The 60s were a heady time for women. Even as a kid, I sensed a transformation going on, women suddenly being revealed as fundamentally equal – and in fact, often superior – to men. I realize that many people were, and still are, unaware of this seismic shift in consciousness, but its effects continue to permeate the world and its affairs, and I still watch in wonder.
There was a time in my spiritual seeking when I concluded that concepts of “male” and “female” were illusory – that we are all essentially just “images of God”. I later became enamored with the concept of “soulmates”, coming to believe that each of our souls is fundamentally either male or female. These days, I just don’t know. Perhaps someday someone will enlighten me, and I can update this paragraph. But for now, I’ll say that I feel like a “man”, and am actually pretty happy with that. And I’ve known women who were very happy to be women. So maybe this gender stuff is actually okay.
As to why males sometimes accidentally incarnate into a female body, or vice versa, I have no idea; but if someone is sure this has happened to them, I’m not going to argue. Or if we eventually conclude that gender is in fact a mere roll of the biological dice, we’ll be able to consider someone’s sexual identity as a simple matter of personality and personal choice. But through all these questions and conversations, a new paradigm presents itself: that between the two poles of male and female, there’s no inherent inferiority or superiority. We’re all gods.
Of course powerful women have existed throughout history, but a dramatic shift seems to have begun around the turn of the last century, coinciding with the suffragette movement, the rarity becoming more the norm. And then, with the advent of motion pictures, we had faces to attach to the concept of equality. The goddesses of the silver screen were every bit as much stars as their male counterparts. Was this part of some communist Hollywood conspiracy? No, it was a statement of fact.
My earliest experience of a pop culture goddess was, I think, a technicolor Doris Day; then there was Elizabeth Taylor, radiant even on a TV screen. But then in the late 60s something changed: the goddesses started speaking for themselves, and claiming their personal power. From my perspective as a budding musician in LA, the epicenter of this explosion seemed to have been Joni Mitchell. Not that she actually started it all, but that she personified it all: a brilliantly creative woman, quite happy with her femininity, choosing to tell her story on her own terms, willing to get rich and famous doing so, and unwilling to be a martyr to the patriarchy.
But of course she wasn’t alone: Odetta, Aretha, Dolly, Grace, and Carole each sparked their own revolutions, followed by a long line of successive goddesses who may not have achieved actual equality in show biz, but who nonetheless more firmly planted a flag in our consciousness, upon which was delicately embroidered, “We are not your chattel”.
Fast-forward 50 years and a lot has changed, at least in some parts of the world. True, women are still “chattel” in many places, and women’s financial power is still sorely unequal, but there’s now an army of female artists, writers, and influencers nurturing the seeds of a truth: that this entire universe is an exquisitely balanced dance of yin and yang – of expansion and contraction, attraction and repulsion, force and stillness – and that it follows that the God of such a universe must be as much “female” as “male”. Perhaps, as this seed takes hold, we will begin to break free of some of the logjams that keep us separate from God.
To be clear, this isn’t something that merely benefits women. Put bluntly, the harmony of the universe requires a balance of male and female. Viewed from this perspective, gender equality isn’t a matter of politics or religion, nor is it a battle of biology; it’s a simple recognition of metaphysical truth: God didn’t make a lopsided universe.
If nothing else, Joni taught me that I need to listen to women. I’m still trying to learn to do that, and see I’m not alone, so am happy that Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor, Maggie, and (your favorite artist) are continuing to give eloquent voice to a woman’s wisdom. It’s a wisdom that might, for instance, make clear that war is stupid. Why would you want to bomb someone’s home? Why would you want to take away someone’s son or daughter? It isn’t rocket science, but sometimes we men just don’t get it.
My intent here isn’t to reduce things to a boys vs. girls caricature, but to point out that, if any of us are to be truly happy, the yang impulse to control and the yin power of harmonization need to be in balance. These women (and many men, too!) are, in their own way, working to establish this balance. They aren’t mere cheerleaders on the sidelines: they’re pointing to and personifying a different approach to life, where sometimes gentle is stronger than tough, and sometimes the loudest voice in the room isn’t the one to listen to.
I’m also not suggesting that women are our saviors – but then, they haven’t yet been given the chance to try. Being a guy, I am, of course, clueless; but even I can understand that women should, in every sphere, at every level, be 50% of the equation. 50% of all legislatures. 50% of all relationships. Every other pope should be a woman. From that point of equality, men and women, straight and LGBTQIA+, might be able to really start a conversation. Which could be really good.
The whole topic of gender, of how the duality of the universe expresses itself in human form, leaves me intrigued, enchanted, and bewildered. But then, understanding it all might entail understanding the nature of the universe itself; so perhaps we can forgive our ignorance, and get on with our happy conversation.
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