- Introduction
- Male & Female
- M & F
- Upper & Lower
- Roles
- Transform
- Sexual Journey
- Limits
- Some vague thoughts on the matter
Introduction
This is based on the Kabbalistic view of the dynamics that play out between the two polarities of force and form, expansion and contraction, giving and receiving. I want to emphasise that we are a combination of these two polarities. The common way to refer to these polarities in a lot of literature is as the masculine and the feminine. The idea is not to think of it as man and woman, but that we are a mixture of these two energies, and that our journey is to find some balance and harmony between the two. Thus a woman can be full of female energy, and a man full of feminine energy. When a woman expresses her emotions, it is a masculine effect, one of giving. When a man folds into a depression it is the feminine form energy of contraction and constraint that he is expressing.
In the Kabbalah, for instance, Chesed represents mercy, or lovingkindness, and is on the masculine pillar. On the other hand, Gevurah, or strength, is on the feminine. Our sages say that the Gevurah is feminine because to practice restraint requires far more strength than it is to give to all (or even one) of one’s desires. Never does it say that Gevurah represents the woman. We all are made up of all the sefirot in the Tree of Life, and contain elements of all ten of these emanations of the Divine.
Analogous to this, is the Taoist concept of the Yin and the Yang, masculine and feminine. From a reading of the I’Ching, the Yin is referred to in feminine forms of sister, princess, etc, while the Yang is referred to in masculine forms.
In my opinion, the equating of masculine energy exclusively with the man, and the female energy with the woman is where much of the gender confusion arises from. It is the confusion between force and form. Although someone might be a biological woman, her energy (force) could be predominantly masculine. Thus the existential question of our time becomes: “Does that mean she is a man?”.
Male & Female
Dark energy -> expressed sexually: Woman as a channel for this energy. Just as the shaman throws the water that the dark entities that she has removed from the person and placed in, onto the earth to “absorb” and dissipate in the belief that Mother Earth can absorb and deal with these dark energies. Just like the earth can ground us electrically when we walk barefoot upon her skin, so the female who identifies in her body with the earth, absorbs/receives the dark energy of the masculine, and can absorb and transform it in herself.
The image that comes to mind is of a cloaking, a filtering – or, on a higher level, the guiding – of the masculine by the feminine, and consists of concentric circles.
The male forms a circle of protection for the female. He faces outward, protecting her from external effects, thus his consciousness is focused on the outside. She works from the inside, nurturing and nourishing the internal spaces of our existence, and thus faces inward. He protects the female, not allow anything impure in, giving her space to express herself. Her’s is to allow the dynamic fire of the masculine to be expressed in the world, but needs to control it enough to be able to temper and guide it. Just as one needs to tend to a fire.
This is a diagram of the universal dynamics of the Yin and the Yang. Where the divine feminine, represented by the the circle, represented space – creation, in that sense. The space in which creation can exist and be nurtured.
Though Kabbalisticaly, the feminine is produces form, paradoxically in her Divine, she is space – which is the form from which everything emerges. Whereas the masculine, the Yang, is represented as the energy that induces the space to manifest, and is represented by straight lines, rather like a vector. This is because energy always moves in “straight” lines.
Male as a vector:
Feminine controls the direction of the vector of energy, which is the force/power that is output from the “generator”, which emits this (sexual) energy constantly. That is its normal condition, when it is operating. This life force cannot be stopped, and should not be. It can only be guided to the place where it can be tethered to a life enhancing system—of which the penultimate is the fertile female. Else it deviates into life destroying (even self-destructive) activities and desires.
There is, in the realm of our existence, a need for those elements that bring about death and dissolution of the matter from which All (כּל) is formed. That is their job. A healthily functioning system is impervious to their wiles. In order for the system to maintain its balance, there needs to something that balances life and death. But there is no need to devour healthy beings if there are enough unhealthy ones that need to be removed in order that the system might continue to evolve.
We see the turnover at both extremes. If there is not enough nourishment (or space) for the light to shine, the darkness begins to spread. If there is not enough for those elements of death and destruction to feed upon, they begin to prey on healthy people.
Masculine travels out, tends to have more and more space, with a spire. Feminine, more womb like, collecting at the centre, becoming more and more dense, until it bursts with the new.
M & F
- All life is cyclical (or could one say circular?). The energy must be circular in order for it to sustain itself. As well as the cycle of life has to continue, else the life event ends. This can produce narcissism, the ego — everything for me/mine.
- All life threatening events are linear (what we refer to as evil)
- Though light travels in a straight line. It has an integrity/force with which it travels, and it loses force/clarity by losing its integrity. Whilst darkness expands spatially (in all directions), it occupies the spaces that emerge through the lack of clarity/integrity of the light!
Upper & Lower
Instead of looking at ourselves as some sort of “object”, as an “ideal” to attain, an imagined perfection, as illustrated by Jesus, Buddha, Mother Teresa, and other significant and influential figures. What if we viewed ourselves and our fellow beings as works-in-progress? Imagine everyone walked around with an “under construction” sign. Because who dies completely fulfilled? There is always something or, if you are lucky, someone left behind.
Why not look at ourselves, our world, in fact the whole darn universe, as dynamic systems. Systems that are always in some sort of flux, some of which is obvious and some of which is not. There is so much that happens, and that could happen, that we are unaware of, and that affect us. We are like fish in the ocean. All we can do, as regards the ocean itself, is just live in it and with it. We can search for food, and harvest what we can from our surroundings - but the currents that bring the nourishment, and the sun that nurtures them, and the many complex events that have to occur in order for this food to arrive and this current to flow, is beyond anything we can imagine, and this flux affects us, even if we are seemingly still “who we were”.
Even in our lives we think we are a constant, and not in constant flux. Besides the fact that our body, our emotions and our mind are constantly breathing, feeling and thinking. How balanced they are depends on a number of factors, but training and practice is at their core. As we grow, we move from one “type” of person to another. I am not the toddler I was when I was born. I have grown from being the young boy I was cavorting around the garden. I am not longer the father I was to my young children. Although I might still be, and always will be, their father, I am not longer the father I was then, for they are grown with their own children. And so it goes on - till I die.
Roles
For the masculine it is about achieving something - and then he will be satisfied/happy.
Any “success” that is achieved has to be constantly maintained and monitored. The more one achieves, the more attention these will demand. And one of the main tools of the Sitra Achara, the evil impulse, is to keep us occupied in the realm of the mundane so that we have no time to spend in the realm of the divine. That is to say that most of our day is taken up with mundane activities, most of our goals are empirical, and very little, if any, of our day is devoted to our relationship with the Divine. All relationships need attention to flourish. If there is no time for a relationship with the Father, than eventually the two of you will become somewhat estranged and unfamiliar. How many of your daily thoughts are taken up in contemplating what we don’t know, what is not there? Being still and listening to the silent speech, rather than thinking and about the things and experiences and events of your own life?
- Love without vulnerability is not love at all
Love, too, needs constant nourishment, though not material things. Admittedly, both men and women desire a materially comfortable life, that is not under question. And achieving that is a worthwhile goal. However, it is not sufficient to nourish love.
Transform
The female transforms the male energy into form
It requires the union of male & female to manifest form. On the upper level, it requires this union to be harmonious and balanced. If the masculine is not balanced by the feminine, and manifests form, it is misplaced (or misappropriated) energy. It thus has the tendency to become destructive. Just as energy that is not utilised, not only goes to waste, but can turn toxic.
Sexual Journey
The sexual impulse enters the young body. It is new, it is powerful and overwhelms the vessel in which it needs to be contained. This intense, and misunderstood urge for the young female is overwhelming, while the young woman is radiating sexuality and beauty, flush with her youthful eroticism. Due to the unrelieved pressure, it could crack, thus needs to be well bound to contain it.
If the masculine urge for the female is not contained or focused on a beloved, and continues till his later years, the older man will find the older woman unattractive, and continue to attempt to suck of the juice of the young girl. This will tilt the sexual energy into other forms, and will need to be fulfilled by other means in order to compensate for the lack of clear love-making.
A word on the beloved
Whatever criticisms have been laid against the romantic ideal of the beloved, it came (and still comes) from our deep desire for union with the G-d, who is the Creator of All, bless Him forevermore. One could say the Creator is masculine, the Nourisher is feminine — that is ignoring the fact that the Creator is both masculine and feminine and that it is only because of the constraints and comforts of our language that we refer to It as Him.
Once we had G-d manifest in human form (male, of course), now we could easier allow ourselves to love another human as we would G-d, our true Beloved. Once our focus on the unknowable Divine Source, may His dew water us eternally, wavered, then this attachment could be formed for anything. This is the reason for the prohibition of idol worship.
To constrain our sexual urges through love of the beloved, whether it is the human love or love of the Divine, uplifts us to seek a relationship with either the Divine aspect of my partner or the Divine Presence that surrounds us all. The alternative is to encourage sexual exploration, and dalliances, which will only lead to abominations and the perversion of desire.
Limits
The feminine’s tendency is towards fullness. She desires to fill the space, and is thus full of connections and counterconnections, circles and curved intentions.
The masculine’s tendency is towards nothingness, annihilation, death. His analysis is reductionist, towards the atom, the smallest particle of matter, rather than towards unification, accepting the field of consciousness. He represents the force which is the expression of nothingness in this reality. It has no body, no form – it is just pure energy.
Adam, the primordial man, is both male and female. Jung states that the purpose of human life, is the “union of anima and animus”. His name is derived from the name of the earth, ADAMah, which is, in essence Adam + h (hey). The ‘hey’ represents the breathe of G!d, just as the earth (אדמה adamah) needed the Divine Breath (‘hey’) in order to live…
A side note: is the symbol for hydrogen — which is the first, and most abundant element in the universe. It is also an essential component of both water and oil, the two liquids that comprise all living cells.
True love is not love that only loves you when you do what it wants. Just as true faith is not loving G-d only when things are good for you (like in the story of Job).
Some vague thoughts on the matter
The matter is one that discusses the desire for separation or union, from a journey that is called the Omer.
The lingam points upward when ignited in its desire for union. This could be thought of as an impulse towards higher consciousness, and, therein, at that moment, lies the choice. The choice of whether to dedicate this act to the Creator, or to thrust down into the depth of the darkness and dedicate the energy to the material realms.
Yet the two are intrinsically connected. They are never truly separate, and one has to master the ability to rise while at the same time being anchored deep in the darkness that is our flesh.
Yet the masculine thrust downwards, his desire to feel the energies of the earth and its darknesses. To go against this natural pull requires dedication to the Upper Realms. It is an expression of the servant of Higher Energies.
In order to receive, there has to be a “negative” or empty space.
In receiving, the energy is drawn inward (the process of reception) and if absorbed, can then transformed to form – as in the birth of a child.
In order to receive requires the energy to be quiet enough, and that is only through constraint that that can occur. By receiving the giving that is in the female’s receiving, they bring harmony and balance into the interaction.
And now the positions are changed. The receptacle, which was empty, is now full and the other, which was full, is now empty.
If this process of giving/receiving is blocked, the energy is transformed into waste energy, generating either heat and friction — which is the terrain upon which violent (masculine) or self-destructive (feminine) behaviour emerges. If the energy of the giving/receiving is misaligned, that inappropriated energy will find other outlets — some negative, some positive. The most positive solution I believe we have yet come up with, is to dedicate it to what will uplift you and your partner.
Asymmetry
The experience of the masculine in relation to the feminine, is an experience of a-symmetry. The two have many apparent similarities, and yet differ intrinsically. Just as light is asymmetric to darkness’ chaos, and dark is asymmetric to light’s order.
Dialectical Tension
From Whitehead’s Universal Algebra - 3. The Content of UA
#process #external
… the key to Grassmann’s philosophy of science and of mathematics is the dialectical tension between fundamental contrasts that … imply “no synthesis or resolution of opposites.”1 The scientific mode of presentation, according to Grassmann, consists of two interlocking series of developments. One part leads logically “from one truth to another and makes up the essential content” and the other part, arrived at intuitively, provides an over-view that “governs the process and determines the form.”2 The methodological nexus between existential interpretation and the formal system of rules has an additional ontological significance that is worth noting. Grassmann views the mind as an active body that responds to the movement of other bodies. As Michael Otte has argued, his epistemology is founded on objectively mediated activity (in contrast to Kant), and “synthesis is not foremost subjective construction, which is substantiated by the activity of the Transcendental Subject, but is representation of the real existing connections and relationships.” Hence, in contrast to Euclid’s “God’s eye perspective” of the eternal form of space, Grassmann’s fundamental entities signify “a relational mode of thinking.”3 This is exemplified in Grassmann’s vision of basic entities interacting with each other (through synthesising operations) to form more complex entities, which are then treated as the autonomous monads of a new class of manifold, or system. From this perspective, the various systems of geometry are the product of entities conforming to a particular set of laws: the ways in which the basal entities interact define the evolution of various sub-species (of geometry). Thus, rather than view space as a God-given Absolute, a structure set apart from the activity that takes place within it, Grassmann’s perspective interprets the spatial context as an emergent property of the interaction of the elements of the system.
- The dialectical tension does not follow the Hegelian path of seeking synthesis, but rather a dynamic composite of all the “basic entities interacting with each other” consisting of all the “real existing connections and relationships.” Thus, the dance between the masculine and the feminine (Maya) is eternal (or for as long as Creation exists), and as long as it continues, life will continue.
- The only way to “synthesise” it, is by creating androgynes, or by subjugating one or the other of the dynamics – as has been the method followed till now (as far as we know).