ABSTRACT
The link between symmetry and mate selection may even provide a further nuance that links fecundity with visual symmetry, which might explain why Jungians often equate Self symbols with “fertility,” “new life,” “renewal,” and so on. This chapter conceptualizes the symbols that appear in dreams, fantasies, and also myths in terms of their neurobiologically based archetypal meanings. It provides an idea of how neurobiology can help one to understand symbolic meaning in the more complex cases. Much like the war god and the anima and animus, the biological data shows how the innate imagery of the Self is conjured up by the mind using a kind of universal symbolic and preverbal “language. Stones, oceans, mandalas, and so on are used to make spontaneous symbols for specific reasons when the Self wants to create a metaphor for something.
