When I got sober 47 years ago I needed to stop taking money from my mother and earn my way in the world. Several years later I received from her in the mail a set of a apron strings. I was proud of myself and appreciated her sense of humor.
Although you commented on this a year ago, because there have been a few upvotes in agreement, I feel the need to reply: There is more than one mother archetype. If she nurtures and loves you, she is an earth-mother archetype; if she poisons you, she's a devouring-mother archetype (I don't see any mother making such sudden mood swings, but I suppose it could happen). This last is what Dr. Johnson is referring to when he talks about the dragon and the masculine need to defeat the dragon to free him or herself of that particular mother complex.
Every day doesn't have to be a fight, in fact, once we have the process of conquering our moodiness and weakness figured out, overcoming it becomes a habit, and no longer feels like a fight. And why are we now worth our salt? Because this gives us a sense of self-respect and confidence in our strength and abilities - this is otherwise known as self-esteem. Once we have a strong self-esteem, we become truly valuable human beings. Just our presence can influence and model other people's self-esteem, which can be a great gift to those who struggle with it. With stronger self-esteem, we are going to be more kind, more humane, more giving, more fun to be around, more likely to do what we love doing (and doing it well!). As a consequence, we are more proactive, productive, useful and happy.
What I get from this is that men are people, and women are just here to be rescued so men can feel whole... Men are heroes (subject) and women are objects to be rescued...
I love the late Marion Woodman's work but this little snippet of jungian thought irritated me . Does everything have to be about mother ? Sometimes I just want to say to men " grow the eff up and get on with it already " . A lot of men I have known can't even find the damn pickle jar without a map and a pep talk and these are the fellows who need to rescue me to find their wholeness ? Lol
What about how this applies to women? Should be titled " The Mother Complex as it Applies to Men". Can't believe this bias still exists, particularly in Jungian circles.
Not sure how the Mother Complex, the shadow and the anima are related. The anima and mother complex are hard to tell apart and may be part of each other.
+Funkyboodah I think the Mother Complex and Anima live in the shadow. However, as I understand it, this depends on how much of your shadow you have incorporated into your life.
The anima is part of the shadow, if you didn't become aware and accept it. The mother complex sounds a bit like a form of anima possession when it's still in the shadow ?
The anima and shadow are different archetypes, according to Jung. The shadow is typically more related to the same sex, while anima/animus is related to the opposite sex, but of course that's a generality and Jung would be the first to say there can be cases of crossover.
Sorry, but the shadow is not an archetype, but the part of our self where archetypes resides, collective and personal archetypes and characters. Shadow is a concept close to the unconscious. The anima is : "a place between personal consciousness and the collective unconscious", and it should "function as a door, a bridge leading to the images of the collective unconscious, as the persona should be a bridge to the world" according to Jung. Anima is more like a part of the unconscious.
@Sassy The Sasquatch mother complex refers to how your experience of the feminine is shaped by your mom. like, if you mom was super cold and distant, that has implications for how you view women and how they make your feel. if your mom was super warm but opedial, then that also has implications for you.
@@ultravioletpisces3666 Ah, you can't really conclude this based on one short video. Jungian psychology is unbelievably rich and complex, and you have to read and study it for a very long time to be able to connect the dots and fully understand the meaning of short snippets of wisdom like this one. It's important to understand, that whenever Jung (or a Jungian) talks about masculinity or femininity, he refers to the masculine or feminine parts (qualities) that are present in all of us. No one is fully masculine or feminine (according to this philosophy), we are all both, and we all need to make a continuous, conscious effort to develop our inner femininity and masculinity, as part of our individuation process. So yes, a woman absolutely can be a hero if she chooses to develop herself that way (and many women do). Just like a man can live his life like a maiden in distress (and yes, many men do). Robert A. Johnson explains all this beautifully in his book "We" (Part I, chapter 1).
