The Principle of Gender
‘Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes’
The Kybalion states that this Principle embodies the truth that there is gender manifested in everything - the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work. This is true not only of the Physical Plane, but of the Mental and even the Spiritual Planes. The principle of Gender plays a role in all thing’s generation, creation, and regeneration. Nothing can come into being without the use of this principle.
When looking at this Principle we are not talking about the physical Male and Female but energies, with both energies needing the other to find balance. Think more Ying and Yang, the balance point between light and dark. This is of course linked to the Principle of Polarity in that both Male and Female are opposites on the same pole.
Every Male has both masculine and feminine energy within them, and it is the same for every Female. Often one of these can be out of balance at any given time, which is normally ok as another time in the future it should be the other way round. This therefore also links this Principle to that of the Principle of Rhythm, a harmonious movement from one energy to another. However, there are many people whose Rhythm is disrupted and are too dominant in one causing an imbalance within themselves. We have a responsibility to ourselves to try to walk the middle path.
When we are talking about the masculine, we are talking about the active side of us, the explorative, the assertive, the ability to make external change. The feminine to balance this assertive nature is passive, receptive, nourishing, creating and holding a space that allows growth to take place. Too much of one puts us out of balance.
Too much Masculine and we have too much doing. A craving for power and control with a surge of recklessness, not caring about who gets in our way to get what we want. We lose touch with our intuition, and it makes us lose sight of why we initially had our goal. Too much feminine means too much passivity. There will be a danger of laziness and a lack of effort and drive. We can also become vulnerable to not standing our ground and thus open to being manipulated by others.
Walk the middle path of your Masculine and Feminine energies
Many people argue that for much of human history society has been out of balance. With an overemphasis on the masculine energy with institutional structures and control. Dominance and competition being the order of the day, with only small pockets of the divine feminine. If you think about the term ‘rat race’ we have this very masculine idea of attainment and getting where you want to be. Now do not be too quick to judge this as we need some of this masculine energy, but this is a good example of how it can cause many of us to come out of balance. You may well be able to relate to some of what I about to write.
When we start at Primary school (4-11 yrs) we are often told that good things will come when we get in the upper years. Then when we reach the upper years, the next step is preparing for secondary school with exams and new learning, told to concentrate on this next big step. Then when we get to secondary school, we get told we need to think about what we want to do for our GCSE’S, and how this is the next big step. However, when we choose out GCSE’s we must make sure we get good ones so we can get a good job or go to university. If we go to college and then university, this sense of needing to keep striving continues. Finally, at some point we get a job and this pattern of future orientated thinking continues. Society breathing down out neck to get a promotion or better pay so you can live in a bigger house, have a sense of worth, etc. On and on it goes until eventually we retire. At this point or for some others a lot earlier we might stop and realise that we have spent our entire lives thinking and desiring the future, continuously reminding ourselves that when we get ‘there’ we will be happy. However, that elusive happiness just takes shape into something else and onwards we go. We realise we have lived our whole life dreaming, without being present, missing the eternal now and never being at rest. Once they touch that awareness of the everlasting now they begin to feel happier…….
The rat race is always feeding the hungry ghost. It will never ever get full. When we step out of our thoughts and emotions we may discover a new awareness and perspective of our lives
This example is of a complete imbalance between the masculine and the feminine and is unfortunately what our very institutionalised education system is still producing. Setting and achieving goals is excellent and is how things ultimately manifest and get done, but without that balance of the feminine, being present and not always in a state of ‘doing’ we can see our lives pass us by.
Things look to be potentially slowly changing but never forget the principle of Correspondence with this. When you yourself come into balance, you help bring the rest of the world into balance. Your small deeds have large outcomes.