic Special System is self
lastingness of the city of the Laws, Megara, producing in the same way that Atum is self
to the Egyptians. He wanted to build a city creating. Also the Atum is called Re because
that would last as long as Egyptian History. an autopoietic system is a conjunction of
However, until recently I have not ventured two dissipative systems, just as the reflexive
into attempting to understand Egyptian system is the conjunction of four dissipative
sources of Plato’s vision of the systems of systems. In this case the four are the four
cities. But I was encouraged by the Teaching pairs of primordial gods. Next in the
Company course by Bill Briar which deals Genealogy of the gods as they unfold out of
with the entire history of Egypt and a book the primordial waters there are the four
by Meeks called The Everyday Life of the elementals, which are Shu and Tenant as
Egyptian Gods which summarized what is well as Geb and Nut. These elementals
known about them. In the course of reading represent the four dissipative systems related
that book I realized that the gods themselves to the complexnions. The complexnions are
had the form of the Emergent Meta-system, the pairs of elementals. Finally the
and the Special Systems. I am now in the elementals give rise to an Emergent Meta-
process of doing a more in depth study of system made up of the generation of Osiris.
Egyptian sources in order to see what may Osiris the dead gives rise to Horus who
be made of this analogy. In that I have found gives rise to Osirus the living who in turn
Egyptian Religion by Morenz and Walk gives rise to Set who produces Osiris the
Like An Egyptian by Wheeler especially dead. The mythology of Osiris, Isis, Horus,
useful. However, this research is just Set etc is a fertility myth adapted to explain
beginning, yet I think it is useful to try to life after death which in form is an Emergent
capture early results so I will try to explain Meta-system that relates one generation of
here how the morphology of the system of the royal family to the next. Here we don’t
the gods of Egypt relate to the Special want so much prove that this is the case, as
System and the Emergent Meta-system in a consider its implications. Another text will
prospective way. Then we may turn to the have to be written that considers all the
question of how the Egyptian vision of known details of this mythology and attempt
Death provides the basic foundational to understand its meaning for the
structures of the Western worldview. understanding of the Emergent Meta-
Perhaps in that context something useful system. But what is so amazing is that the
might be said about the Eleusian mysteries structure of the Emergent Meta-system is so
that could not be said outside of this radical clearly present in the mythological
rethinking of the Egyptian contribution to structures. We can now establish that what
the Western Worldivew. Plato told us was true, his source was the
Egyptians and this fact should help us to go
The analogy is simple between the Special on to place the interpretation of Plato’s
Systems and the Egyptian ntr. In Memphis models of the Special Systems and the
there were eight primal ntr called the Ogdad.
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