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Affective Maturity and Psychological Androgyny

-Manuel karimpanackal

If we survey the recent church documents (PDV, n. 44) or literature on celibate formation we can
see importance of affective maturity in interpersonal relationship, including complementary sex
interactions. In Laudate Si. (No.155) this is encouraged for all in every human encounter. In all
the discussions emphasis is on valuing and developing his/her unique gender identity by
becoming increasingly aware of gender differences.

Regarding the significance of sexuality, Pope Paul VI in the "Declaration on Certain Questions
Concerning Sexual Ethics." (1975, 1) States:

According to contemporary scientific research, the human person is so profoundly

affected by sexuality that it must be considered as one of the factors which give to
each individual's life the principle traits that distinguish it. In fact it is from sex that
the human person receives the characteristics which, on the biological,
psychological and spiritual levels, make that person a man or a woman, and thereby
largely condition his or her progress towards maturity and insertion into society.

Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education reiterates in: Educational Guidance in Human Love:
Outlines for Sex Education (1983, 4, 5):

Sexuality is a fundamental component of personality, one of its modes of being, of

manifestation, of communicating with others, of feeling, of expressing and of living
human love. Therefore it is an integral part of the development of the personality
and of its educative process: " It is, in fact, from sex that the human person receives
the characteristics which, on the biological, psychological and spiritual levels, make
that person a man or a woman, and thereby largely condition his or her progress
towards maturity and insertion into society. " 3

Sexuality characterises man and woman not only on the physical level, but also on
the psychological and spiritual, making its mark on each of their expressions. Such
diversity, linked to the complementarity of the two sexes, allows thorough response
to the design of God according to the vocation to which each one is called.

This shows that church documents encourage man-woman interaction to achieve affective
maturity. But seldom do we find any serious discussion on androgyny as a way to affective
maturity. So I chose this topic Affective Maturity and Androgyny. Androgyny is a balanced state
of the masculine and feminine qualities (Complementary sex) into a unified whole in each
person. The paper is intended to stimulate reflection and research on androgyny as a way to
wholistic development and affective maturity in celibate life. Since many have repressed their
masculinity/ femininity, connecting with our inner male or female element is essential to interact
with men and women. Hence we need to know how to develop them so that we can live our
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celibate life with affective maturity and spontaneity. For this purpose we shall discuss affective
maturity, androgyny and related concepts to facilitate affective maturity.

Affect

Reber (1985) in Penguin Dictionary of Psychology describes “affect” as a “general term used
more or less interchangeably with various others, such as emotion, emotionality, feeling, mood,
etc. The feeling of “affect” is the desire to be closer to another person. This involves a variety
of different expressions of caring, loving, praying, and creative activity. It is possible to live
fully healthy and happy life without genital sexuality if one develops affective relationships.
But without the affective dimension, the physical cannot persevere. Hence affective maturity is
essential for fulfilling celibate life.

Maturity

Maturity comes from the Latin word ‘maturus’, meaning ripeness. It is the “state of adulthood, of
completed growth, of full functioning; the end of the process of maturation.” (Reber,1985).
While the term maturity is commonly used with an adjective prefixed to specify the kind of
growth achieved like sexual maturity, intellectual maturity, affective maturity) in biological,
sociological, psychological, and spiritual contexts, there does not exist a widely accepted set of
criteria for determining its presence in most instances. They are generally value judgments made
of persons to reflect how successfully they correspond to socially and culturally accepted norms
(Reber,1985).

Affective maturity

Affective maturity involves sexuality since the core of sexuality is love. Love plays a central role
in the life of human beings. Man cannot live without love. (PDV 44). Pope John Paul II in
Pastores Dabo Vobis, n. 43, wrote: “Affective maturity, which is the result of an education in
true and responsible love, is a significant and decisive factor in the formation of candidates for
the priesthood.” Affective maturity, the readiness to give and receive love, is of central
importance in celibate life expressed in true friendship, warm, mature and fraternal relations
and community life.

“Since the charism of celibacy, even when it is genuine and has proved itself, leaves man’s
affectations and his instinctive impulses intact, candidates to the priesthood need an affective
maturity which is prudent, able to renounce anything that is a threat to it, vigilant over body and
spirit, and capable of esteem and respect in interpersonal relationships between men and women.
A precious help can be given by a suitable education to true friendship, following the image of
the bonds of fraternal affection which Christ himself lived on earth.” (PDV, n. 44).

Of special importance is the capacity to relate to others. This is truly fundamental for a person
who is called to be responsible for a community and to be a "man of communion." This demands
that the priest not be arrogant, or quarrelsome, but affable, hospitable, sincere in his words and
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heart, prudent and discreet, generous and ready to serve, capable of opening himself to clear and
brotherly relationships and of encouraging the same in others, and quick to understand, forgive
and console(125) (cf. 1 Tm. 3:1-5; Ti. 1:7-9). People today are often trapped in situations of
standardization and loneliness, especially in large urban centers, and they become ever more
appreciative of the value of communion. Today this is one of the most eloquent signs and one of
the most effective ways of transmitting the Gospel message.
In this context affective maturity, which is the result of an education in true and responsible love,
is a significant and decisive factor in the formation of candidates for the priesthood. (PDV 43).
The discussion on affective maturity is based on the presupposition that love is central to human
life (PDV, 44). The human foundation of priestly celibacy is the priest’s capacity for mature
relationships which, in turn, depends largely upon his degree of affective maturity.

In a Christian perspective affective maturity refers to our affections and desires which find
their term, their fulfillment, in Christ. We grow, in other words, to full stature in Christ, in whom
we find the fulfillment of all desires. It implies that our emotional and subjectively experienced
feelings, are those of a mature adult. This means that we are not controlled by our emotions, but
that we are aware of them, learn from them, and integrate them in our relations with others and
with the world.

In a general sense emotional maturity (affective maturity) is conceived as the ability to be aware
of one’s own and others’ feelings and manage them in self-enhancing ways and/or other-
enhancing ways in tune with one’s age, identity, and vocational ideals. Ecclesial documents
emphasize the capacity for genuine love and intimacy as the core of affective maturity.

Gender has directly contributed to an effective collaboration in ministry though it has paused
challenges too. it was not necessarily the other person’s maleness or femaleness that presented
the problem, but that each of us live out our maleness or femaleness within cultural contexts that
give us strong messages about how we are expected to act as a man or woman, what is
appropriate as a man or woman. Here affective maturity becomes important (Garrido,
2011).Though male and female are largely similar there are inviolable characteristics which
differentiate male from female. Hence it is vital to know the differences in order to relate to
members of complementary sex effectively. Affective maturity in interpersonal relationship
presupposes an awareness of gender similarities and differences in perception, thinking, feeling
and behavior etc. A crucial aspect of human maturity is the ability to interact appropriately with
males and females of all ages and backgrounds. Moreover, Affective maturity without genital
intentions is more difficult for most men than for most women(Kraft, 2005).

To achieve personal success, it is believed that individuals must be strong, self-reliant, powerful,
determined, independent, rational, logical, unemotional, aggressive, and highly competitive.
These traits are associated with an idealized masculine role. In contrast, to meet the standards of
the ideal feminine role, it is believed that females must be warm, dependent, deferent, passive,
emotional, sensitive, caring, and nurturant, thus acquiring traits that would generally hinder the
attainment of personal success in a high-powered, highly competitive society like ours. Within
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this male-dominated cultural framework, males and females actually do internalize and acquire
the traits associated with their respective gender roles during the socialization process
(Feingold,1994, p. 449). Thus, it is easy to see why females are often seen as inadequate and
inferior to males

Androgyny
Psychological Androgyny (derived from Greek: Andros= man; gyne =female) is a state of
blending of the male and female qualities or traits in an individual. It expresses a kind of
psychological wholeness or gender balance. It is different from hermaphrodite which comes
from the Greek god Hermaphroditus who was born of Aphrodite and Hermes (the gods of male
and female sexuality) and embodied the sexual characteristics of both male and female..
androgyny is partly delineated in Daoist, Hindu Greek and Hebrew thought. The practices for
the union of yin and yang in Daoism, and the notion of God as ‘ardhanarısvara’ (God as half-
woman—Śiva-Śakti) in Hinduism highlights the importance of union of masculine and
feminine. It held that Śiva without Śakti, is a corpse (“without Śakti Śiva is Śava”). Shakti is
the creative power of the Absolute, as the Divine Mother. The religious treatise, Tantra presents
the discipline for uniting the two principles, Śiva and Śakti as a means of attaining Self-
realization. Myths often express truths which often escape our attention.

A Greek legend said in Plato’s Symposium holds that man was originally spherical in shape with
four arms and two faces looking opposite ways. Zeus, the Greek god sent a lightening and cut
them into two halves. (The word ‘sex’ is derived from the verb ‘secare’ which means to divide
or cut). The notion of original human being as male and female is found in many other traditions.
For example, Thalmudic and Persian myths speaks of how god originally made two-sexed
creatures i.e. male and female in one, and later divided them into two (Sanford,1999). Man and
woman are considered separated parts of one whole. The English phrase, “better half” to
signify “wife” assumes the oneness or wholeness of male and female.

The bible views human being as a complete male-female combination. In Genesis we read,
Then God said ,“Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness;……..” So
God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he
created them (Gen 1: 26-27). Besides, in God’s conception, God himself is a combination of
male and female. Besides woman is latent in man (Gen2:21-22) for woman was made of the rib
of man, and man latent in woman. (X-chromosome is present in every man).The word wo/man
(ish/shah Hebrew)consists of man (ish Hebrew) as part of it.

In literature we find many philosophers, poets, playwrights and artists express the idea of anima
and animus energies within ourselves and outside before the scientists embarked on it. Nicholas
Berdyaev (1960) affirms that “Man is not only sexual but a bisexual being, combining the
masculine and the feminine principle in himself in different proportions and often in fierce
conflict”.
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It is C. J. Jung, (CW9.1 The archetypes and the collective Unconscious) the famous Swiss
psychologist and psychiatrist, who pioneered the scientific study of masculine and feminine
energies in humans and applied the terms anima and animus to indicate feminine energy and
masculine energy respectively.

One of the important contributions of C. G. Jung, to the understanding of personality dynamics

is the concept of anima and animus. He employed the terms anima and animus to indicate
certain functions of the human mind. Anima stands for the female energy present within the
male. It is the feminine unconscious aspect in every man. Animus represents the male
energy present within the female. It is the masculine aspect in a woman’s unconscious. It is
important because it helps us to know ourselves better and provides useful insights to improve
our interpersonal relationship especially those which involve complementary sex interactions.
Jung theorized that every individual is born with the potential for both sets of gender
characteristics, but under the influence of genes and socialization, man consciously tries to
develop his masculinity and avoid everything feminine and vice versa—leaving the other latent
in the unconscious. But in the process one is severing a significant aspect of his/her own
personality. It cannot be separated easily because it is inherent in the personality structure. If
anima and animus are not integrated it negatively influence us in daily life and growth in
affective maturity.

Androgyny refers to the ability of a person to respond with appropriate masculine or feminine
traits whichever best suits the context. A celibate has to be both ‘father’ and ‘mother’ to the
people who will be entrusted to his/her care.

Androgynous individuals would be able to rely on either so-called masculine traits or so-called
feminine traits to help them cope with problems, based on the demands of the specific
situations that confront them. Research does indicate that androgynous individuals respond with
greater flexibility to crises than individuals with more traditional gender orientations. However,
society continues to value masculinity and to devalue femininity, but hopefully more progress
can be made toward the development of roles for males and females that incorporate equality and
mutual respect.
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Yang and Yin Qualities

Masculine Feminine
1. Exernal 1. Internal
2. Doing 2. Being
3. Purpose 3. Awareness of the present
4. Goal setting 4. Connection to the unconscious
5. Enacting an agenda 5. Embracing paradox /cognitive
dissonance
6. Personal agency, autonomy 6. Exploring the mysterious /non
rational
7. Rationality/ logic/intellect/logos 7. Eros /nurturing /caring
8. Individuality 8. Connection to wisdom
9. Transformation/change 9. Emotional intelligence
10. Stoicism 10. Unconditional love
11. Analytical prowess/discernment 11. Respect for earth and its
creatures
12. Direction/commitment 12. Dark/mysterious/stillness

Anima

Latin word anima means “a current of air, wind, breath, the vital principle, life, soul”. Anima
refers to the unconscious feminine dimension of a male which can often be forgotten or
repressed in daily life. Anima is the personification of all feminine psychological tendencies in a
male’s mind. Women are generally seen as visionary, instinctual and communal and express
intuition, sensitivity, receptivity, nurturance and emotion. Anima usually communicate through
intuition, inner promptings, gut feelings or images.

Animus is the ability to think, speak, move and do things in the external world. The creative
energy of the anima is expressed through the action of the masculine counterpart. This is the
dynamics of creativity in both man and woman. The feminine side communicates the creative
impulse through a feeling and the male side acts by speaking or other appropriate activities.
The artist who sculpts a statue based on the inspiration from within or a mother who rushes from
the kitchen, motivated by some intuition, to the court-yard and saves her kid from a stray-dog
are examples of the anima in tandem with the animus in creative tasks.

Owing to societal, parental and cultural conditioning, the male element within the woman, can be
often inhibited, restrained and suppressed. There are also some individualistic societies like
America which force masculinity ideals upon woman as ways to excel and succeed(Luna, 2012).
As we live in a male-dominant society, we often use our masculine traits to suppress and
control our feminine traits instead of fostering and expressing them. It is more visible and
external in men while it operates internally and with more subtlety in women. In such situations
the anima can’t work, as its power cannot operate in the external world without the animus’
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action. Then anima may manifest itself indirectly through manipulative patterns, sickness,
emotional outbursts etc. Men usually suppress or deny their anima and behave like unemotional
stoics as if everything is under control. They are likely to suppress women probably because he
fears women, who make them aware of their anima (Luna,2012). Women too use their male
energy to deny and suppress the male power in her with the inadvertent consequence of feeling
of being lost and lonely.

All of these external elements can contribute towards a negative Animus, which reveals itself in
a woman’s personality through argumentativeness, ruthlessness, destructiveness, and
insensitivity. However, integrating a positive Animus into the female psyche can result in
strength, assertiveness, levelheadedness and rationality

THE ANIMUS

The Latin word Animus means “the rational soul; life; the mental powers, intelligence“. It is
the unconscious male dimension in the female psyche. Animus is the personification of all
masculine psychological tendencies in a female’s mind. “...the animus corresponds to the
paternal Logos of discrimination and cognition...” (Jung, CW9ii, para. 29). Logos is the principle
of logic and structure, traditionally associated with spirit, the father, world and the God-image.
Men are naturally focused, objective and separate and manifest action, assertiveness and
aggression. A woman usually identifies her ego with her femininity and repress her animus
(assertiveness, direct action, thinking) (Shakti, 1998).

Anima animus projection

All the contents of our unconscious are constantly being projected into our surroundings, and it is
only by recognizing certain properties of the objects as projections or imagos that we are able to
distinguish them from the real properties of the objects [“General Aspects of Dream
Psychology,” The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, CW 9i, par. 507..] Jung was
among the first to point out that we see unacknow-ledged aspects of ourselves in other
people. In so doing, we create a series of imaginary relationships that often have little or nothing
to do with the persons we relate to. This is quite normal, a just-so story of life. However,
psychological maturity depends in no small part on becoming aware of when, how and why we
project.

When we project our anima/animus to another our perception of that person alters significantly.
The person on whom we project is like mirror in which we see the reflection of our
anima/animus without recognizing that what we perceive in him/her is our own psychic content.
The anima and animus are invisible partners in every male-female relationship. So there are at
least four personalities in any man-woman relationship.
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The critical truth is that they seriously influence our relationship. The other on whom the
projection rests is either over-estimated or under-estimated. In both cases, the individuality of the
other is tampered by the projected image (Sanford,1999). (In fact anima/animus projection is
the mystery of falling in love and falling out of love with a member of the complementary sex).
If only we recognize the projection we can take it back and become aware of who we really are
and who he/she really is.

Integration

Even if we know about the way anima and animus function we often associate it with gender and
keep it separated. In fact, a balanced and fruitful life or affective maturity requires fully
developed male and female energies in harmony and balance. For effective integration the
female has to be in the guiding position. For she is the intuitive self and receiving channel for
communications from the Higher Intelligence. She prompts, “I wish that you consult a
physician.” and he goes. The male listens to her and acts upon her inspiration. The adventurous
nature of the male springs to daredevil action inspired by the feminine as seen in the young man
in love with his fiancée. Through this process a person gains wholeness and a fully developed
personality structure. A woman may see in imagination her male stand in front herself behind in
dialogue to foster this integration. When both energies are in tandem with each other the human
person experiences an incredible feeling of strength, openness, joy, and love. Such a human
person is not just surviving but thriving as a fully human and fully alive individual (Shakti,1988).
Jung held that in order for a person to become whole through individuation one needs to
dialogue with and embrace the anima/animus.

Development of the anima

If one does not pay attention to it, anima tries to communicate via dreams or our body. If a man
heeds to her properly she can guide him well. Anima communicates her love, wisdom, and
clarity of vision and direction through one’s feelings and desires. Anima, guides and shapes the
way one relates to women and the world at large. This feminine image has her roots in the
relationship he had with his mother. A man’s experience of his personal mother puts the flesh on
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the inborn archetype of the Anima and both define his attitude towards women and the
functioning of his inner feminine principal (Matthee, 2016). A man often identifies with his
masculinity and repress, deny or ignore his anima (intuition, feelings, nurturance, sensitivity)
(Shakti, 1998). In order to psychologically progress and reach greater internal balance and
harmony, it is necessary for a man to recognize, embrace and connect to this latent element of his
character.

According to Jungian psychologist Dan Johnston, a man who is in connection with his feminine
Anima displays “tenderness, patience, consideration and compassion.” However, repression of
the female element within the man results in a negative Anima that triggers personality traits
such as “vanity, moodiness, bitchiness and sensitivity to hurt feelings.” Jung distinguished four
broad stages of the anima development. He personified them as Eve, Helen, Mary and Sophia.
(CW16, para. 361)

Eve

Eve is the most undeveloped form of anima. Men at this stage see and relate to women as sex
objects. They are likely to have problems with repression and anima possession. They view
women as non-virtuous and manipulative. These women control them by means of his sexual
associations with them. He has self-doubt and lacks courage which comes from healthy
relationship with her. He also lacks direction in life sans connection with his emotional guiding
system.

Helen of Troy

In the second stage, personified in the historical figure of Helen of Troy, the anima is a collective
and ideal sexual image. Women may be seen as having agency in the world i.e. able to do things.
Still they are seen as non-virtuous and manipulative. He feels that he does not have full control
of his life because of anima’s pull over his personality. He has the capacity to move in life with
direction but lacks the imagination and creativity which are traits of the anima.

Mary

The third stage (Mary), based on the Virgin Mary, manifests in religious feelings and a capacity
for lasting relationships. Here women are perceived as having agency and they are perceived as
virtuous with no flaws. It is a form of sanctification of women and projects every good upon her.
These men are capable to do work in the external world and have good relationship with women
but it is not yet fully integrated. They are dogmatic and rigid about what is right and wrong. They
have ideas and wishes to achieve things in life but thy shy away from doing things that will make
him more authentic because of his dogmatic stand. As they are not fully integrated they can’t
access the unconscious inner world and its resources. He is not free from the stereotypes.

Sophia
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In the fourth stage, as Sophia (called Wisdom in the Bible), a man's anima functions as a guide to
the inner life, mediating to consciousness the contents of the unconscious. A fully integrated
anima is the embodiment of wisdom. He sees women as unique individuals capable of good and
evil. He has access to the internal world and wisdom. Sophia is the mediator between spirit and
matter, conscious and unconscious. He can act and be creative. He is not a supermale who
never displays any emotion. He is not bound by the stereotypes regarding men and women.
Anima cooperates in the search for meaning and is the creative muse in an artist's life. When
anima is not integrated, the feminine traits go into the shadow and brings about ‘anima
possession’.

Anima possession

When a man’s Anima is not integrated, a man is under the control of the anima—anima
possession. It negatively affects his life. When emotions are not properly acknowledged and
expressed and their goals are frustrated, the anima possession occurs. The Anima possessed man
is a spineless wimp who does not know when or how to take action in the world. He is moody
sulky, irational and directionless in life. He can’t set goals in life and make them come true.
Although very passive, he totally overreacts to slights and confrontations. He is not appropriate
in his actions, either he is paralyzed and can’t find the energy to do what needs to be done, or he
jumps into action when he should be thinking about it first (Matthee, 2016). He often has
problems with women, even with mother, wife or sister. As he is disconnected from emotions, he
experiences confusion and chaos in life and lacks motivation to act.

The Anima possessed man is stuck in a fate that his repetitive patterns choose for him. The
Anima spins a cocoon of fantasies and illusions. He dates the same type of women, and
experiences the same resistance in the world again and again.
The Anima represents the divine aspect of the human being. She is a goddess that imbues
everything with numinosity and mystery. Any numinous experiences he has, she quickly attacks
and he is left with a feeling that he experience was “nothing but”… She is a master of creating
doubt and he finds himself always doubting his options and choices. He gets lost in
contemplations and thinking and this is what prevents him from taking action. At night he
dreams about his Anima, she appears in his dreams as a monster, attacking him, threatening him
and dismissing him (Matthee, 2016).
Connecting to the Anima for males is about understanding feminine energy which manifests
itself as passivity, sensitivity, and emotionality. Here are some suggestions by Aletheia Luna
(2012) for man to integrate the anima into the total self.

• Practice the art of listening with concern and compassion.

• Rediscovering your passionate side through romantic gestures.
• Taking care of, or nurturing something.
• Practicing thoughtfulness and consideration of the needs of others.
• Expressing the inner Anima creatively, e.g. music, art, sculpture, poetry, dance.
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• Practicing mindfulness, meditation and other ways to get in touch with, and understand,
inner emotions.
• Expanding your hobbies or interests to incorporate feminine energies in your life.
• Practicing self-study in order to develop greater consideration of your internal needs for
love and fulfillment.

Development of the animus

A woman’s inner man, her animus, is strongly coloured by her experience of her father. Just as a
man is likely to marry a woman like his mother, so a woman is prone to choose a man
psychologically like her father, or, again, his opposite.

A woman’s animus becomes a helpful psychological factor only when she can tell the difference
between her inner man and herself. While a man’s task in assimilating the anima involves
discovering his true feelings, a woman must constantly question her ideas and opinions,
measuring these against what she really thinks. If she does so, in time the animus can become a
valuable inner companion who endows her with qualities of enterprise, courage, objectivity and
spiritual wisdom (Luton, 2018). Like anima development in man, there are four stages of animus
development in woman. They may be termed Powerful Father, Man of action, Man of word,
Spiritual guide.

Powerful Father

Animus is seen as mere physical power at this stage. For such a woman sees a man as simply a
‘stud’—personification of physical power. For her he is there to provide her physical
satisfaction, protection and healthy babies. He first appears in dreams and fantasy as the
embodiment of physical power— for instance, an athlete or muscle man, a James Bond.

Man of action

In the second stage woman sees man as capable of romance, initiative and planned action. He is
behind a woman’s desire for autonomy and a career. She associates with a man at the level
generic husband-father who gives safety and support for his family, with no life of his own.

Man of Word

In the third stage the animus appears in dreams as a professor, clergyman, another authoritarian
figure. The woman of this stage has a great respect for traditional learning. She can assert her
world-view, opinion and carry out creative tasks. She is able to relate to a man on an individual
level, as lover rather than husband or father, and she seriously ponders her own elusive identity
(Luton, 2018). She still does not have connection to the unconscious animus as mediator to bring
out her feminine wisdom to her life.
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The spiritual Guide

In this stage, the animus is seen as personification of a messenger from the gods like Mahatma
Gandhi, or Dalai Lama. Like the anima as Sophia in anima development, the animus mediates
between a woman’s conscious mind and the unconscious. As she has access to the inner wisdom,
she freely brings out her creativity. In myths he is seen as messenger of the gods and in dreams
as a good guide. Sexuality for such a woman is imbued with spiritual significance (Luton,
2018).

Animus Projection

Any of the above aspects of the animus can be projected onto a man, who will be expected to
live up to the projected image. (Luton, 2018). The more differentiated a woman is in her own
femininity, the more able she is to reject whatever unsuitable role is projected onto her by a man.
This forces the man back on himself. If he has the capacity for self-examination and insight, he
may discover in himself the basis for false expectations.

Animus possession

Animus expresses in animus possession which arises from her shadow masculinity. She wants to
be omniscient and makes judgment about others, particularly other women. Her expressions are
characterized by rigidity of opinion, aggressiveness and over-talkativeness and the desire to
have control over everything. She tends to be cut off from life and emotions and focus on
manipulating material objects in order to appropriate them. She can’t have healthy relationship
with others because she is cut off from her emotional side (DiamondNet, 2018).
Masculine stereotypes in a patriarchal society subdues a woman’s true nature. So she has to get
rid of the mask because it deprives her of her true womanhood and the deep values of the
feminine. (Harvey,2002). When a person upholds unconsciously the values of the patriarchal
culture it difficult for a man/woman to go inside, seek his treasure and use it.
A woman’s identification with male values of the society hinders the development of her true
female self. Developing the qualities of her natural female self she can act in the world with a
new and creative style without constraints from the masculine culture.
Men also have to shed the identification with the negative values of masculine culture, for his
potentialities too lie deep within. This interior journey will make him more humble and
recollective. But the soul-work will make women more visible and noisy. Through this inner
work both men and women discover and experience their self-worth as man and woman
(Harvey, 2002).
A Greek myth tells that Greek goddess Athena was born from the head of Zeus her only parent
through a ‘Caesarean surgery’ by Hephaestus who cut open the head of Zeus with an axe. It is
said she was wearing full armour and brandishing weapons, when she was born. The myth
alludes to the repression of the in-turning, feminine principle by the outgoing, masculine
principle which expresses in history in wars, conquests and genocide. (Harvey, 2002)
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For females, connecting to the inner Animus is also about understanding masculine energy which
manifests itself as everything that is active, dominant, and logical.

When integrated a woman has her own opinion and direction in life. She can manage her
emotions rationally and logically. She is aware of her internality and has the analytic skill to
connect to her animus. Aletheia Luna (2012) gives the following suggestions for females to
integrate the animus.

• Practicing assertiveness.

• Adopting a role or position that puts you in authority/dominance.

• Learning to take charge of something in your life.

• Discovering and developing your leadership abilities.

• Reading non-fiction instead of purely fiction.

• Becoming more self-sufficient and self-reliant.

• Learning masculine skills, (e.g. fixing car problems, handy-man abilities like using drills,
fixing broken appliances, etc.)

• Gaining more emotional balance by practicing mindfulness, meditation, self-exploration

etc.

• Learning to become more rational by studying the approach to problems, decisions and
situations by rational people.

Females may possess more Animus (male) energy than female energy, and thus will need to get
back in touch with the Anima (female) energy latent in the unconscious mind and vice versa for
males. Essentially, creating a balanced self is always contextual, and changes from person to
person. It is the male energy that decides whether to fight, block, control, the female energy and
thereby keep it separate or it can decide to surrender to it and support it. Healthy heterosexual
relationships and active imagination can help a lot in developing and integrating the
anima/animus.

The power of the anima is increasingly felt in the world today. When both become equal in
power they become partners as designed by God. Then individuals and societies will get
transformed from fear, conflicts, competitions and tendencies to control to trust, co-operation,
peace and love and mutual respect. Developing the yin and yang qualities in right proportion,
irrespective of being labeled masculine or feminine, is the way to wholeness holiness, health, and
affective maturity. Always remember that you are more than your gender identity with many
latent potentialities on your hidden side. The transformation to androgyny is a lifelong project
for each of us within the context of an ongoing cultural and ecclesial changes.
 14

Reference

Berdyaev, N. (1960) The Destiny of Man, Harper & Brothers, N.Y. pp 61-62
Matthee, S. (2016). Anima Possession: Are you a spineless wimp?
https://appliedjung.com/anima-possession/

Diamond Net. Jungian Psychology - The Anima and The Animus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHgPZ-CEAvk&t=10s

Luton, F. (2018) A Woman’s Animus and its Development. http://frithluton.com/articles/womans-

animus-development

Garrido, A. (2011) Woman and man, in: human Development Vol. 32 No 1 Spring.

Harvey, R. (2002) The Flight of Consciousness: A Contemporary Map for the Spiritual Journey.
Ashgrove Publishing

Kraft, W. (2005) sexuality and Spirituality, pursuing integration, Wipf &Stock Publishers. USA.

Luna, A. (2012) Anima and Animus: How to Harmonize Your Masculine and Feminine
Energies https://lonerwolf.com/the-anima-and-animus/

Reber, A. (1985) Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, Penguin Books: Great Britain

Sanford, J. A., (1999) The Invisible Partners How the Male and the Female in Each of Us Affect
Our Relationships. Better Yourself Books: Bombay

Shakti, G. (1998) Living the Light: A Guide to Planetary Transformation Nataraj Publishing:
USA

Sharp,D. (1991) Jung Lexicon A Primer of Terms & Concepts.

Dr Manuel Karimpanackal