The Seba library treats Carapace in 4 passages, across 4 authors (including Armstrong, Karen, Wiener, Jan, Nichols, Sallie).
He had smashed the hard carapace in which so many of us encase ourselves in order to keep sorrow at a distance. But once he had let suffering in, his quest could begin.
Armstrong presents the carapace as a universal defensive enclosure against dukkha, whose conscious shattering is the prerequisite for spiritual quest.
, Buddha, 2000thesis
He has developed a hard yet brittle carapace of self-reliance, reminiscent of Kalsched’s archetypal self-care system.
Wiener applies ‘carapace’ to describe the rigid yet fragile defensive structure of a patient whose self-reliance functions as a psychic retreat that resists transference work.
, The Therapeutic Relationship: Transference, Countertransference, and the Making of Meaning, 2009thesis
the crawfish protects his tender flesh with an armor so impervious that his form has endured intact from prehistoric times. He even seems to wear his skeleton on the outside proudly.
Nichols uses the crawfish’s exoskeletal armor as an archetypal image of the psyche’s resistance to change, juxtaposing protective endurance against developmental transformation.
, Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey, 1980supporting
Small indentations were drilled in the carapace, and heat was applied: divination was based on the shape of the cracks that resulted.
Watson’s annotation locates the turtle carapace as an ancient divinatory instrument, lending the term an archaic, oracular resonance distinct from its psychological usage.
, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi, 2013aside