Both masculine and Feminine natures have their dark sides 32

Sophia

For the first six years of my life I thought I was a boy. Where I grew up there were no other girls. My friends were boys, so naturally I related to boys. As “one of the boys” I had to compete on boy level not as a girl. I did all the boy stuff to prove my worth and bravery. When I got hurt I also had to live by “men don't cry”. I really thought I was a boy and only got my first inkling that I was a girl when one Christmas I received a doll instead of the submarine I wanted. I felt terribly short-changed to discover that I was a girl. At puberty I finally had to accept that I was a girl. Then to fully accept myself, I had to learn to be proud to be a woman.

Both masculine and Feminine natures have their dark sides. We can choose consciously (with full awareness that the darker aspects also exist within us,) which aspects of our gender we want to embody. That is what it entails for me being a conscious human being. Only when we have fully accepted, lived the higher aspects of our gender, can we embrace the transcended aspects of being human.

“Evil” and devious deeds, springs not from a truly confident loving human being, but from a feeling of inferiority. Feelings of inferiority, are always the source of entitlement. “I have been so badly wounded, therefore I am entitled to...” If you feel yourself blessed, you already “have”, so you can be generous. People who feel themselves to be strong can be gentle.

Adornment has always been an indication of status and and tribal identity. Where you find flint stones and arrowheads, you are likely to find beads. In ancient cultures, only people with a certain status were allowed to wear certain forms of adornment. Fashion and Label wearing are external power symbols. The more you are a slave to fashion, the more you subscribe to the external need to display your status. It is also an external indication of personal identity. Actors have to dress the part to really make you believe the character they are portraying. If you wear certain labels, it shows that you have attained a certain status. We live in a world where internal qualities have little value. Moral values have nothing to do with status in the world we live. The more money you have the more status you have. Although people in general may respect the Nelson Mandelas and Mother Theresas of the world, how many aspires to those qualities?

For men status symbols are the latest in technology, and for women the latest in status fashion. Women dress to look sexy to attract men, but dress in the latest status fashion to show their status to other women. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best, when it springs from self-respect, however when you rely on external adornment for acceptance, it is an indication of a lack of self-respect.

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