The Move Towards Wholeness Man meets His Animus or Visa Versa C. Jung

by frankiespeakin 21 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  frankiespeakin

  Merry,

  But be aware----it is claimed that before the contrasexual image is integrated, it often partakes of the worst traits of its sexual counterpart.

  I am aware there are dangers in this seeking of wholeness, but I'm not sure what you mean. I read somewhere that a man when he meets his anima he is powerless and acts in a way he has no power over to change, and that if he get a match where the woman or visa virsa opposites are way over in the harmful end of the spectra that can spell real problems.

  But if the opposites are not to the extreme in selfishness and selflessness then the blending can occur smoother. And there is where age comes in to be helpful. For when we get older we naturally become more our opposite sex in hormonal changes harsher men become more subdued, they start to take on more womenly features,, become kinder,, more sensitive to feelings,, and the oposite seems to take place in women as they get older,,they get more facial hair,,become a little less sensitive emotionally and so forth. (Not saying this is every case).
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Prop,

  Everyone is somewhere on the andro-gynic dimension. There are masculine women and feminine men. What people need to do is figure where they fit on that continuum and learn to be comfortable with it. I don't believe you can ever achieve integration if you are too masculine or too feminine. You have to learn techniques and reminders that make you conscious of your deficit.

  I don't think anyone is really qualified to determine where the middle line is accept someone that has integrated or as Jung would say "Indivituation".

  From what I read that when Individuation occures the person no longer has these conflicting tensions in emotion, and everything that happens is not viewed with negativity for one is at peace.

  I'm gonna see if I can find anything on the net about this.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Here a little something on the process of indiviuation according to Jungs teachings:

  http://www.worldvstore.com/individuationinward_journey.htm

  The Anima/Animus

  The Anima is the female soul image of a man, the Animus the male soul image of a woman. That is the simplest definition, and one, which many struggle with, since Jung seems quite absolute in defining a person's soul image as gender opposite.

  "Soul image" sounds very pretty, but the Anima/Animus is not without a negative pole as well. Jung's anima whispered to him that what he was doing was "art". He rejected this and thus avoided going down what would have been for him the wrong one.

  If one is on good terms with one's Anima/Animus he/she can prove a valuable messenger between the unconscious and the conscious, a connecting link - a veritable Hermes.

  The Self

  The Self is simply the center and the totality of the entire psyche. It is the archetype which contains all the other archetypes and around which they orbit. It's something of a paradox, and extremely difficult for the conscious ego to accept.

  Archetypes and the Individuation Process

  According to Jung, one must get in touch with the Shadow and Anima/Animus before one can truly get in touch with the Self. The order is sequential, and as tempting as it may be to try and skip the Shadow or deal only superficially with it, it is here that we begin.

  Jung referred to this initial step as "the First Act of Courage". And the first thing that is necessary in coming to terms with one's own shadow is simply to acknowledge that it exists. It sounds obvious, but there are those for whom the thought of actually having a darker side to their nature is extremely uncomfortable. Yet this is one of the primary reasons for undertaking the 'Shadow work' in the first place, since that which we have yet disavow in ourselves will be projected outwards.

  One of the clues to projection of shadow content is the degree of negative emotion aroused in us by something in the outside world - often other people. It can be something they do, or even just the way they look. Projection is accompanied by emotion. Jung distinguished between 'feeling' (a function which evaluates) and 'emotion' (a physiological affect). If there is no projection of something which is at the root personal, it is possible to evaluate something (or someone) external as being 'bad', without being greatly upset, experiencing, at most, a sense of regret or pity. If the emotion is stronger than that, then we may want to ask ourselves what of ourselves we see in what is making us feel that way. That said, it is important to note that not all projection is negative, that at some level it may all be projection given our subjective perspectives, and that there is a place in the world for righteous anger, which motivates social action for change.

  One of the advantages of withdrawing one's shadow projections and owning our own 'stuff' is that the external world may brighten up a little for ourselves and those around us, since we won't be projecting so much of a negative nature outwards and saying, 'That's just how the world is, life's a bitch and then you die.'

  There is also truth in the 'Golden Shadow' observation that there are things of value, which we have disowned, both aptitudes and qualities, in the Shadow. The person who blushes, and qualifies, and resists, and is generally tremendously uncomfortable when asked to sing may have a part of them which wants nothing more than to belt out a round or two of something raucous, commanding the admiration of those around. This explains the popularity of having a few at a Karaoke bar. Also, without going into great detail, life energy (libido) is locked up in the Shadow, energy we could all probably use more of.

  The downside to the shadow work is that it involves confronting parts of ourselves, which are located in the Shadow precisely because they are frightening or shameful. Jungian analysts advise that this work be done only under the supervision of a Jungian analyst, ignoring the fact that this eliminates a large class of people who cannot afford the services of such a professional. Another book (ref?) suggests that at very least one should do the work with the help of a very close friend whom one trusts in order to have a reference in the external world, an anchor and safe haven and source of reinforcement when dark realizations seem to be all out global truths of complete personal unworthiness. It isn't a journey to be undertaken lightly.

  At some vaguely defined point evolving naturally out of the process it becomes possible to begin the work of getting in touch with the Anima/Animus. There is less written on this stage than that of the Shadow, which is, as one would expect, given that fewer have made it this far.
• 

  MerryMagdalene

  Merry,

  But be aware----it is claimed that before the contrasexual image is integrated, it often partakes of the worst traits of its sexual counterpart.

  I am aware there are dangers in this seeking of wholeness, but I'm not sure what you mean. I read somewhere that a man when he meets his anima he is powerless and acts in a way he has no power over to change, and that if he get a match where the woman or visa virsa opposites are way over in the harmful end of the spectra that can spell real problems.

  I only meant that this process can be a bit of a bumpy ride, depending to a great degree on a person's own personal experiences with and feelings about the opposite sex.

  Caitlin Matthews lists 5 loose categories that described the experiences of female respondents to her questionnaires and interviews:

  1) Primal Forms (including invisible friend, animal, toy, natural feature in a landscape)

  2) Obstructing Forms (raptor, soul-thief, criminal, outlaw, provoker of strife)

  3) Patriarchal Forms (critic, judge, watcher, authority figure)

  4) Complementary Forms (lover, partner, beloved, spouse)

  5) Inspiring Forms (inspirer, deity, spirit-companion, initiator)

  ~Merry
• 

  Satanus

  According to Jung, one must get in touch with the Shadow and Anima/Animus before one can truly get in touch with the Self.

  
  

  
  I have a ways to go. I have been in the shadowlands for a few yrs, now.

  S
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Satan,

  Yeah the same here. Although I didn't know that was what i was actually doing. Alter states of consciouness such as psychedelics, and mj seems break off pieces of it and bring it to consciousness for examine and experience. It was hellish at time but doesn't seem so any more as I gradually have come to accept those parts of me, I seem to be more at peace with my darkerside as the years go on. It is just like it says in the essay:

  One of the clues to projection of shadow content is the degree of negative emotion aroused in us by something in the outside world - often other people. It can be something they do, or even just the way they look. Projection is accompanied by emotion. Jung distinguished between 'feeling' (a function which evaluates) and 'emotion' (a physiological affect). If there is no projection of something which is at the root personal, it is possible to evaluate something (or someone) external as being 'bad', without being greatly upset, experiencing, at most, a sense of regret or pity. If the emotion is stronger than that, then we may want to ask ourselves what of ourselves we see in what is making us feel that way. That said, it is important to note that not all projection is negative, that at some level it may all be projection given our subjective perspectives, and that there is a place in the world for righteous anger, which motivates social action for change.

  One of the advantages of withdrawing one's shadow projections and owning our own 'stuff' is that the external world may brighten up a little for ourselves and those around us, since we won't be projecting so much of a negative nature outwards and saying, 'That's just how the world is, life's a bitch and then you die.'
• 

  Panda

  Marion Woodman is a Jungian analyst and co-author of The Maiden King. On page 174 in discussing both sides of the "archetypical energy" as seen in the BabaYaga stories and compared to the release of the feminine from the old male/female states. But we must have the strength through love of the new paradigm. Woodman uses Princess Diana.

  "Whether or not Diana embodied that femininity is not what is important. WHat is important is that we recognize in her tragically brief life the unrealized potential in the femininity that burst into cultural consciousness through her death. If we look around us at the upheavals in relationships, surely there can be no question that a tidal wave is being released from the unconscious that is sweeping out the archaic paradigms that are now impossible to live. The feminine has disowned the old paradigm of male/female relationships as well as the inner relationship between masculinity and femininity in both sexes. The old psychic order has now outlived its usefulness and can operate only in a self destructive way. We are at a new stage in the evolution of consciousness, called to move into our individual and cultural maturity."

  Another result in this growth has been the expansion of fundamentalist ideals which hamper growth and refuse the paradigm shift in culture. This tide may have to struggle, but if we don't accept this revolution in culture we will self destruct on the "crippled masculinity ... grounded in a false view of the feminine." Religion is the major fundamentalist choke hold on the evolution of consciousness. We hear cries for old time religion... back to the basics of the good old days etc. These ideals are the crippling myth (the story of the Seal Woman is a good example). But we also observe these in society as many women have returned to the home, no longer using their knowledge or abilities or power because they "choose" to stay at home and raise the kids. However, this is part of that stultifying refusal to evolve. We allow these young talented women to revert to the already broken patriarchal, rather than share in a revolution to change the work environment in order to accomodate motherhood.
• 

  Panda

  Emily Dickenson wrote (and Woodman quoted in the discussion of the unconscious --- changes)

  I put new Blossoms in the Glass

  and throw the old away

  I push a petal from my Gown

  That anchored there --- I weigh

  The time 'twill be till six o'clock

  I have so much to do---

  And yet ---Existence ---some way back

  Stopped ---struck---my ticking ---through---
• 

  greendawn

  I am sorry about posting the same three times above I don't know how it happened and the edit facility doesn't work.
  
  Strangely enough a man hides a woman of a certain abstruct form in his unconscious mind and if he meets a woman in the outside world who is the incarnation of that form he can fall madly in love with her. The same applies for women with a man hiding in their unconscious.
  
  The idea of correct balance is that one should not become too one sided in his conscious attitude overfavouring one of the two elements otherwise the neglected element can manifest itself in a destructive way.
  
  The GB of the jws is psychologically completely out of balance by over emphasising the masculine spiritual ideal, as one would expect from mainly celibate men out of touch with women.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Green,

  Thanks for you contributions, i see you are thinking deeply about this, and make some very interesting observations. Your GB observations have merit, IMO.

  Panda,

  Religion is the major fundamentalist choke hold on the evolution of consciousness. We hear cries for old time religion... back to the basics of the good old days etc. ; These ideals are the crippling myth (the story of the Seal Woman is a good example). But we also ; observe these in society as many women have returned to the home, no longer using their knowledge or abilities or power because they "choose" to stay at home and raise the kids. However, this is part of that stultifying refusal to evolve. We allow these young talented women to revert to the already broken patriarchal, rather than share in a revolution to change the work environment in order to accomodate motherhood.

  I think as we see this changing and blending of roles in male and female, will also slow down the population explosion as dogmatic religions are slowly put in its place. I think in time our species will evolve to blend the two sexes, and bring about a more ecologically friendly species, if not we will become extinct.

  The material you quoted and explained has help me round out some ideas in my head thanks.