Change of Perspective

Musings on Writing, Reading, and Life Narratives

Fiction writers and literary critics speak of point of view. Social scientists are more likely to discuss perspective. But both of these terms refer to essentially the same construct: the consciousness behind the perception and narration of experience. Each individual’s point of view is unique, and point of view shapes the stories people tell to themselves and to others about themselves and their relationships with their environment. The same event narrated from two different perspectives will produce two different stories.


A change of perspective can expand our perception and reframe our thinking about our experiences. We can all benefit from an occasional change of perspective.


[Return to MetaPerspective]


Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Audio Review: The Language of Archetypes


Myss, Caroline. The Language of Archetypes

Sounds True, 2006. ISBN 1-591-79-353-X

Highly Recommended

This is a recording of live presentations of Myss’s training course The Language of Archetypes. Myss has studied the patterns of archetypes that exist in human consciousness and believes that we all have a “sacred support team” of 12 primary archetypes. Everyone has four basic archetypes: Child, Victim, Saboteur, and Prostitute; Myss calls these the Survival Family. Our remaining eight come from other groups that she calls the Feminine and Masculine Families, the Divine Family, the Wisdom Family, the Healer Family, the Creative Family, the Action Family, and the Wild Card Family.

According to Myss, our purpose in life is to identify our individual archetypes and to discover how they interact within us to reveal our divine potential. To do this, we have to learn to think archetypally.

This material complements and amplifies much of Myss’s other work, particularly her 2001 book Sacred Contracts. The benefit of listening to this program in addition to reading the book is that, in front of a live audience, Myss often reveals a quite humorous side that does not often come across in her writing.

© 2007 by Mary Daniels Brown

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posted by Mary | 2:30 PM