In the nature of twins: a study of the archetypal realm of universal duality, opposition and imitation between the 'first' and 'other' in creation myths

摘要

This paper explores the complex, archetypal world of twins through creation myths. Twins are special cases of 'two', in that their relationship is qualitative not quantitative: they enact the relationship between the 'first' and the 'other'. I present two early creation myths to explore the primacy of this dyadic relationship before it was superseded by patrilineal primogeniture (c. 3000 BCE), which designated ethical, fixed gender specificity to one twin over the other. I examine which gender has been negatively affected and speculate about the reasons behind the devaluation and disassociation. Analytical psychology, in particular the individuation process, is relevant to this paper because Jung saw the creative value of working experientially with the unconscious 'shadow' and intra-psychic contra-sexual twin 'other' to help bring taboo, disassociative emotions into mainstream cultural life.'