An Inquiry into the Feminine Principle

It is of little wonder why the concept of the feminine has survived even after strategic and concerted efforts to destroy it, or to tame it in certain cases. It is also of little wonder why these efforts have persisted.

First to take the second issue. The feminine is threatening! It is a contradiction to the very basis of our social organisation - patriarchy. Here I do not mean dominance of men over women, but rather the dominance of all masculine over all feminine - of positivisms over phenomenologies, of rationality over creativity; of economies over cosmologies.

It is the need to be uniform that drives society today, not the need to be free. The freedom is notional, subscribing clearly to prescribed definitions, not amenable to individual interpretations. This is the only way how the masculine can prevail and thrive. Sameness, rationality, solidity are its pillars.

The basis of all institutions in society today is this principle of the masculine. The state, the government, marriages, economies, religions... thats how they are sustained.

The feminine principle is about freedom. It is not necessarily the contradiction of the masculine, but just the freedom to BE.

Creativity, expression, emotion are fluid concepts. They cannot hold things together in the same way that sameness, rationality and solidity do. They themselves are beyond definition, abmiguous... Being boundless, limitless, they cannot be the basis for rigidity.

Within the divine feminine, space exists for every being, for every identity. There is no conflict, as the basis is acceptance of existence. The celebration of life in all its forms and experiences. It is not about taking sides, but of maintaining the balance of life. Of oneness, but not sameness. It is a continuum without compartments. Life and death both become the same experience - one being "oneness" with the world, and the other "oneness" with the other-world. The principle is of energy - shakti (the personification of which is the Goddess).

For hierarchies and materialism to survive, the masculine principle has to dominate. Only if there is "one truth" can there be an outgroup, the "other". Only if there is an "other" can finite resources be owned and powers be maintained. Only if powers are contained in that "one truth" can there be structure and stratification in society - the basis of good governance!

This explains the concerted efforts since centuries (atleast since the begining of "civilisation" and more so since the end of the "Dark Ages") to destroy the feminine principle.

It is seen as a threat to the structure and solidity of organised, civilised society. It is a threat to the preservation of power within compartments.

The acceptance of all expression and of all choice will render most of politics and perhaps all of economics redundant. This is seen as the begining of all anarchy - a return to, for instance, paganism over cleanly organised religion! It will signify the common ownership of resources, leading to a failure in creating wealth!

The feminine principle, however, will survive - as long as there is life. This is because the very principle of life is based on the divine feminine. The energy for survival, the co-existence and co-dependence with all other beings and energies, innovations, creativities, freedoms, choice, rights...all allude to the feminine principle striving to be re-established.