05/06/2012
"One of the essential features of the child motif is its futurity. The child is potential future. Hence the occurrence of the child motif in the psychology of the individual signifies as a rule in anticipation of future developments, even though at first sight it may seem like the retrospective configuration. Life is a flux, the flowing into the future, and not a stoppage or a backwash. It is therefore not surprising that so many of the mythological saviors are child gods. This agrees exactly what their experience of the psychology of the individual, which shows that the "child" paved the way for a future change of personality. In the individuation process, it anticipates the figure that comes from the synthesis of conscious and unconscious elements in the personality. It is therefore a symbol which unites the opposites; the mediator, bringer of healing, that is, one who makes whole. Because it has this meaning, the child motif is capable of the numerous transformations mentioned above: it can be expressed by roundness, the circle or sphere, or else by the quaternity as another form of wholeness. I have called this wholeness that transcends consciousness the "self." The goal of the individuation process is the synthesis of the self." - C.G. Jung, "The Psychology of the Child Archetype", par 83
