Approaching psyche as the Mikros Cosmos

Mikros Cosmos - μικρός κόσμος - 'The small world' 'the microcosm'

Psyche - ψυχή - 'the mind' 'soul'.

I am the president of a small nation called 'Self'.

This nation has, like any nation, a wide variety of actors. There are lovers, soldiers, nobles, slaves, murderers, nurses, industrialists... the list goes on. There are progressives and conservative actors. There is a guerilla leader and a military dictator. A mad scientist and a farmer in the field. There is an old woman and small boy.

If we zoom out, I am the president of a small nation called "Self" nestled in a vast world called 'Psyche'. But let's zoom in for a moment.

What if our inner world reflected the outer world?

Utrisque Cosmi, Robert Fludd, 1619.

The idea of an inner world that reflects the outer is not new. The hermeticists of antiquity meditated on the microcosmos, an inner world which reflects the 'makro cosmos' (literally, 'big world',) meaning the exterior world. The c. 8-9th century Arabic text The Emerald Tablet/Tabula Smaragdina is where the maxim 'as above; so below' is thought to have originated. [1] Jung believed strongly in the idea of a collective unconscious - an innate inner world that transcends the personal, something that has common symbols we all have the capacity to understand.

So, what is the state of your inner world?

Many clients come into my consulting room feeling instinctively that their mind has become unbalanced - favouring 'too heavily' anxious or depressive thoughts. Naturally, and again, instinctively, clients often tell me that they wish they could 'just stop' thinking this way, and then heavily shame themselves when this does not happen.

Imagine now that your anxious thoughts were the writings of a fringe journalist being repressed by an authoritarian state. If you were the journalist in this scenario, can you imagine just quietly going away because you were delivered a cease and detist? Imagine then the authoritarian state [you] then tried to have the fringe journalist [also you] assassinated. Maybe it works - then another fringe cell crops up in its place. The conditions that created the fringe journalist are the same.

The actors you do not accept and allow will find ways to gain power and prevalance.

Like most nations, 'Self' functions best as an imperfect democracy. Forcing the guiding hand (ego - the leader) too far in one actor's direction creates resistance and growing frustration with actors. All actors have strengths and weaknesses, light and shadow. Jung theorised that once an archetype (an actor, a bit like the inner journalist) is repressed and/or kept from consciousness, it becomes like a god, wreaking havoc on our internal state. As with a small child who has dropped an icecream, shushing and quieting without attending to the pain will lead to louder crying and screaming (poor baby!).

I know not every actor can have an a deciding vote in all decisions, but we can try to hear each part out.

What if your inner world was not just made up of actors, but animals, creatures, monsters and natural phenomena?

What if you approached your inner world as an environmentalist, seeking balance in the landscape? Perhaps we might have greater respect for bubbling inner volcano, or be able to recognise when the rabbits have been overbreeding.

Photo by Toby Elliott on Unsplash

Perhaps we have spent many months in the dark, dank cave, but psyche is asking us to traverse the landscape to find a precious underground crystal.

Having an appreciation of the many layers of self - the microcosmos - means nothing is out of place, and everything exists that should do so. However, we may want to do some pruning, introduce an apex predator to sort out a pest, or offer new roles to helpful but underutilised inner friends.

Next time you experience a troubling, painful, frustrating, or persistant unpleasant feeling, grab a pen and paper, and practice the following:

1) If this feeling was a part of me that was a person, an animal, a creature, or inner figure, what would it be? What would it look like?

2) Why am I finding this part of me so unpleasant?

3) If this part of me had a gift or wisdom to impart, what would it be?

4) Where am I lacking its wisdom in my day to day life?

e.g.

1) Say I had a part of myself that lashed out in arguments, and I identified this part of me as being like a striking snake. I think more - what type of snake? Is it a shy adder in the grasses, or a rattlesnake that gives warning when it is about to be stepped on? Is the snake a ground snake, or does it hang out in trees?

2) I see snakes as dangerous and vicious. I don't like the part of me that strikes out at others.

3) Snakes are good defenders and they can hold their own against much larger animals. Maybe this part of me feels small and vulnerable but is mighty.

4) Perhaps I am lacking the ability to know when and how to assert myself in a healthy way. The snake is telling me about my relationship to conflict and where I may need to find ways to speak my boundaries before I am crushed under the foot or hoof of another creature.

Therapeutic parts work can help explore the microcosmos, from a nonjudgmental, open, and curious space. To book an intial session with me, you can contact me by submitting a form into my website or emailing me here: amberthornton.work@gmail.com

I don't use generative AI in any of my blog posts. All my content is written by me.

References

[1] Mackey-Kallis, S., (2024), "Jungian Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious" in EBSCO Research Starters, Available: URL: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/jungian-archetypes-and-collective-unconscious [Accessed 14/08/2026]

[2] Fritscher, L., (2024) "Carl Jung's Collective Unconscious Theory: What It Suggests About the Mind." VeryWell Mind, Available: URL: www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-collective-unconscious-2671571. [Accessed 13/08/2026]

[3] Schwartz, R. (1995) Internal Family Systems Therapy, Guilford Press.