Her intuitive and feeling functions tend to constellate around her feminine energy (anima) and often are accompanied by a sense of vulnerability and isolation (especially since her best friend left the organization). Kristen is caught in the dynamic Hard Irony of competing perspectives and priorities. There is truth embedded in each of the functions and both the masculine and feminine energies are being used in an appropriate manner (most of the time). But there is irony in all of this and Kristen never quite feels at home in any one sector of her psyche.
At an even deeper level, Kristen seems to be confronted with a powerful and primitive archetypal irony: the imago of the Great Mother who is both vision-embracing and grounding. On the one hand, the Great Mother is the creator and the source of all living things. In this role, the Great Mother is the innovator and inventor. She sees what could be and creates it. On the other hand, the Great Mother is the earth and the source of all nurturance. While the Wise Father resides in heaven and reigns from afar, the Great Mother is “down-to-earth” and cares about the daily life of her children. Kristen considers this image of the Great Mother to be highly offensive and the source of great repression in the history of Western Civilization. Yet, she is also caught up in the irony inherent in the two functions served by the Great Mother.
Kristen is both the vision-embracer and grounding figure in her organization. Not only can she be captured by this ironic archetype, we find that other members of Healthforce are also influenced by the collective image of a Great Mother. Kristen is undoubtedly pulled into this image as the first (and only) female leader of the organization. Organizational theorists with a system or psychodynamic (Tavistock) orientation suggest that “role-suction” operates in all human groups and organizations. Individual members (or subgroups) of the group or organization are being pulled into specific roles, with specific expectations assigned to each role. These role-suctions are very powerful and are not easily abandoned. For Kristen, the role suction might be particularly great (as it is for any minority of one or two) and further energized by the Great Mother imago that is held unconsciously and collectively by all members of her organization.
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