• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 5159 0

all through storytelling as `the feminine value': selfless feeling and the ability to `see whole'. And to achieve the state where this can be realised, he insisted, requires real strength of will and self-discipline: in other words, those values which stories represent as masculine. The essence of his message was thus that the highest state of individual human development can only be achieved through a combination of masculine and feminine qualities. One cannot be fully developed without the other. It is simply another version of that message we see at the heart of the archetypal patterns of storytelling (and which, as we see in the Odyssey and other examples, both western and eastern, was evident long before Christianity).

A third echo of the archetypal structure of storytelling was Jesus's insistence that the only way for people to realise their full human potential is by avoiding all the psychological pitfalls associated with living `above the line: This is why he constantly reiterated that only those who inwardly have a 'below the line' view of themselves can inherit that `kingdom of heaven' which lies within: those whom he portrayed as the `poor' and the `meek, those who are not proud, those who think and feel `as little children'. In outward terms, Jesus had no argument with that worldly power which is `above the line. He respected the Roman centurion as one `in authority'. When they brought him a coin bearing the image of the emperor, hoping he might pass some subversive comment, he did not hesitate in saying it was right to `render unto Caesar what is Caesar's'. In the outward world, as one exercising power and authority, Caesar should be respected and obeyed. But it was vital to make the distinction between that outer kingdom which was Caesar's and that inner kingdom of the psyche, which should be ruled only by God. And the greatest obstacles to recognising that inner kingdom, he constantly pointed out, are all those temptations to egotism which inevitably come with riches, worldly power, social position, priestly rank or any of the outward persona trappings which can so easily engender a sense of superiority to others and of being `above the line.

Reading the stories of Jesus wandering through Palestine in the years when he was putting over his message, the central impression they convey is how he is portrayed as psychologically complete. In terms of the four functions shown in stories as making up human wholeness, he scores fully on all counts. He is always shown as strong and commanding, speaking with authority. He is disciplined, with an exact sense of order; his mind whenever he is challenged or questioned is razor sharp. He is wholly selfless: loving, compassionate and sensitive to the needs of others, as when he invariably tries to help the suffering or heal the sick. And he always shows that intuitive understanding which enables him to relate everything which happens to one unified view of the world, centred on that God whom he portrays as like an ideal human father.

In fact the image of God presented by Jesus had no real precedent, in that it combines in such perfect balance the four archetypal attributes of the Self. The picture he conveyed of this mysterious presence ruling the universe was of a being which is somehow all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving and all-seeing: displaying strength, order, compassion and understanding, in perfect equation. The power of Jesus's own image lies in how he is portrayed in the Gospels as a human embodiment of the same balance of attributes. So completely is he identified with the state of `wholeness' which is the Self that when he speaks of himself as `the way, the truth and the life', he uses the word `way' much as the Lao-Tzu speaks of `Tao. He himself represents that state of totality to which all human beings can aspire. This was why his `first commandment' to his followers was that they must love God with the same equation of attributes: `with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy strength'.

But such a symbol of wholeness is,