In a message dated 2/2/01 6:57:15 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< "don't interrupt the sorrow" is one of my top 10 joni songs, and i've
honestly never thought about what it means, i've always just liked the
poetry, the melody, the arrangement, the attitude. now that i take a
look at it, i think this is truly a feminist song - anima rising - the
feminine rising up to claim the ancient crown. the imagery suggests a
man in a bar, and a female figure part waitress part girlfriend...?
what's completely unclear to me is whether the first time the anima
rises - >>
This is also one of my favorites as well Barbara. Lately I've been wondering
what it means, so I did some research.
I found this to be very interesting. I've always admired the work of Carl
Jung.
According to Jungian Psychology:
Anima and animus
A part of our persona is the role of male or female we must play. For most
people that role is determined by their physical gender. But Jung, like Freud
and Adler and others, felt that we are all really bisexual in nature. When we
begin our lives as fetuses, we have undifferentiated sex organs that only
gradually, under the influence of hormones, become male or female. Likewise,
when we begin our social lives as infants, we are neither male nor female in
the social sense. Almost immediately -- as soon as those pink or blue booties
go on -- we come under the influence of society, which gradually molds us
into men and women.
In all societies, the expectations placed on men and women differ, usually
based on our different roles in reproduction, but often involving many
details that are purely traditional. In our society today, we still have many
remnants of these traditional expectations. Women are still expected to be
more nurturant and less aggressive; men are still expected to be strong and
to ignore the emotional side of life. But Jung felt these expectations meant
that we had developed only half of our potential.
The anima is the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men,
and the animus is the male aspect present in the collective unconscious of
women. Together, they are refered to as syzygy. The anima may be personified
as a young girl, very spontaneous and intuitive, or as a witch, or as the
earth mother. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the
force of life itself. The animus may be personified as a wise old man, a
sorcerer, or often a number of males, and tends to be logical, often
rationalistic, even argumentative.
The anima or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the
collective unconscious generally, and it is important to get into touch with
it. It is also the archetype that is responsible for much of our love life:
We are, as an ancient Greek myth suggests, always looking for our other half,
the half that the Gods took from us, in members of the opposite sex. When we
fall in love at first sight, then we have found someone that "fills" our
anima or animus archetype particularly well!
I'm still looking for that other half.........lol
Still thinking about this........
Rose in NJ
