Carl jung on Alchemy

Rare footage of psychologist Carl Jung talking about archetypes and alchemy, two important concepts within his huge body of work. An archetype is a kind of template from which other things like it emerge. For example, we all instinctively understand what being heroic involves because we have the archetype of the hero. According to Jung’s view, archetypes are living forces that inject their power into our individual lives through the collective unconscious, or our group mind. Along with this, Jung was also fascinated by the process of alchemy through which our psyche combines basic elements that are then ‘cooked’ to bring about our own transformation.