Mental States of Thinking – Boy vs. Man

In reading numerous books and publications, especially those based on Carol Jung’s work like “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover” it’s clear  that when the young male doesn’t have the benefit of a mature male model, characteristics that can be perceived as charming or normal for a boy do not evolve into mature male behavior thus resulting in ugly and destructive patterns.

These negative behaviors are called the shadow side of the personality because they do not integrate positively into a fully mature male.

The archetypes exhibited at different stages of the boy development are:

• The Divine Child
• The Precocious Child
• The Oedipal Child
• The Hero

Each of these archetypes then gives rise to the mature men/masculine archetypes, these are:

• The King
• The Warrior
• The Magician
• The Lover

That is, The Divine Child becomes The King; The Hero becomes the Warrior; The Precocious Child becomes the Magician; and The Oedipal Child becomes the Lover.

The Four Boy Persona’s

1^st – The Divine Child

Is the most primal of the immature masculine archetypes. The obvious example of The Divine Child is the mysterious birth of Jesus surrounded by miraculous events and then threatened by King Herod causing his parents to flee into Egypt with the newborn child.

Most religions have a similar story of a miraculous boy whose life is threatened by outside evil forces. The Divine Child exhibits in the male psyche whenever the person is in a state of creativity and rebirth.

Jungians believe that The Divine Child is the source of life. As with each archetype, The Divine Child has a shadow side which exhibits in both The High Chair Tyrant and The Weakling Prince.

Shadow Side of The Divine Child

The High Chair Tyrant:

Is the self-centered, petulant child who throws temper tantrums to get his own way. While trying as a child, these same characteristics can evolve into arrogance and irresponsibility in the adult male. This person usually feels that he is the center of the universe which exists to meet his needs.

The Weakling Prince:

Has little initiative and not much enthusiasm for life. Left to grow, these characteristics evolve into both fits of rage and passive disinterest.

2^nd – The Precocious Child

Has a quick mind and is often gifted in many areas of study and talents. Therefore it follows that The Precocious Child exhibits in adventurous and inquisitive behavior. The shadow side of the Precocious Child archetype exhibits in The Know-It-All Trickster and The Dummy.

The Shadow Side Of The Precocious Child

The Know-It-All-Trickster:

Moves cunningly through life, creating practical jokes on people and laughing at their gullibility to fall for these pranks. As a man, The Know-It-All-Trickster enjoys intimidating people and proving that he is superior to everyone else.

The Dummy:

 Is typically the victim of the Know-It-All-Trickster because he is not intuitive enough to discern truth from tricks. In addition to his mental and emotional sadness, The Dummy is quite often physically inept as well.

3^rd – The Oedipal Child

Is overly tied to the Mother figure in his life and generally is able to better define and understand his emotions and those of others. The Oedipal Child is always in search of connectedness with nature and spirituality. The shadow side of The Oedipal Child exhibits in The Mama’s Boy and The Dreamer.

The Shadow Side Of The Oedipal Child

The Mama’s Boy:

Is based on the Freudian concept of the Oedipal Complex where a boy wants to take his mother away from his father. In the cases of an absent father, the need to possess the mother is even stronger. It is important to note that “Mother” does not necessarily mean the boy’s physical mother, but rather the ideal of beauty, grace and nurturing. Because of the search for the perfect Mother, The Mama’s Boy is often disappointed because real women cannot possibly measure up to the emotional and spiritual ideal.

The Dreamer:

Is a diluted version of The Mama’s Boy because although he wants to possess the perfect Mother, he lacks the ambition to do so.

4^th – The Hero

 Is the most advanced state of Boy, psychologically speaking. When boys become locked in The Hero state, the emerging adult exhibits the shadow side of the archetype such as The  Bully and The Coward.

The Shadow Side Of The Hero

The Bully:

Is sure that center stage is his birthright and he lives his life proving it to others through verbal and sometimes physical abuse. Although frightening, these behaviors are only hiding the bully’s sublimated insecurities.

The Coward:

Is typically the victim of The Bully and avoids physical and verbal encounters of all kinds. Conversely, when The Coward reaches a point of intolerance for any abusive behavior, he will transition into the Grandstander Bully persona and ward off any attackers.

It is very difficult for a man to develop to his full potential because the infantile aspects of the psyche are constantly pulling on him. It is important to build on the immature personality without destroying it because there are positive aspects that can be integrated into the mature male.

The Boy energies also overlap and hopefully enrich the Man energies as the boy matures into adulthood.

As stated in “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover” “The Divine Child naturally gives rise to the Oedipal Child. Together they form the nucleus of whatever will be beautiful, energetic, related, warm, caring and spiritual in the man. The boy’s Ego needs the Precocious Child’s perceptiveness to help it to distinguish itself from these energies. All three give rise to The Hero, which breaks them free of the domination of the ‘feminine’ unconscious, and establishes the boy’s identity as a separate individual. The Hero prepares the boy to become a man.”

There is series of triangles that can represent each of the four male archetypes. At the pinnacle of the triangle is the ultimate, fully fused male while the two accompanying shadow personalities inhabit the other two lower points.

For example, The Divine Child is at the pinnacle while the shadow sides of the personality, The High Chair Tyrant and The Weakling Prince occupy the lower positions. It is interesting to learn the fundamentals for this area of psychological study which enables justifications for behaviors witnessed in boys and men.

When the metamorphosis does not happen in a healthy boys can develop into something akin of “Lord of the Flies”, as seen below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhIyCCm426c[/youtube]

The Kings, Warriors, Magicians and Lovers of ancient times who helped people navigate their lives are not accessible today at a time when they are desperately needed, this is why I created the 2 ½ day Warrior’s Quest.

 “The Warrior’s Quest” is a 2 ½ day intensive that will bring out the “hard wiring” or blueprints inside each man, among other aspects.  These blueprints will point a way to positive masculine persona and energy.