“Young men who are overpowered by their mothers [often] escape into the realm of the intellect, to escape the mother’s power and the animus pressure, by getting into the realm of books and philosophical discussion – which they think mother does not understand….”
The Peter Pan Archetype
Continuing our three part series on the fundamental philosophies of Carl Jung’s model of the psyche (refer to last week’s article for diagram), we move to part two where we will take a closer look at the Anima “the woman within.” In part 1 we shared that the Animus is related to the active, intellectual, exploring side of the personality while the Anima is usually related to the emotional, empathetic, and sensitive aspects. The Anima archetype represents the “feminine” aspects within the male psyche, and just like the animus, the Anima has an impact on how a person interacts with the opposite sex. We are looking forward to sharing information on this archetype. The insights gained after reading this will provide a new appreciation and understanding of men and how the personification of female psychological tendencies influence their behaviors. These tendencies are shaped by personal experiences with significant female figures, especially the mother, and collective cultural and societal influences. For a man, acknowledging and integrating the Anima is essential for achieving psychological balance and wholeness. It is fascinating, let’s dig in.
Jung defines Anima with its Latin derivation, meaning "soul". He associates Anima with Aphrodite, Selene, Persephone, Hecate, Minerva, and Pandora and began using the term in the early 1920s to describe the inner feminine side of men. According to Jung, every man carries within him the subconscious image of a woman, which informs his interactions with the opposite sex and influences his inner life.
The Anima, naturally, is originally based on the boy’s image of his mother and this later evolves with his relatedness to more mature romantic relationships. The Anima is generally related to the singular both in the inner and outer worlds. Meaning, a man will generally project his Anima onto only a single woman at any one time, whereas a woman would frequently have more than one animus projection in her life. If a man feels that his mother had a negative influence on him, his Anima will often express itself in irritable, depressed moods, uncertainty, insecurity, and touchiness.
When the Anima is negative, the impulse is to dream about life and to make wishful fantasies about life, instead of living life. It is as if a vampire is sucking one’s blood, the blood being our life activity. Such people sink into passivity, feel constantly tired and do not want to do anything, one wakes up depressed and nothing means anything.
A still more subtle manifestation of a negative Anima involves partaking in a destructive intellectual game, characteristic of pseudo-intellectual dialogues that inhibit a man from getting into direct touch with life and its real decisions. He reflects about life so much that he cannot live it.
“Young men who are overpowered by their mothers [often] escape into the realm of the intellect, to escape the mother’s power and the animus pressure, by getting into the realm of books and philosophical discussion – which they think mother does not understand. He saves his mental masculinity but sacrifices his phallus: his earthly masculinity and creativity. This vitality of action, that masculinity which molds the clay, which seizes and molds reality, he leaves behind, for that is too difficult; he escapes into the realm of philosophy. There is no real question behind such philosophy. Such people have no genuine questions. For them it is a kind of play with words and concepts and is entirely lacking in any convincing quality.” – M.L. von Franz, The Problem of the Puer Aeternus
Just as a negative experience with one’s mother can negatively affect one’s Anima, so too can an overattachment to one’s mother. The man becomes effeminate and is preyed upon by women, he is thus unable to cope with the hardships of life. A mother complex creates a split Anima. On the one hand, if he worships the feminine image too much. A man lives regressively, fleeing from the cold cruel world and seeking his childhood under the nourishing and protecting circle of the mother. This is known as puer aeternus or eternal youth (also known as the Peter Pan Syndrome). It is the archetype of the child-god whose negative aspect includes the unconscious temptation to return to the mother’s womb. This is seen today in adults who are socially immature, the so-called “man-child” who has never “grown up.” The most frequent manifestation of the Anima takes the form of erotic fantasy, which becomes compulsive only when a man does not sufficiently cultivate his feeling relationships, and has remained infantile. This occurs when a man despises women and sees her simply as an object to fulfill his erotic fantasies.
These aspects of the Anima can be projected so that they appear to the man to be the qualities of some particular woman. It is the presence of the Anima that causes a man to fall suddenly in love when he sees a woman for the first time and knows that this is “she.” In this situation, the man feels as if he has known this woman intimately for all time; he falls for her so helplessly that it looks to outsiders like complete madness. In the myth of the Lorelei, beautiful water spirits or sirens sing to seduce and lure men to their death. The Anima symbolizes an unreal dream of love, happiness, and maternal warmth (her nest) – a dream or wishful fantasy that lures men away from reality.
Men also project the Anima onto things as well as women. Such as the captain of a ship being symbolically “her” husband, which may be why he must (according to tradition) go down with the ship if “she” sinks.
Some typical qualities of the displaced Anima are:
● Poor relatedness, behavior in relationships designed to isolate the person from others
● Masochistic
● Greedy, grasping
● Self centered
Anima has just as many important positive aspects. It plays a vital role in putting a man’s mind in tune with the right inner values and thereby opening the way into more profound inner depths. This is the role of Beatrice in Dante’s Divine Comedy, who after descending into hell and the purgatory, guides him through heaven.
In practical terms, the positive role of the Anima as guide to the inner world occurs when a man takes seriously the feelings, moods, expectations, and fantasies sent by his Anima and when he fixes them in some form – such as writing, painting, sculpture or musical composition. For a man, acknowledging and integrating the Anima is essential for achieving psychological balance and wholeness.Some typical qualities of the integrated Anima are:
● Self soothing, self nurturing and self loving
● Access to creative inspiration
● Strong center and contained inner life
● Capable of empathy
● Able to make value judgements beyond the realm of pure rationality
● Access to feeling life
● Good relatedness
● Happy
Jung suggests that young men who have not reached middle age can withstand the total loss of Anima without injury. The most important task for him is to free himself from an Anima fascination with his mother. On the other hand, in the middle of life, permanent loss of the Anima means a diminution of vitality, of flexibility, and of human kindness. The result, as a rule, is premature rigidity, crustiness, fanatical one-sidedness, obstinacy, pedantry, or else, resignation, weariness, sloppiness, irresponsibility, and finally a childish softening with a tendency to alcohol. It is vital after middle life that the connection to the archetypal sphere be established.
As we discussed in last week’s article, the persona is the mask we wear in social situations, while the shadow represents our repressed or hidden aspects. With the conclusion of this topic, we now know more about the Anima/Animus which represents the feminine/masculine aspects of our psyche. Stay tuned next week for the third and final part of our series as we look at the “self” aspect of Jung’s model of the psyche. Self is achieving true integration and balance through the process of individuation, which Jung defined as the undertaking of becoming self-aware and integrating different aspects of the psyche. Some tools we will be looking at include the importance of dreams and meditation. Can’t wait to tie it all together with your next week!
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