We are all born with a mix of blue and pink, yin and yang; it makes us the same yet unique from one another.
From birth to adulthood, gender-based socialisations significantly influence our thoughts, personality, and relation with ourselves and others. How it is time and again enforced on girls to be submissive, damsels in distress waiting for their man in shining armour while boys are laughed at for crying, trying their hand at cooking, designing. Though things are changing, it will be long before we accept people for both their masculine and feminine sides.
It is an instant and unconscious practice to associate everything aggressive, dominant and brave with men while care, nurturance and submissiveness with women. A mother who holds her child in warmth, caressing and nurturing the child can at the same time become fierce and aggressive at the slightest danger posed toward her child. She is the epitome of a perfect balance between masculine and feminine traits.
Women need to learn to appreciate and express their dominant and energetic side, while it is equally important for men to embrace their nurturing and caring side.
Let us look at the different perspectives on this.
THE SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE
We strive to connect with ourselves through meditation, yoga, listening to music, enjoying our hobbies but we often overlook the fact that realizing and accepting our inner energies, traits and characteristics is the true path to spiritual growth. We should move beyond the rigid stereotype of ‘he’ and ‘she’ and nurture both the masculine and feminine energies within us.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, termed the unconscious masculine side of a woman as animus by Jung and the anima as the unconscious feminine side of a man.
THE MYTHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Lord Shiva, known as Ardhanarishvara, (आधा नर आधी नारी) consists of the half-male form, Shiva and half female form of his consort Parvati. It is an amalgamation of the Purusha (male) and Prakriti (female) energy.
The Hindu goddess, Kali, worshipped as the divine mother and the fierce destroyer of evil. Kali is also known as the feminine form of Lord Shiva.
In the Hindu culture, Indian Gods and goddesses are worshipped as a divine couple like Rama- Sita, Shiva- Parvati and Radha- Krishna. It is the combined energy and spiritual powers of both genders that are worshipped.
As we uncover different layers to ourselves every day, and varied aspects to it makes you a better person. Let us embrace, appreciate and adapt the essence of the other gender’s energies then evolve making us who we are. Our existence is based upon mutuality and co-dependency. To realize our potential to the fullest, we have to understand and value the role each gender plays across lifespan. Only when we accept and combine these distinct energies we lead a balanced as well as a fulfilling life. It will be like a true revelation, an enlightening moment the day we accept and nourish the masculine and feminine energies that coexist within us.
