Patterns of Spirituality

The Masculine and the Feminine
as Evolutionary Influences

Hinduism has the idea that the spiritual influences acting on reality can be classified into two basic categories. These categories are labelled the masculine and the feminine principles.

In the articles on abreaction, I described some ways in which the mind functions. [¹]. I described "how" the mind operates when it is following particular sequences of emotion. Now, using this idea of the two principles, I can explain some features of  "why" the mind functions in the ways described.

First I need to highlight a major difficulty that faces all seekers on their spiritual paths. A seeker usually begins his journey by finding faith, and this often occurs within a group or community of fellow believers. He is socially orientated, though primarily focused on his community. As time goes by, perhaps after several more incarnations, he advances further on his journey. He feels that his life in the wider society has become a source of sorrow; he realises that the focus on spiritual needs has resulted in the loss of social skills. Now he finds that relationships have become difficult for him, especially relationships with women. He has become very sensitive to emotional issues of rejection and criticism: emotions are now a difficult and strange theatre for him. He begins to feel the burden of guilt and psychological pain that all seekers are subjected to. As he continues to advance on his journey, his burden gets heavier and he finds that he is becoming more and more anti-social.

Each major spiritual tradition has to formulate a way of handling this social hatred in the seeker. And so each tradition has evolved a practice that aims at making the seeker more comfortable with social activities. Three practices have evolved from three major traditions.

I consider three traditions and their great teachers. Each teacher functioned within the influences of the masculine and the feminine.

The core practice advocated by Buddha to guide the seeker to becoming more sympathetic towards social issues was the bramha viharas, more especially the focus on loving-kindness and compassion to others. Jesus advocated the practice of forgiveness towards one's adversaries. I come from the Egyptian tradition of Osiris and Isis, and I presume that the social practice is that of the acceptance of life and all its sorrows, since that is becoming my spiritual goal.

These practices are the complement of practices orientated just towards the individual seeker. In Buddhism, the core practice for the seeker is to control himself, which means to control his mind. With Jesus the core practice is surrender to God, which means surrendering the personal will of the seeker. With Osiris and Isis, the core practice is to know oneself.

Now I bring in the masculine and the feminine principles. Buddha worked with the masculine principle, the principle that seeks control. Jesus worked with the feminine principle, the principle that wants to surrender and bond. Osiris and Isis worked with both principles, the purpose being that of achieving a suitable balance and harmony between them.

Why are there three great traditions?  Because the spiritual journey is a dialectical one !  We can think of Buddha as thesis, Jesus as antithesis, and Osiris/Isis as synthesis.

Whichever tradition a person wants to work with is purely one of personal preference. However, the most effective tradition in any era is the one that is most in tune with that era. In the high stress societies of modern times, the most effective path is that of synthesis.

Synthesis requires that the seeker pursues the path of psychological exploration and integration. This is much more difficult as a practice than the practice of either Buddhist or Christian precepts. In Buddhist meditation and Christian mysticism the seeker can be single-minded and put the whole of his effort into the pursuit of his ideals. There are established steps by which progress can be measured. In contrast, the pursuit of self-knowledge is an oscillation between extremes, between the extremes of the masculine and the feminine. The psychological journey seems to be more like a process of trial and error rather than a formal discipline. The seeker is often in turmoil as psychological confusion reigns in his mind.

Why is the experience of confusion such a regular occurrence to the seeker trying to know himself ?  To understand this problem, I need to enlarge my theory of abreaction.

I look at the stage of catharsis as it affects a man. [²]

In the traditional man, his masculinity is everything and so his femininity is repressed. This is not a state of natural balance, harmony and psychological maturity. To attain a state of holistic spirituality he needs to embrace his femininity. This is very difficult for him, and so he has to find ways of gradually letting his femininity emerge into full consciousness. There are two ways to achieve this. 

In the first way,
femininity is given expression during the process of abreaction. In the stage of catharsis, the feminine is released. Now the person feels the feminine side of himself, at the same time as he feels the excitement of the catharsis. They link together: the feminine feels exciting (so temporarily overcoming his fears about the feminine). He is likely to interpret the strange thoughts going through his mind as indicating sexual freedom, especially the freedom from traditional sexual mores. His ideas about love change. He now believes that he is free to love in new ways, or to express love within exotic and forbidden ways. He may become sexually promiscuous towards women, or indulge in sexual contact with children or other men. Hence sexual extravagance is part of the confusion that the release of the inhibited feminine brings in its wake.

A person of strong moral ideals may be able to refrain from such sexual extravagance, yet his views on sexuality and the feminine will change to some extent. 

When the psychological backlash against the catharsis begins, the person re-embraces the masculine. He now rejects most of the feminine ideas of the catharsis, keeping only what he can handle within his usual social roles. As he tastes the bitterness, he may become authoritarian and controlling towards other people as he seeks to justify his conscience. 

In the second way,
the feminine finds its outlet in gender confusion, by generating uncertainty about sexual issues. This is a long-term process that happens over several lifetimes on Earth if the inhibited feminine is not released through catharsis. The repressed feminine begins to influence the person's feelings towards his sexual orientation and gender identity. [³]

Why is there a difference between catharsis and gender identity in the way of handling the repressed feminine?  Catharsis releases the repressed feminine, thus gradually leading to the reform of deeply-held beliefs. Whereas, sexual questioning is stimulated by the repressed feminine in order to transform gender identity.

For the traditional woman, it is the masculine that is repressed. The ideas described above still work, but with the masculine taking the role that the feminine plays in traditional man.

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it. The addresses of my other websites are on the Links page.

[¹]. My analysis of the process of abreaction is given in the five articles on Abreaction. See home page for the list, or see the first article.  [1]

[²]. Catharsis is a stage in the process of abreaction. It is described in the article Catharsis and Suggestion. [2]

[³]. My articles on sexuality and gender issues are on my site The Strange World of Emotion. [3]

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Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
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