<< Previous - The Imaginary Plight of Light
We decide gender
based only on biological features, which results in the superficial idea of
man-woman. In contrast, there is much more to the idea of masculine and
feminine. These are fundamental components of any living system, and everyone
is a mixture of both feminine and masculine characteristics. In Chinese
philosophy they are called as Yin and Yang respectively. Fritjof Capra, in his
classic work 'The Turning Point', gives a beautiful account of this concept. Later
I got to hear similar ideas from various other sources, and also realized a few
points myself. And thus this post. The concept is vast; only an essence is
presented. And some may find it contentious.
The characteristics
of Yang are - assertive, competitive, demanding, analytical etc. Basically
self-preservative - the inherent urge to preserve myself at various levels -
physical, mental, ideological, social etc.
The characteristics
of Yin are - adjusting, cooperating, accepting, intuitive etc. Basically
self-expansive - the inherent urge to become something more than what I currently
am, by surrendering to and identifying myself with a bigger picture (say,
nation).
For a healthy
growth of an individual/society a mixture of both is necessary. But the crisis
today is that masculine qualities have become dominant dinosaurs and feminine qualities
have become endangered species. I am not speaking in terms of men-women; I am
speaking in terms of masculine-feminine. By saying masculine is dominant today,
I mean that not only men have forgotten their feminine side, but even women are
becoming increasingly masculine. Manly women! Due to the physical and
psychological suppression of biological women over the centuries by biological
men, biological women are trying to retaliate. They should retaliate. But
instead of bringing feminine qualities to the forefront, the biological women
are again promoting masculine qualities. So even if females rise, the feminine
will anyway fall. This is a lose-lose situation.
The masculine is
dominant because it is portrayed as success in today's society. But masculinity,
the self-preservation part, has to do only with survival. Earn money,
status, security etc. It ends there. It is only the initial necessary part, not
the final fulfilling part. But we somehow seem to have missed that point. We
are running a blind race only to survive. Even after we have well more than
what we need to comfortably survive, we still run after money. Because we
measure success with how much money one has. You know very well what "He
is very successful" means by default. But measuring success with just how
well you survive is very dumb. For instance, an individual with a 3-bedroom
house is considered more successful than the one with a single room - we should
be laughing at this really.
Success should in
fact be decided by feminine qualities. It is that additional thing you do after
you have managed to survive. How well are you in tune with the bigger picture?
How fulfilled you feel with your life? What have you experienced beyond the
basic physical world?
For instance,
social service is feminine, an additional thing beyond your survival. And that
gives you a sense of contentment. Motherhood is intensely feminine, something
which can biologically be supported only by women (fatherhood is also feminine,
but less intensely). But due to the rampaging masculinity, modern mothers think
that working in office is success rather than spending time with their
children. Is motherhood - bringing up a child with good values and preparing
the next generation - not success? Men have anyway lost their minds in
masculinity. And now women too are defeating the feminine.
Spiritual seeking is the culmination of the feminine. The
deepest yearning, which is way beyond the realm of the survival. All seekers
are intensely feminine. As Meera put it, there are no other men in existence
apart from Krishna, the final reality. Only when we become extremely feminine
in seeking this reality can we surrender ourselves to it and annihilate the
self-preserving masculine individuality. Therefore, may all of us invoke
the feminine in us.
