Your Ad Here | TrafficFish | Freebies | Universities | Free Websites | Fashion | HairStyles | Travel | Games | Geoglebay | MP3s ADD YOUR LINK Small Business Loans | Learn To Build Websites | Turnkey Websites | Domain Names | Money Making | Forex | Real Estate | Autos

What exactly does feminine mean? What does masculine imply? Jung used the names of two mythical figures to represent the duality of life. Logos he used to describe the masculine attributes such as logic, progress and the ability to discriminate. Eros describes the feminine aspects like imagination, playfulness and our ability to relate to and care for others.

Logos can be further described as thought, wisdom, reason, achievement, knowledge, memory, order and growth. It is our will or spirit, and it has been symbolised as the sun, the bull and dry brightness.

Eros, symbolised by the moon, the cow and moist darkness, is our feeling capacity. It is the weaver of dreams and fantasy; Eros is mood as opposed to will, intuition instead of knowledge. It is this feminine element that cries for rest and inertia, for fun instead of the dry demands of Logos. Eros is emotion and chaos, yet the need for comfort makes it representative of tradition - the opposite of the movement of Logos.

A man, in basic Jungian terms, has a Logos-dominated ego, while his counterposition is Anima - the archetype of Eros. It is his Anima that pushes him to realise his need to play, to be content, to relate and to look for union.

Anima often projects herself onto women in the outer world; it is when a man proclaims 'love at first sight' that we can see Anima at work.

For example, a man who leaves his wife whom he loves because he has 'fallen in love' with another woman may well be under the influence of Anima. Love, after all, is a long process that reaches a mature and fulfilling level after much work; being 'in love' seems so much more powerful because the other person takes on the guise of our inner opposite. This is the myth of 'love at first sight' and being 'in love'.

When a woman becomes the personification of Anima, her lover can be quite possessive and is easily driven to jealousy. It is as though a missing part has been found, and it is not given up easily. In this light, the term 'the other half' seems significant.

Eros as chaos has been dominant in the thoughts of men for some time. The desire to achieve in a logical world sometimes takes men away from the feminine aspects that need to be integrated, aspects that can be seen as destructive to progress and counter to reason.

The more masculine a man is, or greater the repression of Eros qualities, the greater the Anima's power of attraction. We see evidence of this in men who have no time for or inclination towards Eros; they live in 'the real world' yet often fall into moods that defy the logic they hold so dear. They can cease to be objective and related, and a gnawing discontent will continue to erode their masculinity. Men in these moods are often the last to see it, much to the astonishment of those around them. They will continue in that fashion, angry at the world, until they address the issue.

As Jung said of Anima: "She intensifies, exaggerates, falsifies, and mythologises all emotional relationships with his work and with other people of both sexes".

The Anima may be expressing the fact that the man's present job is too draining or unfulfilling, or that he has been hurt but is unable to express this openly. Anger can easily turn to resentment - this is how Anima tells a man that he must be related and open.

Though Eros (as imagination) aids greatly in creative efforts, Anima is the voice of tradition that often stops men in their tracks; sometimes the risk associated with progress is at odds with the contentment and security that Anima seeks. Paradoxically, however, Anima also pushes men to a new search for meaning; to live without feminine values would be like being a lifeless robot whose only purpose is to learn and progress.

Women, generally speaking, are more orientated towards family life and relatedness. The counter to her feminine ego is the Animus, the bright light of Logos within a woman. This is the force that compels a woman to go beyond the world of feeling and intuition and into 'the real world'. She must leave the comfort and security of home and expand her horizons.

Women who lack contact with their Logos aspects often find their Animus projected onto men who seem to embody their own inner masculine strengths. Such women will endure futile relationships because they cannot bear to lose their link to masculinity.

Animus speaks to a woman in many voices: when a woman becomes judgemental and indulges in criticism and generalisations (seen as inferior logic), it is a sure sign that the Animus needs integration. Her feminine ego sees Logos values as dangerous, even though integration of the Animus would ultimately lead to a new fulfilment. The neglected Animus has to find some expression, and this can be clearly seen in scornful, judgemental women, and in women who assert themselves by starting arguments.

A woman who debates using generalisations is feeling the push of her Animus towards logic and personal achievement. Generalisations, besides being inferior to the clarity of Logos, can affect a woman's femininity. Imagine a man coming home from a hard day at work. He greats his wife, then sighs: 'Today was such a long day!' Her only response is: 'Some days are longer than others.' - hardly an expression of relatedness and concern. Thus a woman's femininity may suffer, as well as her progress towards true fulfilment.

The process of integrating our opposite side Jung termed individuation. Though this is a most difficult task, it is one that is necessary to achieve a sense of wholeness. It is not surprising that, in this New Age of enlightenment, these principles of Jung are finding their way into modern thought.