Inner Michael

Ever the activist, I recently attended a training session and think tank kind of gathering about contemporary issues which are concerning and present dangers for our current culture that leans toward anger, violence and indifference. I will probably get into trouble for this, but I am going to share something with you that I added to the discussion. We were examining linguistics and how to frame ideas so that they are not abstract or too loftily philosophical but spring from, and are couched in, traditional human values. That wasn’t new to me; I’ve been doing that a long time. As a minister, educator and artist, I “get” the deeper consequences of a culture that seems to have lost its moorings.

I was in a breakout group that was discussing violence, the prevalence of personal firearms and the proliferation of automatic weapons and that in some places it is legal to carry open and loaded weapons on the street in full view. Our local community recently saw an incident where a couple of men carried their automatic rifles openly at our local farmer’s market where families congregate on Saturday mornings. Of course the police were called– for who knew the intent of anyone carrying such lethal firearms at a family gathering where children accompany their parents and congregate for “dangerous” group play and face painting? On the heels of Newtown, this understandably caused an uproar by parents and the community. One of our friends carried a chicken to the farmer’s market the next week (not a concealed carry) which is illegal. There is an ordinance against chickens in the city (armed with beaks!) but it’s open season for lethal overkill military style weaponry on the street. It of course, sparked a debate about guns and gun regulations and predictably, the second amendment.

Our breakout group discussed the creation and development of a climate that has swung so far from inclusion and compassion and has penetrated so far into malignant fear, marginalization and protectionism, that it is willing to accommodate an occasional massacre. A mass shooting is, apparently, simply the occasional cost of doing business. We dismissed the argument about hunting animals with assault rifles for they were designed by and for the military. Unless people are hunting T-Rex herds, the assault rifle, it could be argued, is overkill. The second amendment was established for protection of the colonists become a new nation. The British aren’t coming anymore; they aren’t even interested. And if the argument is that guns increase safety, then the U.S. should be the safest place on the globe instead of having the highest homicide by firearm rate in the world.

A woman in the group asked “But what about my right to feel safe on the street and at the farmer’s market and free from the fear and stress of gun-toting radicalized men who believe violence is the answer to everything and the only way to settle disputes is by force?” Her voice sounded pleadingly distressed and she looked directly at me because I had been thoughtfully silent. So I weighed in:

“I study archetypes and semiotics and I believe that unconsciously weapons are an extension of the male member.” Everyone laughed. Knowing my dry sense of humor, they thought I was kidding. I wasn’t.

“Scan your history. Think about the shape of weapons– spears, stakes, clubs, arrows, and then examine “modern” warfare. Think about what shapes guns are. They are elongated phallic shapes. Arsenals hold weaponry that is similar in shape– whether it’s a old cannon barrel or a new rocket launcher or missile. Ever notice what shape bullets are? Rockets? Bombs? Weapons and war toys are all phallic shapes.” There was dead silence for what seemed like a very long moment.

I went on… “humankind has a masculine and feminine side. In fact, the archetypes of Divine Masculine and Feminine are meant to balance each other and both traits are supposed to be reflected in relationship and human interaction. When the Divine Feminine is suppressed or repressed or abandoned altogether, the human is unbalanced and favors aggression, tribalism and war-making. When a man doesn’t embrace his feminine side, fatherhood and children suffer. Little boys are made into pre-soldiers. That imbalance has a consequence: our prisons are full of mostly men and the prominent issue in the world is terrorism. “Maleness” is misinterpreted to mean “macho” or “machismo” and we remain stuck in aggression and the antiquated hunter-gatherer mentality. Traditions passed down are harmful and unbalanced and that plays out in society and ultimately in the world.

“The earth’s resources,  instead of being treated as belonging to all humanity, are treated as entitlements to the strongest and most aggressive and those with the most power. The Indigenous and most deserving are being trampled in favor of corporate profit and power. “To the victor go the spoils” is ancient and no longer serves a world become a global village. Whatever happens anywhere in the world, it affects all of us. If you don’t believe that, think “Fukushima.” When people feel disempowered and not heard, they resort to striking back in covert, black, and underhanded ways– thus the rise of terrorism.  “Barbarism” is in the eyes of the beholder.

“Women don’t favor war. Or violence or aggression. Women have always been the losers in war. They lose their spouses, their sons and in modernity, their daughters. Women lose their mates, their homesteads (sometimes homelands,) and their safety and security to warring factions. And they lose something much more significant and personal– for women have always been treated as “spoils of war.” Invading armies and marauders were accorded an implied privilege– the raping of female captives, often right before killing them. Women don’t start wars yet they stand to lose the most; rape is still used as a weapon against women.”

Another breakout group had been talking about climate change. They know that I work with Pachamama Alliance and present Awakening the Dreamer workshops for groups. When it was my turn to speak I simply added quietly: “We are in the process of destroying this planet. At the current pace we are abusing and using up resources, it would take two and a half earths to support this trend and rate of consumption. If we don’t change, the planet and the human race won’t survive. Whatever happened to preserving the planet for our children and grandchildren, for future generations? For the seventh generation? Bottom line is this: “We live on an island. The Earth is an island in a vast sea of space. It is the only planet we know of that supports life. When we mess up this planet beyond repair, there is nowhere else to go.” Again a sobering silence filled the room.

So lets you and I talk about semiotics (symbols) and metaphors for a moment– bullets, guns, arrows, bombs, rockets are man-made and phallic or angular shapes. The natural environment is round. The earth is round, rivers meander in curves, the clouds are round, seasons go round, cycles go round, natural growth is round or spiral, there is a natural order and rhythm and it’s never sharp or angular unless something is man-made or man interferes. (Note the habitual use of “man-made” instead of woman-made or human-made. Linguistics reflect what we emphasize or value.)

Men’s bodies and the “male-mentality” is generally hard, sharpened, angular, competitive. “Bodies of men,” i.e.  corporations and organizations tend to be authoritarian, paternal, patriarchical and hierarchical.

Women’s bodies and mentalities are generally soft and round and familial while “bodies of women” favor organic growth, naturally occurring organization, the art (instead of science) of gatherings, groups, communities, conciliation, cooperation and compassion.

A look at history features the systemic oppression of women, the oppression of intuition in favor of hard science as the only way of knowing, division instead of inclusion and war instead of building community and certainly– a global village. Caring for children has been delegated to women instead of equally shared. (Although that is slowly changing.) What if women had been in leadership roles since ancient times? What if they had been in charge of communities, of organization and policy-making? Would the world look different? I wonder.

This discourse isn’t meant to disparage men or to exclude those who have and do work toward equality and assimilation of their anima and who respect women and treat them with equanimity. It isn’t meant to marginalize men but to invite them away from habitual and cultural “norms” that were artificially imposed and never served them in the past nor will serve them in any way in the future. It is intended to spark a conversation about violence being a “natural” part of human relations and that the only way to resolve or solve problems is through intractable conflict and involves marginalization, bullying, violence or war-making.

War-making is unnatural to women. Violence and aggression is not usually the first thing they think of in matters of conciliation or building new traditions and cultures. But in the last few decades, women have felt that in order to prove themselves in the world of business and commerce, they must behave in the manner men traditionally do. That is a mistake for it creates and perpetuates the harshness and divisiveness of a culture and fosters “conquering” and “conquest” in a world desperately in need of empathy nurturing and compassion. We cannot cooperate and come together to save the planet and humanity without engaging our cooperative tendencies. Force has never worked well for humans. Inspiration, encouragement, inclusion and nurturance works much better.

The Earth that is being taken by force cannot be saved by force. It is going to take all of us coming together as one mind, one heart to begin to undo the damage that has been done, to create new policies of inclusion, cooperation and compassion. We are inhabitants, guests if you will, on a unique ball of dirt hurling through space. There is no other one like it. There is no other species that we know of, like ourselves. If we destroy our home, we have nowhere to migrate to.

The task instead is to awaken and migrate to a new way of being. A balanced way of being.

When women (and men for that matter) employ only polarized aggressive and masculine tactics in their interactions with others, the world suffers for it is cheated of the influence of the feminine and the Divine Feminine. Women who indulge in cat fights, calling names, rudeness, bullying, domination, and mean girl tactics are adopting a polarized and militant masculine, and by doing so, betray their gender and betray their planet. When women fight, it is ugly. When women call each other and others names, it is harmful to everyone for it diminishes their natural feminine influence and thrust toward nurturance, relationship and compassion. When women are devious and underhanded, they are better at it than men and the damage is so much greater. Women influence children much more than men. What kind of children are we bequeathing the planet? What are we role modeling to the generation who will take over for us? Kindness and compassion, reconciliation and unity or divisiveness and separation? Women need to build community if we are to survive. Women need to take the lead in mastery of responsibility and stewardship.

Women were created to be the Yin counterpart to the Yang. The Divine Feminine is healing, restoration, life, renewal, creation, new birthing, sensuality, intuition, insight, wisdom, harmony, LOVE.

Women are to embrace the Divine Feminine and allow it to work through them in order to contribute their influence through nurturing, yielding, receptivity, openness, understanding, compassion, intuition, wisdom, caring through nurturance and building community.

SO WHERE ARE YOU TITANS OF THE FUTURE? 

The Dalai Lama has given a charge to the new woman and voice to your mission. “The Western Woman shall save the world.”

Are you there? What are you doing to heal things? What are you doing to ensure there IS A FUTURE? Or are you too busy fighting with your sisters to join with them in healing the world?

Where are Michael Jackson’s legacy– his female warriors for change, for peace, for the planet?

How are you conducting yourselves? Are you nurturing? Healing? Promoting inclusion and cooperation? Building community? Creating a global village? He asked you to be “my legacy.”

If I had charged a fee for every woman I counseled after Michael Jackson’s passing, I would be wealthy today. The women who were affected (and afflicted) by Michael Jackson’s passing, number in the thousands. You wondered why you were so deeply touched by this loss, why your grief was so gritty and disproportionate. You lamented about your feelings, telling me that you couldn’t understand why you felt a personal loss when you didn’t personally know the man. You wondered why the pain was so excruciating, so overwhelming. Some of you worried for your sanity because until his death, you paid no attention to the man or his troubles in life. You had looked into it, examined his life, understood what happened, and you were frightened by the raging fire of anger that consumed you. You were puzzled at your preoccupation, battled your families who thought you had gone over the edge or completely mad.

Remember how I told you there was a reason, a valid reason? Remember how I said you were called? Remember how I reassured you that this “spiritual emergency” was a spiritual event designed to awaken you? Are you awake now?

Some of you “got it” and you began to organize charities and movements and building things to heal the world. Some of you adopted schools, embraced orphanages, built new hope and new structures in other parts of the world. You did that in remembrance of Michael. You made a change in Michael’s name. You became his legacy. You do him proud.

Some of you indulged in in-fighting, in territorial cat fights, in name calling and abusive and embarrassing behavior. Some of you attacked the people Michael loved most. Dysfunctional or not, the Jacksons were his family. They were responsible for his upbringing, for instilling his values, for supporting his life’s mission. They have the right to be territorial for he was their son and brother. Some of you came between his family and his children encouraging divisiveness among family members when you had no knowledge of the intimate details of what was going on. You didn’t “read between the lines” and you may have supported and empowered the wrong things or people. You were, and are not, family. And you don’t belong in the middle of family matters. You made unexamined assumptions about motives without being privy to private conversations. You blamed, you labeled and you were ugly and public in your criticisms. That’s the very thing you criticize the tabloids for!

The Jacksons can’t trust anyone outside the family; they have been a target of gossip and tabloids for a lifetime. You have no idea what that’s like because you haven’t lived it. The media has been working at nullification of the Jacksons, including Michael, for decades. It’s a distraction and cover for their treachery in using the Jackson brand for personal and corporate gain. Some of you fell right into the trap and right into step with the media nullification and haters. Sometimes the nullification is payback from people who knew him, a resentful retaliation for when the calls stopped or the friendship was abandoned. Some are now upset because they feel the estate snubbed them. Michael was adept at evaluating trust; it was violated his whole life. He couldn’t afford to take chances and he would have intuitively read the signs of a deteriorating relationship. He believed in people and they let him down so he moved away and moved on; it “pissed off” those who felt entitled to his friendship or to basking in his favor or fame and they retaliated by going to the tabloids or writing damning books.

You know how used and abused the man was. You know how hurt he was by the behavior of people, the human dilemmas and dramas, how disillusioned with humanity, yet he continued to LOVE them and their planet. He worked tirelessly so that everyone could get the message and most of the world did even if it was absorbed unconsciously. Some of you who protest and pretend to get the message very poorly represent the fan community. Some of you forgot who you are. What were you thinking? You are supposed to be about the business of LOVE, healing the world, saving the planet.

Where is your “Inner Michael?” Where is that light that he tried to ignite within you that recognizes itself as LOVE? As worthy. As stewards of the children and the world? You know what the man stood for. He asked you to be his legacy. The legacy he wanted to leave this world was to “make that change,” to become Earth-song stewards, to care for the children, and LOVE as hard as you can. He knew that LOVE was the way to “bring salvation back.” He wanted you to carry on for him and pay it forward.

Michael Jackson told you in a thousand ways what he and his life was about– changing the world. Healing the world. Making it a better place. He told you about the planet and how beautiful and precious it is and how it was in danger. He said it, danced it, sang it and gave his life for it. You know the lyrics; therefore, you know the message. Are you living the message? Or are you too busy sniping at other fans or spending useless time with haters? Michael said “It’s all for LOVE!” His message was LOVE. Are you being LOVE? Are you being the change you want to see in the world?

Michael Jackson gave us a message as early as 1983 about the futility and harm of embracing the masculine without its counterbalancing feminine. In “Beat It” he sings of the dangers of machismo in favor of forsaking empathy and caring, considered “too feminine” and he brought together Los Angeles most notorious gangs– the Crips and bloods. And just to be sure you “got it” in not just words but illustration images, he staged a tiny play to act it out.

Michael Jackson was the embodiment of masculine meeting feminine in balance in a body. It wasn’t recognized for what it was. The world wasn’t ready. “Am I amusing you or just confusing you?” We ridicule what we don’t understand; we attack what we fear– which is set in motion by change and change agents. Jackson was a change agent. He ruffled everybody and challenged the whole world. He turned the culture on its head and dared to point out the hypocrisy all around him. He dared to challenge the norms of masculinity. He dared to embrace his feminine. He allowed Divine Essence to work through him to express itself in the world of matter. He taught us magic and mythology. He communicated to us in ways that are yet to be decoded. He is a symbol of an archetype that our Divine Self recognizes. He made us homesick and that is why he drew so much fire, why he was such a threat.

Michael Jackson reminded us that we were homesick, that we aren’t home right now, that we could make a home here on earth but it would take work and commitment and he was resented for that. Don’t you find it interesting that 5 years after his death, they are still trying to kill him? That those he left behind are still trying to lash out at him or punish him for abandoning them? Some even convince themselves he is alive and planning a return. Such is the magnetism of Divine Union. A modern mystic, Jackson tried to teach union because he experienced it every time he performed. He was a visionary asking humanity to become responsible and change.

His work isn’t done. His reputation is important but it is not to be confused with his legacy. The masculine and feminine on this planet remain polarized instead of assimilated. The world is still in danger. Children are still: being abused, traumatized by war, sick, poor and needy. The world is still in need of compassion and LOVE and that need is EVERYWHERE. You don’t have to take on the whole job but you do need to show up and start being the solution. You may get sidetracked or pulled away from the mission– please recognize that– that is shadow working in the world. That is ego trying to take over and be in charge because it is afraid of the power of the soul.

There is power in the soul. Souls coming together in solidarity is the most powerful force on the planet. Is your soul engaged in the work?

If you haven’t read this whole series on “Titanism” I ask you to go back and study it. We have come full circle from where we started. This IS IT. Michael warned of “four years;” we are now four years later. We have arrived at the tipping point. What happened to you at and with Michael’s passing was a wake up call. This is a call to action. The world needs you to embrace the feminine principle again and activate it in the world. Part of that action must begin with forgiveness and compassion for self, for one’s “unawareness” and the mistaken-ness of the past and the behavior that accompanied it. Part of that is wiping the tabula rasa clean and beginning again. But there are no more excuses and we have run out of time and dalliances. All is now forgiven on the condition that from this day forward, there will be a commitment to change in perception and behavior and that change will include the message, action instead of mindless masturbation of shadow and ego, and ignition of the true legacy– compassion and the LOVE. For the LOVE. The LOVE.

“The Western Woman will save the world.” ~ H. H. Dalai Lama

Titan woman, titan women: will you be there?