Jung's concept of anima and animus

[Aquagraph]

The anima (animus) can be identified as the totality of the unconscious feminine psychological qualities that a male possesses or the masculine ones possessed by the female. It is an archetype of the collective unconscious and not an aggregate of father or mother, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or teachers, though these aspects of the personal unconscious can influence the person for good or ill.

Your thoughts?

Also:

Because a man's sensitivity must often be repressed, the anima is one of the most significant autonomous complexes of all. It is said to manifest itself by appearing in dreams. It also influences a man's interactions with women and his attitudes toward them and vice versa for females and the animus. Jung said that "the encounter with the shadow is the 'apprentice-piece' in the individual's development...that with the anima is the 'masterpiece'". Jung viewed the anima process as being one of the sources of creative ability.

If you can discern something personal you can discern or theoreticize about, I'd like to hear more.

I don't really mind if you just end up talking about your dream partner as those concepts are very entwined.

[ashlesha]

I've said before that when people talk about duality what I'm really learning about is their anima/ animus. this has been most obvious with a user named udp if you've ever seen his posts. but its with everyone.

[Pookie]

I personally feel that "It also influences a man's interactions with women and his attitudes toward them and vice versa for females and the animus." Is the real gem of making this distinction.

It seems like a human fail-safe to make sure we're attracted to people who have other qualities than us. Akin to how we like the pheromones of people who have anti-bodies to diseases/viruses that our body does not. And how we're attracted to people who look different than us.

It seems as though laced through our entire species is a guiding thread that leads us to our opposite. Variety and diversity strengthen one's gene pool, just as the opposite weakens it(evidenced by monarchy rule and various other inbred societies).

[strrrng]

I've said before that when people talk about duality what I'm really learning about is their anima/ animus. this has been most obvious with a user named udp if you've ever seen his posts. but its with everyone.

lmao

It seems as though laced through our entire species is a guiding thread that leads us to our opposite. Variety and diversity strengthen one's gene pool, just as the opposite weakens it(evidenced by monarchy rule and various other inbred societies).

inbred royal families with strong genes don't necessarily devolve; the common occurrence seems to be a defunct every several generations who gets locked in a cellar (probably something to do with how warranted they view taking such a life). actually diversity and homogeny aren't that simple; increasing diversity within a small area catalyzes sterility. as far as duality goes, what you're attracted to is an undeveloped trait that you possess; in this sense, there are no opposites, as separate things. whereas being attracted to someone literally different would be more along the lines of the self-negating nature of conflict or id relations.

[Pookie]

I think you may have missed to point of my post, by getting caught up in how to interpret the details. Nothing in my post disagrees with your post. You took opposite to literally.

[Creepy-pokeball]

I do not know, Aqua.

My dreams are very vivid, colorful, stark... and phantasmal -- everything radiates from within to without.

With that said, as to your other half of th text, I tend to be attracted to those that I perceive as whimsical, despite needing someone far more grounded than I am.

[Kogoro Akechi]

i didn't watch anime for years, plus i didn't really like it

[PistolShrimp]

I think the animus in me is a sort of destructive impulse, an urge to tear things down in order to create something new. Also an urge to scratch my crotch in public.

[Absurd]

[marooned]

I've encountered figures in my dreams before that I see as expressions of the animus. It is not like one person or character but is sort of the other side of who I am in the dream and this person isn't exactly me either. I recognize dream figures as the animus because they are male (so far), significant in the dream and more complex than some of the other dream characters, and there is a strange psychic understanding between us. Some are darker and others are lighter but the common way of interacting is understanding why we are each choosing what we are and not getting in each other’s way regardless of disagreement. I think that often these sorts of characters appear when my dream is concerning a problem in my life and they often present other sides of the problem that I am not necessarily inclined to address... this creates the opposition or disagreement with some as to my focus or way of going about something. Generally an oppositional animus character in a dream is one I can't agree with (it is like a shadow self who would rather do things in a way that I don't agree with sometimes with darker motives) but it will not try to harm me, nor I it, because we are the same (and so "I" in these dreams is my non-shadow self and the best outcome is to have faith in better motives). I don't really feel there's a direct connection with duality in that I don't seem to perceive these characters as my "dual" as they express themselves differently depending on the dream context and are never the same really... it's just the other side of me as I am in the dream weighing in on something and the way that I am split is specific to the dream and context as well. Sometimes it's really ridiculous like years ago when I was thinking about selfishness a lot and I was torn about ways of living my life regarding self-interest and others and for some reason it was all so confusing at the time, I had a dream where I simply did what I was naturally inclined to (this was an end of the world dream) and I ran into an animus dream figure in a passage way who told me not to do what I had chosen to do and who gave his way of seeing it and told me I was a fool for staying and that I would die for not being smart like him. The feeling of opposition was rather intense but again neither of us would get in the others way. The dream only confirmed to me that I had to go my own way and a lot of my confusion dissipated afterwards. I think when the shadow rose up and provided the opposite view in all its glory I could see how that simply isn’t something I feel a resonance with and it was all constructed from ideas that aren’t really my own but that I couldn’t let go of either. Not that it’s all solved now, but the intensity of the confusion was. With the animus character despite the opposition it is on my side and I am on its. But I can't emphasize well enough how the expression of this "shadow" is very different per manifestation, just as in these sort of dreams the part that is "me" isn't always quite the same either. Anyway I think that my thoughts on this would change with more information and dreams somewhat.

Thinking on this further, if the animus is kind of symbolic to one's relationships with the masculine or male figures in their life, I think the distance and lack of expression around such dream figures only shows a strange disconnect from masculine figures, not knowing how to interact or understand, and a preference for avoidance.

[Absurd]

[strrrng]

I think you may have missed to point of my post, by getting caught up in how to interpret the details. Nothing in my post disagrees with your post. You took opposite to literally.

your point amounts to saying opposites attract. I was qualifying how that phenomenon manifests, i.e. inbred royal families tend to maintain strong gene pools. another example would be how some people are most attracted to those of a similar constitution. I agree with you on a purely psychological level, but it's just too general.

[Gilly]

My anima is calm and centered but not inert or flimsy, and traditionally rather than stereotypically feminine, but simultaneously very much an individual. The character that comes to mind is Kate Winslet's character from Titanic. I have always dreamt myself a "rescuer" in the fashion of DiCaprio's springing of Winslet from caged gentility, but I think this is certainly a projection because over the course of my life I have essentially done this very thing for myself, having been raised as a preacher's kid (PK for short, an archetype of its own with rather elegant and unique yet highly predictable symptomatology) and deliberately loosing myself from the chains of both religion and behavioral expectations.

My anima certainly caters to my over-the-top emotionality by remaining calm and tempering me with perspective, a trait I have very deliberately attempted to develop in myself, which comes in handy frequently as I am dating my identical

My anima is firm and uncompromising, not gentle but never over-the-top or deliberately shaming in chastising my outbursts.

Let me end by saying that I think our anima/animus is rarely if ever a good fit for a long-term relationship. The girl I lost my virginity to and another of my exes were as strong embodiments of my anima as I have encountered, and we would never have worked in the long run; my current girlfriend is definitely a better fit than either in terms of being a compatible long-term partner and promoting my growth as an individual.

[silke]

anima/animus is a reminder that deep down inside on the most basic level we are androgynous, descendant from living things that procreated by self-insemination

[squirreltual]

well, Jung wrote about animas/muses too, and believed that one's anima was imagined with the image of the "repressed function" (something like that, I don't remember exactly how he worded it). anyways, what he was saying is that your animus is the same type as your dual.

Which explains why when one first sees their dual, he/she looks familiar (or that's the theory). I suppose that would only work in practice if one had practiced introspection and had "seen" their anima/animus before.

Going on personal experience, I can't see where the link lies between socionics duality and the animus. Seems fuzzy. Will someone please explain this more?

[Gilly]

anima/animus is a reminder that deep down inside on the most basic level we are androgynous, descendant from living things that procreated by self-insemination

A cock n balls is an inside out vagina and ovaries, with a clitoris stuck on the end.

[Fluffy Princess Unicorn]

This image:

Average (Straight/Bisexual) Women: Rating his appearance, whether they think he's good-looking.

Me: Sees representation of alternate gender self as it pertains to the inward/emotional self. Feels weird to think of him as attractive due to this.

Can't help but wonder whether my animus is in some way involved.

[Hot Scalding Gayser]

I admit I judge on appearances too much like an average str8 woman LOL.

Not that I don't appreciate somebody being kind/moral or their internal qualities as well. I just think having to sacrifice or choose between the two kinda sucks. For example if you're a nice guy but you look like vomit and it's not pleasing to the senses- are you really as nice as you say you are? I mean obviously yeah 'what's on the inside' is more important but god damnit I still want something pretty to look at when he fucks me.

[necrosebud]

I have no idea what my “animus” is like. If I have one. Feels more of an imaginary construct and elusive - changing personas based on who I need in that moment, although he is so much more cool and collected, calm than I tend to feel. Evokes the virtue of enneagram 4, “equanimity.” I know Jung said an Animus can have different personas/be multiple or something to that effect and Anima is singular - I have to wonder why.

[VewyScawwyNawcissist]

i believe they are born/separated bc of how people conceptualize each other and act biased in that way. then you can become genetially wired to be more a certain way and u can alter that.

[necrosebud]

I have no idea what my “animus” is like. If I have one. Feels more of an imaginary construct and elusive - changing personas based on who I need in that moment, although he is so much more cool and collected, calm than I tend to feel. Evokes the virtue of enneagram 4, “equanimity.” I know Jung said an Animus can have different personas/be multiple or something to that effect and Anima is singular - I have to wonder why.

I have been thinking over this and keep coming back to it

I also think it’s a good idea to attempt to or get in touch with your anima/animus when dealing with attachment issues for example or neuroses around that stuff

I don’t know if this impression is relatively impermanent but -

my animus also seems to be relatively more risk averse in a sense (I’m not into physical/thrill seeking stuff), protective, private, prefers being more insulated

Emotionally detached but observant and aware of emotions, perhaps mellow and calm in that sense

maybe more shrewd about spotting potentially harmful “people” (but more so, in my eyes anyway - behaviors, since I don’t usually want to condemn and entire person absolutely)

wise perhaps

caring and reliable (for me)
Self-assured and gentle

[anotherperson]

how does anima and animus work for they/thems like me? do the anima and animus reach a 'happy medium'? cancel each other out? dont exist at all?

[FreelancePoliceman]

She's a figure in my dreams and daydreams. When I was younger she slept with me, in the non-euphemistic sense. In personality she isn't easily swayed in her desires and can be cruel. Shameless, and proud. Doesn't speak much. Clever. Judgemental.

I think she inspires me to a certain ideal of nobility.