More often than not, speaking of the
concepts of 'feminine' and 'masculine' lead to general statements, confusion,
conflict, and sometimes, argument and anger.
These terms describe two complementary forces in the universe that are
intangible archetypes. It’s been
suggested that the best course might be to get rid of gender stereotypes
altogether and just agree that all attitudes and behaviors belong to both
sexes. C. G. Jung pointed out that each
of us has a contra-sexual psychic element operating within us. Psychologically as well as biologically, maleness
contains recessive feminine traits and femaleness contains masculine
traits.
We could just get rid of our
concepts of masculine and feminine and say everyone is the same, an easy way
out of a difficult situation. But being
equal does not mean that we are the same.
Women are equal to men under the law, but we must still demand that the
feminine perspective on life is equal to that of the masculine. Our modern rationality so often is willing
and eager to dismiss questions that disrupt our view of reality. We have become lazy thinkers!
What we are having trouble with are the stereotypes of gender, not the reality
behind them. That still remains a
mystery, and its deepest reality always will remain one. But we can dismantle our stereotypes and allow
new images to arise from the depths of life.
Stereotypes are merely the outer husks of a reality, a shell or image
that has lost its power to express that reality in life. These husks are what need to be discarded, so
we can begin to discover where the life that was once theirs has been
reborn. We are living in a time of
transition and transformation, and we must be willing to explore the
possibilities of a renewed understanding of these two different, yet complementary,
ways of being in and experiencing the world.
Why do we want to neglect the most
lovely mystery of our differing sexuality - our dual nature as human beings -
and its reflection in the inner and outer worlds? Why devalue our bodily differences as
'nothing but' when we can explore the mysteries of our bodies as symbolic of
the mysteries of the basic principles and dynamics present in ourselves and our
world? Why not imagine that the chaos in
our understanding and of the times we live in is the prima materia of a new consciousness, the forerunner of a new
evolution in spiritual understanding, the dissolving and transformation and
rebirth of the masculine and feminine manifestations of spirit and their
eventual re-union?
Many people are already engaged in
this work as we work to heal the wounds in our lives and in our society. The alchemists found that the Philosopher's
Stone, the divine essence within each person, was born of the chaos of the
prima materia. This prima materia had to
be distilled, and burnt to ashes, and separated and worked, until it yielded up
two essences, which were symbolic of the King and the Queen, Sol and Luna, the
masculine and the feminine, the Yang and the Yin. It was only after the separation and
discrimination of the elements that a new union was possible. This was achieved in the hieros gamos, or sacred marriage, which produced the Philosopher's
Stone, or in Jung's terminology, the Self.2 The reality behind these images renews
itself through new images; the worn-out images and beliefs of past ages can be
left behind if they are no longer life-enhancing, for new images will arise
that will integrate the new truths that are being born.
Being in a state of transition, the
concepts of 'masculine' and 'feminine' can be imagined in many ways. The fact that all cultures make the
distinction between maleness and femaleness indicates the given nature of this
polarity in the collective psyche.
Therefore, the opposition and complementarity of the masculine and
feminine archetypes are the underlying symbols of our experience of
duality. The ancient Chinese speak of
this polarity as the cosmic principles of Yin and Yang, and all other
polarities have been connected to this sexual polarity: solar and lunar, light
and dark, initiative and receptiveness, heaven and earth. These polarities are not fixed and static,
but interweave in various proportions throughout all of creation.
In our Western tradition, the
masculine principle has come to be associated with the left side of the
brain. Along with that, we associate the
masculine principle with solar symbolism and consciousness. It represents spirit, logos, creativity, the
striving for individual consciousness, discrimination, separateness, discipline
and order. It is represented by the
image of the great solar hero who slays the dragon and triumphs over the
darkness.
The feminine principle, represented by
the right brain, is usually associated with the moon and lunar
consciousness. This principle has been
devalued in Western culture, and so we know less about it - it is more
unconscious for us. It symbolizes
actualization and manifestation, the senses and sensuality, body and soul,
creative play and imagination, and the realm of dreams and fantasies. Lunar consciousness is much more opened to
the realms of the magical, mystical and psychic dimensions of life, to the
intangible, intuitive, feeling side of life.
It is these elements of our psyches which we are re-discovering and
which will eventually birth a new collective consciousness. On the whole, women know more about solar
consciousness than men do about lunar consciousness because women have had to
adapt to a masculine culture, while men still distrust and diminish feminine
ways of knowing.
C. G. Jung defines solar consciousness as the
ego-consciousness of modern humanity, while lunar consciousness gives rise to
the more feminine workings of the unconscious.
Jung also felt that creativity, new births, new stories, and new
possibilities emerge from this feminine realm.
A Cartesian mechanistic world-view has been the paradigm of Western
science since the 17th century and the Age of Enlightenment, and it
has trained us in a separatist masculine consciousness, which ignores the
emotional, mental and spiritual implications of our materialistic culture. It is the more feminine, holistic world-view
of the new physicists which experiences a holographic universe, a universe
which is seen as a dynamic web of interrelated events, and which postulates the
inter-connectivity of all things.5
Some feminist writers assert that
since most of the masculine qualities once belonged to the Great Goddess of
antiquity, they should be considered part of the feminine, or at least not only
masculine. The Celtic goddess of war,
the Morrigan, is a dark, war-like aspect of the Great Mother, such as Kali in
India. Today, we think of war as
something more closely related to masculine occupations, although women fought
and died as soldiers in both Iraqi Wars.
Yet, the ancient Celts saw war as a feminine preoccupation! There has been a change in consciousness
since those days and the newer differentiations have settled into the
collective unconscious. To reject all
differentiation or to consolidate all qualities under the umbrella of one
concept can lead to the continued domination of the dominant viewpoint, i.e.
the masculine viewpoint.
It is the Feminine Spirit and its
consciousness of images, rhythms, play, body, mystery, soul and being which has
been devalued by our Western civilization.
To recover a feminine standpoint, we have to find out what it is - learn
about it, experience it, and live it.
When these aspects of life are renewed and reverenced, understood and
made available for the purposes of life, we will have a conscious feminine
standpoint. This is very much the image
of the Woman Clothed with the Sun: a
feminine consciousness which can balance a new masculine consciousness. Our old masculine consciousness needs
renewal, because for too long it has repressed and used feminine consciousness
for its own purposes, instead of honoring it as an equal. A new relationship of equality between these
two primeval forces, working through men and women, can help us all heal the
Earth, our relationships and our society.
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