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# Provisional life
- URL: https://www.descentpress.com/index/provisional-life/
- Published: 2026-09-05T04:40:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-10T01:59:13.000Z
- Description: Provisional life names an attitude toward life that is more or less imaginary, not rooted in the here and now, commonly associated with puer-aeternus psychology.
- Author: Jae Botávn
- Tags: #index, #Import 2026-09-04 23:45

## 1\. Etymology

**Provisional life** names an attitude toward life that is **more or less imaginary, not rooted in the here and now**, commonly associated with [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/) psychology.

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## 2\. Plain summary

Sharp ties the term to puer psychology—life lived as if temporary, uncommitted to present reality. Samuels (under *puer*): perennial adolescence leading to provisional life; von Franz on difficulty settling; Hillman on positive puer destiny/meaning (follower literature—flagged secondary). House dual-path: detail of the eternal youth lives on [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/); this lemma keeps Sharp’s attitude-name.

**Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common provisional-life motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):**  
imaginary / not here-and-now; puer association; fear of being caught; ever starting anew; dual-stamp [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/); vs rooted commitment.

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## 3\. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology provisional life is **unrooted attitude linked to puer**—Sharp short. Prefer dual-stamp [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/); no invented CW for this short lemma.

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## 4\. Lexicon

**Sharp (1991)**

> Provisional life. A term used to describe an attitude toward life that is more or less imaginary, not rooted in the here and now, commonly associated with puer psychology.

(Sharp, 1991) — no CW pointer

**Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986)** — under *puer aeternus* pp. **124–125**

> But the puer has a positive side as well. Along with the perennial adolescence that leads to the provisional life, Hillman (1979) saw in the puer a vision of 'our own first natures, our primordial golden shadow... our angelic essence as messenger of the divine'.

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986/2013, pp. **124–125**) Dual [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/).

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## 5\. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

*No new provisional-life-only §5 leaf this pass.* Dual-stamp only from [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/) (already FOLDED; do not rewrite):

Samuels *puer aeternus* pp. **124–125** Sharp provisional / unverified (no CW on vessel Sharp extract).

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**See also:** [puer-aeternus](https://www.descentpress.com/index/puer-aeternus/); [mother-complex](https://www.descentpress.com/index/mother-complex/); [individuation](https://www.descentpress.com/index/individuation/); [persona](https://www.descentpress.com/index/persona/); [senex](https://www.descentpress.com/index/senex/).

## References

Jung, C. G. (1968). The psychology of the child archetype. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9, Pt. 1). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1940)

Jung, C. G. (1968). Aion. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9, Pt. 2). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). *A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis*. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). *Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts*. Inner City Books.

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