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  • so I think the best way to continue to walk you through the thinkers that we're

  • planning to cover is to do that with examples they stick better and they're

  • more interesting and it's very difficult to understand you outside of a narrative

  • context and so I'm going to walk you through the Lion King today how many of

  • you have seen the Lion King yes so how many of you haven't right okay so

  • so you obviously were raised in a box somewhere out in the middle of field so

  • anyways you know it's it's it's an amazingly popular animated movie I think

  • it was the most highest grossing animated movie ever made made until

  • frozen which I actually absolutely detested but the Lion King The Lion King

  • is actually consciously influenced by archetypes as well as unconsciously

  • influenced by them so it's a bit of a cheat I would say in some sense but it

  • doesn't I don't for the purposes that we're using it for I think it's just

  • fine and so partly what you might think about is that it's its relationship to

  • archetypal themes that made it so overwhelmingly popular it's same being

  • the case with say books and movies like Harry Potter or the entire Marvel series

  • the Marvel series is quite interesting I know somebody who wrote for Batman and

  • for Wolverine I know Batman he's into Marvel comic but one of the things that

  • he told me that was quite interesting was that once these characters take off

  • and establish a life of their own they have a backstory and which becomes part

  • of the mythology that's collectively held by the readers and if you you can

  • invent an alternative universe where you can muck about with the backstory but

  • otherwise you better stick with it or the readers are gonna write you and tell

  • you that you've got the story wrong and so there's a bit of a collaboration

  • between the writers and the readers after these things take on a life of

  • their own and so and of course the they they tend to the the comic books in

  • particular tend to tend towards mythological themes very very rapidly

  • and so anyways Carl Jung was a fascinating person I think

  • you can read his biography autobiography / biography which is called memories

  • dreams and reflections which in many ways I think is an unfortunate book

  • because it's usually the only book that people read that's that is more or less

  • by young but and it is more popular yet popularly accessible which is probably a

  • good thing but it's also it's not as rigorous as his other books and so the

  • problem with someone like Jung is you kind of have to read him as much as you

  • can in the original because interpreting him is not a very straightforward matter

  • he was a very visionary person by which I mean he had an incredible visual

  • imagination and he used that a lot he used it in his therapy practice I

  • believe that most of his therapy clients were high in trade openness I have a lot

  • of clients who are high in trade openness they kind of seek me out

  • because I'm high and trade openness and you know they watch my videos and that

  • sort of thing and they're interested in what I'm doing and many of them are

  • astute dreamers and prolific dreamers and many open people in my experience

  • have archetypal dreams whereas people who are lower in openness they either

  • don't dream at all or they don't remember their dreams as much or they're

  • not interested in them and they're not interested in the mythological

  • underpinnings of them so I've taught psychology roughly speaking to many

  • different types of people including lawyers and lawyers and physicians and

  • they tend to be higher in trade conscientiousness than in openness and

  • they're much more interested in the practical applications of psychology and

  • maybe the big five theories than they are in the narrative underpinnings and

  • you know people say that when they went to um-- they had union dreams but I

  • don't and then when they went to Freud they had Freudian dreams and I don't

  • really believe that's exactly true I think it was a matter of selection bias

  • a priori selection bias on the part of the people who were likely to go see

  • either of those two and so but I've been struck by some clients in particular how

  • unbelievably continually they can generate deep archetypal dreams with a

  • really coherent narrative structure it's really phenomenal and how revealing

  • those dreams our problem with archetypal dreams is that they're not really

  • personal right so if you're looking for a personal way out of a situation an

  • archetypal dream doesn't help you that much because it gives you the general

  • pattern rather than a specific solution to your problem

  • but a good dream will do both at once anyways yung was an astute student of

  • Freud's I will cover Freud next although generally and in personality courses the

  • the order is reversed Freud first menuing because of their temporal of the

  • temporal order of their thought but I think it's better to start with Jung

  • because it's it's as if you Freud excavated into the basement and then

  • Jung excavated into many many floors underneath the basement of the mind and

  • so from if you're transitioning from an archaic understanding of archaic modes

  • of thinking towards Freud it's better to go through young because Jung is I think

  • I think Freudian theory is a subset of Jungian Theory fundamentally just like

  • Newtonian physics is a subset of Einstein Ian's physics and I think that

  • Freud knew that even to some degree although he was very much opposed to any

  • sort of religious thinking or mythological religious thinking I would

  • say he was a real 19th century materialist and he didn't like the fact

  • that Jung's work started to delve into religious themes in a manner that

  • actually in some sense validated those themes and so that's actually why they

  • split they split when you published a book called symbols of transformation

  • Jung was also a deep student of Nietzsche Nietzsche wrote a book called

  • thus spake Zarathustra which is kind of an Old Testament revelation poetry kind

  • of book it's a strange one and I wouldn't recommend if you want to read

  • Nietzsche that you start with that one but most people do but you get a seminar

  • on thus spake Zarathustra which is about I've got this wrong it's somewhere

  • between 700 and 1100 pages long and it only covers the first third of the book

  • and thus spake Zarathustra is actually quite a short book and so well so you

  • can imagine how much you had to know about Nietzsche to derive that many

  • words out of that few words and Nietzsche was a well an absolute

  • absolute genius and Jung was actually trying to answer the question that

  • Nietzsche posed fundamentally which is why part of the reason why it's

  • incorrect historically to consider him a Freudian he was so nietzsche basically

  • stated let's say explicitly that scientific empiricism / rationalist

  • had resulted in the death of the mythological tradition of the west

  • roughly speaking that's Nietzsche's comment on the death of God and in that

  • comment he also said that the fact that God was dead was going to produce

  • tremendous idiy a tional and social historical upheavals that would result

  • in the deaths of millions of people that that he didn't say all that in one place

  • it's it's spread between part of its in will to power and and I can't remember

  • the source of the other one some of its referenced and thus spake Zarathustra

  • but Nietzsche believed that in order to overcome the collapse of traditional

  • values with the idea say of God as its cornerstone people would have to become

  • creatures that could produce their own values as a replacement that we would

  • have to become capable of generating autonomous values and Jung but but

  • that's easier said than done because trying to impose a set of values on

  • yourself is very difficult because you're not very cooperative and you know

  • that if you try to get yourself to do something that you don't want to do or

  • that's hard you just won't do it and so it's not like you can just invent your

  • own values and then go along with that that just doesn't work and so what Jung

  • and the Freudians did Freud first I would say was to start looking to be

  • looking into people's fantasies autonomous fantasies unconscious

  • fantasies to see if they could - and and discover that values bubbled up of their

  • own accord into those fantasies and you can imagine for example if you've become

  • enamored of someone that you might start fantasizing about them and if you read

  • off the fantasy then you can tell what you're after and what you're up to and

  • so the motivational force composes the fantasy and Freud was more interested

  • not in a personal sense so in in so far as your fantasies might reveal your

  • personal history so for example if you have a burst of negative emotion in the

  • clinical session there'll be a fantasy that goes along with that an association

  • of ideas that that that kind of manifest themselves of their own accord and

  • they're not necessarily coherent and logical they're linked by emotion that's

  • the free association technique in Freudian psychology and they also might

  • manifest themselves in dreams and fantasies and so Freud started doing the

  • analysis of these spontaneous let's call them fantasies and Jung link that more

  • at Freud did this first with the oedipal oedipal

  • complex but then you linked up spontaneous fantasies and dreams with

  • with myth mythology and fantasy across history and of course Piaget did the

  • same thing from a completely different standpoint so and that a lot of that's

  • embedded in this movie so we might as well just walk through it so the first

  • question might be well why is a lion a king right and because it makes sense to

  • people that a lion could be a king and of course a lion is an apex predator and

  • so which means it's at the top of the food chain roughly speaking and it's

  • sort of golden like the Sun so that's also useful and you know it has that

  • Mane that makes it look majestic and of course it's very physically powerful and

  • it's it's and and and it's intimidating and so it's something that you run away

  • from as well right or you're awestruck by so the fact that you know it's like

  • snail king just doesn't make any sense right but lion king that works and and

  • you got to think about those things because it's not self-evident why a lion

  • would work as a king but uh but a snail wouldn't but it fits in with the your

  • metaphorical understanding of the way the world works much better and so the

  • Lion King makes sense and well and when things like that that aren't rationally

  • self-evident makes sense you have to ask yourself in what metaphorical context do

  • they make sense so you have the Lion King now the movie opens with a sunrise

  • and the sunrise is equivalent to the dawn of consciousness so that in many

  • archaic stories the Sun was a hero like Horus if I remember correctly was a

  • solar king but but Apollo in particular but Apollo Greek Greek myth the idea was

  • that at the Sun was this was the the hero the hero who illuminated the sky in

  • the day and so heroism and illumination and enlightenment are all tangled

  • together metaphorically and then at night what would happen would be that

  • Sun would fight with the with the dragon of darkness basically or with evil all

  • night and then rise again victorious in the morning and so it's a death and

  • rebirth theme and it's very very very very common mythological theme and the

  • reason the Sun is associated with consciousness as far as I can tell is

  • that were not nocturnal creatures right we're awake during the day and we're

  • very very visual half our brain is devoted to visual processing and to be

  • lightened and illuminated means to develop to move towards a higher state

  • of consciousness and we naturally use light symbolism to to represent that you

  • know like the light bulb on the top of someone's head you know you don't say I

  • was in darkened when you learn something new and so again that fits into this

  • underlying metaphorical substrate that that's I think deeply biologically

  • grounded but but also social or socially grounded so it's a new day it's the

  • start of a new day and a day day actually means like French your name

  • means day the day trek in some sense and how to comport yourself during the day

  • is the fundamental question the day is the canonical unit of time and so you

  • have to know how to comport yourself during the day and part of that is a

  • journey from consciousness into unconsciousness and that's and that

  • return so like Apollo you you've you descend into unconsciousness and then

  • re-emerge and of course that's not metaphorical at all that's exactly what

  • you do you descend into the underworld of darkness and dreams and strange

  • things happen down there and so and then you awake if you're fortunate or

  • unfortunate depending on your state of mind you awake in the morning and it's a

  • new day right and so the dream world seems to help you sort out your thoughts

  • by the way if you keep people awake for an extended period of time then they

  • they they they lose their minds essentially the dream that the

  • unconsciousness and the dream state seem absolutely critical in the maintenance

  • of mental health although people don't exactly understand why it looks like

  • dreams might help you forget because forgetting is really important you just

  • can't really wait you just can't remember everything that happened to you

  • gets today I'm cluttered that that you you'd fall apart and so you reduce

  • things to the gist and when you're doing that you pack them in it's like you

  • compress them in some sense you pack them into a smaller space and get rid of

  • everything that isn't relevant and the dream seems to not be part of that it

  • also seems to be a place where you deeply encode learning that might have

  • been done that day which is something that Freud actually noted in his

  • interpretation of dreams which is a great book if you're ever gonna read a

  • book that Freud wrote the interpretation of Dreams is the proper one to read in

  • my estimation it's a brilliant book and it laid the groundwork for a lot of what

  • Jung did and so anyways that's how the movie starts and the animals come out in

  • to the light and that's that's a metaphor for the dawning of

  • consciousness to come out into the light where you can see and so this is a baby

  • giraffe and babies emerge into the light roughly speaking and that's that's like

  • I said that that's a representation of the emergence or expansion of

  • consciousness and so this is how the movie starts it starts a very expansive

  • music as well celebratory music and that's to indicate

  • to you to set the tone for the movie but also to indicate to you that you're

  • about to watch something of import and the opening scene is actually a real

  • scene of genius in my estimation the animators did a great job and it goes

  • along very nicely with the music and so you see this little a sand then you see

  • this rock Pride Rock I believe it's called and in the middle of it and it's

  • the center it's the center it's like the spot that's marked by a cathedral which

  • is an X or a cross and you're right in the middle of that and so it's the

  • center of the light that's another way of thinking about it or it's the center

  • of the territory or it's the home or it's the fire in the in the wilderness

  • or it's the tree in the center where you live it's all of those things at once

  • it's inhabited territory with you at the center and the rock represents tradition

  • because people tend to inscribe their traditions on rock right or to build

  • them into rock like the pyramid so you could think about that as a pyramid as

  • an Egyptian pyramid and it's the right way to think about it

  • you could also think about it as a dominance hierarchy with the apex

  • predator at the top and that's the lion so it makes sense that the lion would be

  • in the light on the rock that's a pyramid in the middle of the territory

  • right that makes sense to people psychologically so because that's what

  • the state is the state is a hierarchy with with something at the top that

  • occupies a space that has been illuminated and made safe by

  • consciousness that's what the state is and that's all represented right away in

  • this movie and all the animals come to to observe what's happening in the

  • pyramid and at the top because they need to know what happens at the top

  • partly to organize their world that's the pyramid but also to see how the

  • organizational principle works and that's why they're all gathering and so

  • they're gathering in the light in the morning to observe something new that's

  • going to be born that's of significant importance and that's the birth of the

  • hero and this little bird here Zazu right

  • the zoo is like Horus the Egyptian God who was a Falken and an I at the same

  • time he is the Kings I in this Kings eyes in this movie right he flies up

  • above outside of the pyramid so he can see everything that goes on and reports

  • to the King and so partly what that indicates is that the thing that's at

  • the top of the pyramid needs to be an eye and that's partly why you see an eye

  • on the top of the pyramid on the back of the American dollar bill it's exactly

  • the same idea or if you look at the Washington Monument which is a pyramid

  • at the top you see that it's capped with aluminum and you think well why aluminum

  • and the answer to that was it was the most expensive metal at that time and so

  • the notion is is that at the top of the pyramid there's something that actually

  • doesn't belong in the pyramid it's something that goes up above the pyramid

  • and can see everything and so you could think about it this way is that you're

  • gonna be in a lot of pyramids in your life dominance hierarchies and different

  • states and families and all of that and they'll arrange themselves into a

  • hierarchy and there'll be something at the top and the top is the thing that

  • can do well across hierarchies so it's not stuck in any one pyramid it and it's

  • partly associated with vision and the ability to see a long long distance also

  • to see what you don't want to see and to report that back to the king and so the

  • king fundamentally as far as you guys are concerned from a psychological

  • perspective that's your super-ego that's the Freudian perspective or it

  • might be the moral system by which you comport yourself but your eyes are the

  • thing that updates that right you need it to orient yourself in the world you

  • need it to orient yourself among other people but your eye and your capacity to

  • pay attention especially to what you don't want to pay attention to is the

  • thing that continually updates that model exactly as Piaget laid out with

  • children so and all of that's packed into the imagery in the first you know a

  • few minutes of this movie and that's actually why it relies on imagery why

  • this isn't just a lecture by a psychologist you know when you go to see

  • the movie it's because the images they say a picture is worth a thousand words

  • but and there's thousands of pictures in this movie obviously but maybe a picture

  • is worth more words than you can actually use to describe it if the

  • pictures is is profound enough and we have many many pictures like that

  • any deeply symbolic picture is virtually inexhaustible in terms of

  • its of semantically with regards to its explanation images are very very dense

  • so anyways the animals all gather now the animals are also in representations

  • from the Freudian perspective and the it is the part of your psyche from the

  • Freudian perspective that's animalistic and and and full of of implicit drives

  • sexual and aggressive in particular as far as Freud was concerned and that's

  • because those two drives say unlike thirst or hunger are much more difficult

  • to integrate into proper social being and tend to be excluded and left

  • unconscious and so a lot of Freudian psychology and I would say psychology in

  • general is focused on the integration of sexual impulses and aggressive impulses

  • into the psyche I would also add to that anxiety because anxiety is also a major

  • problem anxiety and negative emotion that's pain like is also a major problem

  • for people and so the animals represent those it'd like impulses that have to be

  • organized hierarchically before you can become an integrated being and precisely

  • the piagetian manner right because Piaget would say well the child comes

  • into the world with reflexes and maybe a more modern psychologists would also

  • concentrate on the implicit motivations and those have to be organized inside

  • the child into some kind of hierarchy of unity before the child can organize him

  • or herself into the broader unity of the state and that's basically what's being

  • represented here and so so Zazu the eyes of the king comes to check out the King

  • and that's uh what's his name what's the King's name Mufasa yeah and he's a very

  • regal looking person lion and he stands up straight and tall and that means that

  • he's high in serotonin because serotonin governs posterior flexion and if so if

  • your dominant and near the top of hierarchies you tend to expand so that

  • you look bigger than then you could if you shrunk down and so if you're low

  • dominant person you wander around like this so that you look small and weak and

  • you don't pose a threat to anybody but if you're at the top you expand yourself

  • so that you can command the space and that's why he has that particular kind

  • of regal posture and if you look at his facial expression you see that it's

  • quite severe it like he's he's capable of kindness but he's also

  • harsh and judgmental and that's what society is like that's what the

  • super-ego is like and what that means is that he's integrated his aggression and

  • I've seen this happen in my clinical clients when they come in and they're

  • too agreeable they look like Simba looks later in the movie when he's an

  • adolescent and he's sort of like a deer in headlights everything is coming in

  • and nothing is coming out but when the person integrates their shadow and gets

  • the aggressive part of themselves integrated into their personality their

  • face is hardened and if you look at people you can tell because the people

  • who are too agreeable look childlike and innocent and the people who well a hyper

  • aggressive person will look you know mean and cruel but uh let's see if

  • that's good that's still working so but I've seen people's face changes change

  • face change in the course of therapy men and women so and what happens is they

  • start to look more mature and it's it's more like they're they're judging the

  • world as well as interacting with it properly once they integrate that more

  • disagreeable part of them it's very very necessary that's part of the

  • incorporation of the Union shadow or the incorporation of the unconscious from a

  • Freudian perspective but old Musa Musa there he's already got that he's already

  • got that covered so and he's capable of obviously he can smile and he's full

  • capable of the full range of expressions but he's a tough looking character and

  • and now this baboon here who's supposed to be basically just a fool when the

  • story was first written he turned into what's essentially a shaman across time

  • and so he represents the self from the Union perspective now the self is

  • everything you could be across time so you imagine that there's you and there's

  • the potential inside you whatever that is you know and potential is an

  • interesting idea because it's represents something that isn't yet real yet we act

  • like it's real because people will say to you you should live up to your

  • potential and that potential is partly what you could be if you interacted with

  • the world in a manner that would gain you the most information right because

  • you build yourself out of the information in the piagetian sense but

  • it's deeper than that - because we know that if you take yourself and you put

  • yourself in a new environment new genes turn on in your nervous system they

  • encode for new proteins and so you're full of biological

  • tential that won't be realized unless you move yourself around in the world in

  • two different challenging circumstances and that'll turn on different circuits

  • so it's not merely that you're incorporating information from the

  • outside world in the constructivist sense it's that by exposing yourself to

  • different environments you put different physiological demands on on yourself all

  • the way down to the genetic level and that manifests new elements of you and

  • so one of the things that happens to people and this is a very common

  • cultural notion is that you should go on a pilgrimage at some point to somewhere

  • central and that would be say like the rock in the Pride Rock and the Lion King

  • because you take yourself out of your dopey little village and that's just a

  • little bounded you that everyone knows and that isn't very expanded and then

  • you go somewhere dark and dangerous to the central place and while you do that

  • you have adventures and they tough on you and pull more out of you like partly

  • because you're becoming informed which means in formation it means you're

  • becoming more organized at every level of analysis but there's also more of you

  • too and so that's a very classic idea and then in in cathedrals in Europe

  • especially at Chartres there's a big maze on the floor a circular maze which

  • is a symbolic representation of the pilgrimage for people who couldn't do it

  • and so it's a huge circle divided into quadrants which is a union Mandela and

  • you enter the maze at one point and then you have to walk through the entire maze

  • north east west and south before you get to the center and the center is

  • symbolized by a flower that's carved in stone it looks like this it's big this

  • maze a it's it's large so that you can walk it and that's a symbolic pilgrimage

  • it takes you to the center that's the center of the cross because it's in a

  • Cathedral and that's the point of acceptance of voluntary suffering that's

  • what that means and so you walk through you can call that a circumambulation you

  • go to all the corners of the world to find yourself and so well the self is

  • the baboon in this particular in this piece of mandrill actually in this

  • particular representation and he lives in the tree he lives in the tree of life

  • it's a bale bob tree in this particular so he's the spirit that inhabits the

  • tree of life and he's the eternal wise man that's a way of thinking so is the

  • king but he's sort of a superordinate king or an

  • outside king in some sense he's the repository of ancient wisdom and the

  • king is the manner in which that wisdom is currently being acted out in the

  • world and so they're friends and that means that the king is a good king

  • because if they if the king was a bad King he would be alienated from himself

  • and that would make him shallow and one-dimensional and that would make him

  • a bad ruler no Union with the traditions of the past to be a good ruler you have

  • to rescue your father from the underworld and integrate that and of

  • course that's a main theme in this entire movie so hey a new mystery to

  • solve

  • okay so the hero is born and that's what the Rising Sun represents and everybody

  • goes oh oh isn't that cute and the reason for that is because you're

  • biologically wired especially if you're agreeable to respond with caretaking

  • activity - cute - cuteness and cuteness button nose big eyes small mouths round

  • head symmetry and helpless movements and you'll respond to that across the entire

  • class of mammalian of mammalian creatures even maybe down to lizards you

  • know isn't that cute it's no it's a lizard but you know so so so that's an

  • archetype as well that's the archetype of the vulnerable hero at Bohr the

  • vulnerable hero newly born and that should invoke a desire mostly on the

  • part of males to encourage and mostly on the part of females to nur it to nurture

  • but males and females are quite cross wired among human beings and so there's

  • encouragement from the women and there's also nurturing from the men and of

  • course those those curves in some sense overlap so there's more nurturing males

  • and more encouraging females but that's roughly the archetype and so he looks

  • cute and everybody goes on and that's because the animators nailed that they

  • caught the essential features of cuteness and he's also in the light

  • right and so then the shaman mandrel basically baptizes him nots essentially

  • what he's doing and he uses something that symbolic of the Sun which is this

  • ripe fruit and fruits are symbolic of the Sun because of course they need the

  • Sun to ripen and they're round like the Sun and so and people know that they

  • need light but and and so anyways the animators make a relationship between

  • the fruit that the shaman is going to break and the Sun and so he's also being

  • baptized into the Sun and that means that he's being baptized into the light

  • or that he's being transformed into a hero and so then everyone's happy and

  • that's basically you know the divine father and the divine mother and the

  • divine son and the self who's taking care of that and there's a union between

  • the baby and the wise old man because the baby is all the potential that's

  • realized in the self and there's an old idea that the way to full maturity is to

  • find what you lost as a child and regain it it's a brilliant idea and that that

  • that echoes through mists all over the world and that means you have

  • to regain your capacity once you're disciplined and you know how to do

  • something you have to regain your capacity for play and sort of for

  • wide-eyed wonder and that's maybe the childlike part of your spirit and the

  • reintegration of that childlike part with the adult grown-up part Reviva Faiz

  • the adult grown-up part and allows the child to manifest itself in a

  • disciplined way in the world and so that's all being hinted that there and

  • then they showed the shaman shows the baby the newborn hero to the crowd and

  • it's very cool what happens in the movie all the animals spontaneously Neil and I

  • can give you an example of that kind of spontaneous action in a crowd

  • it's imagine you're watching off gymnastics performance right and and

  • it's like at a high level world-class performance and someone comes out there

  • and they do this routine that's just dead letter-perfect you know and they

  • stop and everybody claps like mad right and it's perfect

  • and so then the next contestant comes out and they're basically in real

  • trouble because you know this person just got nine point seven out of ten and

  • it was perfect so how do you beat perfect and so will they come out there

  • and then you watch them and you're right on the edge of your seat because what

  • you see them do is something extraordinarily disciplined just like

  • the last person did but they push themselves into that zone that's just

  • beyond their discipline capacity and you can tell every second you're watching it

  • that they're that close to disaster and so you're right on the edge of your seat

  • and and you know that they're doing a high-wire act without a net and so when

  • they finally land triumphantly you'll all stand up and clap spontaneously and

  • it's because you've just witnessed someone who's a master at playing a game

  • who's also a master at improving how to play that game at the same time and

  • people love that more than anything to see that it's just absolutely

  • overwhelming because it's a testament to the human spirit and you'll respond

  • automatically and unconsciously to that and that's why that's an analogy to why

  • the animals all spontaneously bow when now what happens is they shows the Lion

  • King and the Sun breaks and shines on that the hero at the same time so

  • there's this concordance between an earthly event and a so-called heavenly

  • event and you would call that synchronous that's his idea of

  • synchronicity where something important subjectively is also

  • signified by something that appears in narrative keeping with that in the

  • outside world that's one of the most controversial elements of his theory but

  • I've experienced a variety of synchronous events and they often happen

  • in therapy especially around dreams but they're very hard to communicate because

  • they're so specific to the context in which it occurs they're very difficult

  • to explain so anyways it's the synchronous event that make drops all

  • the animals to their knees so there's the Sun coming out and there's shining

  • on them and all the primates go mad for that and that's of course exactly what

  • we do when we applaud and then we switch to scar now scar is mufasa's brother

  • evil brother the king always has an evil brother and so does the hero the hero

  • always has an adversary and the reason for that is the king always has an evil

  • brother and that means that the state always has a tyrannical element and the

  • tyrannical element exists for two reasons one is the state deteriorate of

  • its own accord and that's an entropy observation what that means is that the

  • state is a construction of the past right but the present isn't the same as

  • the past and to the degree that the past is mismatched with the demands of the

  • present then it's then it's then it's a tyrannical it's malfunctioning and so

  • it's it's a continual problem with the state it's always two steps behind the

  • environment and so then that means that the awareness of living people has to

  • update the state and so Eliot and Maria Eliot who's a great historian of

  • religions looked at flood stories from all over the world because there are

  • flood stories from all over the world partly because there are floods all over

  • the world but that's there's a psychological reason to so imagine that

  • New Orleans was wiped out by a hurricane right a flood didn't you say well that

  • was an act of God but then you think wait a second wait a second they knew

  • those dam dykes weren't gonna hold they knew they weren't built strong enough

  • they took the money that was allocated to the dikes and spent it badly and that

  • was willful blindness and so you could say that it was God who caused the flood

  • so to speak metaphorically but you could also say that it was the degeneration of

  • the state and the willful blindness of the politicians that call

  • the flood in Holland they build the dikes to withstand the worst storm in

  • 10,000 years in the you southern US they built them to withstand the worst storm

  • in a hundred years and they knew that that was insufficient and so the flood

  • if there's a flood well you can say well that's an act of nature but you can also

  • say just wait a sec maybe if there was a flood because we looked the other way

  • and because our systems were out of date and that's why in flood stories there's

  • there's a continual theme which is the the people get wiped out by the flood

  • because God judges them harshly for their senility and their willful

  • blindness and it's a story that's very much you'll have a flood in your life

  • right it'll be a flood of chaos and you'll find of one form another and

  • you'll find when you investigate the causes of the flood that some of it will

  • be and sometimes this is cake the case it's just random

  • you just got singled out you got a terrible disease and that's the end of

  • you or something like that but there'll be other situations where the flood

  • comes and you're surrounded by chaos and you'll look into it you'll think I knew

  • this was coming I knew I wasn't paying attention I knew I hadn't sorted things

  • out and the consequences of that will have cascaded and wiped you out and then

  • you're in real trouble because not only did you get wiped out but you also know

  • it's your fault and that is not a good thing that makes you bitter and

  • resentful and murderous when that happens so anyways scar is scarred right

  • so what that implies is he's had a pretty rough life and he's kind of

  • skinny and he said he was born in the low end of the gene pool and so he has

  • reasons to be resentful he's also hyper intelligent and rational

  • and it's one of the things you see very commonly about the evil adversary of the

  • state or of the individuals often intelligent and hyper rational and the

  • best commentator on that was probably John Milton and Paradise Lost because

  • that's how he represents Lucifer or Satan who's the spirit of rationality

  • and enlightenment strangely enough hence Lucifer the bringer of light and the

  • reason for that as far as I can tell and this is something that Milton figured

  • out when he compiled all these ancient stories about evil and tried to make

  • them coherent was that the problem with irrationality with rationality is that

  • it tends to fall in love with its own product

  • right and so then it comes up with a theory that makes that a totality and

  • then it won't let go so the rational mind has a totalitarian element and we

  • know that to some degree because that kind of rationality seems more left

  • hemisphere focused and the left hemisphere tends to impose structured

  • order on the world and be updated by the right hemisphere and the right

  • hemisphere generally updates it with negative information and with fantasy

  • and so the left hemisphere will impose a coherent structure on the world which is

  • really necessary for you live in it but the problem is there's a tension between

  • coherence and completeness and that's partly why you need two hemispheres you

  • need one to represent the world and you need one to keep track of the exceptions

  • and to feed those slowly into the representational system so that it so

  • that it can stay updated without collapsing into complete chaos

  • so anyways scar and he's got this like droopy mouth and this whiny arrogant

  • voice and he feels hard done by and he's resentful and and in in classic heroes

  • stories stories of the state as well the so this is an Egyptian take on it Osiris

  • was was the god of the state and set who later became Satan that name became

  • Satan as it transformed through Coptic Christianity Osiris had a brother named

  • set and set he didn't pay attention to set enough attention and set was always

  • scheme scheming to overthrow the kingdom just like scar is and the Egyptian said

  • straightforwardly that the reason that Osiris got overthrown by said he got

  • chopped into pieces and his pieces distributed throughout the state in the

  • mythological representation and those pieces were actually the provinces of

  • Egypt technically speaking so and that's what the Egyptians thought so that's

  • quite cool but the Egyptians said explicitly that the reason that Osiris

  • got overthrown by set was because he was willfully blind old senile and willfully

  • blind same idea as the flood myth you don't see that quite here because Mufasa

  • is sort of on to set or to scar but scar is more treacherous than Mufasa believes

  • and he gets at he gets at Mufasa by going through his son by by by playing

  • on on the impulsivity and and juvenile qualities of his son

  • so obviously there's some antagonism between these two as you can see by

  • their facial expressions there and there is a good example of scar you know he's

  • got that droopy kind of whiny malevolent face and that malevolent voice that

  • Jeremy Irons pulls off so incredibly well and he's always skulking he's a

  • creature of the night he always skulks around he's not a creature of the day in

  • any sense of the word and you know obviously Mufasa is golden like the Sun

  • and scars dark like the night that's another thing another clue another hint

  • okay there's the tree that's The Tree of Life we already talked about that I

  • think that represents the multiple levels at which you exist simultaneously

  • all the way from the subatomic all the way up to the cosmic so to speak and

  • that's a different kind of dimension and that's the that's the place that the

  • self inhabits and it can kind of move up and down those dimensions but anyways

  • that the shaman lives inside that tree and and that's our first introduction to

  • him basically but he's the spirit of the ancient tree that's another way of

  • thinking about a very very common element in stories right the spirit of

  • the ancient tree and so all right so now Mufasa has taken taken Simba up to the

  • top of the pyramid right so that's the the aluminum place let's say or the

  • place of the eye where you can really see a long ways and he's explaining to

  • him what his kingdom is going to be and you see the Sun of course appears that

  • that to begin with and that's another hint about being at the top that's the

  • illuminated part of the pyramid and so they're up there talking and what Mufasa

  • tells Simba is that his kingdom is everyplace the light has touched and

  • that's so brilliant so one of the things you'll notice if you move into a new

  • apartment you're like a cat cats don't like changing houses and they have to

  • zoom around in every corner to see exactly what the hell's going on there

  • before they calm down they need to know where they can hide and where the

  • potential dangers are and what you'll find if you move into a new place that

  • you will not be comfortable there until you've investigated potentially cleaned

  • and repaired every single square inch of it the more attention you pay to it the

  • more it'll become yours and that's far more than mere like material ownership

  • which is also relevant but in order to feel comfortable

  • somewhere and to dominate that place to be in meshed in that place you have to

  • attend to it you have to shine light on every corner and you have to do that

  • with yourself and with your relationships as well and so anyways

  • Mufasa tells Simba that his kingdom is everything that the light shines on and

  • that's exactly right and then there's a metaphor there too which is that what

  • you've Shawn light on which is what you've come to understand and master is

  • surrounded by an Otherworld of all the things that you don't understand and

  • some of those would be natural things and some of them would be tyrannical

  • things and some of those would be things you don't want to know about yourself

  • but they're outside of where you've managed to shine the light and so that's

  • exactly what Mufasa tells Simba says we live in this pyramid we're at the top

  • there's a domain of light around it that's explored territory outside of

  • that there's explore unexplored territory and that's partly the

  • unconscious because you fill it with fantasy and it's partly what you just

  • don't know and then Mufasa tells Simba and it's sort of like God telling Adam

  • and even in the Garden of Eden not to eat the apple Mufasa tells Simba there's

  • that this outside place that's dark that's not part of your kingdom and you

  • should not go there and that's really interesting because Simba doesn't even

  • know about that place yet and so Mufasa is doing something very contradictory

  • there it's like telling him that it exists and and heightening his curiosity

  • but also saying that he should go there almost ensuring that that's exactly what

  • Simba is going to do you see this in the Pinocchio movie to where Pinocchio is

  • planning to jump into the ocean to go get Geppetto from the underworld and

  • he's following his conscience is along with him Jiminy Cricket

  • and the cricket is warning him about all the dangers that he'll face down there

  • and telling him that he will be fish food personally and while he's doing

  • that Pinocchio ties a knot around his donkey

  • tail around a rock so he can sink and and the little cricket helps him tie the

  • knot so well he's warning him about the adventure he's going to undertake at the

  • same time he's encouraging him to do it and there's that paradoxical thing which

  • is that if you go outside what you know it will cause a fall because it'll

  • damage your knowledge structures and you'll go down into chaos and that can

  • really destroy you so you should do it but by the same token if you do do

  • it and you do it successfully then the new you that are' arises can be stronger

  • and more complete than the previous you so you should do it and you shouldn't do

  • it and that's anyone sensible says look don't bother right but sensible isn't

  • enough that's the thing you have to also be not sensible enough in order to live

  • and your typical hero and Harry Potter is a really good example is always a

  • rule breaker always but he you know the rules he breaks are like there's

  • judicious nough speaking the hero breaks a rule in the service of a higher good

  • but he's still breaking the rules and that's what puts them outside the

  • boundary of the social of the social establishment so now at this point Simba

  • also gets introduced to scar and that that that has two meanings one is that

  • scar is the tyrannical element of the state and so as a child when you're

  • being socialized you encounter the tyranny of the state and one of the best

  • you can't yet there's no way around it one of the best examples of that is that

  • children are always running around having fun and they're really bubbly and

  • and impulsive and joyous and playful and that causes a lot of trouble because

  • positive emotion is very disruptive they'll run around and break things

  • they'll hurt themselves and they'll get into trouble and so you're always saying

  • calm down sit down behave don't do that and it's it's not because they're crying

  • or angry it's because there's a day I'm happy and impulsive that no one can

  • stand them and so and so that's a tyranny it's like that the state puts

  • puts pressure on you to regulate your emotions positive negative and positive

  • and it crushes you it crushes the life out of you a lot of it and so you end up

  • you know your age and you're all mopey because the holes especially because

  • you've been forced to sit down in school for like 17 years you're all mopey and

  • it's no wonder you know you've had the spirit taken out of you by the process

  • of discipline but without that you'd be completely useless so it's another one

  • of those paradoxical you know gifts and and catastrophes that you encounter as

  • you move through life so anyways Simba look at how happy he is you know I mean

  • he doesn't know a damn thing he's so naive you can tell but oh look it's my

  • uncle Scar it's like you know and this is not a guy you smile at

  • clearly but he's all positive emotion and joy and enthusiasm and that's not

  • good because that means this character can take serious advantage of it and

  • that's exactly what he does and so scar pretends to be on his side which is what

  • a good pedophile always does by the way and so you know you you take advantage

  • of the child's trusting nature and openness in order to exploit them and

  • that's that's what horrible people do that all the time including the parents

  • of children and other children themselves so you know there's this

  • false I mean look at the animators are so damn brilliant Hey look at that

  • expression really like you know you just look at that and you think well that's

  • just a facial expression but of course it's not some damn animators worked

  • really hard to get that they're really observant and they distill the facial

  • looks like the face is right it covers the whole head and and they've got the

  • eyebrow lifts proper and they've got this horrible sanctimonious smile and

  • the tilt of the head then you know and he's sort of crushing him while he's

  • hugging him at the same time and really really and you know it took a lot of

  • thought for every single one of these frames to be put together right there's

  • a tremendous amount of cognitive effort that went into that so none of this is

  • accidental yeah well that pretty much says

  • everything it's like whoo I hate that kid and to hardly wait till he's gone

  • and didn't I pull one over on him you know it's a real testament to an adult's

  • genius when he can fool a kid so then Simba encounters the anima that's the

  • anima the Jungian anima and the anima is the feminine counterpart in the soul and

  • she well yeah you could tell what she does to him right because she's got this

  • supercilious and and what would you say judgmental and teasing look on her face

  • and she's really trying to put him down and it's work it like bad he's not very

  • happy about that at all and she's the thing this is what the anima does the

  • soul she's the thing that teaches the exploratory hero that that it's not

  • everything it could be right and that's part of this can be read multiple ways

  • but it's part of the eternal tendency of women to makes men self-conscious by

  • their sexual selectivity that's part of it because that makes men self-conscious

  • like nothing else and it's also perhaps been one of the phenomena that's

  • produced the evolutionary arms race in this in the

  • sex is among human beings that's caused our rapid cortical expansion and our

  • quick movement away from chimpanzees who aren't selective mater's by the way so

  • look at him Jesus you just want to slap him right he's a he's the son of a king

  • so he's very very privileged and he confuses his privilege with competence

  • rich of course all of you do because you're all sons of the King which is why

  • you can sit here in the university and you confuse your privilege with

  • competence as well because it's not has nothing to do with any of you that the

  • lights are on and that's the place is so peaceful

  • right but you take that for granted and it can make you false and arrogant like

  • like Jesus that's just so sad you look at that kid you think he's he's in for

  • real trouble man he thinks he knows everything and of course then he has a

  • wrestling match with what's-her-name what's it was it Nala yeah he has a

  • wrestling match with Nala and she just pins him every time right gotcha again

  • pindy again and that's basically right one of the things that happens with men

  • when they meet a woman who they really desire that Myers they project an idea

  • onto her immediately that's an anima projection and then that Adam a

  • projection judges them and they act all inferior and stupid and it's partly

  • because they are that's why and so then they they go down in defeat constantly

  • to this thing that they're projecting which at least has some concordance with

  • the actual woman but not that much so okay they keep wrestling and then

  • they're on the fringe of the kingdom this wrestling match between this pairs

  • of opposites takes them to the edge of the kingdom and they end up in the

  • elephant's graveyard right and and there's there's bones everywhere and so

  • now they're out into the kingdom of death and what that means is that these

  • two kids as they've grown up encounter death right they go outside the light

  • it's very very shocking for them they're very curious about it obviously they go

  • to explore the skeletons and all of that even though they were told not to but

  • their curiosity they can't stay away from death they're too curious about it

  • and so they developed knowledge of death and that and then of course out there in

  • the Deadlands is where the hyenas are and that's exactly right because hyenas

  • are scavengers right and they can break bones with their teeth they're really

  • really quite the animal and you know you kind of have a shudder of repugnance

  • when you see those things and I think it's partly I mean we shared

  • an evolutionary landscape with the ancestors of hyenas for a very very long

  • time and like vultures too you know you couldn't imagine something that would be

  • more well designed to look like it was a horrible thing than a vulture right and

  • there's this weird concordance and crows and ravens are like that - carrion

  • eaters you know the Eagles are kind of an exception but they look just as

  • creepy as they are which is really quite interesting and of course hyenas fall

  • into that category and they laugh - which is you know really you you also

  • have to laugh really with all these other things you have going for you and

  • anyways the hyenas and hyenas are enemies of lions and they can take lions

  • down they're tough things and you know they're not one high in obviously but a

  • bunch of hyenas can give a lie in a pretty damn rough time

  • and so and these little lines are really no match for the hyenas so they get

  • threatened very very rapidly and one of the hyenas of course is just completely

  • out of its mind and one of the things that's really interesting and you see

  • this with the Muppets - there was often a puppet that was like a crazy puppet

  • and its eyes would move in different directions you know and one of the

  • things that happens with people who are schizophrenic is they show involuntary

  • eye movements and it's because you have a brain center that controls your eyes

  • voluntarily and you have another one that controls them involuntarily so you

  • can see that look ahead and try to move your eyes smoothly back and forth you

  • can't do it you'll see that they jerk hey but if you watch put a finger in

  • front of your face and then do this they'll move perfectly smoothly and

  • that's because you're using different eye control centers one voluntary and

  • one more involuntary and the involuntary one is actually more sophisticated and

  • so in schizophrenic the involuntary eye control centers tend to disrupt the

  • voluntary eye control centers and that's likely part of the hallucinatory process

  • you know because you have the ego in this schizophrenic that's being

  • disrupted by processes underneath fantasies and that sort of thing and

  • that looks like it's reflected in involuntary eye movements like like

  • dream movements so anyways so much for the crazy hyena and they're in real

  • trouble now the Kings I who's supposed to be keeping an eye on this and was

  • supposed to be watching Simba is trying to intervene but I mean look at him he's

  • a like a delicious little bird and so that's not working out very well

  • anyways and then you see this immediate juxtaposition of the domain of death and

  • the hyenas with hell right and everyone looks at that and they think well they

  • know exactly what that means it's no surprise to anyone that that happens and

  • I suppose that's partly because on the veldt where we evolved in large part but

  • not by no means all part fire was an ever-present danger in the grasslands

  • right and so and so that's a good that's a good example of Hell so huh well I

  • guess that's it we'll do some more of this when we meet on Tuesday bye

  • you

so I think the best way to continue to walk you through the thinkers that we're

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