My interpretation of the Collective Unconscious is as follows:
Carl Jung stated the collective unconscious as the following,
“…a reservoir of the experiences of our species…”
…this quote sent a shiver down my spine because it echoes my feelings on what I believe. It is the unconscious feelings, thoughts and experiences not just of our species, but of every living thing on the planet.
It is all of those things that are passed down from generation to generation. It is the memories and habits passed from the very first cell like structures to sea fearing creatures, the first land animals. On through the early mammals and finally to homo sapiens. If we believe that microbes first made a mark on the earth some 3.5 billion years ago and we take for arguments sake the generation period of humans as 30 years (from birth to birth) then we get over 116 million generations of life (remember, that is using 30 year generation interval).
If we say that just ONE experience, thought, memory or instinct is passed on by every generation to the next and stored in the collective unconsciousness that is at least 116 million subdued thoughts that cannot be easily brought into the conscious.
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