The Sensitive Man - Honoring the Anima for Men

Special note: Well, I missed my target date to restart by about two weeks, but now I am back in the saddle, in where else but Texas; settled in and ready to continue the blog.

Hey gents, for those of you who slept through high school biology class, here’s a little news flash for you: we all start out as females. So when I mention honoring the anima, Jung’s delineation of the unconscious female mind in all men, then you realize that perhaps a biological component played a part in creating that facet of men. You see, about nine weeks in for the fetus, the testosterone kicks in for males, and it just keeps kicking in throughout our lives, even when the hormone dries up, the after effects of all those years of raging aggressive hormones, leaves its residue on our psyches.

For thousands of years of human history, the male domination of culture, religion, politics and civilization has left the planet exhausted and nearing depletion. It’s an unsustainable path, with no room for escape.  And Gaia will revolt if we don’t alter our course.

We must all embrace the role of the feminine energy that permeates all of life on this planet. We are cut off from our sacred creative core, when we only follow the destructive path of unbalanced masculine energy. Without the calming, nurturing and creative alliance with the feminine, we are on a one way ticket to hell. Balancing the aggressive yang energy with calming, life giving yin energy means all of us must embrace that side in us that brings healing. This includes men accepting and encouraging feminine energy within and without of themselves.

This does mean honoring the feminine energy in all things. As HSP males we are perhaps perfectly suited to usher in what appears to be an impending era of female leadership and feminine spirit. As males that are often more in touch with our emotions we unconsciously embrace both the masculine and feminine. We are in tune with the subtle differences between the two and can aid in leading this movement forward in conjunction with wise female leaders. We do know of the anima within and must learn to accept the gift that it brings.

Yet, this movement requires more than just HSP males to champion the transition. Highly sensing males must aid other men to acknowledge and promote the critical need we have at this juncture in our history to restore the ancient wisdom of feminine inspired leadership.  The need for a feminine influenced direction is dire as we witness the destruction of our planet, our human values, and the decency of nurturing our planet back to its point of equilibrium.

Embracing the feminine does not mean that men have to become female. It is not about the vanquishing of the masculine energy either. It has and always will be about balance. It’s clear for those who have eyes to see that we are in an unbalanced and destructive time. We have shifted too far in to masculine dominance and it will take both male and female leadership to correct the problem.

HSP males are going to have to put themselves out there. This is not a comfortable position for most sensitive men. We need to push back on an aggressive and powerful force that has long been entrenched in our culture.

We will need to convince not only males, many who have profited from this current era of male dominance, but females who are still entrenched in the old male authoritarian model.  Many women need to be educated and liberated from this antiquated philosophy and some may only listen to male figures, rejecting the advice of their own feminine peers. This is a place where HSP males might be quite useful. Our sensitivity and compassion coupled with our male personas might help with these females’ transitions.

So how can we men embrace the anima within and facilitate the change to the divine sacred feminine?

1. Acknowledge and own your emotional self. I’ve been preaching this for HSP males for the last few months, but this is true for all men. If you want to cry, then cry damn it, if you want to laugh and feel joy, do it. If you want to be angry, don’t hold it back. Open yourselves up, men.
2. Acknowledge and own your nurturing side. A great place to do this is at home. If you are a parent, get in there and help your partner with the kids. If you are not a parent, then look for the need around you: an elderly parent, someone in need, a daily act of kindness. Nurturing changes you. And the changes I speak of must come from within.
3. Acknowledge and own your intuitive side. This means paying attention to your gut, listen to your heart, be quiet sometimes, and let the wise inner self help you.
4. Acknowledge and own your creative and spiritual side. If you follow the third point, this should become easier and easier. Creativity and spirituality comes from within but is sourced from a greater place than you. I’ll leave it at that, mainly because there are about a billion interpretations of where that is, but you can be sure, there is a there somewhere.
5. Acknowledge that there is strength in feminine energy. Think about this for one minute. We have a long history of human species on this planet. There has been a female involved with every person that every existed. Without that foundation, nothing exists. Thank the divine Mom in every woman. There is incredible strength in feminine nature. You see it every day. Never forget that.
6. Acknowledge and own the masculine within. There is boldness and action in the masculine. This energy will be needed too. Embrace your own masculine energy, balance it with the anima, and you can become a nuclear fusion of loving change.
7. Finally, participate in the revolution to the sacred feminine; it’s really an evolutionary cycle and like a wave, you can ride it or you can get swept away by it; either way, you wind up on the shore.

 
Thanks for dropping by, until next week…


References:
http://www.menshealth.com/health/3-signs-you-started-as-a-girl
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/llewellyn-vaughanlee/international-womens-day_b_1327637.html
http://www.carl-jung.net/anima.html