The Waking Up Together project focuses on the role of the feminine in bringing about global transformation. However, this emphasis on the feminine has provoked diverse responses from men who are friends of the work, and strangers responding simply to its subtitle, “Global Transformation and Feminine Wisdom.”
The implication that’s what is essential today is awakening the feminine in each of us makes many men uneasy. And the possibility of playing a supportive role to women puts almost all men today in uncharted waters.
Men are included in most programs throughout this project, as a glance through the website demonstrates. No woman thinks or feels she could or should turn our civilization from further collapse. The heart of the Feminine is about relationship. In fact psychologists and social researchers tell us that one of our most characteristic traits is how quickly women feel guilty and responsible when men are unhappy or angry. That is one of the reasons our Women’s Wisdom Circles are exclusively for women. But men can rest assured, in most circumstances, we want them alongside..
A growing number of world leaders—Barack Obama, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and the Dalai Lama, to name just a few—have begun to speak about the urgent need to turn away from the outdated and destructive values of patriarchy, a world view that has led us to the brink of planetary disaster.
Perhaps this is where the confusion lies. To be clear, the Patriarchy is not the same as the masculine. The patriarchy is a kind of out of control machismo that went crazy for power, aggression and ownership several thousand s of years ago.
It has made a mess of life for men as well as for women since then. Of course it hurts women a heck of a lot more; after all, millions of us were actually burned as witches, and estimates suggest that as many as two billion of us are raped over the course of our lives.
A healthy dialogue, from a place of mutual respect is an essential part of the awakening to the New Paradigm, the New Story. Having it in living rooms, offices and web sites is part of our work. We will be posting here comments about the role of men and women in moving beyond the patriarchy. Send your comments on the emergence of the feminine and the demise of the patriarchy.
Two “men who get it” have suggested topics for such a dialogue:
“Many cultures believe that the centuries of masculine-dominated energy is ebbing, and the solutions, inspiration, and actions will be informed by the feminine part of our selves moving forward. What does this mean for the responsibilities of men and for the masculine energy of the universe? What are the true virtues of the masculine, and how has the dominant paradigm corrupted these virtues that, when embodied properly, create balance instead of dominance? What should it look like when masculine energy assumes a supporting role to the feminine?”
— Ian Sanderson, Mohawk
“Sometimes the best thing men can do to support women is just bow and get out of the way. As men, we need to claim our own authentic power and wisdom, and we can start by surrendering the things that never belonged to us in the first place. Men have claimed ‘dominion’ over women—in fact, over all of creation—since the dawn of history, exploiting and hoarding power at every opportunity. The list of abuses is long, and we’ll be paying some hefty interest on that debt. Men who are awakening from the trance of patriarchy will celebrate this repayment, because it’s the only path to global sanity and balance.”
— Jeff Fuller