Thank you for this. So clear how insidious this is, until you see it! Yes, the anima, once embraced, will connect men to their humanity, and to women, with empathy. Then they can protect and love rather than attack, hurt and prey on women and children. The lion protects the pride, the female already has too much going on!
I like biographer Robert Caro's take on power. He said, “We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.” 💥
I listened to your Michael Meade interview and have been contemplating it ever since in the context of research I did on my Puritan ancestors. It turns out that 90% of my immigrant ancestors were Puritan colonists who arrived in the 1620s and 30s. The other 10% were Scottish and Irish POWs who came over as indentured servants during the Cromwell wars. I'm directly descended from both the accused and accusers in the Salem Witch trials. I bring this up because I think where we are now in the US of A is the natural result of a nation and dominant culture founded by folks who were strangers to their own souls to a pathological degree.
Such a shame that the effort to connect to one's soul is seen as inherently feminine and therefore disregarded by disconnected men. Please dive deeper into this topic, Elise. Appreciate you.
This is so well said but still leaves me with so much anger towards men and their actions against women for thousands of years. I don’t know how we move forward from this. Why is that is as women always have to rise above and hold space for this evil?
There is no maturity without sacrifice. You have to give something up to grow up. You have to be willing to serve something other than your own ego. And that is quite a rarity these days.
Why does our culture (women included) keep elevating a certain kind of wellness “authority” until his reach far outstrips his integrity? Elise, I really appreciated your framing through the crisis of masculinity. It helped me see another layer of what’s happening here, especially as yet another wellness hero has fallen. What also strikes me is how many women physicians with deep experience and real insight into root-cause/functional medicine never get anywhere near that pedestal—or have a pedestal to fall from. They’re not offering "optimizing certainty" though, simply doing the real work on the ground: nuanced, relational, and accountable to lived experience. We obviously don’t need another hero or to swap in a heroine. We need something larger: a reordering (in the Father Richard Rohr sense you’ve referenced before). Maybe that’s what can emerge in the wake.
We desperately need men to grow up. So true. And in the wake of Trump‘s latest grotesque insult of the Obamas it makes me think about the fact that Barack Obama is a man I have always thought of as grown-up, and there are so few grown-up men. Thank you, Elise, I have spent my Saturday morning with Epstein material and this was soothing to read.
Thanks for the shout out, Elise. Truly.
Though it crushes my soul that it's considered "brave" for someone like me to call out moral depravity like this.
Appreciate your work, always. xo
You do us NCS girls proud, Dr. McBride.
Thank you for this. So clear how insidious this is, until you see it! Yes, the anima, once embraced, will connect men to their humanity, and to women, with empathy. Then they can protect and love rather than attack, hurt and prey on women and children. The lion protects the pride, the female already has too much going on!
I like biographer Robert Caro's take on power. He said, “We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.” 💥
Ooooh good one! Thank you!
(And I agree--I think fear of the power and its corruption keeps too many people, namely women, away from it...and we need more women with power NOW.)
I listened to your Michael Meade interview and have been contemplating it ever since in the context of research I did on my Puritan ancestors. It turns out that 90% of my immigrant ancestors were Puritan colonists who arrived in the 1620s and 30s. The other 10% were Scottish and Irish POWs who came over as indentured servants during the Cromwell wars. I'm directly descended from both the accused and accusers in the Salem Witch trials. I bring this up because I think where we are now in the US of A is the natural result of a nation and dominant culture founded by folks who were strangers to their own souls to a pathological degree.
Yeah--and what you're point to is that yesterday's victims becomes tomorrow's villains, rinse and repeat.
Yes! What else would it be but a cycle until we evolve or heal out of it? We need a re-souling for sure.
Thank you Elise! It's so nice to have a corner of the internet that embodies critical thinking and integrity. I so appreciate you and your work. xx
This is the read I needed today, thank you, thank you.
Oh I can't wait for your next book Elise...
Thank you!
Such a shame that the effort to connect to one's soul is seen as inherently feminine and therefore disregarded by disconnected men. Please dive deeper into this topic, Elise. Appreciate you.
This is so helpful and clearly written. Thank you!!
This is so well said but still leaves me with so much anger towards men and their actions against women for thousands of years. I don’t know how we move forward from this. Why is that is as women always have to rise above and hold space for this evil?
There is no maturity without sacrifice. You have to give something up to grow up. You have to be willing to serve something other than your own ego. And that is quite a rarity these days.
Why does our culture (women included) keep elevating a certain kind of wellness “authority” until his reach far outstrips his integrity? Elise, I really appreciated your framing through the crisis of masculinity. It helped me see another layer of what’s happening here, especially as yet another wellness hero has fallen. What also strikes me is how many women physicians with deep experience and real insight into root-cause/functional medicine never get anywhere near that pedestal—or have a pedestal to fall from. They’re not offering "optimizing certainty" though, simply doing the real work on the ground: nuanced, relational, and accountable to lived experience. We obviously don’t need another hero or to swap in a heroine. We need something larger: a reordering (in the Father Richard Rohr sense you’ve referenced before). Maybe that’s what can emerge in the wake.
We desperately need men to grow up. So true. And in the wake of Trump‘s latest grotesque insult of the Obamas it makes me think about the fact that Barack Obama is a man I have always thought of as grown-up, and there are so few grown-up men. Thank you, Elise, I have spent my Saturday morning with Epstein material and this was soothing to read.
Thank you for this. Your work is so excellent.
Well done Elise! I'm frankly tired of the bro culture. It's time we call out the problems. Thanks for writing about it.
Yes, we are definitely in a moral crisis. We must empower ourselves to be the voice of compassion.