An abstract
pencil sketch of human history appears as crazy squiggles springing forth and
shriveling back. Empires rise and shine. Sooner or later they run out of fuel,
and shrink. Maybe it’s firewood—they burn it all. Maybe it’s wheat fields,
succumbing to drought. Maybe it’s common sense, collapsing in the darkness of
closed minds. Whatever it is, each empire falters, bleeds out . . . each fire
finally dims as another blazes. These transitions register suddenly, while the critical
gravities gather slowly and silently.
The rise and
fall of empires are reflected as fractal patterns in see-saw cultural shifts,
such as the recent collapse of Harvey Weinstein: “instantly” women are
empowered to speak out against sexual abuse and manipulation.
Well, first
of all: YaaaaY!!!
But let’s
look beyond the moment, and ask what has been going on here . . .
Why are so
many cultures around the world mean to women? Really, really mean. And
humiliating.
Who thought
this was a good idea?
Apparently,
men.
Men have
been bullying and silencing and abusing women in a lot of ways in a lot of
places for a lot of centuries.
Have you ever
visited a society where women beat up men and rape them and pay them less? And
then kill them? Um, no.
Misogyny is so
pervasive. Whether overt or covert, it’s pretty much world-wide, full
time/space continuum.
Why?
Wouldn’t
everyone—without being instructed—revere women, at the extreme fundamental
minimum, for giving birth? Or are some guys somehow upset by such a miracle? Is
it jealousy, guys, because no man could ever achieve anything equaling birth? Or
are you, the hirsute mastodon-slaying monster, secretly afraid of women?
Let’s look
at what the French call la difference.
Masculine
energy. Feminine energy. Two different trajectories, two distinct interfaces
with life.
If you’ll
share in the gloss of over-simplification based on our hereditary roles: Men
kill. Women nurture.
Not that all
killing is pure evil. Not at all. To be sure, murder is often pure evil. Yet killing
is also life feasting on life. In the natural world, killing is a vital part of
the process. And in the human realm, we have to kill to survive, either plants
or animals, your choice, but no matter how you cut it, you have to kill to
live. It’s part of your job here, to keep the goods in motion. Biological
energy doesn’t want to stand still.
And men are
good at killing. God bless ‘em. Whether it’s wheat or whales or cotton or
mutton or mussels, men will bring home the bacon. It’s good, honest work, this kind
of killing, and it’s pretty simple. You either bring home the bacon, or you become
brunch.
While men
kill, women nurture. Turns out the nurturing thing can be a lot more
complicated than the killing thing. Nurturing weaves fluid combinations of observation,
adaptability, subtlety, and quiet assertion. This skill set, in toto, emanates
from a subtly complex interface with life – a degree of complexity beyond the direct,
the blunt and the forceful elements of execution.
It’s not
that simple, of course. The yin/yang/ masculine/feminine/ yoni/lingam tide ebbs
and flows in each of us. Which brings us, obviously, to the Ten Commandments .
. .
