I am fortunate to be on the mailing list of a careful thinker known as Ecopilgrim. I repost a recent essay of hers this morning.
Marguerite Hampton
In searching for answers to our present crises within the whole dynamic of things, I began with Holodynamics by V. Vernon Woolf, but it is rather audacious for us as individual humans to tell anyone else of the Universe as we see it, it is impossible for any one philosopher or scientist to realize the whole as we perceive things from different screens and filters according to our personal experience—our personal holodynes. So, in developing my own process, I have attempted to move beyond Woolf’s viewpoint and integrate the work of other psychologists, philosophers, and scientists into the picture so that we may view the whole from the perspective of different dynamics of interpretation.
The point of this whole venture is to learn how we may facilitate the change from the dominator paradigm to a fully functional and integrated “partnership society”. While David Korten writes of The Post-Capitalist World, if we are to reach this paradigm, we must first embrace a “Post-Patriarchal” society. Yet from all appearances we appear to be headed in the opposite direction.
I like Holodynamics as a basis from which to work because it offers an unbiased scientific approach that is sound in theory. And from there I have first integrated the work of Jay Earley, and recently, I integrated the work of Eugene Gendlin, with that of Woolf to give us clearer more concise pictures of the whole dynamic from different valid viewpoints. Now, in considering the challenges we face today as the human family, one that continually raises its ugly head is the role the dominator paradigm plays as the female is continually oppressed and denied her equal place in society by the male. And, with the male so prominently in charge we see that men are primarily responsible for steering the world toward disaster. If we are to avoid this and evolve as an integrated species, women must gain equal power with men in all aspects of life. And, just as we looked at integrating the “basic qualities” with which women are most closely associated, with the “emergent qualities” with which men are more closely associated, we must learn how to integrate the masculine and the feminine in such a way as to achieve balance so that we may continue to evolve in a healthy manner. In essence, we must be the change we wish to see,—a core component of this is the male -female relationship.
Let us recall here that the ground qualities, which are closely associated with women, are: natural living, belonging, vitality, community and equality, while the emergent qualities are: technology, social organization and rational thinking. And, that the emergent qualities have served to largely repress the ground qualities at the expense of our health and wholeness. (Earley, 1997)
In looking at this, we can begin to see that the relationship between men and women, and how the suppression of women by men, has played a crucial role in creating the aberrant society in which we live today—one in which we have become dissociated from our life support system to the extent that we are killing it as well as ourselves while going about the task of every day living. .
Riane Eisler in her book, The Chalice and the Blade, addresses this issue writing:
“The modern rise of fascism and other right ideologies is much lamented by those who still harbor hope that we may continue our cultural revolution. They note with alarm that rightist ideologies would reimpose authoritarianism and push us back to a time of even greater injustice and inequality. They are particularly alarmed by the militarization of rightists and neorightists, their idealization of violence, bloodshed and war, recognizing the imminent danger this way of thinking poses to our safety and survival. But there is a third aspect of rightist ideology that is rarely noted. That is that rightists—all the way from the American Right at the end of this century to the Action Francaise at its start–not only accept, but openly recognize the systems relationship between male dominance, warfare, and authoritarianism.”
In diagnosing this condition by looking at the symptoms, we can identify a “cultural holodyne” embedded within the system Therefore, what we need to do is to find the solution within the problem. Seeking a way to address this issue in a holistic manner that could become part of the CLIC (Community Learning and Information Centers) suggested curriculum, I accidentally came across Richard Moss’s website in which he addressed Consciousness as Relationship. Pondering this and other of his words over the past several weeks, I have arrived at the conclusion that only through learning how to establish healthy male – female relationships, first within a “family orientation” and then expanding the circle to include other types of relationships, can we hope to achieve balance. And while both Woolf and Earley address the issues associated with gender inequality neither of them approach the subject with the delicacy and sensitivity of Moss as he dwelves into Consciousness as Relationship. I particularly liked Moss’ approach to the changing relevance of roles of males and females in today’s society as women seek liberation. A move that threatens most males, even the most enlightened and heart-centered, as women gain a sense of power through discovery of their core-being, who they are and what they might achieve if encouraged to full their potential.
In an attempt to give a sense of who Richard Moss is and what he brings to the table, I am including an excerpt from his website. In the excerpt below, I accredit Moss’s “True Self” with that of Woolf’s “Full Potential Self” as he explores what he terms “Essential Relationship”.
We live in a decisive period in human history. We have become so successful at survival, yet our sense of security is based on an unsustainable way of life that is destabilizing the Earth’s ecosystems and thus threatening our own extinction.
In seeking to grasp this dilemma, it becomes clear that our secular and religious educations train our minds, saturate us with information and inculcate us with beliefs that do succeed in creating a feeling of power and meaning for our separate self. And this is exactly the root of the problem: our education fails to bring us to a deeper understanding of our true nature, it does not really teach us how to experience our own True Self. Therefore, it cannot empower us to live truly authentic lives that are naturally in harmony with the Earth and compassionate with each other. If realizing the True Self was easy to do we would have long since taught ourselves how to do it, but it is not. There is an abyss that stands between the common experience of our separate self and the realization of our True Self.
Human life has never been primarily about survival or we would merely be animals and we are much more. It is the yearning for that ‘moreness’ beyond our separate self that must become the center of gravity of our lives. As I travel the world it is clear to me that many people with such a yearning have reached the threshold of the abyss and are caught in a closed loop. No matter what they try, if it is the separate self that is trying, the result can only be a continued sense of failure or at best a temporary consolation. And when that brief respite fades away, as it inevitably does, the despair returns and our attempts to fix ourselves begin all over again. In short we are stopped by despair and we do not know how to cross the abyss to arrive at our True Self. It is at this crucial juncture that we need an education that is for the soul, not merely for the separate self. And we need a guide, someone who has crossed the abyss, who can help us to understand and navigate the journey.
Again, to repeat myself, while the purely scientific offers us a concrete path to follow as we search for wholeness and healing, I must agree with Moss that in matters of the heart involving personal and family relationships, we need a “language/education” for the soul. We need a softer, gentler way that is not so abstract in its approach as is science. Again, we need integration.
I first encountered Richard Moss in an essay entitled Consciousness Is Relationship in which he asks the question “What is consciousness? Not as an academic consideration, but something down to earth for ordinary people?”
What occurred to me as I meditated on the concept of Consciousness as Relationship is that if deep relationships of the kind which lead to a peaceful world are to occur, that Consciousness as Relationship must be based on a deep commitment to achieving that end, and it must also carry within its Covenant deep respect, response-ability, and a willingness to fully communicate at all levels. It seems to me that those who seek Consciousness as Relationship must be willing to completely abandon oneself to another person or to a cause. The integration and healing that must take place between women and men, if we are to evolve in a healthy manner as the human race, cannot be based in superficiality.
Since this is getting very long, I will temporarily stop at this point, but intend to continue my research in this area as it is key to our emergence into a sustainable and mature way of living. And as I move along, will share with those of you who are interested my insights and thoughts. And, I welcome feedback.
What I would also like to convey, is that this is not intended by any means to critique the work of any one researcher or to say that anyone method is better than another. Each person in developing a program has his or her own particular specialization or emphasis, and in developing their technique in order to compete in the marketplace for consumers, focus on a particular style or area of interest. In so doing, gaps or holes may appear that another presenter may be more prepared to handle effectively. As I have indicated throughout this presentation, my focus is to integrate, integrate, integrate so that we may all see from a broader and more closely woven perspective and obtain better understanding of the whole dynamic.
My wish is that information like that contained herein might someday be presented freely of charge, and not contaminated in anyway by the marketplace. The human family is deserving of this gift.
With love and in peace,
Eco—Marguerite Hampton
Turtle Island Institute – Community Learning and Information Centers (CLICs) Network