The puer aeternus archetype is one of the images of the Self
The psychotherapist frequently sees cases of this sort.
Such a person considers himself as a most promising individual. He is full of talents and potentialities.
One of his complaints is often that his capacities and interests are too wide-ranging.
He is cursed witha plethora of riches. He could do anything but can’t decide on one thing in particular.
The problem is that he is all promises and no fulfillment.
In order to make a real accomplishment he must sacrifice a number of other potentialities.
He must give up his identification with original unconscious wholeness and voluntarily accept being a real fragment instead of an unreal whole.
To be something in reality he must give up being everything in potentia.
The puer aeternus archetype is one of the images of the Self, but to be identified with it means that one never brings any reality to birth. ~Edward F. Edinger, Ego and Archetype, Page 14
