Individuation

Charles Taliaferro’s “Philosophy of Mind and the Christian” begins with a loaded question: “Are we thoroughly physical beings, or do we contain some nonphysical part, something we may call a soul, spirit, or mind?” The question presents us with a false dilemma, for there is also the possibility that we are neither merely material beings nor do we contain a soul as a nonphysical part of us. Taliaferro follows this with a list of other questions pertaining to the philosophy of mind and asks whether Christians should give answers to these sorts of questions that differ from non-Christian colleagues. It seems odd to divide colleagues based on Christianity with regard to these questions, for it means that if the Christian colleagues do have a particular take on these issues, it will be different from that of non-Christian theistic colleagues. Perhaps, however, Taliaferro’s department consists only of Christians and atheists. In this case, however, Taliaferro seems to think that there will be a uniformity in Christian thought that seems somewhat doubtful.

World literature investigates literary works that circulate beyond their cultures and demonstrates what like-but-unlike is. It considers a certain motif and sees how it represents its cultural aspects. . The Jungian archetype of the bird is the common thread that has been analyzed in this comparative study. Bird’s flight sheds light on metaphysical ascendance and transcendence. Moreover, the bird archetype conveys meanings associated with death, rebirth, awareness, consciousness, enlightenment, and wisdom. This article compares the archetype of birds in the poetry of Attar’s The Conference of the Birds (1177), Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1992), and Agbemabiese’s “ Sankofa” (2008). The reason for such a choice is that, although they belong to different ages and literary heritages, all three portray a journey toward an individual’s Self-perfection.  These poets utilize the bird archetype to manifest how Simurgh , Albatross, and Sankofa, reveal their archetypal meanings in Persian, English, and African cultures. By a comparative method based on Jung’s archetypal “process of individuation”, the bird is a uniting archetype, that represents the “Self” in Jung’s terminology. Binding the poetry of these nations demonstrates that through a self-realization journey, the individual can achieve perfection or become one with the whole.