ABSTRACT
THE FRAGMENTATION OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOL SYSTEMS Realizing that Jung’s perspective on groups relied on the summation of individual action, one may nonetheless find specific patterns of large group action throughout the Collected Works. These patterns depend primarily upon the doctrine of the archetype that unites all humankind by means of deeply rooted similarities of disposition.1 Archetypal activity could therefore be expected to affect all manner of men and women in similar situations so as to produce similar results. These similar responses had the general effect of binding them together into groups through the mechanism of projective identification. “Group observations have confirmed over and over again that the group subtly entices its members into mutual imitation and dependence, thereby holding out the promise of sparing them a painful confrontation with themselves” (1964/1970, para. 892).
