vestiges of earlier evolutionary stages going back even to the
reptilian age, so the human psyche is a product of evolution
which, when followed back to its origins, shows countless archaic
traits (Jung, CW 9(i), par. 105).
To further reinforce this important relationship with our Palaeolithic
ancestor cave painters one must consider Jung’s insistence that:
I t would be a ridiculous and unwarranted presumption on our part
if we imagined that we were more energetic or more intelligent
than the men of the past – our material knowledge has increased,
but not our intelligence (Jung, CW 5, par. 23).He later elaborated upon this and wrote that the more critical reason
dominates, the more impoverished life becomes; but the more we are able to make
unconscious content and mythic content conscious, the more our lives become
integrated (Jung, (MDR), 1961:302).
The Great Transition also revealed another dimension, another evolving
aspect of the human psyche beyond the mundane plane of existence, and that is
the plane of the I maginal Realm, the Mundis I maginalis. An understanding of such
an archaic element should allow a more sensitive interpretation of many aspects of
modern history and themes present in our myths, traditions and institutions. A
close examination of particular motifs in literature and certain modes of thinking
allows us to see the manifestation of this archaic element throughout history at
work in our everyday psychic lives. Let us begin with the cave pictographs.
2.2 The Cave Paintings and their Painters: The Dawn of Mythopoeic Sensibility.
Figure 1. The Yellow Mare pictograph at Lascaux (http:/ / members.shaw.ca/ save^ - wild-horses/ lascaux.gif).