Symbolism is the most powerful and ancient means of communication
available to humankind. For centuries people have expressed their
preoccupations and concerns through symbolism in the form of myths,
stories, religions, and dreams. The meaning of symbols has long been
debated among philosophers, antiquarians, theologians, and, more
recently, anthropologists and psychologists. In "Ariadne's Clue, "
distinguished analyst and psychiatrist Anthony Stevens explores the
nature of symbols and explains how and why we create the symbols we do.
The book is divided into two parts: an interpretive section that
concerns symbols in general and a "dictionary" that lists hundreds of
symbols and explains their origins, their resemblances to other symbols,
and the belief systems behind them. In the first section, Stevens takes
the ideas of C. G. Jung a stage further, asserting not only that we
possess an innate symbol-forming propensity that exists as a creative
and integral part of our psychic make-up, but also that the human mind
evolved this capacity as a result of selection pressures encountered by
our species in the course of its evolutionary history. Stevens argues
that symbol formation has an adaptive function: it promotes our grasp on
reality and in dreams often corrects deficient modes of psychological
functioning. In the second section, Stevens examines symbols under four
headings: "The Physical Environment, " "Culture and Psyche, " "People,
Animals, and Plants, " and "The Body." Many of the symbols are
illustrate in the book's rich variety of woodcuts. From the ancient
symbol of the serpent to the archetypal masculine and feminine, from the
earth to the stars, from the primordial landscape o the savannah to the
mysterious depths of the sea, Stevens traces a host of common symbols
back through time to reveal their psychodynamic functioning and looks at
their deep-rooted effects on the lives of modern men, women, and
children.
