As a species, we have been invoking the machine for centuries. The machine has become an archetype, evolving in its shape and form over the generations. One only needs to think of the massive data centers already in place today with thousands of computing elements in operation for AI training and generation. Jung (1984) reminded us that these vast machines are the dragons of our day.
Prometheus
To develop our authentic individual self, we need to go deeper, into the cultural and phylogenetic layers of the collective unconscious. Importantly, from a leadership point of view, we become more aware of what our culture is repressing—aware of the unintended consequences of the culture even though we are participating in it. This enables us to progress, as individuals and as a society.
Organizational behavior, even more than individual, is shaped by myth and unconscious dynamics, rather than by rationality. I have noticed parallels between Jung’s observations of personality type and the gods who were at the centre of the classical Greeks’ understanding of motivation and behavior. The Greek pantheon can provide ways of talking about a wide range of value systems, energies, feeling states, behavior habits…