THE PRINCIPLE OF GENDER
The Principle of Gender is a fitting capstone of this 7-part Spiritual Philosophy Series since the entire topic of “gender” has become such a volatile societal minefield to navigate as “gender” has been made an ideological debate.
In Hermeticism, the reference to the term Gender is neither ideological nor limited to the physical realm where Gender is known as the biological sex of an individual. Gender in Hermetic philosophy refers to the Masculine and Feminine Principles which we can witness at all levels of dimensions of manifestation throughout our universe. What this means is that Masculine and Feminine Principles — i.e. Gender — operates and exists both in the manifested or physical realm as well as the unmanifested or non-physical realm.
This means that at the base physical level, the Masculine and Feminine Principles express themselves as biological sex and at higher non-physical realms — including the emotional and mental realms — these two Gender Principles express themselves as qualities, attributes, or specific expressions which we could call “musical notes” of Source Consciousness.
In Hermeticism, and any other ancient wisdom tradition for that matter, there’s no differentiation of priority or value between the Masculine Principle or the Feminine Principle. In fact, they cannot be seen separate or independent of each other as the unification of these two Gender Principles represents the whole of Source Consciousness. In spiritual terms then, this fundamental notion of equal indispensable value extends to all expressions of the Masculine and Feminine Principles including all the way to the base physical level where we translate biological sex into males and females.
At the same time, in Hermetic philosophy and again all ancient wisdom traditions, there is a recognition of natural laws at the material realm, meaning biology does hold a certain significance in that males and females — from a biological perspective — are very different. The male and female anatomy is fundamentally different. Testosterone is the leading hormone within the male endocrine system, and for the female endocrine system this is estrogen. The male reproductive organs can produce sperm, whereas the female reproductive system can create new life itself. The differences are vast and undeniable, no matter how much that’s being obscured these days by less than intelligent suggestions that run counter to not just the well-established science of biology, but just plain common sense.
So, here’s the rub on the topic of gender within “wokeness.” The woke ideology is that gender is independent of biology and exists exclusively in the psycho-emotional realm. Or in other words, whatever we think or feel, we then are. Of course, you may think or feel whatever you wish, but this doesn’t change your biology or the entire field of biology at large. A man might think or feel like he’s a woman, but he could never actually know as he doesn’t have — or could ever have — female biology as in having ovaries, etc. And, vice versa for a woman who thinks or feels like she’s a man. She couldn’t ever truly know, much like a white or Asian male could not ever fully know what it would be like to be a black man, let alone a black woman. And, this goes for all possible variations — we can only truly know what we are biologically born into. All else is an abstraction of our mind or what we call an idea which is thought-form and thought-form is merely a psychological construct.
The point here is not to suggest anyone is wrong for thinking or feeling they are a different gender from their biological sex. The point is that biological sex cannot be divorced from gender, and moreover biology cannot be denied as it’s the natural law that governs this universe. Women have ovaries and menstruate; men have testes and do not menstruate, and the list goes on and on. There are vast biological differences between men and women, these cannot be denied or dismissed at the material realm without dismissing the Masculine and Feminine Principles they originate from. And, to dismiss or violate the Principle of Gender at any level or dimension is to not fully grasp the effervescent beauty and perfection in the design and intelligence of Life itself.
So, rising up from the base physical level, we immediately leave the notion of biology and biological sex behind as biology is an exclusive phenomenon of the material world. As we move from the manifest realm into the unmanifest realm, we traverse through the emotional plane, then the mental plane, to the spiritual plane. And, at any of these unmanifest realms we can see the Principle of Gender in full force and effect.
We can also see that every “male” thing of form, contains the Feminine Principle and — vice versa — every “female” thing of form also contains the Masculine Principle. This is because the Masculine and Feminine Principles at their very essence represent energies with distinct qualities and attributes which we could also refer to as their respective archetypical qualities.
For instance, the Feminine archetype includes such motherly qualities such as nurturing, caring, and softness. Men have access to all these qualities, and when they express them we would say they’re expressing their Feminine energy within. The same phenomenon operates in reverse where a woman expressing Masculine archetypical qualities (e.g. leading, taking action, directing) can be said to be expressing her Masculine energy within.
We can even see the dynamic of the Masculine and Feminine pole at work in an atom, the fundamental building block of the material realm. An atom has a positively charged proton (fused with a neutron) in its center and the negatively charged electron orbits around this nucleus of the atom. The proton (Masculine) and electron (Feminine) are vastly different, yet it’s the interplay between the two that creates the atom which simply wouldn’t exist if either was absent or missing. So, it goes in all of Creation — the Masculine and Feminine Principle are always at play in tandem, they exist in an eternal entanglement or perpetual marriage if you wish.
This eternal entanglement and the metaphor of that all of Creation is born from an interplay between the Masculine and Feminine Principle is perhaps most exquisitely represented by the Vesica Piscis — the first two circles of the Flower of Life which intersect each other in the center point. This intersection creates an overlap between these two circles representing the Masculine and Feminine, respectively. It’s in this overlapping area — called the Womb of Creation — that everything within the manifest realm is fertilized, created, and born.
If you look closer at Life itself, you’ll find that it’s not only the biological world that operates and functions like this where an egg is fertilized with sperm. A house, best-selling book, new car, novel business, #1 musical hit, or a blockbuster movie where all at one point a mere inspired idea. This idea needed to be fertilized and then brought to realization through focused effort, action, and adding structure so what was a mere idea becomes something of form in the material realm.
If you look closely, all of Life operates like this and this is what the Hermetic Principle of Gender squarely points at. To understand this Principle of Gender is to become a master creator in Life itself.
Once you see, you cannot unsee.
This concludes this 7-part spiritual wisdom series where we explored the 7 Hermetic Principles. I’d love your feedback, let me know which Principle resonated most with you or which one you thought was most insightful.
Last, stay tuned for more spiritual wisdom series.
Love+Truth,
Robert