33. Marie-Louise von Franz on The Problem of the Eternal Child

In this episode we unpack, Swiss Psychologist, Marie-Louise von Franz's classic book, "The Problem of the Puer Aeternus" from a series of lectures she gave in 1959. This book explores -The Eternal Child Archetype -The Mother Complex (Jungian) -The Loss of Initiation Rituals in the Modern Age Links to Reading & Articles mentioned The Problem of the Puer Aeternus by Marie-Louis von Franz The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery *note* reading is not required to enjoy this episode! Host: Zach Stehura  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠UnpackingIdeas.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Guest: David Bloome Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Polyenso⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Time Stamps 0:00:00 Introduction 0:02:24 David’s Story Discovering the book 0:12:07 Characteristics of The Puer Aeternus 0:16:14 Commitmentphobia/Megalomania  0:23:00 The Mother Complex 0:28:46 Enmeshment 0:37:45 Analysis of “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 0:40:47 Symbolism of the Boa Constrictor choking the Elephant  0:46:00 Symbolism of the Little Prince Image 0:50:45 Symbolism of The Overgrown Baobob Trees 0:54:11 The Literal and Figurative Crash of Individuals suffering from the Eternal Child Complex 0:58:04 Von Franz’s Antidote to the Problem - Initiation Rituals  1:02:02 Consequences of the Lack of Initiation Rituals in the Modern Age 1:06:00  The literal and Figurative crash of Societies Suffering from the Eternal Child Complex  1:08:40 Jung’s Antidote to the Problem- Work 1:17:18 outro