Development of Collective Unconscious with Reference to Temporal Settings in The Conference of Birds

Abstract

Sufism deals with time and space beyond a traditional temporal setting yet connecting all the strings on a central point of truth with a universal message as revealed in “The Conference of the Birds (1177 A.D)” by Persian Sufi poet and mystic Farid ud Din Attar (1221). The study seeks to explore many facets of the human mind and experiences by applying the lens of the Collective Unconscious (Jung, 1916), the role of unconscious mind and personal psyche in the fulfilment of the heartfelt desire of humans to uplift themselves spiritually irrespective of time and geographical vastness. The concept of collective unconscious (Jung, 1916) plays the role of a catalyst in the temporal settings of existence, which enhances the magnitude of human experiences, timelessness, and universal wisdom collectively. The study opts for a qualitative approach for the analysis while a close reading technique has been applied to evaluate the data. The paper concludes that the unconscious mind is a storehouse of the unending experiences of the personal psyche, yet this mystery revealed in the actions humans perform typically and see in dreams as dreams reveal more than what they hide; they are considered intuitive by Jung (1974) because they are a harbinger of the unconscious mind on all three levels, i.e., personal, cultural and archetypal.