Within the masculine psyche, there is a creature, an unwounded man, who believes in the good, who has no doubts about life, who is not only wise but who also is not afraid to die. Some would identify this as a warrior self. But it is not that. It is a spirit self, and a young spirit at that, one who regardless of being tormented, wounded, and exiled continues to love, because it is in its own way a self-healing, a self-mending.
Women will testify to seeing this creature lurking in a man outside of his awareness. This young spirit’s ability to bring the power of healing to bear in his own psyche is so awesome that it is astounding. His trust is not dependent on his lover not to hurt him. His is a trust that any wound that comes to him can be healed, a trust that new life follows old. A trust that there is a deeper meaning in all these things, that seemingly petty events are not without meaning, that all things of one’s life – the ragged, the jagged, and the lilting and the soaring – all can be used as life’s energy.
CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES
Women Who Run With the Wolves (Ballantine Books)
Next step: Listening to my foot