"Anyway," I said, "let's tie this back to Carl Jung's archetypes. I've already explained how everything in our physical reality is a symbolic representation of a conceptual idea. Archetypes are just symbols that exist within the collective unconscious. Humans collectively fear snakes, so snakes are an archetypal symbol of fear. Archetypes are only made possible because many observers share similar beliefs, and therefore when you show everyone a snake, they all understand that it represents fear. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah," Zac said. "So is a backpack an archetype? We all collectively believe that a backpack is used for carrying things."
"It is an archetype, actually. If I was writing a blog post about a journey and wanted to communicate the idea of 'journey' in the cover photo, I might include an image of a woman on a mountain with a backpack. Backpacks symbolize carrying things, which is then associated with journeys and adventure.
Anyway, if God wanted to communicate with us humans, and he couldn't do it by rocking up in a white robe and giving lectures at the local university-"
"Actually, why couldn't he just rock up and give a lecture?" Zac asked. "Why doesn't he just reveal himself?"
"Because it would create too much surprise in the system, and therefore defy his own natural mathematical law. He addresses this here…"
If I revealed myself as God Almighty, King of Heaven and Earth, and moved mountains to prove it, there are those who would say, “It must have been Satan.”
And such is as it should be. For God does not reveal Godself to Godself from or through outward observation, but through inward experience. And when inward experience has revealed Godself, outward observation is not necessary. And if outward observation is necessary, inward experience is not possible.
If, then, revelation is requested, it cannot be had, for the act of asking is a statement that it is not there; that nothing of God is now being revealed. Such a statement produces the experience. For your thought about something is creative, and your word is productive, and your thought and your word together are magnificently effective in giving birth to your reality. Therefore shall you experience that God is not now revealed, for if God were, you would not ask God to be.
Neale Donald Walsch
"But he is revealing himself very clearly and plainly in this 'Conversations With God' book," Zac said.
"And who do you think reads these books?" I asked. "Materialists? Atheists? Non-believers? This book is not incontrovertible by any means. It is a symbol that communicates beautiful ideas to people who want to listen, while at the same time being easily dismissable by people who don't believe in God. Therefore, the spiritual people get a physical experience of being spiritual and receiving communication and guidance from God. The non-spiritual people get a physical experience of being non-spiritual. Thus, this one symbol minimizes surprise for both parties, and gives both of them a physical experience of their own consciousness."
"My point is this," I continued. "God has to communicate through symbols, and everything is a symbol. Mutual beliefs shared by many people and repeated throughout the ages create archetypes in the collective unconscious. These archetypal stories and symbols communicate deep truths in an understandable way. For example, have you heard of the four archetypes of the mature masculine?"
"No. What are they?"
