The Divine Masculine, Feminine and the dance of life

The spiritual concepts for living in balance

You can hardly say of your soul what sex it is. But if you pay close attention, you will see that the most masculine man has a feminine soul, and the most feminine woman a masculine soul.
Carl Jung

Despite their names, the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine have nothing to do with gender. They are spiritual concepts we use to communicate energies within us. Carl Jung called these the Anima and the Animus archetypes, energies that exist within all souls. Eastern philosophies called it the Yin and Yang. It has many names, but the concepts are similar.

While growing up, too soon society forces us to align with their visions of men and women. Soon children start bucketing themselves as "creative vs pragmatic", "sports vs studies", "blue vs pink". We never get a chance to see all of these facets within ourselves and the interplay between them

And this continues as adults. Men are socialised to relate to their masculine side and seek the feminine within women. They start mentioning what they find attractive and how women should behave, and how they should cut their hair and dress. And women do the same for men.

But achieving balance between the masculine and the feminine means each person finding and integrating the masculine and feminine within themselves. And thus, we need no longer look for the masculine or the feminine outside of ourselves and are free from the burden of external influence. We stop expecting everyone to behave a certain way when our needs are met within ourselves

The Divine Masculine

The divine masculine is an energy of action, courage, power and the rationality. It is the part of us that is logical, likes to be decisive, is biased for action, is powerful and strong, and loves protecting and leading.

An untethered masculine looks like aggression, an innate desperation to conquer. A lot of anger, hurt and a life that is solely focused on acquiring things without question. It is an energy that seeks status beyond all else, without questioning what is enough. It is an energy of untempered action without wisdom.

The Divine Feminine

The divine feminine is an energy of patience, wisdom, flexibility, and nurturing. It is that within us that is tender, patient, and wise. It is creative and is deeply in touch with our emotions and is a driver and seeker of beauty in the world. It is that which looks to the skies above, the ocean below and seeks to swim and fly.

An untethered feminine is the dark side of each of these benefits. The flexibility can easily turn to moodiness if not grounded. The nurturing without strength can look like sensitivity and hurt and pain. The patience without courage can look like an inability to be assertive and set boundaries.

Balance

It is when these energies are integrated together that a balanced life can be lived. The Yin and the Yang. Popularly thought of as opposites, they are actually about the balance of energies. What use is creativity without action? What use is power without wisdom? What use is patience without levelheadedness? What use is rationality if it comes at the cost of emotional numbness?

Our modern society loves overplaying the Masculine. Everything is now about efficiency and productivity and minimalism. It's about workaholism and increasing your net worth and knowing how to sell. We are losing touch with our feminine side. There were statues built on buildings rather than the rectangular blocks that we currently hold in modern buildings. We no longer thrive for beauty for the sake of it, rather told to learn how to sell your hobbies and your creativity for the biggest buck. Our unconditional love and sacrifice and nurturing qualities are lost in a fast paced life. Yet it is in balance that we live a truly fulfilled life. A life of beauty and action coexisting with each other.

I intend to write a few more posts on this. More about positive masculine and feminine role models in movies, strategies on how to integrate these sides of ourselves, deeper dives into the spiritual connotations of these and even more on my spiritual journey. Do subscribe if you would like to be updated when I write more on this.