The Spiritual Physics of Gender, and Why We Urgently Need to Understand It: An Introduction
The path of a determined spiritual seeker is supposed to end in so-called self-realisation. Arguably, however, the spiritual path only ever leads to an intellectual understanding of what this term point to. Namely, the ‘non-dual’ conception of reality that once brought worldwide attention to Indian gurus, such as Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj. Today, there’s no shortage of Western gurus who teach the exact same message, to their scores of devoted followers. For one reason or another, however, few of these devotees ever seem to become enlightened, or experience the promised bliss that’s seemingly up for grabs. But, needless to say, it’s a promise that keeps people coming back for more; whether in terms of buying the latest books, watching the newest videos, or attending the next available satsang. I’m not implying that Advaita Vedanta is a scam, as such, but it can certainly become a trap, particularly if it’s accepted, at face value, as being ‘the end of the Vedas’ (the end of spiritual knowledge).
Speaking personally, as a lifelong spiritual seeker, I had always trusted myself to know, intuitively, when I had found the Truth. And, despite a certain attraction to Advaita Vedanta, I could never quite embrace it as being “the Truth.” In fact, my internal alarm bells went off at the merest suggestion of it representing any kind of final step on the spiritual path. Certainly, it would seem to represent an end point, given the inherently ultimate nature of the philosophy. But then, I’m apparently not alone in realising that it could also be characterised as a ‘spiritual bypass’.
And so, turning away from books, and lectures, and gurus, I began to earnestly speak to Source, often from within the dream state. And, much to my surprise, She spoke back, not least on the spiritual significance of gender, which I formerly had no idea about.
From the perspective of Advaita Vedanta, the issue of gender is completely meaningless, for both sexes are experienced by the one underlying Awareness. However, Awareness is not a sterile, aloof witness, as it’s often portrayed as being. In fact, it’s inherently feminine in nature, and by definition (awareness is receptive to impression). The fact that Awareness is universal has been misinterpreted to mean that it transcends gender, or is somehow independent of gender. But nothing could be further from the Truth. Gender is actually the mechanism through which Source experiences Herself, as if from an alternate perspective (see illustration).
Nevertheless, the divine masculine is a distinctly different enough frequency, or vibration, for it to be considered subordinate to — and, therefore, in service of — its feminine Source. If you’re a man who has a problem with this, well, that’s hardly surprising. For it’s precisely this “ego,” of the divine masculine, that led to what can only be described as a rebellion in heaven. This is the true Genesis narrative, which has obviously been ignored, in favour of patriarchal alternatives.
However, the suppression and subjugation of women, by men, is not an ancient story, requiring belief. It’s the reality that we’ve been manifesting, for thousands of years. It is, in fact, our story. And yet, whether in terms of spiritual concepts or religious doctrines, we have collectively chosen to ignore what is self-evidently true, and immanent, in favour of myths and philosophies that we need to believe in, or have faith in, or might someday realise, if we meditate hard enough, or find the right guru.
No!
All we need to realise is that the world is a physical manifestation of spiritual Truth; the invisible appearing visible. Truth has never been kept from us; we haven’t needed to seek it out, in books, or to learn it, from gurus. We’ve only ever needed to observe, and pay a kind of ‘detached attention’ to the world, in order to understand what’s actually going on here. The answers, to everything, have been hidden in plain sight, all long. And whatever one’s conception of God might be, She has also been with us, all along, albeit unrecognised and unacknowledged. For we have been persuaded to invest ourselves, instead, in man-made religions and spiritual philosophies, of one sort or another. Others have descended into scientific materialism.
Patriarchy doesn’t care which of these camps people fall into, because either will keep them away from the Truth. Even those who are awake, right now, in terms of the unfolding global agenda, are nevertheless clueless, as to the ultimate nature of the problem. And so they are unable to offer any real solutions. However, once the problem is fully known, and understood, the solution becomes ridiculously obvious and simple.
