20 May 2026 3 min read recording

The Feminine, The Masculine & The Collective Shadow

Is the fundamental archetype of nature the feminine? | AMA with Bernardo Recorded 19th May 2026

Sally Annett, 2026, The Priestess (No2) a print of a large oil painting reduced to postcard size, transfer printed ontoboard and re-worked with paint and pen..

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

Sally Annett 2026 - the Baroque Devil. "This represents the exclusion and demonisation of women and the feminine throughout history, with particular reference to the witch hunts that ran alongside and after the Renaissance, or Early Modern Period, and the development of the new sciences and philosophies. Women in the UK were additionally banned from publishing any form of literature until the 18th century and therefore a form of 'voice.' Their religious spaces or voices were only occupied/heard outside of cloisters, if they were possessed! - directly channelling the 'divine'. Otherwise an opinionated women could look forward to torture and death. And the veil again represents a loss of obscured identity and vision. The link between image, language and belief and metarepresentation (the ability to have a belief about a belief) I think is crucial to all theories of conciousness and human communication/evolution."

Time Stamps

With thanks to Rita Conde

0:00:00 - A typical day in Bernardo's life
0:05:15 – Introducing transcript search portal
0:09:15 – The most interesting philosophers and scientists today?
0:12:17 – Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and the definition of a "thing"
0:16:38 – Physics and the first-person perspective
0:18:15 – Quantum gravity as one exciting scientific field today
0:21:00 – Language as a way of being
0:33:00 – Collisions with the collective shadow and personal shadow
0:42:40 – Origins of male toxicity
0:49:00 – The terrifying collapse of Logos
0:53:35 – Fluid compensation as a psychological closure mechanism
0:54:17 – Self-validation and fluid compensation
0:57:40 – The biology and archetype of sexual dimorphism
1:07:50 – Is Mind-at-Large intrinsically feminine?
1:17:55 – Male toxicity - a backlash to earlier feminization?
1:41:50 – On Jordan Peterson
1:44:44 – Male toxicity: runaway train or pendulum swing?
1:58:58 – How guest speakers are invited to the sessions
1:59:51 – Understanding gender as a social construct
2:07:30 – Sophie Wilson: a transgender award-winning engineer