Ancestral Psyche and Relating Function

Overview

• Lecture discusses the ancestral psyche, relating function, anima/animus, platonic field, and therapeutic implications.
• Emphasizes practical, clinical perspectives from Steve and Pauline Richards’ psychosystems approach.
• Warns against literal or fanciful readings of Jung; stresses grounding in biology (Freud, Adler, Darwin) and informational monism.

Key Concepts

• Platonic Field
  • Fundamental informational substrate (like Plato’s forms) that anticipates forms and guides development.
  • Superpositioned with biological and cultural fields (Sheldrake-like morphic fields).
• Ancestral Psyche / Platonic Mother
  • Innate maternal template present before ego; prime imprinter for relating function.
  • Can be accessed via altered states (meditation, hypnosis) to relieve complexes and support adaptation.
• Relating Function & Relating System
  • Relating = exchange of energy and information across levels (biological, psychological, social).
  • Relating function: innate drive to relate; relating system: maturing ego that mediates relationships.
• Informational Monism & Superpositioning
  • Biology and psychology are representations of information across levels.
  • Intuition and affect are carrier qualia linking objective informational field to ego consciousness.
• Affect, Instinct, Intuition
  • Affect = carrier wave of instinct; instinct = genome’s emissary; intuition links ego to the wider informational field.
• Complexes, Internal Projection, Trickster
  • Deep-structure complexes arise to mediate ego and ancestral telos.
  • Internal projection: ego projects its models onto unconscious contents, creating complexes and distortions.
  • Trickster functions to externalize correction via psychosocial events; inflation (archetypal/complex) risks psychosis.

The Anima / Animus (Practical View)

• Not “inner woman/man” literal entities; represent the relating function across lifespan.
• Jung’s personal history biased his anima/animus formulations; his model must be distilled from personal idiosyncrasies.
• Useful clinical stance: focus on how relating actually configures in the ego and field, not on reified archetypal personifications.
• Platonic forms can be emitted (field-instantiated) rather than only projected by the ego.

Birth, Death, and Continuity

• Ego-less beginning and end: ancestral psyche persists beyond individual life.
• Maternal (womb) imagery central at birth and death; returning to that field can be healing.
• Modern practices (medicalized birth, cultural disruptions) can interfere with primal imprinting but resources remain latent in genome/field.

Creativity, Neurosis, and Relating

• Creativity emerges from instinctive/ancestral pressures; can be a route to expressing and resolving complexes.
• Neurosis sometimes precipitates creative expression, but suffering is not a universal requirement for creativity.
• Healthy creative expression: ego dissociates in controlled way to receive intuition; not to collapse into fantasy.
• Collaboration amplifies creative field effects; different skills combine to realize deeper shared intuitions.

Clinical Cautions (Therapy & Transference)

• Jung’s rosarium (alchemy) and “psychology of the transference”
  • Valuable allegory but risky when therapists or patients literalize it.
  • Alchemical imagery is highly suggestive; can trigger inflation, dissociation, or enactments if unmanaged.
• Freud–Adler–Jung (Freud/Arler/Young) equation
  • Must integrate biological drives (Freud), social interest and power dynamics (Adler), and archetypal/field elements (Jung).
  • Failure to honor Freud and Adler leads to pathological Jungian inflation and misuse.
• Therapist boundaries
  • Therapist vulnerability: transference/ countertransference can be exploited, intentionally or unwittingly.
  • Avoid triangular situations where therapist becomes object of eroticized transferential enactment.
  • Prefer containers/third-space (symbolic, enacted but bounded) rather than boundary dissolution.

Practical Steps For Individuals & Couples

• Build Ego Strength (EG strength)
  • Define internal and external boundaries; increase capacity to receive intuition and affect without inflating.
  • Forgive differences between partners; confirm value in difference (complementarity, not compromise).
• Assess Relating Field
  • Start with honest audit of self-concept and where one is on lifespan development.
  • Identify whether projections/transferences are internal projections (ego-driven) or emissions/field-resonances.
• Repairing Relationships
  • First: forgive differences. Second: confirm value in difference. Third: collaborate to form a shared developmental journey.
  • Pace-and-lead: if one partner is more developed, lead incrementally with respect and non-domination.
• Working With Complexes
  • Detect complexes as deep-structure mirrors of ego’s limits; don’t reify archetypes as literal inner persons.
  • Use intuition and affect (not only cognition) to receive signals; avoid creating fantasy holding spaces.
• Safe Access to Ancestral Resources
  • Use safe, supervised methods: meditation, skilled hypnosis, structured enactments or creative practices.
  • Avoid substance-induced pseudo-transpersonal experiences.

Key Terms and Definitions

• Platonic Field: ontological template of forms; informational ground for biology and psyche.
• Sheldrake/Sheldrake Fields: morphic / formative fields that provide local dynamics and update the platonic field.
• Informational Monism: idea that information is the fundamental substrate across matter/psyche.
• Affect: feeling qualia; carrier wave of instinct.
• Intuition: ground-state qualia that collapses into sensation/affect/cognition; links ego to broader informational field.
• Projection / Internal Projection: ego superimposes its model onto unconscious or outer world.
• Transference: projection of past relational patterns onto present other (therapist or partner).
• Inflation: ego or complex swells to dominate field, risking dissociation/psychosis.
• Trickster: meta-regulatory function that exposes failures of homeostasis via psychosocial events or humor.

Action Items / Next Steps (If Studying This Material)

• Study foundational sources: Freud (instincts), Adler (social interest/compensation), Richards (informational monism), cautious reading of Jung with contextual critique.
• Practice: exercises to build ego strength—boundary work, pacing-and-leading techniques in relationships.
• Clinical training: require awareness of transference/countertransference ethics and containment methods (third-space enactments, safe hypnosis).
• Creative development: cultivate controlled dissociation skills (receiving rather than forcing intuition); collaborate with others to amplify field resonance.
• Critical reading: question internet/pop-Jung interpretations; test ideas against biology and observed clinical outcomes.

Summary Table: Core Structures and Practical Guidance

Final Notes

• Prioritize embodied, relational work over theoretical idolization of Jungian archetypes.
• Combine awareness of biological drives (Freud/Darwin), social dynamics (Adler), and informational-field insights (Richards) for safe, effective practice.
• Emphasize ego strengthening, controlled reception of intuition, and ethical containment in therapeutic and personal development contexts.