The Search for Self - The Wanderer Archetype

Other names: The Seeker (Explorer, Individualist, Wanderer)

Definition: Independent free-thinker and adventurer. Struggles for self-knowledge. Loner, but with strong will. Impartially observes their surroundings. Constantly on the move. Wanderer. Traveler.

Main goal: Finding oneself, who I really am, own identity and independence

Main work goal: Freedom; Autonomy, independence, ability to solve problems in one's own way

Core value: Autonomy and independence

The Seeker has an intense desire to try new things and experience new experiences. Some variations of this archetype also desire to create new social contacts, friends and explore new and unknown places. "Who else can I talk to? What other project can I start?". However, this mindset carries a serious deficiency, namely the inability to be satisfied with current circumstances and how things are. Maintaining contact with old friends falls into the background, as do memories of events and activities that were never fully experienced. The Seeker archetype experiences only superficially.

The Seeker is often attracted to people who represent their suppressed artistic side, to people who help them see meaning in life and what they do. These people can also help the Seeker remember old friends, things they did and places they visited.

From the perspective of MBTI psychology types, Seekers are often ENxP types, as they are suppressed in school and feel limited and held back in realizing their potential. The Seeker archetype is often activated during periods of dissatisfaction with one's own life. It is characterized by a desire for a better life, personal growth, development and transformation. [3]

The Seeker archetype is sometimes confused with ADHD diagnosis [1], because the Seeker shares certain characteristics with this cognitively different perception of the world.

The Seeker likes to leave the known, structured and for them "dead" and "boring" areas and sets out to explore the unknown. This internal setting allows them to resist loneliness and isolation, because they are so attracted to exploring unbeaten paths. They are often in opposition to established opinions and practices. Thanks to their iconoclasm, this archetype helps us see our own uniqueness, our perspectives and our true calling.

Seekers look for something that will improve their life, but in this effort they may overlook their inner wealth. They enjoy learning new things, are very ambitious and try to avoid burden in the form of help from others (others can only exhaust the Seeker and burden their effort to find their true Self with their opinions). Because they need to "do everything themselves" they will not stop searching until they reach their goal (which is their true Essential Self).

People with an active Seeker archetype feel considerable conflict and pressure in their life between their path of individuation and conformity. These individuals also prefer careers based purely on new challenges they can explore and overcome. If the Seeker archetype does not undergo challenges in their career (and life), they are bored and frustrated. Seekers are also attracted to the path of independent entrepreneur or businessperson [3]. Seekers require the ability to perform activities in their own way and find it difficult to submit to the established order and methodology of a company.

"At first he is a hunter without a goal, who has not yet discovered the individual form in which he would realize himself. His incompleteness actually represents the possibility of awareness, and so he must find his own opposite - like the deer, which in the allegory [Prince Ring - Nordic Snati-Snati] swallows and integrates its opposite in the form of a snake. It is therefore understandable that the beast inner animalism, monstrosity, [Rebel, Iron John] possesses the secret of the prince's renewal and wholeness Ouroboros, Phoenix, [Uraga Sutta, Jörmungandr], whose symbol is the golden ring [Round Chaos, Golden Snitch]"

- Commentary on the Prince Ring allegory by Von Franz

Shadow Side

The Shadow of the Seeker is the perfectionist. In everyday life it manifests as an effort to achieve an almost impossible goal or always find the "right" solution. Consumption by the Seeker's Shadow is often seen in people who set their main life direction as constant self-improvement, self-criticism, traveling the world and flitting between seminars on greater productivity at work and in life. An individual possessed by the Shadow side of the Seeker may feel unfulfilled, almost even inferior and as if they have achieved nothing in life. The root of this feeling is internal refusal to take root in one direction, relationship or career and constant searching for external meaning of life, instead of finding it within themselves and its ongoing creation in reality, following the model of existentialists.

This psychopathology is beautifully expressed in the composition by Zack Hemsey - The Runner, about a young man who runs from his responsibility.

`youtube: IYIBe7jdVQ8`

Life Desire

Searching for a better path and higher quality of life. Finding oneself through traveling the world and exploring new possibilities.

Fear

Conformity, imprisonment (in one relationship, rut; in one career) and inner emptiness

Problem-Solving Method

Abandoning it, escape

Life's Purpose

To become and behave according to one's ideal Higher Self. Finding the authentic self and leading a full and fulfilling life.

Strengths

Autonomy, ambition, identity, expanding possibilities

Weaknesses

Inability to commit to one relationship/career/decision, chronic disappointment and dissatisfaction, feeling of alienation, loneliness, aimless traveling and searching. Can develop into neurosis.

Mythological Representations

The Seeker, or Explorer, seeks - as already mentioned - the meaning of their life and will not stop until they find it. In mythology and alchemy, this is depicted by the symbol of individuation, specifically "Round Chaos," which is a winged golden orb, representing the meaning of life and achievement of the goal of individuation, namely the Essential Self. It is also often represented by the god Mercury, who is the messenger of messages from the Gods. On the Ripley Scroll, the Round Chaos is depicted together with a dragon devouring its tail and the dualism of Sun and Moon. I can only speculate about the meaning of the Sun and Moon, but I interpret their meaning similarly to Yin and Yang - polar opposites that must be harmonized and balanced. One interpretation is also the dualism of the Anima/Animus archetypes (whose integration is much more difficult than the integration of the Shadow, as they lie deeper in the unconscious). In other paintings, this pair is represented as Hermaphrodite (Hermaphroditus). Simply having one foot in chaos and the other in order - finding the balance of one's character. In the ordinary world, an example presents itself: having one stable job that has an acceptable salary and challenging difficulty and in one's free time devoting oneself to creative directions and experiencing one's true meaning of life. "You are not your job," as a certain Shadow representation says in a well-known film. The dragon devouring its tail is then a classic representation of getting rid of what no longer serves a person - devouring one's old skin. It is commonly called Ouroboros. In Nordic mythology, it is Jörmungandr at the root of the Tree of Life, deep primordial chaos. Just like the serpent goddess of Egyptian mythology Tiamat; the Phoenix that lets its old self burn and is reborn from its ashes or the story of the snake shedding its old skin, Uraga Sutta (watch the lecture by Mgr. Zdeněk Trávníček, Ph.D., Buddhist monk) - I develop this theme in the article on Eternal Return (Nietzsche).

!harry potter as Seeker of the golden snitch, representation of golden meaning

The bleeding of the dragon's heart on the Ripley Scroll depicts the ability to sacrifice oneself, one's old and imperfect self. I am not yet sure about the symbolism of the three openings, but Round Chaos itself is the goal of the above-described endeavor. There are no other references to Round Chaos on the internet than with JP and Jung (Psychology and alchemy, Alchemical studies) - all the more peculiar is that J.K. Rowling used this representation of the meaning of life in the game of Quidditch. Harry literally has the role of "Seeker" in her work of art, which is the original English name of the Seeker archetype. He is the "Seeker" of the Golden Snitch, a winged golden orb. And inside the Snitch, as we learn in the Deathly Hallows, is hidden the Resurrection Stone. The scroll itself contains a Latin inscription, meaning: "The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame." - Bird of Hermes is just the creator's nickname. Several poems about the Philosopher's Stone follow, complementing this scroll.

!Hermaphroditus