The Power of the Feminine Principle

The gender divide is the oldest and arguably most prominent tool of discrimination that we have employed as a species to define who we are as people, to structure our societies and the values on which we base our lives.  We have culturally entrained our minds to zero in on the differences that exist between the two sexes while losing sight of what the two have in common. Through religion, culture, tradition, art, social norm, behaviour, attitude and belief we have, over millennia, learned to magnify that fine line of separation into a solid, insurmountable wall of distinction. Even in our modern day societies, in which we proudly stand for each other’s rights and celebrate these differences, our attitudes ironically only serve to reinforce that wall of separation. After all, just because you have learned to become more friendly and accepting of your neighbor doesn't change the fact that a fence still exists between your land and theirs. Rather than simply celebrating our differences and leaving it at that, its time to take a closer look at the reality behind some of these perceived differences and shift our attention instead to what it is that makes us the same.

The classical view in science was that the female form was the default template during the stage of fetal formation. And it was thought that with the introduction of certain genes further development of the male sex organs as well as the hormone testosterone is what led to the development of the male form. This view was very much in keeping with traditional and cultural views of males being "so much more" than the female. As we developed as a species through competition and conquest, through invasion and violence, through dominance and subjugation, through aggression and brute force, it became increasingly evident that the male form was more useful in these regards than that of the female. Therefore, the value of the male form over the female became simply a function of power and use.

This re-iteration of the ideal that the male is bigger, better, faster, stronger, more useful, more enduring, more intellectual, more innovative is something that continues to operate within our collective psyches even today. I do not refer simply to cultures that have yet to embrace women's rights, I am referring to our own culture here in the West. Even today, we value the person who has a greater ambition and competitiveness, is more aggressive, more dominant, more powerful physically, economically and socially, less yielding and more assertive. In other words, we value the person who is more "masculine". Except, now we have brought ourselves around to accepting that the women in our society can live up to these virtues just as well as the men can. And this is the ultimate double-standard: one that accepts equality of the sexes on the condition that we continue to uphold the masculine principle as the highest virtue in our society. 

This is evident in our social attitudes. For example, it is acceptable, fashionable and even admirable for a heterosexual woman to dress like a man, whereas it is unacceptable for a heterosexual man to dress like a woman. Women who work in traditionally male professions are celebrated, while men who work in traditionally female professions are far less respected. A woman who chooses a career life over the home is held in higher regard than the man who chooses to stay at home and parent over pursuing a career. In our efforts to establish a gender equality, what we have really established is a society in which women are celebrated for their abilty to be more "male" in their outlooks, their desires and their attitudes.

But let's take a look at these apparent "differences" between the two sexes. The classical view in science is now being replaced with more progressive findings in modern genetics which reveal that the female form is not the basic template of the fetus. Instead, during fetal development there is a steady interaction between pro-male, anti-male, pro-female and anti-female genes. This flux of interactions keeps the balance delicately shifting from one side to the other in a genetic ballet that is so subtle that it could really go either way. At the end of it all, a single gene can make the difference, creating just enough of a skew to create the male or female form. The difference is so subtle and so trivial, that it makes you wonder what all the hoopla is really about.

There is no such thing as a pure male or female. We all contain within us genes and hormones that exhibit both characteristics. The male and female distinction then is not some black and white boundary line but rather a skew that places each one of us somewhere in the spectrum of greys. Our physicality ends up being the defining line on how we ultimately end up identifying. However, this desire to fix onto a single position within that spectrum and hold onto it for dear life is what ultimately stalls our ability to evolve and progress as both individuals and as a society. Your true identity is not some fixed point on this spectrum called "very male" or "very female" or "slightly male" or "slightly female". Your true identity lies in your ability to span the entire spectrum because that is the potential that lies within you. Your expression may ultimately be whatever you choose it to be, but your perspective need not be restricted.

The feminine principle is a powerful principle and lies at the very heart of creation itself. It is the principle of intuition rather than intellect, of harmony rather than aggression, of flexibility rather than rigidity, of collaboration rather than competition, of inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness, of compassion rather than ambition, of aesthetic rather than function, of yielding rather than controlling.

Both the masculine and feminine principles operate within each of you, regardless of your physical gender. You are not as male or female as you think you are. These two principles are the two symbiotic movements of Life that balance each other and rely on each other to operate, just like your in-breath and out-breath. Every day, you are masculine in one moment and feminine in the next. At times you are demanding and at others yielding, at times rigid and at others flexible. You can be compassionate and yet self-motivated, you can be motivated by function but then appreciative of aesthetics. You have the ability to display power but also demonstrate grace, you can be competitive but sometimes collaborative. It is in discovering the play of the two principles within yourself and in nature that you can truly come to an appreciation of the value each holds.

Yes, your body is physically only male or female. But as we our discovering, even that is not something unchangeable. But what are you besides just your body? What are you aside from your genitals? How much of your identity do you derive from them?  What is your heart and your spirit? Does it have a gender identity?

The cultures in the East have long valued the presence of both these principles. In martial arts, it is the art of yielding to the aggression of your opponent that allows you to turn their aggression against them. The philosophies of Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism all celebrate the feminine principle as one of the highest virtues. It is the foundational principle, one that bases the birth of intelligence in the female principle of Intuition before it is translated to the male principle of the Intellect. It perceives the Unity beneath the separation, the harmony beneath the turmoil.

To re-connect with the feminine principle is to reconnect with the core of our spirit. For a long time now we have, as a species, been lost in our minds and our material ambitions and have gradually alienated ourselves from one another and from the very Earth that provides us sustenance. There is a reason why we call her Mother Earth, why we refer to it as Mother Nature. It is the movement of compassion and abundance for all creation regardless of distinction. There is a reason why some of the most oppressive regimes in the world were those most strongly based in the masculine principle. It is the principle that seeks to control, separate and subjugate.

What is necessary in the end is a balanced expression of the two: in which the masculine feeds the feminine and the feminine nourishes the masculine. Bruce Lee is his famous televised interview referred to it as the Art of bringing together Spontaneity and Control in a single unified expression, one that formed the basis of his martial art and life's work. It is the only purpose that we are here for. 

We each have an opportunity, man and woman alike, to rediscover the value of the feminine principle that lies within all of us. It is a latent power with immense potential. Through rediscovering this principle we may begin to shift the masculine skew in our minds (that we are all equally responsible for, men and women) back towards a more harmonic and balanced perspective of the two, both internally within ourselves and externally in our society. 

Recognize that it is not "man" and "woman" that defines who you are, but rather that indivisible human spirit which encompasses the two, that is the essence of your true identity.