Both
masculine and feminine styles of wisdom are important, but feminine
wisdom is, I believe, the end toward which masculine wisdom must work.
Masculine wisdom specializes in analyzing things and showing how they
are distinct. For example, masculine wisdom reveals how Nature and
humanity are different, with Nature being more non-personal and
transcending of the individual, while humanity is more
personal and affirming of the individual. However, after this analysis
has occurred, feminine wisdom is needed to show how the two are
actually united into a large Whole as aspects of one another. Here,
Nature takes on some of the personalism of humanity and begins to speak
to us, while humanity takes on some of the non-personalism of Nature and
learns to identify itself more with the 4.6 billion year history of the
earth rather than with the individual ego. Similarly, masculine wisdom
shows how the various world religions are different from one another,
while feminine wisdom reveals how they might learn from each other and
fit together into a larger Whole like puzzle pieces in a vast, cosmic
puzzle.
Masculine wisdom is important, for it is needed to reveal how each element contributes something of its very own to the Whole. New Age Religion is an example of a worldview that is lacking in masculine wisdom, especially when it over-simplifies things by claiming that all religions are really saying the same thing. What this means, of course, is that all of the world religions are erroneously viewed as affirming what "I" believe. Here, the diverse views and gifts of the various religions are simply discounted and forced instead to merge with one's own view. This lack of masculine wisdom means that when two elements are brought together prematurely, one of them ends up merging with the other, like the members of a couple in which one of the partners blends with the other's agenda. For example, without masculine wisdom, Christianity may end up looking like simply a variation of Buddhism, or vice versa.
However, when masculine wisdom fails to give way to the unitive capacity of feminine wisdom, it takes the distinct essences of the things it has analyzed and hardens them instead into a state of SEPARATION. The fundamentalistic tendencies - national, cultural and religiious - that we see all over the world today are examples of this masculine failure to integrate the distinct essences of things with a larger feminine union. I'm convinced that the various conflicts and wars waged across the world all point to the fact that feminine wisdom is desperately needed to show how each culture, religion and philosophy is really a unique aspect of a larger Whole. Without this shift in perspective to a more feminine holism, none of us will survive.
Photo: Beargrass, Lake Eunice and Mount Rainier; Mount Rainier National Park, WA; July 29, 2013
Masculine wisdom is important, for it is needed to reveal how each element contributes something of its very own to the Whole. New Age Religion is an example of a worldview that is lacking in masculine wisdom, especially when it over-simplifies things by claiming that all religions are really saying the same thing. What this means, of course, is that all of the world religions are erroneously viewed as affirming what "I" believe. Here, the diverse views and gifts of the various religions are simply discounted and forced instead to merge with one's own view. This lack of masculine wisdom means that when two elements are brought together prematurely, one of them ends up merging with the other, like the members of a couple in which one of the partners blends with the other's agenda. For example, without masculine wisdom, Christianity may end up looking like simply a variation of Buddhism, or vice versa.
However, when masculine wisdom fails to give way to the unitive capacity of feminine wisdom, it takes the distinct essences of the things it has analyzed and hardens them instead into a state of SEPARATION. The fundamentalistic tendencies - national, cultural and religiious - that we see all over the world today are examples of this masculine failure to integrate the distinct essences of things with a larger feminine union. I'm convinced that the various conflicts and wars waged across the world all point to the fact that feminine wisdom is desperately needed to show how each culture, religion and philosophy is really a unique aspect of a larger Whole. Without this shift in perspective to a more feminine holism, none of us will survive.
Photo: Beargrass, Lake Eunice and Mount Rainier; Mount Rainier National Park, WA; July 29, 2013
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