https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=w1scgquS2mo
Turns into Durga if you treat her properly and I didn’t use Durga because I wanted to show that I actually got accused by someone of being a racist because I did this it was quite funny because they said well you used the Hindu Goddess to indicate chaos and like the Greco-Roman goddess to indicate Benevolence and that was obviously an indication of my fundamental pathology Anyways, it isn’t I just wanted to show that the idea of the benevolent goddess isn’t limited to a single culture You know there’s Diana. She’s got a lot of breasts. That’s what’s That’s what’s down her front there, so she’s like the Nourishing element of being that’s the best way to think about it and the nourishing element of being emerges in this sort of fashion So that’s the differentiation of the archetype so way at the back There’s the predatory serpent chaos that lurks in the background and then that fragments out in one or differentiates What I would one direction into the feminine you know in the feminine? This is a tough one because there’s this weird interaction here with with gender and archetype you know so So here’s something And I’m floundering about on this because I have for a long time because it’s very difficult Which gender of person are you most likely to see on the cover of men’s magazine? Woman what gender are you most likely to see on the cover of women’s magazine? Okay? Why? Why is that? Yes, that’s right. I think that’s why I think that’s why and that means that they’re both possessed by the same archetype in a different way and the archetype is the Architectal feminine fundamentally and for women the archetypal feminine is a judge and an ideal The judge is well how far do you deviate from that the ideal is to what degree can you emulate? And then for men it’s the same damn thing the judge elements exactly the same thing and the possession element well It’s slightly different, but it’s not that different you know so But it’s a strange thing because the visual image general visual image is that of the feminine so It’s a strange because I don’t think the archetypal structures work the same in men and women So partly the way I’ve tried to figure this out is like the sun the hero is the sun Like the male not the shiny son. Oh, it’s also that It’s like but women obviously have an element of them that can be heroic and adversarial just like man But then in women that’s complicated because the other primary element of their being is the maternal feminine element And so but that’s complicated because women or men can also be quite maternal like for mammals predatory mammals men are Unbelievably nurturing in feminine. No we were grizzly bears. We just eat our own cows You know so men are they’re quite feminine as well as being masculine so I kind of think of it this way It’s like if you’re thinking about what your archetypal personality structure is it’s for men The hero is at the forefront and the mother the feminine mother is sort of behind that and for women It’s reversed the feminine mother is sort of forefront and the heroes behind that but both of the archetypes are are Operative so so you can think about that you can see what you make of it, but You know because you might say well Women is it reasonable to free suppose that for women the feminine? Represents the unknown just like it does for men, and I don’t think it is just like it is for men because I think for women There’s an element of the patriarchal structure. That’s more unknown than it is for men You know and I think you see the reaction to that in part you see the reaction to that in the feminist movement Because the patriarchy is like the tyrannical father you know and the patriarchy exists, but it’s not The tyrannical father is not the entire substrate of culture. It’s just ridiculous, but I think because women are You know in some sense they’re outsiders to the male dominance hierarchy that The male dominance hierarchy is more contaminated by the unknown for women than it is for men And I think it’s more likely to be interpreted as the tyrannical father because of that so anyways I can’t exactly sort it out because you end up with nested problems You know so insofar as your primary mode of being is feminine, then your secondary mode of being is masculine You’re going to have all the characteristics of something masculine and all the characteristics of something feminine But the manner in which they manifest themselves is going to be different, and I just can’t sort that out It’s too damn complicated plus I think that that is what we’re sorting out right now in our culture You know ever since women got the ability to control and reproductive function Which was probably at least in part a consequence of an a priori psychological transformation Right because you could say well the pill freed women But then you could say well what was the precondition for creating a society in which the person who invented the pill didn’t get killed You know because the Catholic Church for example was not happy when the pill was invented seriously not happy and no wonder You know so obviously there had to be some shifting in the underlying conceptual landscape in Relationship to the relationship between men and women for that invention to even have come about you know I think you can really see that starting You know if you read the classic Russian novels you can see that the push towards equality that characterized women was really alive and well In 19th century Russia among the aristocracy so you know it has a pretty lengthy history Do you think that’s associated with the widening of gender differences across western countries? The which the waning you mean that widening widening of personality differences So big five differences are wider in more egalitarian countries and depression Incidences I don’t know I don’t know how to answer that exactly so the point is that if you look at personality differences between men and women In the modern world the most egalitarian cultures have the biggest personality differences the gender differences And so the technical reason for that is all the environmental variability has been eliminated And so all that’s left is genetic variability and that’s not Masked in some sense by the environmental variability so it’s powerful and profound But it definitely shows that there’s a lot of powerful genetic variability or definitely it’s a powerful evidence for that You know but it also could be you know it could easily be that in a society What you’re aiming for in an egalitarian society is the right for everyone to be different in their own way Whatever that happens to be you know and obviously that’s going to be a limited right to some degree So an egalitarian society wouldn’t necessarily eradicate personality differences that would be a bloody totalitarian society It’s like we’ll get rid of all the differences Well to the degree that you’re a female and whatever the hell that means fundamentally I’m male if we have to be the same then that’s going to be a function of intense What would you call control on the part of the state you know to the degree that that’s intrinsic We don’t know what how much it’s intrinsic. I would be very hesitant to say not I mean look let’s let’s be real about this Both the female and the male Parts of it might seem unknown but you understand both And as personality traits go, the masculine stereotypical traits and feminine stereotypical traits go across genders Like people, any person of any gender can be this much masculine and this much feminine or whatever Like they’re not opposites So I wonder if it’s complicated because any individual person of whatever sex is manifesting parts of both at once in some It’s definitely complicated, but it’s also a prerequisite for long-term relationships between men and women right if we weren’t a lot the same Or at least capable of being the same Then we wouldn’t be able to understand each other at all I mean, I don’t know if we do but we do you know we do more than other creatures of our complexity. That’s for sure So yeah, and you know it’s certainly the case that If you look at a given individual and you look at the variability of their personality linked behavior The variability within a person is generally greater than the average variability within a population So you know human beings if you’re an extrovert you can be extremely introverted Like there’s not very many extroverts at a funeral Now the noisiest people at a funeral will be the extroverts But they’re going to be hardly noisy at all you know And an introvert can find themselves in a situation where they can’t shut up You know so there’s a lot of intra-individual variability I actually think that one of the indexes of psychological health is the maximization of individual variability Because you should be able to be extremely compassionate for example when you’re dealing with a sick baby You know and extremely uncompassionate when you’re dealing with someone who’s you know using their illness as an excuse not to pull their own weight But you need both of those right and you know you’ll end up with an average point as a consequence of your genetic structure And maybe your socialization and sort of up to you to widen yourself out across the full spectrum So that you can call on those abilities when it’s necessary I think that’s part of what differentiation as a person actually means You know because you come to be able to do more things and so you can match yourself much more carefully to the immediate demands of the situation So yeah Any other questions? Okay so the symbol for anomaly, the feminine, differentiates into the negative feminine and the positive feminine And part of the issue is how do you get more of the positive and keep the negative at bay And you know that’s a question that people have to ask themselves at the level of individual interaction with other people and with themselves But then it also works as a representation of the unknown and nature as such It’s because in some ways those are the same thing So that’s you know that’s a differentiation So this is the relationship between the hero archetype and the feminine So what you have here is the chaos dragon differentiating itself into the feminine which is half positive and half negative And the feminine there being manifested in the form of that’s the Virgin Mary with Christ on her lap You saw the same representation when we were looking at Isis and Horus And what’s really quite cool about that is you see she’s surrounded by this mandorla This almond shaped opening fundamentally And you see this is something that Renaissance artists did a lot You see along the edges of the mandorla there’s all these little baby heads that are popping out with wings on them And those are called putti And it’s very common that when you see representations of Mary with the cosmos sort of billowing out behind her Because that’s what you see, it’s like a hole into time and space That there’s all these potential beings that are surrounding her You know it’s these little baby heads with wings Like what the hell are they? What is this thing? You know it’s so strange, I went to a museum in New York where a number of Renaissance paintings of this type were arrayed In this one room, it’s like a room worth a billion dollars, you know, it’s an amazing room And there are people all from all over the world and they’re looking at these damn paintings They see, you know, this, it’s like it’s Mary And she’s sitting on the moon and there’s a bunch of winged baby heads around her It’s like what the hell is that all about? And everybody’s looking at it like well, you know, there’s really something to this And you tap them on the shoulder and you say, why did you travel from like Cincinnati to come to this museum to look at like this woman who you don’t even believe in Sitting on the crescent moon surrounded by baby heads They don’t know, they have no idea why they’re there They’re fascinated by the painting, right? They’re fascinated by it Yeah, they’re going to conjure up some reasons, but you know, you don’t even notice how absurd it is until you take the picture apart a bit What the hell are these things? These poutis? You know, I think what they are are potential beings That’s the representation So Mary represents the feminine domain from which potential being emerges Which is a perfectly reasonable way of characterizing a feminine archetype You know, one of the pictures I will show you, which I just love, is Mary It’s another representation of Mary and she’s got Christ in her hands and she’s holding him up to the left And her foot, her foot is going on a snake’s head Which I think is so cool, because if you look at that picture and you strip away the Judeo-Christian presuppositions And you just look at it like a damn biologist, you think, well of course that’s what she’s doing, you know? It’s like, mama chimp keeps the damn infant away from the snakes And that’s the archetype, and of course it’s the archetype, because that is what you do That’s what you do when you’re a mother Especially if you have nice edible babies that snakes like to eat And that is certainly something that characterized us in our evolutionary past So it’s no wonder it’s a divine archetype, you know? Of course it is! How could it not be? You might say, well I don’t believe in that It’s like, what the hell does that mean? You don’t believe in that I can’t even understand what that means anymore when I think about such things It’s like, you don’t have an option about believing in that It’s just the fundamental nature of reality Is that the mother of God? It depends on what you mean It depends on how much divinity is embodied in your child And believe me, once you have that child, you’re going to think Hey, there’s a pretty big chunk of divinity embodied in that child No one in those snakes is going to get that I’m going to keep it away from predators and evildoers And try to raise it into the best possible thing You may say you don’t believe that It’s like, what the hell do you know? Insofar as you’re a good mother, you’ll be acting that out like mad And I’m not going to say that’s wrong Because I actually think it’s right I think the child is a container of the divine And that your job as a mother is to allow that child to facilitate the development of that child into the mythological hero That’s what you’re up to And that’s a holy mission insofar as you can use that word to describe anything And I failed to see how that is not real I think it’s the most real thing So I also think the degree to which you’re going to be able to do that as a mother It will be the most rewarding thing you ever do in your life And you’ll figure that out It’s a powerful thing And your life can change completely once you have your own child They’re not like other children They’re your own child They’re the most important thing in the world right then And from then on, if you’re healthy It’s like your priority shift It’s not about you anymore And that’s a sacrifice That women are called on to make It’s a major sacrifice So the mother gives birth to the hero That’s Hercules It’s not Christ, it’s Hercules in this particular representation I love this representation It’s so cool So Hercules is out there in the darkness On the water So it’s the watery chaos And so that’s where he’s situated himself, voluntarily And he’s in this container And that’s a good thing You can think of that as a maternal container Or you can think of it as cultural protection It doesn’t really matter And then he’s got this club And if you look at the club, it’s got these weird bumps on it But if you look at the bumps, what you understand is Those aren’t bumps, those are eyes So he’s just like Marduk! He’s got this club, and what’s the club? It’s like attention, that’s it And if you’re going to club something, obviously you have to pay attention to it Maybe it’s like a rampaging lion And if you turn away from it, well it’s going to eat you So the club’s useless without the attention But you know, the picture says A club, which is a weapon A weapon is a meta Is a form of meta-attention Or sorry, I got that reversed Attention is a meta-weapon It’s the ultimate weapon Against unknown And so there’s Hercules, he’s got his eyes wide open He’s peering out into the darkness He’s got this lion head on And that’s because he killed a lion And you know, men used to do that When they were shepherds out in the Desert in the Middle East One of the things they had to do was Kill a lion with a spear That’s really worth thinking about Man, that’s hard To do that, that would be very hard, it would be very frightening To do that But men used to do that, so that’s really Something to think about Anyway, so he’s got this lion suit on And the lion is king of the beasts, roughly speaking So it represents the thing that’s at the top of the dominance arc You all know that Because otherwise you couldn’t have understood the lion king And the lion is a solar beast Because it’s yellow and it works out It’s a daylight creature, it’s out there on the Vell, where everything’s sunny So it’s associated with the sun and illumination And enlightenment, and so it’s like Lion, sun Sun, with Eyes, goes out to conquer The unknown, and that’s what the mother does If she raises the proper sun Now she’s also doing that for the daughter But again, that’s complicated Because women are complicated And their role is very, very complex And so to some degree they’re the hero But to some degree they’re the mother of the hero And those are, I would say I don’t know I don’t know how to configure that You could say You could say that in some sense A conscious mother gives up Her own individual Heroism As a sacrifice to the potential heroism Of her children And that’s worth thinking about Because my guess is that for most of you Your mother did that You know, now you want to, you know My wife had a dream once about Putting on her great grandmother’s shoes Her grandmother’s shoes, she really liked her grandmother A very feminine person, you know, like You know, cookie making, apple pie baking Piano playing grandmother You know, she had it down She took care of old people in the Old folks home, even when she was 80 And she was really cheerful and tough She was a great person, I really liked her But when my wife dreamed of her She was trying on her shoes And the shoes were too small You know, and that was very interesting Because what it seemed to indicate to me was that And she loved her grandmother now There’s no doubt about that And so, despite her grandmother having Filled that so well It wasn’t enough And you know, women have kind of decided that And maybe that’s for the best Because now there’s all these smart women running around Doing useful things, and you know, that’s probably good But Exactly how to sort that out is not yet Being figured out, so What time is it? Four, four, okay, good Thank you