Puer aeternus

Puer aeternus(Latinfor 'eternal boy'; female:puella aeterna;sometimes shortened topuerandpuella) in mythology is a child-god who is eternally young. In theanalytical psychologyofCarl Jung,the term is used to describe an older person whose emotional life has remained at an adolescent level, which is also known as "Peter Pan syndrome",a more recentpop-psychologylabel. In Jung's conception, thepuertypically leads a "provisional life" due to the fear of being caught in a situation from which it might not be possible to escape. Thepuercovets independence and freedom, opposes boundaries and limits and tends to find any restriction intolerable.^[1]

In mythology

The phrasepuer aeternuscomes fromMetamorphoses,an epic work by the Roman poetOvid(43 BC –c. 17 AD) dealing with Greek and Roman myths. In the poem, Ovid addresses the child-godIacchusas "puer aeternus"and praises him for his role in theEleusinian mysteries.Iacchus is later identified with the godsDionysusandEros.Thepueris a god of vegetation and resurrection; the god of divine youth, such asTammuz,Attis,andAdonis.^[2]

In Jungian psychology

Swisspsychiatrist Carl Gustav Jungdeveloped a school of thought calledanalytical psychology,distinguishing it from thepsychoanalysisofSigmund Freud(1856–1939). In analytical psychology (or "Jungian psychology" ), thepuer aeternusis an example of what Jung considered anarchetype,one of the "primordial, structural elements of the human psyche."^[3]

Theshadowof thepueris thesenex(Latin for 'old man'), associated with the godCronus—disciplined, controlled, responsible, rational, ordered. Conversely, the shadow of thesenexis thepuer,related toHermesorDionysus—unbounded instinct, disorder, intoxication, whimsy.^[4]

Like all archetypes, thepueris bipolar, exhibiting both a "positive" and a "negative" aspect. The "positive" side of thepuerappears as the Divine Child who symbolizes newness, potential for growth, hope for the future. He also foreshadows the hero that he sometimes becomes (e.g.Heracles). The "negative" side is the child-man who refuses to grow up and meet the challenges of life head-on, waiting instead for his ship to come in and solve all his problems.

"For the time being one is doing this or that... it isnot yetwhat is really wanted, and there is always the fantasy that sometime in the future the real thing will come about.... The one thing dreaded throughout by such a type of man is to be bound to anything whatever. "^[5]

"Common symptoms ofpuerpsychology are dreams of an imprisonment and similar imagery: chains, bars, cages, entrapment, bondage. Life itself...is experienced as a prison. "^[4]

When the subject is a female, the Latin term ispuella aeterna,imaged in mythology as theKore(Greek for 'maiden').^[6]One might also speak of apueranimuswhen describing the masculine side of the female psyche, or apuellaanimawhen speaking of a man's inner feminine component.

Works concerning thepuer aeternus

Cover of 1915 edition ofJ.M. Barrie's 1911 novelPeter and Wendy

Carl Jungwrote a paper on thepuer aeternus,titled "The Psychology of the Child Archetype", contained in Part IV ofThe Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious(Collected Works, Vol. 9i). The hero-child aspect and his relationship to theGreat Motheris dealt with in chapters 4 and 5 of Part Two ofSymbols of Transformation(CW, vol. 5).^[7]

In his essay "Answer to Job"(also included inPsychology and Religion: West and East) Jung refers to thepuer aeternusas a figure representing the future psychological development of human beings.

That higher and 'complete' (teleios) man is begotten by the 'unknown' father and born from Wisdom, and it is he who, in the figure of thepuer aeternus—'vultu mutabilis albus et ater'^[8]—represents our totality, which transcends consciousness. It was this boy into whomFausthad to change, abandoning his inflated onesidedness which saw the devil only outside. Christ's 'Except ye become as little children' prefigures this change, for in them the opposites lie close together; but what is meant is the boy who is born from the maturity of the adult man, and not the unconscious child we would like to remain. "^[9]

The Problem of the Puer Aeternusis a book based on a series of lectures that Jungian analystMarie-Louise von Franzgave at theC.G. Jung Institute, Zurich,during the Winter Semester, 1959–1960. In the first eight of twelve lectures, von Franz illustrates the theme of the puer aeternus by examining the story ofThe Little Princefrom the book of the same name byAntoine de Saint-Exupéry.The remaining four lectures are devoted to a study of a German novel byBruno Goetz,Das Reich ohne Raum('The Kingdom Without Space'), first published in 1919. Of this novel von Franz says:

It is interesting that it was written and published before the Nazi movement came into being in 1933, before Hitler was ruminating on his morbid ideas. Bruno Goetz certainly had a prophetic gift about what was coming, and... his book anticipates the whole Nazi problem, throwing light upon it from the angle of thepuer aeternus".^[10]

Now or Neverlandis a 1998 book written by Jungian analyst Ann Yeoman dealing with thepuer aeternusin the form ofPeter Pan,one of the most well-known examples of the concept in the modern era. The book is a psychological overview of the eternal boy archetype, from its ancient roots to contemporary experience, including a detailed interpretation ofJ. M. Barrie's popular1904 play and 1911 novel.

Mythologically, Peter Pan is linked to [...] the young god who dies and is reborn...as well as to Mercury/Hermes,psychopompand messenger of the gods who moves freely between the divine and human realms, and, of course, to the great goat-godPan[....] In early performances of Barrie's play, Peter Pan appeared on stage with both pipes and a live goat. Such undisguised references to thechthonic,often lascivious and far from childlike goat-god were, not surprisingly, soon excised from both play and novel. "^[11]

Peter Pan syndrome

Peter Pan syndrome is thepopular psychologyconcept of an adult who is socially immature. The category is an informal one invoked by laypeople and some psychology professionals in popular psychology. It is not listed in theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,and is not recognized by theAmerican Psychiatric Associationas a specificmental disorder.

Psychologist Dan Kiley popularized the Peter Pan syndrome in his 1983 book,The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up.^[12]His next book,The Wendy Dilemma(1984), advises women romantically involved with "Peter Pans" how to improve their relationships.^[13]

Notes

^Sharp, p. 109
^von Franz, p. 7
^Sharp, p. 27
^^a ^bSharp, p. 110
^von Franz, p. 8
^Hopcke, ch. 24
^Hopcke, ch. 23
^"Of changeful countenance, both white and black." Horace,Epistulae,II, 2.
^Jung, "Answer to Job", par. 742
^von Franz, p. 176
^Yeoman, p. 15
^Kiley, Dan (1983).The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up.Avon Books.ISBN 978-0380688906.
^Kiley, Dan (1984).The Wendy Dilemma: When Women Stop Mothering Their Men.Arbor House Publishing.ISBN 9780877956259.

External links

Syndrome de Peter PanFrench website

[1] Sharp, p. 109

[2] von Franz, p. 7

[3] Sharp, p. 27

[Sharp,_p.110-4] Sharp, p. 110

[5] von Franz, p. 8

[6] Hopcke, ch. 24

[7] Hopcke, ch. 23

[8] "Of changeful countenance, both white and black." Horace,Epistulae,II, 2.

[9] Jung, "Answer to Job", par. 742

[10] von Franz, p. 176

[11] Yeoman, p. 15

[12] Kiley, Dan (1983).The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up.Avon Books.ISBN 978-0380688906.

[13] Kiley, Dan (1984).The Wendy Dilemma: When Women Stop Mothering Their Men.Arbor House Publishing.ISBN 9780877956259.

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