KAIROS | Rick Tarnas on Jung's Kairos, Archetypes, and the Nature of Soul-Making

Sep 4, 2025

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In this inaugural episode of The Cosmic Codex, I sit with philosopher and cultural historian Richard Tarnas to explore the mysteries of time, the power of archetypes, and the hidden architecture of reality.

We begin with the concept of Kairos, the charged and transformative moment in time, contrasted with Kronos, the measured sequence of historical duration. Drawing on Jung and Greek myth, Rick illuminates how these two modes of temporality shape both individual lives and collective history, and why our present era can be understood as a Kairos of metamorphosis and crisis.

Our discussion then turns to the archetypal dimension and its role in evolution. Rick shares insights from archetypal astrology and depth psychology, reflecting on the integration of opposites, the alchemical process of soul-making, and the necessity of suffering for transformation. We speak of Keats’s phrase the “veil of soul-making” and Hillman’s image of the acorn and the oak, considering how temporal life forges identity and destiny through revision, humility, and creative experiment.

We also address the collective crisis of our age as an initiatory passage of death and rebirth, a planetary ordeal calling for deeper community, spiritual trust, and a renewed relationship to nature and cosmos. Beauty emerges as a central theme, not as surface ornament but as an archetypal force that calls the soul toward transformation and inspires creativity, truth, and meaning.

Books by Richard Tarnas:

Books & Authors Mentioned:

C.G. Jung — The Undiscovered Self, Answer to Job
James Hillman — The Soul’s Code
Charles Taylor — A Secular Age
William Blake — Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Marie-Louise von Franz — Number and Time
John Keats — Letters
Friedrich Nietzsche — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Terrence McKenna — The Archaic Revival
Plato, Aristotle, and references to the Axial Age

Timestamps for Key Moments:

[Welcome & Vision for Cosmic Codex](0:27)
[Kairos, Kronos, and Jung](6:53)
[Archetypes & Depth Psychology](22:08)
[Soul-Making & Suffering](38:07)
[Collective Crisis & Initiation](47:59)
[Beauty, Aesthetics, and Transformation](55:18)