puer aeternus, n.All

The Puer aeternus (n.) lives ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the provisional life — the life of the son whose father is still the guarantor of his existence.

The Puer aeternus (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the child born from the maturity of the adult — not the unconscious child we would like to remain.

The Puer aeternus (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the eternal boy into whom Faust must change at death, shown the true world only after all desire has fallen away, after every attempt to make the anima concrete is shattered.

The Puer aeternus (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the divine youth — Tammuz, Adonis, Balder — whose springlike beauty we miss so sorely in Christianity: the morning glory that makes man believe in a kind and loving God.

The Puer aeternus (n.) lurks ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in every adult as the eternal child, always becoming, never completed; our enthusiasm for child psychology is suspect, for we talk about the child but should mean the child in the adult.

The Puer aeternus (n.) is, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠alas, a form of illusion — in reality a parasite on the mother, a creature of her imagination who lives only while rooted in her body.

The Puer aeternus (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠granted only a fleeting existence, being nothing but an anticipation of something hoped for — the “mother's son” who strikes no roots in the world, a dream the mother soon takes back into herself.

The Puer aeternus (n.) or ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠eternal child in man is an incongruity, a handicap and a divine prerogative — the imponderable that determines the ultimate worth or worthlessness of a personality.