The Archetypal World of Nikola Tesla by Ivan Nastovic

Abstract

The Archetypal World of Nikola Tesla (2010), written by Prof. Dr. Ivan Nastovic, looks at the scientist Nikola Tesla in the light of the analytical psychology of C. G. Jung. Unlike psychoanalysis, which deals with research of the individual unconscious, that is, what is solely personal, Jung's analytical psychology allows us to comprehend what is found on the other side of the personal. Nastovic discusses several archetypes that shaped Tesla's world. He first points out the importance and the function of the Great Mother archetype and Tesla's white dove in order to fully understand his personality and his work. While introducing the reader to Tesla's opus, Nastovic explains the archetype of light, strongly present in Tesla's personality, the archetypal roots of Tesla's discovery of the rotating magnetic field, and the mysticism of his personality and his creativity. He also looks at Nikola Tesla in light of Hillman's acorn theory.

Keywords:

• archetype
• collective unconscious
• creation
• Great Mother
• Jung
• light
• rotating magnetic field
• Tesla
• transpersonal
• unconscious
• white dove

Notes

^1. Bauer notes:

This archetype can be found in various traditions: In the Hebrew tradition, eight thousand years ago, Enoch described “two very tall men, different than any I have seen in the lowlands. Their faces shone like the sun and their eyes burned like lamps.” The ancient prophet Ezekiel is transported from Chaldea to Jerusalem and back in an aerial chariot of God, operated by angels. Elijah also ascended in a fiery chariot and was gathered up “in a windstorm to the heavens.” Five thousand years later, the prophet Daniel recorded: “… a man dressed in linen with a girdle of pure gold around his waist, with a face that shone like lightening, eyes that were like fiery torches, arms and legs gleaming of burnished bronze, and the sound of his voice was like the noise of the crowd.” (…) In the Chinese tradition, the princess Miao Shan attains the light body and ascends to the immortal realms after being executed by her father, the emperor. She is thereafter known as Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion who particularly assists those in poverty, those suffering from oppression, disease and war. In the Tibetan tradition, the book Dzyan speaks of the luminous sons who are the producers of form from no form. One leader shines forth as the sun. He is the blazing divine dragon serpent of wisdom. (…) In Christianity, the appearance of light forms are seen as, the Divine Mother, as the angels, and as Christ. These appearances have been recorded through history and particularly by the great artists who have influenced our experience of the divine forms. Mary is told she will become the mother of God by the angel Gabriel, who proclaims: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee and blessed is the fruit of thy womb—Jesus.” The Christ rises again after three days in the form of light. (2011, 1)

^2. Tesla writes:

A long time ago, when I was a boy, I was afflicted with a singular trouble, which seems to have been due to an extraordinary excitability of the retina. It was the appearance of images, which, by their persistence, marred the vision of real objects and interfered with thought. When a word was said to me, the image of the object which it designated would appear vividly before my eyes, and many times it was impossible for me to tell whether the object I saw was real or not. This caused me great discomfort and anxiety, and I tried hard to free myself of the spell. But for a long time I tried in vain, and it was not, as I clearly recollect, until I was about twelve years old that I succeeded for the first time, by an effort of the will, in banishing an image which presented itself. My happiness will never be as complete as it was then, but, unfortunately (as I thought at that time), the old trouble returned, and with it my anxiety. Here it was that the observations to which I refer began. I noted, namely, that whenever the image of an object appeared before my eyes I had seen something that reminded me of it. In the first instances I thought this to be purely accidental, but soon I convinced myself that it was not so. A visual impression, consciously or unconsciously received, invariably preceded the appearance of the image. Gradually the desire arose in me to find out, every time, what caused the images to appear, and the satisfaction of this desire soon became a necessity. The next observation I made was that, just as these images followed as a result of something I had seen, so also the thoughts which I conceived were suggested in like manner. Again, I experienced the same desire to locate the image which caused the thought, and this search for the original visual impression soon grew to be a second nature. My mind became automatic, as it were, and in the course of years of continued, almost unconscious performance, I acquired the ability of locating every time and, as a rule, instantly the visual impression which started the thought. (1900, 9)

^3. From the website Myths-Dreams-Symbols: The Psychology of Dreams:

The Great Mother manifests itself in myth as a host of archaic images, as divine, ethereal and virginal. Commonly conceived of as a nature goddess, the recurrent theme of nature and motherly care go hand in hand. As the prominent feature of almost all early Indo-European societies, the mother archetype manifests itself in a host of deities and symbolism. Always ambivalent, the Great Mother is an archetype of feminine mystery and power who appears in forms as diverse as the queen of heaven and the witches prevalent in myth and folktale.

^4. The serpent power of the goddess Kundalini gives life. Kundalini lies coiled in at the base of the spine.

^5. Kundalini is the feminine power at the base of the spine that travels to unite with the masculine power at the top of the spine. This unification leads to higher awareness.

References to The Collected Works of C. G. Jung are cited in the text as CW, volume number, and paragraph number. The Collected Works are published in English by Routledge (UK) and Princeton University Press (USA).