While religions, philosophies and/or belief systems advance different perspectives and worldviews on a whole host of issues, there seems to be one area in which most of them agree -- very specific and patriarchal views on gender.
For example, in Islam, women enjoy a very definite second-class status. The same point can be advanced in terms of Judaism and Christianity too. Even philosophical Taoism contains a lot of gender specific language in reference to yin (feminine) and yang (masculine).
Taoism acquits itself somewhat by advocating the idea that all beings encompass both traits, but, in all honesty, I still have a bit of a problem with the fact that these traits are defined along gender lines. I personally would feel much better if we simply identified yin as passive and yang as active.
It's understandable WHY all these differing belief systems tend to agree on this generalized point. If we look back to the periods in which these religions and philosophies first arose, we will find that they arose in male-dominated societies. Since men were the storytellers and, later, the predominant writers of the classic texts, they got to define the roles however they wanted to!
If we look at the Judeo-Christian creation story -- for one example -- we find that the male authors stated that a) Man was made in God's image, b) Man came first, woman came second, c) Woman came out of man, d) Woman was fooled by the serpent and this led to the downfall of humankind, and e) a male messiah would come in the future. As can be easily seen, all the important roles were doled out to the male gender. (To drive this point home even further, in the English language, the words female and woman are derived from the root words male and man.)
As stated above, Taoism's track record isn't that different. All of the foundational figures (Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu) are males. Most of the earlier commentators were male too. And these "founders" are the ones who decided that the overall characteristic of females is passivity, while the predominant characteristic of males is activity.
In truth, neither of these traits are gender specific at all. Each of us -- regardless of our gender -- possesses both. In some people, one is far more dominant than the other, while other people exhibit more balance between the two.
While many of the Taoist texts I will quote from will feature this gender specific language, I've decided that I will move away from it because it no longer fits in today's overall society. In fact, even if it still meshed, I would still move away from it because it doesn't match my individual path.
For example, in Islam, women enjoy a very definite second-class status. The same point can be advanced in terms of Judaism and Christianity too. Even philosophical Taoism contains a lot of gender specific language in reference to yin (feminine) and yang (masculine).
Taoism acquits itself somewhat by advocating the idea that all beings encompass both traits, but, in all honesty, I still have a bit of a problem with the fact that these traits are defined along gender lines. I personally would feel much better if we simply identified yin as passive and yang as active.
It's understandable WHY all these differing belief systems tend to agree on this generalized point. If we look back to the periods in which these religions and philosophies first arose, we will find that they arose in male-dominated societies. Since men were the storytellers and, later, the predominant writers of the classic texts, they got to define the roles however they wanted to!
If we look at the Judeo-Christian creation story -- for one example -- we find that the male authors stated that a) Man was made in God's image, b) Man came first, woman came second, c) Woman came out of man, d) Woman was fooled by the serpent and this led to the downfall of humankind, and e) a male messiah would come in the future. As can be easily seen, all the important roles were doled out to the male gender. (To drive this point home even further, in the English language, the words female and woman are derived from the root words male and man.)
As stated above, Taoism's track record isn't that different. All of the foundational figures (Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu) are males. Most of the earlier commentators were male too. And these "founders" are the ones who decided that the overall characteristic of females is passivity, while the predominant characteristic of males is activity.
In truth, neither of these traits are gender specific at all. Each of us -- regardless of our gender -- possesses both. In some people, one is far more dominant than the other, while other people exhibit more balance between the two.
While many of the Taoist texts I will quote from will feature this gender specific language, I've decided that I will move away from it because it no longer fits in today's overall society. In fact, even if it still meshed, I would still move away from it because it doesn't match my individual path.
Hi RT, I believe we must be careful in looking through our western coloured glasses at old daoist texts.
ReplyDelete"Yin and Yang solely and only co-exist. In their constant interplay one rises and one falls, but neither can sustain a superior position permanently. Indeed they are understood to be complementary forces, the Yang impelling and sustaining Yin, the Yin containing and restraining Yang, so that in their harmony they support life itself. "
Above is a quote from page 188 of 'Who can ride the dragon' and it is something that made it very clear for me that we have a modern tendency to view Yin as a negative aspect because it is also dark, cold, wet etc. While the chinese maybe didn't see it that way at all. Or maybe I am just blowing out of my A$$ ;-)
I will end this post with another quote from that same page:" This implicate order of yin and yang is reflected in Chinese folklore by the fact that among the immortals, women are more or less equally well represented as men".
Looking at our own government, I think we are very far from that equality.
Take care
Nico Veenkamp
Hi Trey,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, our major religions and philosophies do seem to be divided along gender lines, and to the general misfortune of the ladies.
The east has been as bad in some respects, Buddhism was progressive in allowing women to join, but even then they had definite second class status. I've always tried to remember that we have to put the words of a religious founder into the context of their times.
As for me, I think we're missing out on a lot here, as some of the best spiritual instruction I've had has come from women.
Rich.
The East still tend to worship the feminine moon (It's cycles in tune with womans) with celebrations for the moon. The lunar calendar is much more in tune with us and nature whereas the 7 day week has not one relation to nature.
ReplyDeleteThe Moons day is Monday and most westerners hate Monday as they go back to work. They celebrate on Satan's day Saturday and sun's day Sunday.
The devils planet with its rings that we place on our fingers on weddings and the sun that is inadvertently worshiped by male dominant christianity on Sunday.
The feminine is oppressed by western ideals in many more ways too.
If the world was run by a feminine mental then it would be quite different as I can't imagine them wasting billions on a space program or dedicating trillions to bomb manufacture.
Some more to mull over is that Male dominant Rome wrote the male dominated bible, followed by the King Arthur male dominated "modern" version.
ReplyDeleteHindu gods and deities are all male and female, divided in two. Krisna, any one of them, is properly represented as male and female, one breast on one side of the depiction - statue or painting.
Also "Buddha" was a concept, a mind state passed on between students (non-gender specific) but when it became a story is was said that the man buddha has achieved this buddha mind.
All this male dominance is a latter introduction of the last 3ishThousand years or so.
Since, even more than balance and harmony, the principle of the taiji is change, I found it interesting when an acquaintance who claims to be a Taoist, has powerful qi, and is good at push hands, had a full-on sex change. I don't think it is important to say from what to what. But it's given me something to think about.
ReplyDeleteHey, great post. I wanted to share this random musing with you Rambling Taoist:
ReplyDeleteWhen I look up at the Sun and Moon, I see two equally sized circles. When you look up at the Sun and Moon, you also see two equally sized circles. However, when you think about the Sun, you think it is thousands of times bigger and further away from Earth than the Moon. You think that eclipses (which happen many times a year) are a coincidental crossing of heavenly bodies, which when observed from the perspective of Earth, merely appear to be the same size.
What if the Sun and Moon didn’t just APPEAR to be the same size? What if they really are the same size? Blowing out of proportion the Sun-Male principle/energy has long been the Illuminati’s Modus Operandi anyway. The Illuminati have convinced us to worship the Sun as the “Son.” They have propagated the Julian and Gregorian Sun calendars (which are far less accurate than ancient 13-month Lunar calendars). And they have convinced us that the Sun is a huge, amazing burning ball of life-giving energy, while the Moon is a small, cold rock which is close enough to land some Masons on.
Numerologically speaking, 5 represents the Sun/Male and 6 represents the Moon/Female. The triplicate of any number in Numerology is its highest order. So 555 is the highest resonator of the Sun/Male principle, and our Son/Sun’s nemesis, 666, is of course the highest resonator of the Moon/Female principle. This is why we have Sol-diers (Sol like Solar/Sun) being paid in “Soldes” wearing gold stars and amulets (gold represents the Sun, silver represents the Moon). The highest ranking is a 5 Star General who wears 5, 5 pointed gold stars, and has his actions conducted from the “Pentagon,” a 5 sided building composed of 5 concentric pentagons, with an inner courtyard of exactly 5 acres (555). The designer of the Pentagon building, Jack Parsons, was an OTO occultist and good friends with Aleister Crowley, who was publicly known as “The Beast – 666.”
The word “Luna-tic” comes from the Latin/French word for the Moon. The word “Nuts” as in “crazy” comes from Egyptian Moon Goddess “Nuit” as in Night in French. Even the word “Mon-ster” dervies from “Moon-Star.” Everywhere around you, you see the MANipulation of HIStory away from our ancient HERitage. The whole world over the Moon was seen as representing the female, intuitive, right-brained principles, while the Sun represented the male, left-brained principles of outward action. The eclipse is their spiritual union. Both logically and visually you can see the balanced Male/Female principles of the Sun and Moon. You see they are the same size and they revolve around us, but you think the Sun is thousands of times larger and everything revolves around it.
What are the chances of a parallax like this occurring based on sheer coincidence? The “experts” say the Sun is 1.392x10^6 km in diameter and 1.496x10^8 km from Earth and the Moon is 3474 km in diameter and 384,403 km from the Earth. These just happen to be the EXACT diameters and distances necessary for a viewer from Earth to perceive them as being the same size!? This incredible event, the occultic crossing of the Male/Female heavenly bodies, is being propagated as some mathematical coincidence, but the odds are against them about a zillion to one.
http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2008/07/total-eclipse-of-mind.html
Nico,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't view yin as negative in the least. In fact, I'm far more yin the yang!
Rich,
You're spot on. Context is everything. If a person doesn't allow for the context, more often than not, they will misread the entire situation.
Tao,
You always share such interesting information and insight. Your participation enriches the experience for all!
BR,
Yes, that would give someone a reason to pause!
AC,
That's a lot of info to digest. I'll have to let it sit within me for a spell. You bring up some very interesting observations and I thank you for taking the time to present such a well laid out response.
actually while reading the TTC, i was kind of surprised that the verses seem to advocate a "yin" life, slightly elevating the feminine. many people say they advocate equality of the sexes, but most people end up elevating one or the other. it's a thin line to tread.
ReplyDeleteWOW!, with all those amazing comments above... I have nothing else to add. :D
ReplyDeleteWell... perhaps just one little thing. Great post. (: