Yes, Jungian or psychological archetypes. Trying to fit the generic definition of archetype into this position would be going out of the way to be difficult, though not impossible if you ignore the example of the Trickster. Which you did.

Meaning as in “personal valuation or significance”, as in the example given by personal worth of a lover. Not semiotic, not linguistic.

Liminal, from the multiple choice you offer: a) indeterminate. Again, elaborated on in the “between thought and expression” description, not to mention the remainder of the article (the other options won’t make sense).

I hope this clears up any confusion. This article is meant for a general audience – a grad-level elaboration of these topics is not required. Sure, I could have laid it on much thicker, but I don’t care to alienate readers by flexing vocabulary.

Please let me know if you need any additional hairs split.

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Archetypes — Jungian?
meaning — meaning what? what meaning?
liminal — indeterminate? in between? barely perceptible?

If you expressed yourself more clearly would that help?

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You mentioned symbolism, but consider also the rationalist approach. Goethe’s two poems, Prometheus and Ganymed, depict another angle of what you describe.

Prometheus embodied rebellion and self-assertion; Ganymede, the love of protection and familiarity. Since the one follows the other, it’s meant to represent the pendulum swing of adventure and restoration – or, in our context, travel and homecoming.

Joseph Campbell’s Hero Monomyth captures the pattern in mythic detail. But I very much agree with you: myth and art are attempts to give a face to the transformative experience.

Thank you for your comments!

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As one who has traveled since birth and studied philosophy (and its more profound Mother, poetry/literature, in my view), I think that travel experience is as much imaginative as it is physical. For example, 19th century symbolist poetry of Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarme served as the basis of much of the pop culture of the 60’s and its subsequent imitations, as well as the archetype for most subsequent 20th century poetry and art, etc. The creation of mythologies in bodies of poetry based upon classical gods such as Mercury and Apollo placed the imagination at the center of all thought, since not only does travel engage the Imagination but Imagination is made more fertile by travel.

Imagination is the ultimate trickster and that is why it is not always necessary to physically travel to experience similar epiphanies. That is why music from Africa and Brazil can send the soul into Dionysian frenzies and Apollonian visions. In my view, that is why the greatest artists travel in their imaginations as much as they do in reality (see the life and poetry of teenage genius Rimbaud, or the notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci).

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Related to the trickster, I like jokes that make me laugh on the surface, but make me ask: WHY did I laugh at that, how does it work? Likewise, I appreciate topics that explore a given topic on the surface, but are written so they can be applied to other areas. Give me an article that points to something we don’t know, and I’m a happy man.

Regarding your question about avoiding convention, I think for the most part we prefer it. When we travel, we’re looking for ideas and parts of ourselves that are hidden. The completely alien we reject because we can’t relate to it, but the trickster is right on the threshold of it. They represent the existential frontier between where we can find meaning and where it is lost.

A shaman, or holy man of primitive cultures, undergoes a psychotic break when they cross that frontier, and then a reintegration (at least partially) so they can function as people again and impart spiritual wisdom to their tribe. The same thing can happen with artists, who today serve the role once provided by priests and shaman, but really it’s a journey that’s open to anyone daring enough to take it. But it’s a dangerous trip – you must be prepared for it, or you may not come back!

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