Love at first sight
By anyablue
@anyablue (363)
United States
February 13, 2007 11:04am CST
Jungian psychologists have a theory that every person has an anima (the unconscious female aspect) and an animus (the unconscious male aspect). Jung believed that when we ignore a certain unconscious aspect it struggles for our attention. One way it does this is by casting itself on other people we see. Jung thought this is why we fall in love at first sight. We aren't falling in love with the person, but the repressed aspect of our being.
I don't believe this completely, but I feel it does have some truth. We always look for a shared connection, it just might not be on a conscious level.
2 people like this
3 responses
@maribea (2366)
• Italy
13 Feb 07
i think that we all believe in the existence of our matching soul....the problem is that we can never be sure we have chosen the correct one!!! I'm playing...the fact is that I've never fallen in love at first sight in my life..I am usually moved by the way a person behaves with me and therefore I need time to feel comfortable with a person and to start thinking at him....Unfortunately the time it takes is never enough because I happened to be betrayed each time I fell in love...guess therefore that I have the same possibilities of being mistaken with first sight love than with my way of falling in love...this mean...come here my very other soul...where are you?
@anyablue (363)
• United States
19 Feb 07
I have the similar problem. I really need time to know a person before I even think about falling in love. But I like the idea of love at first sight. It's so romantic. Now I just hope if it ever happens to me I fall in love with the person and not just my unconscious self.
@Denmarkguy (1845)
• United States
13 Feb 07
Whoa... that's an interesting bit of insight, and I had to sit and think about it, for a bit. I'm not sure exactly how it would manifest-- what I mean by that is that I can't really say that people I have felt "instant attraction" for have had a lot in common.
Jung wrote at some length about "meaningful synchonicities" (which also could be thought of as identifying connections and basic "pattern recognition") and I'm wondering how that would interact with what you're describing here. I know we're also often unconsciously drawn to our "shadow" archetypes, which is another form of "not real love."
Which, I guess, begs the question "just when IS love REAL?"
Interesting topic!
@anyablue (363)
• United States
16 Feb 07
Interesting...I hadn't thought about the shadows connection before. Since shadows can be projected onto others it is just another form of circling back to our unconscious being. Wow...it's amazing to think about how many forms of love there may be. And as you pointed out, when is it real? And how much is the love we feel for others just unrealized love for ourselves?
@missak (3311)
• Spain
3 Apr 07
It is a very interesting topic. I think we do have a male and female aspect, but I'm not sure that is the reason why we fall in love first sight. I think it is more related to intuition, or senses other than the five usually known, such as views of the future or visions of the souls.
