The Feminine, The Masculine & The Collective Shadow

Could the feminine archetype be considered the basic template of nature, perhaps even of Mind at Large?

Our culture abounds with the opposite imagery. Woman's origin is Adam's rib. God the creator is "God is the father". For Sally Annett, one of our members, the effect of this on women's psyche has been literally "soul-destroying."

But in utero, the female is the original form; The male is a hormone-induced modification. In evolution, the Y chromosome emerged relatively recently. Origin deities across cultures range from sea goddesses to great cosmic mothers, later suppressed, replaced, or forgotten.

If in Analytic Idealism whatever arises in our world is considered an archetypal expression of mind at large, then the female, as the base from which all life and all sexual differentiation unfolds, is not merely biologically primary but archetypally so.

Is toxic masculinity a pendulum swing or a runaway train?

On this topic, the conversation turned into debate, both in the main meeting and the chat. Is Jordan Peterson a symptom of repressed masculinity or femininity? Is today's collective shadow an imbalance of archetypes or brain hemispheres? And should this even be a topic of discussion in our meetings?

Whilst I'm certain there will be as many perspectives on this as there are members in the group, as a collection of deep thinkers and empathic souls, I'm sure we can appreciate the differences of opinion without losing sight of the values we all share.

I look forward to hearing your view, and warmly thank you for your respectful and passionate engagement.

With thanks!

Amir

We also discussed:

• The risk of introducing gender politics into metaphysical discussion
• Why sexual reproduction exists at all
• Language as a way of being, not merely a tool for communication
• Confronting the collective shadow

Speakers

Bernardo Kastrup

Analytic idealism

Bernardo Kastrup is the Executive Director of Essentia Foundation and Founder/CEO at AI systems company Euclyd BV. His work has set off the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy (ontology, philosophy of mind) and another in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence).

As a scientist, he has worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the ‘Casimir Effect’ of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). He has also been creatively active in the high-tech industry for almost 30 years, having founded parallel processor company Silicon Hive (acquired by Intel in 2011) and worked as a technology strategist for the geopolitically significant company ASML. Most recently, he has founded AI company Euclyd BV.

Formulated in detail in many academic papers and books, his ideas have been featured in Scientific American, the magazine of The Institute of Art and Ideas, the Blog of the American Philosophical Association and Big Think, among others. His most defining book is Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell: A straightforward summary of the 21st-century’s only plausible metaphysics.

Explore Bernardo’s work →