Beyond Gender - Quareness Series 99th "Lecture".
In many parts of our world today it seems we are becoming immersed in a sea of authoritarian gender fluidity driving an increasingly argumentative and emotional division between persons. In trying to look beyond this immediate environment of quite frequent over-sensitivity and willingness to take offence (on all sides), it might be helpful (and instructive) to consider how humanity might move on to the next stage of our evolution in a more dignified way and to ask...could it be that the soul has no gender?
Some of us may wonder if this current phase is a symptom of our messed up societies. It's perfectly reasonable of course for people to aspire to be whatever they want to be, but forcing others to behave in a certain way so that I can pursue my way of life may not be so. And this approach seems to be a major factor in keeping the negative social energy flowing at this time. Maybe we have reached a point in evolution where our souls are increasingly yearning for something higher than what we have had in this world?
Per the Russian/Israeli scholar Michael Laitman...“The growing gender neutrality movement of our times is a glaring symptom that we must fulfill our lack of spiritual identity. The war of the sexes that is all over the headlines, also demonstrates the strong need for reconciliation between the male and female elements within each of us. Every attempt to harmonize the male and female elements on the earthly level alone will fail.”
Our human ego, arguably the main root cause of all the problems we see in the world today, can be transcended. And at this higher level of consciousness/connection we can be in perfect harmony and synch with the nature surrounding us.
It's believed by many that the foundation of all our social evolution is fully laid out in the Bible, with the key to our happiness encoded into the biblical stories. And the wisdom of Kabbalah is seen as a science for deciphering the code and making sure that all of humanity can benefit from it. The entire spectrum of its study is based on the relationships and interactions between male and female characters. We were created this way so that connection between a male and a female would form the perfect vessel for receiving the light.
Per Michael Laitman again...“Our female element is the part in us that desires to receive pleasure. The male element is the ability to receive pleasure in a way that benefits others. When one develops spiritually, these two aspects grow within him or her and achieve one unified action: receiving and giving full pleasure to the entire world. The Book of Zohar - the human is the inclusion of male and female, and the world cannot be built, if male and female are not both present.”
In this (somewhat controversial and unorthodox) Kabbalah view, men and women are built completely opposite to each other but together form the perfect vessel for receiving all the abundance nature has in store for us, and we need to focus on finding a suitable spiritual partner for the spiritual path humanity is about to embark on. Of course any kind of adult relationship will fit the bill here, as long as one partner represents the giving element and the other the receiving element...as a couple, any two souls can create a vessel for the light. But a vitally important condition is that you do not try to change other people's behaviour to suit your way of life.
Back at the time of Babylon it's said that Hebrew was the only spoken language until the ego intensified and some people decided to build the Tower of Babel, thinking it would bring them closer to God. However, all they did was apparently create division in society. Bearing in mind that this is said to have happened so long ago and that our ego is still constantly intensifying, it's quite clear that we have not yet discovered what we need to do with all this excess energy as we continue using it in a negative way. If only we understood how to arrange relations between males and females properly, maybe we could actually fix all the problems in our world?
It looks like there may not be any shortcuts on the path to the next stage of human evolution...we have to form a perfect connection between us in order to be in perfect synch with the force that created us. We can learn to rise above division when we get onto the spiritual path...when we rise to a higher level of consciousness (= where our real evolution takes place) we will see how we are all equal. We are all broken parts of the common soul that have to find their way back to the mother ship, and each of us has a special role in this process which is way more vital for our wellbeing than all these divisions we're currently witnessing.
“While remaining in the physical body, be it male or female, along with its sexual tendencies whatever they may be, the spiritual-self develops above the biological sex. In that state, the masculine and feminine elements which exist within each and every one of us come to complete each other harmoniously.” - Michael Laitman.
Perhaps we do not each have a soul but we are all of the one soul? And if this be so, the only rule for life as an antidote to chaos would appear to be for me to consciously love my neighbour as myself. We'd need to rise above the human ego and learn to truly love others as much as we love ourselves. And this could be the key to realising our true potential and making the world a sustainable place for humanity.
An artist bearing the bruises,
Not supporting false action
Nor participating in lies,
Is no detached judge.
In the struggle with lies
Art must always triumph.
When the worst of possible motivations
Is granted the highest of moral standings
We may beget a true marriage of heaven and hell,
With a desire for brotherly freedom from want
Distorted into murderous rage in so many Cains
Each seeking to destroy their own private Abels.
Doctrines of group identity may ultimately end
With everyone being labelled enemy without,
Absent individual guilt or responsibility.
And when all are guilty, evil justice rules
Demanding the punishment of everyone.
Any utopian vision born of compassion
Can be a difficult temptation to resist
Even if incubating a desire to compel, and
Offering a subtle justification for mayhem.
Compassion is such a powerful thing for us
Necessary for our intimate personal relations
That we cannot easily contemplate its limitations,
Its inability to scale, and its propensity to mutate
Into hatred of the perceived oppressor.
Good and evil resides in every human heart
Being simultaneously oppressor and victim,
Both conflictions of endless inclusivity
Powerfully feeding destruction of moral intent.
Voluntarily carrying our own cross
We shoulder moral duty in bearing
The benefit of advantage and
The burden of disadvantage,
Arbitrarily thrown into history.
Sean.
Dean of Quareness.
November, 2018.