Teenage Archetype: Lady

In my previous post, Teenage Archetype: Hero, I began my exploration of teenage archetypes to illustrate the geniuses of the genders as developed through the theology of the body. By untwisting the adolescent archetypal make-up of the “Hero,” I illustrated the masculine genius. Man’s genius is virtuously exercising valor, integrity and passion during the quest of giving the gift of himself out of love to his lady.

Now I intend to illustrate the feminine genius, receptivity, through an analysis of the adolescent archetype of Woman—that being the “Lady.” Again because of the emotional volatility of adolescence, extreme stereotypes are typically recognizable by society as normative behavior (exemplified by too many movies to mention). Each of the stereotypes, when “untwisted,” reveal a genuine quality of the archetype for each gender, in this case the feminine genius. These qualities give description to the genius of woman. Furthermore the stereotypes often “mature” into a particular profession that requires the dominance of certain genius qualities.

Lady—teenage archetype of the feminine genius

3 Stereotypes of the Lady = (1) Princess (2) Maid (3) Vixen
3 Qualities of the Lady = (1) Purity (2) Service (3) Passion
3 Professions of the Lady = (1) Actress (2) Teacher (3) Nurse
3 Goals of the Lady = (1) Beauty (2) Truth (3) Goodness

So when the archetypal teenage girl exercises the heroic qualities of purity and service, the girl is virtuously pursuing truth. This teenage girl is often on the edge of being both a “princess” and a “maid.” And this teenage girl might do well as a teacher. In other words, this kind of teenage girl would best display her feminine genius in the discipline of the sciences via education. However when there is an “excess” of qualities, or a “distortion” in this girl’s self-image—the virtuous teacher idolizes truth, in which her purity becomes vanity and her service is twisted into mandated accolades. Because of her receptivity becoming distorted, the teacher is no longer able to mentor through her natural capacity of nurturing. She often turns into some overbearing general who imagines she is serving her troops with excessive praises. Yet her praises for them are actually for herself.

So when the archetypal teenage girl exercises the heroic qualities of purity and passion, the girl is virtuously pursuing beauty. This teenage girl is often on the edge of being both a “princess” and a “vixen” who is struggling to relate beauty to her self-image. If she can keep her purity and passion in balance, then she can accept her inner beauty and in healthy ways care for the beauty of her body. This kind of teenage girl would best display her feminine genius in the fine arts, especially as an actress. If she can receive beauty authentically, then her pursuit of acting will be fulfilling but not overwhelming. On the other hand, if vanity begins to take over and her passion turns to over-indulgences, then her diva status will be quickly established but her happiness will be lost.

And so when the archetypal teenage girl exercises the heroic qualities of passion and service, the girl is virtuously pursuing goodness. This teenage girl is often pulled into extremes, one as a “maid” and the other as a “vixen.” If however she is capable of drawing strength from both her passion and her service, she might do well in displaying her genius through the profession of being a nurse. Her service to others in a physical nurturing way can often aid in keeping her passion directed outwards. When her actions are thus directed towards others, she can safely and genuinely receive the attention she needs. If however her vixen dominates, then her need for attention will override her ability to care outwardly for others. The good of her sexuality is easily distorted because of her natural tendency toward the physical and she will fall prey to the sexual advances of others, especially aggressive men.

This leads to the key element to the geniuses of both genders. How the Hero and the Lady engage in a relationship is often determined by their ability to virtuously exercise the qualities of their archetype. For example, if the Lady can receive the beckoning of her Hero with purity, service and passion, then she will experience happiness in the risk and exposure of receiving his love. And if the Hero offers the gift of himself out of love with valor, integrity and passion, then he will experience happiness in the risk and exposure of initiating love with her. In order for the Hero and Lady to love one another, they must mature beyond their teenage archetypes and become a communion of persons who seek to love forever.

As Pope John Paul II once said, “The person who does not decide to love forever will find it very difficult to really love for even one day.”

May we mature in our love from one day to eternity.

BuzzNet Tags: theology of the body,feminine genius,masculine genius,archetypes,teenage,love,Pope John Paul II

Teenage Archetype: Hero

This entry is the first exploration of teenage archetypes to illustrate the geniuses of the genders as developed through the theology of the body. I intend to use the teenage experience to identify the archetypal characters of both Man as “Hero” and Woman as “Lady.” In other words I propose to use the adolescent experience to illustrate the masculine genius and the feminine genius. Because of the emotional volatility of adolescence, extreme stereotypes are typically recognizable by society as normative behavior (exemplified by too many movies to mention). So these stereotypes will help me to quickly illustrate the point. Each of the stereotypes, when “untwisted,” reveal a genuine quality of the archetype for each gender. These qualities give description to the genius of the particular gender. Furthermore the stereotypes often “mature” into a particular profession that requires the dominance of certain genius qualities. 

Hero—teenage archetype of the masculine genius

3 Stereotypes of the Hero = (1) Jock (2) Nerd (3) Rebel
3 Qualities of the Hero = (1) Valor (2) Integrity (3) Passion
3 Professions of the Hero = (1) CEO (2) Doctor (3) Artist
3 Goals of the Hero = (1) Truth (2) Beauty (3) Goodness

So when the archetypal teenage boy exercises the heroic qualities of valor and integrity, the boy is virtuously pursuing truth. This teenage boy is often on the edge of being both a “jock” and a “nerd.” And this teenage boy might do well as a doctor. In other words, this kind of teenage boy would best display his masculine genius in the discipline of the sciences. However when there is an “excess” of qualities, or a “distortion” in this boy’s self-image—the virtuous doctor idolizes truth and turns into a dictator—so consumed that valor turns against itself and into self-righteousness and arrogance replaces integrity. The tendencies toward experimentation in the sciences when in excess illustrates the lack of maturity. The distorted valor leads to a twisted hero that we label as a “jock” while the distorted integrity leads to a twisted hero that we label as a “nerd.” This anti-hero dominates others by imposing his truth upon others.

So when the archetypal teenage boy exercises the heroic qualities of integrity and passion, the boy is virtuously pursuing beauty. This teenage boy is often on the edge of being both a “nerd” and a “rebel." And this teenage boy would best display his masculine genius in the discipline of the fine arts. Yet as previously stated, if there is an “imbalance” of qualities or a “distortion” in this boy’s self-image—the distorted passion displays the “rebel” without a cause and the distorted integrity push out the “nerd” within. This once virtuous artist idolizes beauty to such a point that his imagination twists him into a hermit because of the objectification of beauty. The life of the teenage hermit is the hedonistic pursuit of self-indulgence, and eventual self-destruction.

So when the archetypal teenage boy exercises the heroic qualities of passion and valor, the boy is virtuously pursuing goodness. This teenage boy is often on the edge of being both a “rebel” and a “jock.” And this teenage boy is likely to be a corporate executive officer. The corporate business track makes sense because the rebel within is willing to take the risks while the jock always on display has the confidence to lead. However our CEO-Hero is easily twisted not unlike the doctor. The once virtuous CEO falls into the role of tyrant quiet frequently.  The immature CEO lives to work resulting in placing profits before people. His life is analyzed by his tyrannical transactions which are as volatile as a teenager’s hormones. His rebellious passions cause bi-polar outbursts and his jock-kingdom is ruled by a heavy micro-manager hand.

Though these stereotypes of jock, nerd and rebel in the teenage world seem sophomoric, the results of the male professions gone immature have serious consequences. Doctors, artists and CEOs are vital to the success of society; however, when these men become boys and come out to play as dictators, hermits or tyrants, lives are at stake.

The way in which the teenage boy can consistently pursue his hero within is by virtuously offering the gift of himself out of love to his lady.  The hero has the qualities of valor, integrity and passion in which to exercise during this offering quest. For every hero needs a quest, and every boy’s quest is to beckon his lady. A hero beckons his lady with valor, integrity and passion—this is the genius of his masculinity. She is essential to keeping her man a hero. Without her being his lady, he cannot be a hero. But how might his lady receive her hero? That’s the next entry called Teenage Archetype: Lady.

BuzzNet Tags: theology of the body,masculine genius,feminine genius,archetypes,teenage,hero

Lost in Ordinary Time

As a result of being a Catholic educator, I have the privilege of discovering “lost treasures” of the Church. Sometimes finding these treasures is a result of a significant change promulgated by the Magisterium, of which the pope is the primary teacher.

Once such instance was discovering what the liturgical calendar was like before 1969. Prior to Pope Paul VI changing the Roman Missal, and consequently the entire liturgical calendar, the Roman Catholic Church celebrated six liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Today we have four seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter; while Ordinary Time is not a proper liturgical season, but by definition simply the numbering of weeks between seasons.

Now while today it may be easier to think of four seasons (Advent-Fall; Christmas-Winter; Lent-Spring; Easter-Summer; though the timeframes do not really line up nicely), there has been something lost by incorporating Ordinary Time. We have lost the season of Epiphany and the season of Pentecost, as well as much more—do you know what Ember Days or Rogation Days are?

Being lost in Ordinary Time has caused perhaps a break from our connection with the cosmological nature of the liturgical year. In other words, the rhythm in which we worship is no longer flowing from the cosmological movement that God has ordered in creation. And with today’s resurgence of an ecological awareness and sensibilities, I think the Church might want to re-embrace the rhythm of God’s ordered creation within her year. There is something to be gained by being caught up in God’s cosmos as opposed to being lost in our own ordinary time.