awakening
   



Women & Wisdom


by Isira Sananda

   

In today’s climate of spiritual growth it is increasingly evident that we have a turning tide in our collective enquiry and awareness.
I see this as a quantum shift – a time of pivotal change. Along with this is both a growing question and a sign of the role of the feminine in our spiritual journey today.
As we reflect on the nature of life and our human journey of discovery we can see quite clearly that we travel through distinct cycles and patterns of growth. One of these patterns has been the patriarchal dominance throughout the last millennia. And now there is a great uprising of pain, longing and inspiration to embrace the feminine. Men and women alike are in a deepening quest to understand the feminine power within our self and life.

As far as our journey of awakening is concerned I see that this is all in perfect order and that we have simply been in a process of discovery. Our burgeoning judgements that we have made a terrible mistake are nothing more than the signs of limited understanding. Contrary to our deep fears we are simply in a journey of consciousness, which is yet to mature.

The dominance of the masculine way, in teachings, politics and social structures, reflects our first stage of establishing a relationship to that which is steadfast – and the tension within this passage is only relative to our misplaced perceptions.

A beautiful example is reflected through the life of Jesus. Christ, as ‘the Son of God’, embodied the ultimate conscious communion with the God Self, as ‘the Father’. This masculine principle gave us the awareness of the transcendent Self…that which is steadfast and forever unchanged. Of course, he was also a profound example and teacher of the love and wisdom that is the feminine principle in creation. However, in the religious fervour of the times the teachings were translated and reduced to a model that validated the dominance of masculine power.
On a positive note, the symbol of God as the masculine principle that is steadfast and superior was a source of great strength and solace in a world which appeared as both mysterious and terrifying. And that conscious relationship with creation is essential for us to take a journey of faith within its infinite play. That is all well and fine as a relationship to our spirit, our essential Self. However when it comes to the ever-constant field of life as the world, this perspective can become deeply controlling, limiting and fear-provoking. Why? Because the world of form is not steadfast: it is fluid, impermanent, and evolving. Welcome the feminine principle.

She is the essence of all creation as form…receptive, spontaneous, unattached, allembracing and all-changing. Together these elements are the wonder of creation. The ‘father’ as the ever constant source and potential, manifesting through the love of the ‘mother’ as infinite, eternal life. Together and inseparable, this play is the one Self of immortal wonder, beauty, love, peace and joy.

To continue attempting to meet life with attachment and control only results in our ongoing conflict, war, poverty, greed and fear. This behaviour of attachment and control is the result of misplaced perception. It is the mistaken belief that we are our fixed ideas and desires, and that somehow if we can control the world through our reasoning - our fixed ideas - that we can have it all (to fulfil our own ego). The idolising of the father principle results in the effort to make things fixed and lasting in form, which is totally impossible, absurd and futile. It breeds greed, fear, control, judgement, hatred and war. However, at a given point, we recognise this as our pain and that this ‘map’ of perception (the dominant masculine principle) doesn’t work: it does not create a life of peace and harmony.

Having been born and bred in Australia I have seen the well-controlled hand of male superiority making its mark on society. Globally, we have all witnessed the colours of oppression, gender dominance and brute force of rigid reasoning, opposed to the tender embrace of intuitive responsiveness. Of course this struggle is not divided between the camps of men and women; both may equally experience and create the struggle. On a social scale we see this conflict/imbalance reflected in our masculine dominated models of politics, education and religion. And hence society’s capacity as a whole to embrace the power of woman for the last millennia has largely been disabled.
Yet now, with the evidence of a turning tide in consciousness, we see the rigid boxes crumpling and the pain of the soul seeking solace in that which is feminine. As we strive to understand and embrace the totality of our Self it is inevitable that we now see the power of feminine wisdom stepping forward to regain her part in leading humanity through the Divine light of consciousness. That consciousness is the loving play, acceptance and embrace of all in its true nature. It is the flow of the river, the dance of atoms in constant transformation. It is the humbling of our soul to accept, with grace, with non-attachment and deep respect the ever-open cup of life. It is the journey of surrender, that we finally give up the fixation of the mind and allow ourself to be the open, embracing reed of life through which the power of the masculine may flow freely, untethered, unpossessed.

It is the honouring of our true nature in the world: that we are not the ego, the mind, the story (the fixed perception about life). It is the celebration that we are the limitless spirit of life at play moment to moment. It is the grace and gratitude of wonder at the wholeness that already is in every moment, that lacks nothing and therefore no longer seeks to possess anything.

And so, just as the embodiment of the Divine masculine came to reveal the source of creation as our steadfast eternal Self, so too now are the embodiments of the Divine feminine coming forward to reveal the manifestation of the love within our flowing field of life. Just as we had Jesus, Buddha, Ramana Maharshi and Muktananda (just to name a few) so too do we have our wise enlightened women.
By embracing woman in her power of wisdom and love we can all embrace the greater totality of our Self. Through this embrace we can discover the totality that is the creation of us all.

Through this embrace we can all live in a state of harmony, at peace with life, flowing with its true nature in deep respect and connectedness with each other. Through this embrace we can welcome a new paradigm of un-possessive love, abundance, health and joy. And in such joy we can know the masculine and feminine principles of creation are equally the life, love and power within all men and women.
To welcome this time now of woman’s wisdom, and to honour her, is essential to the awakening of us all. It is not to create yet again another division or dominance of one over the other.

For in doing so we can finally embrace the wholeness of the life we are - and transcend our divisiveness, fear and judgement of it. To do so is to experience the Divine alchemy…the Divine marriage of the Self as all parts…as the ONE.

And so as a woman, blessed with the divine purpose to support this awakening, I give thanks to all of life, to all of creation.

In all its peace, which is eternal and unchanged, and its endless wonder of evolving creation, I celebrate the One in all.


Isira Sananda is one of the modern world's Spiritual Masters whose work in teaching meditation, inspiring self-realisation and campaigning for world peace over the last 18 years has brought her recognition both nationally and internationally.
For details of her ongoing program of events visit www.isira.com or call (02) 9975 2247.


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