{"id":34154,"date":"2023-11-15T18:15:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T02:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34154"},"modified":"2023-11-15T18:19:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T02:19:51","slug":"the-mother-archetype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-mother-archetype\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mother Archetype"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a blistery, cold Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 I was resting at home with my youngest daughter, Abigail, an infant at the time, while my husband took our other two daughters sledding with some friends of ours.\u00a0 I was awakened from an afternoon nap when I heard someone yelling from our answering machine, \u201cCat, I\u2019m on my way to the emergency room. Pick up the phone.\u201d\u00a0 I bolted to the phone.\u00a0 My husband was on his way to the nearby hospital.\u00a0 Our oldest daughter, Rebecca,\u00a0 a first grader at the time, slammed head-first into a permanent grill, that extended out of a snowbank. As Steve anxiously conveyed the scene to me on the phone, he said that blood was everywhere and Rebecca was surprisingly calm.\u00a0 My system one thinking, or bottom-up processing, took over and I immediately asked a friend to come stay with Abigail so that I could rush to the emergency room. [1]\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I arrived, I followed the trail of blood right to her room.\u00a0 As I entered, my eye immediately caught sight of the two inch wide hole in my daughter\u2019s head, just above her left eye.\u00a0 Characteristics of the Mother Archetype, as described in the book, <\/span>Spell Bound<\/span><\/i>, by\u00a0 Daniel Lieberman, took over. [2]\u00a0 I asked the doctor what I was looking at and he told me, her scull.\u00a0 I felt faint and sat down for a moment.\u00a0 Internally, I was shaking and somewhat nauseous. \u00a0 Trying to keep calm, love her, and provide comfort for her was my mission right at that moment.\u00a0 The sight of my daughter\u2019s blood all over her winter coat, the floor, my husband, and her sweet face was inferring with my ability to be 100% present with her at that moment. All in an instant, I uttered an urgent, yet simple prayer, spoken under my breath, and the Lord gave me strength to keep talking with her, laughing with her and holding her hand as she was being treated.\u00a0 More on this ER visit later. . .<\/span><\/p>\n

According to psychiatrist and author of the book, <\/span>Spell Bound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind, <\/span><\/i>Dr. Daniel Z. Lieberman states, \u201cthe human brain is more than a rational thinking machine.\u00a0 It has darker corners that give rise to the irrational – things outside conscious control.\u201d [3] \u00a0 The author explains that the while we can\u2019t see it, the unconscious remarkably impacts our lives.\u00a0 So much of the magic that the author refers to, as displayed by the unconscious mind, makes its appearance in the mysterious ways I respond to events in my life, especially in moments when the my mother archetype is on display.\u00a0 <\/span>Lieberman notes complexities of the human mind admonishing that most of my experiences, including my moods and preferences, essentially the essence of who I am, originates from a more elusive aspect of my mind: the unconscious.\u00a0 The author examines how the unconscious works, integrating an understanding of Carl Jung\u2019s work for the unification of conscious and unconscious mind to form one complete self. [4]\u00a0 Lieberman describes this as becoming transcendent, achieving unity between the ego and the unconscious. [5]\u00a0 My experiences, surrounding that snowy Sunday afternoon in January, are forever cemented in my mind.\u00a0 I reflect and respond in worship at how God healed, protected, provided and even recycled that moment for His glory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the ER. . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Rebecca, on the table, was conversing with the emergency room surgeon, did not shed a tear and while getting stitched up, asked the doctor of Asian ethnicity, \u201cDo you like Chinese food?\u201d\u00a0 Everyone in the room laughed, even the surgeon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>After the incident, we questioned Rebecca on why she didn\u2019t cry during the ordeal?\u00a0 I was puzzled and wondered if maybe she had a concussion.\u00a0 No concussion, the doctor reassured us.\u00a0 Rebecca very frankly told us, \u201cI knew the Lord was with me.\u201d\u00a0 It was one of those moments when Jesus\u2019 words from Luke 18:16-17 highlighted the beauty of a child\u2019s faith and an area in which my faith had some developing to do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cBut Jesus called for the little ones, saying, \u201cAllow the children to come to Me, and do not forbid them,\u00a0<\/span>for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom\u00a0<\/span>of God like a child will not enter it at all.\u201d Luke 18:19-17 NASB<\/span><\/p>\n

Lieberman quotes Kahnemann from his book, Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em>,\u00a0 \u201cThe confidence that individuals have in their beliefs depends mostly on the quality of the story they can tell about what they see.\u201d [6]\u00a0 I\u2019m thankful that in that moment God\u2019s presence was what she saw and articulated.\u00a0 <\/span>We were incredibly grateful for how the Lord healed the wound over time with no lasting damages, except a long scar near her hairline.\u00a0 It has been a mark that has given her many opportunities to share of the Lord\u2019s goodness with those who inquire about her scar. In December, Rebecca will give birth to her first child, a baby boy (my first grand baby).\u00a0 She will have many experiences that develop the mother archetype within her.\u00a0 I can’t wait!!!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 My interest is peeked into his next book, <\/span>the follow-up to <\/span>The Molecule of More<\/span><\/i> coming in 2024. [7]<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Daniel Lieberman, <\/span>Spell Bound:\u00a0 Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>(Dallas, TX:\u00a0 BenBella Books, 2022), 66.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid, 79.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid, 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Ibid, 8.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Ibid, 215.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Daniel Kahneman, <\/span>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span><\/i> (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), 77.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/www.danielzlieberman.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a blistery, cold Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 I was resting at home with my youngest daughter, Abigail, an infant at the time, while my husband took our other two daughters sledding with some friends of ours.\u00a0 I was awakened from an afternoon nap when I heard someone yelling from our answering machine, \u201cCat, I\u2019m on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,2156],"class_list":["post-34154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-lieberman","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34154"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34158,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34154\/revisions\/34158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}