Guest Editor's Introduction: Of Towers and Twins, Synchronicities and Shadows: Archetypal Meanings in the Imagery of 9/11

In the call for papers for this special issue, I incorporated some words from a May 2003 graduation address by Irish poet Seamus Heaney. Heaney referred to the "ominous foreboding" he felt in his continuing reaction to 9/11 and to the ensuing war against Iraq: "These have been astounding events, yet our consciousnesses hasn't quite got the measure of them. Twin towers bursting into flame, human bodies falling like plummets, sorties of black-winged bombers taking off, as terrible and phantasmagoncal as blackwinged devils of the medieval mind, explosions appearing in the coordinates of a reconnaissance camera, looking as harmlessly white and fluttery as snowflakes" (Dillon). Heaney acknowledges, I think rightly, that our consciousness still has not gotten "the measure" of these images and events. His words suggest a psychical stew of trauma, denial, and archetype. Many of the articles in this issue recognize that to accurately measure our consciousness, we need to interpret the symbols that have emerged. They seek to read the signs of this post-9/11 time through such measures as jokes, television programs like The West Wing, greeting cards, magazine covers, the meaning of a skyline, and the metaphors of serial murder and innocence. I too am compelled by these signs, especially those associated with the originating event, many of which continue to engage us with the force of an archetype. Carl Jung (1968) contended that we are born with archetypal symbols already in our unconscious minds. These collective representations reflect universal human experiences and the cosmic forces that human lives manifest-birth, love, separation, death, disorder, achievement, loss, change, and so on. Archetypes assume different forms and colors in different contexts, but their significance is not contingent on individual or cultural history. Rather, archetypes carry meanings that we intuitively understand. Archetypes are like "a vortex of energy ... [and] are accompanied by much emotion" (Wehr 52). Jung contended that the experience of touching archetypal energies is always life changing and, not infrequently, life threatening. All archetypes propel into consciousness those feelings best described as "numinous." Archetypes inspire awe and shock because they are akin to the sacred-which is always creative and destructive, spiritual and mundane, hght and dark-reflecting the complementary dualistic nature of nature, psyche, and cosmos. The presence of an archetype is signaled by the occurrence of what Jung called "synchronicities," causal and meaningful coincidences. In his view, synchronicities result from an inner unconscious knowledge that links a physical event with a psychic condition. Synchronicities pervade the events of 9/11 and are detailed on numerous urban legend-type Web sites. Some of these include: The date of the attack: 9/11: 9 + 1 + 1 = 11. Each building had 110 stories: 1 + 10 = 11. After September 11 there are 111 days left to the end of the year. September 11 is the 254th day of the year: 2+5+4 = 11. Twin Towers-standing side by side, look like the number 11. The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11. State of New York: The eleventh state added to the Union. "New York City" has eleven letters. Flight 11 had ninety-two passengers on board: 9+2 = 11. Flight 11 had eleven crew members on board. 911 is the telephone number called to report emergencies in America. These coincidences might be dismissed as trivial matters. But a Jungian framework would spur us to take them seriously and seek the relevant archetypes that are in play, particularly in the attack on the Twin Towers, which is my focus here. The first archetype, immediately confronting us, is that of the Tower itself. The Tower The terrorists deliberately chose symbolic targets-the Pentagon and the World Trade Center Towers -and with the attack on the WTC, staged a spectacle that would ensure great psychological impact. …