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The third can be
likened to the Virgin Mary. It depicts a love that has developed
possibilities beyond simply the biological, emotional,
intellectual and social drives. It shows the possibility of deep
self giving and the discovery of experience pouring into
consciousness from the unconscious, the birth of intuitive
insight. See: Lifestream.
The fourth stage
leads to a new form of wisdom in the individual. This can be
understood by an overview of the whole process leading through the
four stages. To start with the individual's identity and sense of
self has emerged out of biological drives and the instinctual or
unconscious reactions that take place between parent and child.
The person gains a sense of self from the weakness or strength of
their body, their physical prowess or lack of it, the power of
their sexuality and how this is responded to by the opposite sex
and others. If they have a positive identification with the
society in which they live, and if their self expression meets
with success or reward, then they may experience satisfaction in
the first half of their life. If otherwise they may suffer some
degree of depression, anxiety or emotional ill health. |
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Stages of Life |
In either case the person has been largely shaped by factors other
than their own power to shape their life. They are trapped in what has
formed them. The transformation of the relationship with the anima
gradually alters this. The individual breaks through the ready made
boundaries of their personality and discovers the forces - archetypes
and experiences - which helped form them. The ensuing wrestle with
self leads to personal insight into ones own life, and into the
collective life of humanity. One gains insight into the collective
forces, ideas, dynamics, which direct human life. This is spiritual
insight. It enables the individual in some degree to gradually find
motivation from other than the urge toward sexual reproduction, social
power, aggressive domination and self aggrandisement. It isn't an easy
process, but a new type of person emerges from the work. See: the
search for self.
The negative side of the anima
is moodiness, irrational feelings, love that clings to what is painful
or destructive; hunches that may be prophetic, or expressions of
anxiety or jealousy. The dark anima may be depicted in dreams as a
witch, or a woman who deals with evil spirits and calls up fear in the
dreamer. This dark side of ones emotions is easily seen in the moods
that lead to depression and despondency, the dark inner condition that
engulfs any joy or achievement and leaves the person feeling
irritable, touchy, unloved and unable to love. Perhaps this is why the
witch may represent this aspect of our emotions, because unless one
can uncover the roots of such despair, it may feel as if one were
bewitched, haunted or cursed by such feelings. Or it may be that
rather than darkness, one is haunted by the dreams of ideal and
wonderful love that only lead one on to misery - a sort of chimera or
mirage that tempts but provides no reality.
A slightly different side of this negative anima that Marie von
Franz points out is that of the woman/mother who poisons everything,
whose waspish, critical remarks hurt and constantly demean. This may
live on in a man as self criticism. A slight twist on this is the man
who considers himself an intellectual, but actually is possessed by an
anima that does not allow real creative thought, but expresses
opinions and fears as clever words or arguments. This enables the
person to feel themselves always right, and actually avoid any real
meeting with other people or life experience. Strangely, such men are
often driven to pornography, in a desperate drive to meet denied
personal needs.
One side of the anima - the female - that has an ancient history, is
the ability the female has for exploring or contacting the
unconscious. This is due to the receptiveness and ability to allow
something other than her own will to live in her, as a woman does with
love, with a foetus, and often with her man. This giving of oneself is
sometimes represented by the breast or the womb. In literature and
myth we find the theme of the woman guiding the man through the
underworld a frequently recurring one - as with Dante and Beatrice,
Theseus and Ariadne, Rider Haggard and She. The example dream above
also shows the female figure as a guide to the spiritual world, a
world that was previously unconscious or unknown to the dreamer.
In talking about this archetype as a symbol, we must however
remember what it is a symbol of. Usually any such female figure in a
dream can, if explored thoroughly, lead one back to direct experiences
in relationship with ones mother. Such primal experiences as we met in
being born and nurtured in the extreme of our dependency as an infant,
occurred to us prior to speech, prior to organised thinking and
perception. They tend to crystallise around an abstract symbol at
first rather than around a direct representation of ones mother. This
is true of any potent and deeply felt experience that may be difficult
to meet as an adult. Difficult because, as an adult we often avoid
allowing volcanoes of emotions and reaction such as we see as natural
in a baby. Difficult because we avoid feeling so helpless and
dependent.
Whatever aspect of the anima is most pronounced in a man, there is a
tendency to project it on to any woman he gets close to emotionally.
The woman then appears to be an angel of light, or a destructive
witch, or even a femme fatale. Unfortunately women reap the harvest of
what has probably been sown by the man's mother. Mother was the man's
first experience of love, and whatever lessons were learned ' whether
good or ill ' will be lived out with his partner unless they can be
changed. Whatever the situation, the man is challenged, perhaps by a
love affair that tears his marriage apart, to meet in a more adult way
the feelings that were generated in childhood, and may have remained
at that level.
Whatever one may make of Jung's ideas regarding the anima, they
remain a useful definition of the variety of ways men handle their
emotions and their relationship with a woman they love. If one is to
mature and grow as a person, the childlike dependencies and angers,
the blaming and the idolisation must be met and transformed. In doing
so one is led into, or uncovers, a wealth of experience within oneself
that was previously unconscious. Out of this maturing and growing
process the images of the anima as guide and initiator have arisen.
All must meet themselves in one way or another in the process of
maturing, just as we all dealt with emerging sexuality in one way or
another in adolescence. At such a point, the myths and classical
stories still portray to us a wealth of information which may support
us on our own unique path.
Good relationship with or marrying
the woman: Shows the man integrating his own real
emotions, sensitivity and intuition. He is recognising not only his
conscious needs, but also the deep needs of nature within. This makes
him more whole, balancing his exterior male qualities and his personal
will. As this occurs he becomes less dependent upon an external female
to feel whole. It also shows the man meeting his experience of his
mother in a healing way. This enables the man to have a realistic
relationship with an actual woman. It also brings a sense of
connectedness between his conscious self and what he senses as Life,
or as Bucky Fuller calls it, Universe. See: mystic mother below.
To be in conflict with the woman,
or unable to make real physical and pleasurable contact with her:
Suggests difficulty in meeting what may have been a painful or
threatening experience of mother. This can lead to becoming an
intellectual but emotionally barren man. Or being possessed in a
negative way by the female traits, becoming emotionally unstable,
opinionated and illogical. Actual relations with women will be
difficult. Actual emotional or intimate merging is threatening because
it brings the man close to the pain or fear connected with mother. Sex
may be possible but not with a close feeling union. See: woman.
Useful questions are:
Can I recognise my own internal female, and if so what
characteristics does it have?
How is my relationship with my internal woman - perhaps in some way
a negative image of my mother - influencing my relationship with my
female partner(s)?
In my dreams am I ready to marry or unite with my female? |
