Jean Shinoda Bolen, M. D. is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing鈥檚 "Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award". She is a former board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women.
This is Dr. Bolen's 'sequel' to Goddesses in Everywoman. See my review on that for the premise that shapes both books. I enjoyed "Goddesses" so much that I picked this up, just for more insight into the other sex. This time, Dr. Bolen's categorization is simpler- Father and Sons. Here is- again, my brief, half in jest summarization of the modern men these archetypes represent.
Zeus- God of the Sky (Every President in the US ('cept that idiot GW))
Poseidon- God of the sea and turbulent emotion (That guy who gets into barroom brawls every Saturday night)
Hades- God of the Underworld (Goth dudes)
Apollo- God of the Sun (Preppy Yale boys)
Hermes- God of Communication- Trickster and Traveler (used car salesmen)
Ares- Warrior god (Army guys)
Hephaestus- God of Craft/Love (the sensitive, moody artist with the White Zombie tee)
Dionysus- God of Wine and Ecstasy (Jim Morrison)
Again, Bolen states that most men are a combination of the above stereotypes. She also states that women can have god and goddess energies, just as men have both goddess and god. So it's good for both sexes to read both books for increased self-awareness. I saw a bit of Hephaestus in me, so that was interesting.
I拧mintinga knyga apie vyruose slypin膷ias j臈gas, save i拧rei拧kian膷ias per graik懦 dievus. Savita vyr懦 tipologija. Akmuo 寞 Alma litteros dar啪膮: rimta knyga su gana 拧iaip sau vir拧eliais ir dar labiau 拧iaip sau pavadinimo vertimu.
Gods in Everyman is Bolen's follow-up to Goddesses in Everywoman, and I will certainly get to that one this year because this book was deeply insightful. I insist that it's damn near impossible to not see parts of yourself and every man and boy in your life in the eight Greek god archetypes explored in this text. I think I ended up aligning most with Dionysus, Hephaestus and Poseidon, and it was a lot easier to see the archetypes at work than one might think.
To get the most out of her vision, it may take at least a certain level of appreciation for psychoanalysis and the archetypal work of, say, Jung or Joseph Campbell, but this is a book that can speak to anyone, especially at a time when toxic masculinity is being unpacked so vigilantly and necessarily. A lot of that conversation holds men accountable without understanding why the men in our lives we love are the way they are. All men are not alike and when one man veers from the expectation, it isn't a case of "you are just an exception to the rule." Masculinity is much more complex than that. As a feminist text, Jean Shinoda Bolen's book critiques patriarchy but also aims to transform it. Instead, she guides men, straight and queer鈥攁s well as the women who love them鈥攊n finding wholeness, balance of spirit, responsibility to others, and psychological health.
I can't recommend this book more highly to male readers and anyone that wants to understand their sons, fathers, and/or partners. She even insists that women will find some of these archetypes at play in their lives. It's all in this book, folks! Now I can't wait to read about the Goddesses>.
Labai nor臈膷iau perskaityti 拧i膮 knyg膮 angl懦 kalba. Nes ryte prarijau, o 拧itos skaitymas buvo tr奴k膷iojantis: vis gr寞啪davau prie pastraip懦 ir bandydavau suprasti, k膮 tais visais 啪od啪iais nor臈ta pasakyti. Tai ir nebe啪inau, ar 膷ia vertimo, ar mano problemos.
Ta膷iau apskritai labai patiko ir saky膷iau, kad perskaityti reikia ne vien vyrams (ir ne vien tam, kad tuos vyrus pa啪intum).
A must read in conjunction with goddesses in every woman by the same author, the two books (separated for each gender) should be read as a single volume. easy to read and a good startup / gateway book for anyone interested in newer more gentle Jungian philosophy.
Surprisingly, Gods in Every Man is not a book on men. I could say the same for Goddesses in Every Woman. I believe Bolen is analyzing human archetypes, rather than gender archetypes. I have known some Athena men in my time and some Poseidon women. The myths that she analyzes apply to both men and women. The father myth is about how a patriarchy can destroy or ennoble a human. By trying to fit into the patriarchy, it can destroy the human. Buy by having the power to turn away from the patriarchy and become an independent can ennoble a human.
Bolen breaks up the gods into fathers, favored sons, and rejected sons. Aspects seen in Zeus are accepted by the patriarchy, with Hades and Poseidon acting as the Zeus archetype's shadows. Poseidon is the emotional aspect and Hades is the soulful aspect, which the patriarchy tries to contain. Apollo and Hermes (law and communication) are the accepted archetypes because they fall in the realm of the patriarchy while Ares and Hephaestus are the rejected sons. Both the Ares and Hephaestus archetype rely on emotions, which is why they're rejected. Ares depicted brute strength, but he was also incredibly passionate. He reacted on emotions immediately, in the world of the "here and now." Hephaestus utilized his emotions to create beautiful artifacts, and always stood by the matriarch. The myths inevitably tell what was accepted and rejected by ancient Greek culture. Sadly, I feel that these gender stereotypes are still in effect today.
"Male stereotypes also hold power over men, limiting who they can comfortably be by rewarding some qualities and rejecting others." When a society defines what a man should be, that instantly cuts out men who are outside of that definition. The same is true of women. I appreciated it that Bolen's books weren't necessarily applied to gender. I hate that whole "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" philosophy, as it only serves to make people think that gender stereotypes are accepted.
However, I didn't care for Bolen's comments on gay culture in the Ares archetype: ". . . the gay culture's acceptance of nonmonogamous relationships allows for the kind of relationship that Aphrodite and Ares had . . ." Perhaps it's a statement of the time the book was published, but whether people are going to be nonmonogamous or not has nothing to do with sexuality or gender or what a culture accepts.
Except for that one aspect, I really enjoyed this new look on psychology (well, to me it was new). I was fascinated with how Bolen related the father myth to Star Wars. I could probably rattle off ten more movies that utilize that myth, subconsciously or not. Her explanations of the sacrifice of Isaac and Iphigenia made a lot of sense. It made me want to read more Jung, actually.
Taking the ideas in this book into consideration, I found it funny that I received so many strange faces when asking around for this book. For some reason, Goddesses in Every Woman is an acceptable title, but Gods in Every Man is not.
I have never in my entire life accidentally touched such a biased, Jung's saboteur worthy, piece of flaming garbage of a paper collection named a book, rife with the feminist agenda to the point of vomiting!
If you can stomach the words "..in our patriarchal society..." or any constant derivative of the word patriarchy using it to distort any concept in contrast to exactly nothing, then props to you. Because I can't. Indeed my expectations of this book were set high by being a Jung, Campbell fanboy coming to it excited for more KWML (by Robert Moore) style reading. Hoping that the fact that the author calls herself a Jungian analyst would make a great read, but NO, I get an extremist's view by someone who wants to sabotage Dr.Jung's legacy with her own agenda.
There is nothing loving, compassionate, thinking the reader's freedom or being yourself in this book. (because that's how Jung and his first "disciples" are.)
In this book there is only a very narrow minded angle, expressed through a shallow judgement of a person's suffering, they being presented as the victim by "the patriarchal society we live in" in contrast to some other non existent (idk, maybe matriarchal society from the bronze age?) perspective.
A very big sales pitch of a utopian worldview where men are suffering because dad was evil and how we would all be better off if mom (or any other woman at least) was in charge of our lives until we died and even after, preferably.
Disgusting, an insult to mythology in general, Jung's brilliant work and legacy.
Psychology is pro-freedom of choice, compassionate and free of bias; and it should remain so as long as it can be expressed in any way.
THIS BOOK and Any other attitude out there stating otherwise, is not aimed at one's own good, it's aimed at controlling and shaping them into little obedient servitors opposite to their authentic desires.
I gave one of the gods (Hades) a read which was okay, but then I decided I should read the chapters before it. When I finished the first chapter I dropped it like a rock!
I was hoping for the same depth of analysis of an intersection between Greek mythology and archetypal psychology in mens' lives as the "Goddesses in Everywoman" was. I was disappointed. I had a feeling that the author lost her steam as she was writing, and that she was just not as imaginative with the interpretations of the myths of the Greek gods.
I liked the book, still, and I felt that it was an important companion to the Goddesses in Everywoman. I found "the missing piece" of the puzzle -- I was wondering how to connect some of my instinctual emotional responses to any of the goddesses, but when I read about Poseidon, I had an "aha" moment of recognition.
So this book is fine and useful, it just could have been so much more than it is.
Archetypes are a powerful tool for self-knowledge because they tap into the universal collective language we all share. Learning to become more aware of your own archetypes can help you see yourself, the bigger picture and is a good place to start creating solutions for yourself and others. This book is for men but women will benefit as well by integrating the masculine archetypes within themselves and to better understand the men in their lives. Jean Shinoda Bolen has also written a most wonderful book for women called "Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women's Lives". Both of her books are keepers in my library and I refer to them often for reference in my own writing.
One more must-reads for those who are eager to find themselves and their couples in a different way, sometimes even to explain some 鈥渄idferent鈥�, 鈥� enadequite鈥� behaviour. And now I know: this is because of the God sitting in that man. The God who influences his thougths, behaviour, dreams, amount of words per day and the way he loves and lives overall. Highly recommended for men, but if they are not eager to read, extremely useful women as well. The book itself could not be structures better!
I had to stop reading once she started presuming "patriarchal culture" as the source of all woes. There's absolutely no historical evidence that "patriarchal" society ransacked and took over a once blissful "matriarchal" paradise. Stop treating "The Golden Bough" as a history book.
If you want a realistic depiction of power dynamics between male and female archetypes, watch "The Handmaid's Tale." If you want a decent Jungian analysis, this ain't it.
This was recommended to me as a book useful to writers for character building. While it refreshed a lot of what I'd forgotten about Greek mythology, it struck me a pop psychiatry and not terribly useful for my needs. Your mileage my vary.
I honestly had no idea it was so hard to be a man - with all the expectations your society and family have of you, pent-up emotions that you're not supposed to express and that eventually may turn into anger - whether in the form of external aggression or depression... These might be stereotypes and it's great that times are changing, but the change will be mostly outward until each person breaks the stereotypes for themselves.
I like that the author emphasizes on male and female archetypes being present in both men and women, I myself recognized myself in a lot of these god archetypes. In times like ours in which aggression and brutality are on the news daily, it's really important we raise children who are aware and accepting of both male and female archetypes in themselves, knowing themselves a little better and breaking generational patterns in the hope of a brighter future.
And a quote that rang true for me:
"It's been my impression that we all come into the world as children who want love, and if we can't get love, we settle for power."
I read Goddesses in Everywoman first, and I talked to my Dad about it the entire time. So when I told him I was going to get Gods in Everyman, he expressed interest in reading it. When I eventually got it, Dad got his hands on it first, and I didn't see it for weeks before I finally snatched it away from him to read. Now that I finished it, I expect Dad is going to steal it away again for several weeks before I send it back to the library. We've talked a little bit about it while he was reading it and he has told me that he has found it very empowering (he is a Hephaestus-type man), although he still has some questions that he might find some answers for as he reads it again. But this time, now that I've read it, I can talk about it more in depth with him, and add my own insights from both this book and Goddesses in Everywoman.
Very cool book. I felt that it ran over its own course a bit too much which made it difficult to stick through all the gods. However, it makes remarkable insights into how most of us are living out or shuffling between a number of classic archetypes. Helpful to gain perspective on other males in one's life. Could have included far more information about gay men and homosexual relationships. The "everyman" of this book was a bit too "straight male husband heteronormative daddy."
Excellent read when you want to figure out your man... Learn all about mythology while you are secretly figuring out the psychological construction of your boo. Next to valuable and serious in-depth pshychology and the beautiful mythical stories of the Gods of the days of Wayback, this book might give you some clues about what to do with 'him'....
Dr. Bolen puts into words what I'm sure many men are, as am I, confronted with in a patriarchal society. The myriad paradoxes and contradictions of "being a man" are called to examination in Gods in Everyman.
I am looking forward to reading Goddesses in Everywoman and exploring even further all (our) various relationships.
Extraordinary. A call to invite the myriad pieces of ourselves to work in concert together; to remember ourselves, our stories, and the myths; to hope and dream and build towards something within ourselves and with each other.
The concept is simple, but the conclusions are so lovely and wise and invigorating. Really moved and amazed by this whole thing.
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