Cultural Conditioning and Gender Roles

[Plenum]

there is no doubt that the male and female body are different. They have different 'bits'.

it may be more contentious to assert that the male and female mind are also different, but I think most people would agree that there is some difference on a biological/chemical/archetypal level in how the male/female mind operates and interprets experience.

Ra offered this, referring to the archetypal level of mind:

87.28 Questioner: Why is the male and the female nature different?

Ra: I am Ra. When the veiling process was accomplished, to the male polarity was attracted the Matrix of the Mind and to the female, the Potentiator of the Mind; to the male the Potentiator of the Body, to the female the Matrix of the Body. May we ask if there are any brief queries before we close this working?

- -

but aside from these programmed differences in the male and female body/mind, I think there is a cultural layer which perhaps comes to shape what we think of as the 'male gender' and the 'female gender'.

these are some of the cultural biases (as a mix of Australian (where I grew up), and Chinese Asian (family heritage) which 'fed' into my gender biases:

* males should be strong and be the breadwinner (earn lots of money for the family)
* males shouldn't express emotions and feelings
* a male has 'failed' if he doesn't marry and have lots of children


what sort of cultural conditioning have you had to address internally, and then realise it was an 'external stick' trying to encourage compliance to a gender role?

- -

point #2 above ('males shouldn't express emotions and feelings') led to a long term suppression of emotional feedback and all the catalyst associated therewith. Once the feelings and emotions start to be suppressed (the stoic, unmoved male), one does not develop the ability and skill to process those emotions when they do explode to the surface (which they inevitably will).

this suppression or inhibition of a sizable portion of the self is 'liberated' by things like alcohol; which allows those emotions/feelings to come to the surface. I'm sure we are all familiar with drunk people telling you how much they love you, and sharing their innermost thoughts which they couldn't do in a more sober state.

[Spaced]

Men caught in the dance of trying to figure out how much love is appropriate to express in public:

[Plenum]

definitely Spaced. Different cultures have different 'tolerance levels' for physical contact.

For eg:

http://echodepiction.wordpress.com/2010/...old-hands/

Why Do Arab People of the Same Gender Hold Hands?

In Arab culture, physical contact such as holding hands between people of the same sex is a sign of affection without any sexual connotation. It’s considered a sign of warmest affection and respect – a sign of solid friendship.

In fact, in Arab culture if a man chooses to not touch another in a greeting, it can be considered a sign of distance or rudeness. The same goes for women. Kissing cheeks, long handshakes, and holding hands are meant to reflect friendship, peace, and equality. When it comes to strangers, they do not kiss cheeks or hold hands. Of course, greetings then would be more formal, such as a quick handshake and nod of the head.

[reeay]

We are contextual beings - we act, react, and act in accordance to the context we are experiencing. In this light, behavior has to be interpreted by understanding specific context of a person's life. We see mass mobility among peoples across the globe. We interact with people from various cultures, we are exposed to multiple sub-cultures, we have unique experiences around 'acculturation'. All those factors then make the issue of culture/gender roles a more ideographic (unique to individual) and complex phenomenon.

As our consciousness grows I think we are urged to do things that seem more 'natural' to us. Perhaps a female person may take masculine roles bc they find that the masculine energy is strong within. They may attract people who compliment them with more feminine energy. They may have 'role reversals' (from the mainstream perspective), while spiritually speaking, they are expressing their inner nature, maybe? If this is uncomfortable or the natural urge is questioned or repressed, we have a wonderful catalyst to work with.

Culture and gender socialization offers us great catalyst for self-discovery and an opportunity to work towards 'individuation' (to review and to choose how we really want to be or live, and then living it). Individuated person would be able to be OK with who they are and be OK with how others live their lives bc they've come to a point of understanding & acceptance of self & other self. As Ra said: "Each entity must, in order to completely unblock yellow ray, love all which are in relationship to it, with hope only of the other-selves’ joy, peace, and comfort."

[isis]

[Bring4th_Austin]

This topic is probably one of my most contemplated topics, and I really wish there were a more "hard science" way to explore the distinction between the cultural biases and biological biases experienced by men and women. I think having a solid answer could lend some perspective to spiritual philosophy, particularly in the context of the archetypal mind as Ra describes in your quote, plenum.

As reeay said, we are contextual beings. Culture is probably one of the most apparent contexts we can observe. But our bodies are also a context, the biology of how we function, the way that we evolved in nature (it's clear that male and females have different roles in nature). From how I understand the "divine feminine" and "divine masculine" as discussed in spiritual philosophy, the expression of the differences between male and female is a sort of manifestation of these divine principles. According to Ra, these are essentially the harvest of the last octave, the "mover/moved" or "reacher/reached for" dynamic which seems to be present down to the very core of our universe.

But exactly how much is impression from the "divine" universe? Exactly how much is impression from our evolutionary processes? And then exactly how much is impression from culture? And how much have all of these things had in influencing one another? These are questions I can't get off of my mind, and I'm just not sure how we can find answers to any of these.

But despite where the influences come from, the Jungian concepts of Anima and Animus offer an opportunity to use the expression of masculine and feminine as a way to explore our hidden and unconscious selves. We will express our gender identity based on whatever context we have, and so our Anima or Animus will also be based upon that same context, simply opposite of what gender we feel we are expressing. And when we work with these unmanifested, inner aspects of self, they can serve as a sort of gateway into the unconscious mind. They can lead us to parts of ourselves which we suppress due to cultural expectations, parts of ourselves which go unattended because of where our attention is drawn by our interaction with society through the gender interface. Anima dreams have been some of the most powerful and emotionally vivid dreams I have ever had. She can lead me to untapped potential for love and expression that I had not previously realized.

And so I think that is probably what is more important than answering my burning questions of where our idea of masculine and feminine come from. The picture Ra paints is that the difference in masculine and feminine were highlighted by the dropping of the veil and that the rise of these differences was inevitable. These highlighted differences then being manifested within our archetypal mind and in our natural environment. But whatever differences we do experience, whether from culture, nature, or the universe itself, it gives us an opportunity to explore our unconscious minds and spirit in unique and mysterious ways. We can work with the dynamic polarity of masculine and feminine within us to work towards an understanding of what it means to be a complete, whole, and integrated being. The differences can be as enabling as they may seem restrictive.

[Adonai One]

I've chosen to embraced androgyny in my life as much as possible. I am attempting to grow my hair longer than most women and wear more floral-based clothes.

I actively try to embrace a melded duality of will/submission in order to balance myself completely in this regard. I am seeing if I can balance out any concept of gender within me completely.

I've found the concept of gender to be entirely contrived, artificial.

In a world without this ideal, we probably wouldn't notice the minor physical difference that is gender that much.

[Nicholas]

I feel I was an anomaly in this regard wherein I learned through studying others and how they 'expected' me to behave. I had an early trauma, combined with a dysfunctional home environment, to the point of becoming quite feral. I became an addict as early as 5 years old stealing from my mums purse to fund my sweet addiction. A Scottish mum in need of healing and with a fiery temper led to frequent conflicts, culminating in becoming homeless through her and my choosing.

Thus I became very self oriented and fiercely independent. I used to take myself to church down the road on Sunday's but all the talk went in one ear and out the other. It was the bread and wine offering that got my attention and the arts and crafts in sunday school afterwards that I went there for. I asked to be Christened when I was 7, so that was a conditioning if you like. Deep down though I was a sensitive kid and harboured a pain I had no conscious awareness of, hence the addictive trends in my childhood. My own inner work revealed that I did not trust adults at all, highly sensitive to controlling attempts and developed a 'butter wouldn't melt' and polite persona. This was merely a front though as I would grab and run if the opportunity arose. Getting banned from the cubs scout was a notable example and epitomised my sense of loneliness growing up as being excluded from things just galvanised me towards more self serving/medicating.

That said though I had a wonderful best friend aged 5 to 16 years. Soul mates for sure!

So my point regarding cultural conditioning is that I was on the fringe, like many others in an environment that was lacking in care. I simply refused to comply at the expense of isolation, while leaving me free to formulate my own perception which was ideological and subjective.

As a result of healing myself when I was 24 post drug addiction, I knew I was perceptively free from the 'consensus reality'.

I was at peace with the concept of death and can relate very well to the 'lacking in desire or will' that Ra described in the pre veiling part of our octave of experience.

82.22. Ra: I am Ra. Consider, if you will, the tendency of those who are divinely happy, as you call this distortion, to have little urge to alter or better their condition. Such is the result of the mind/body/spirit which is not complex. There is the possibility of love of other-selves and service to other-selves, but there is the overwhelming awareness of the Creator in the self. The connection with the Creator is that of the umbilical cord. The security is total. Therefore, no love is terribly important; no pain terribly frightening; no effort, therefore, is made to serve for love or to benefit from fear.

I had found peace and enlightenment and that was good enough for me!

This Question that Don asked raised my eyebrows when I first came across it.

80.11 Questioner: Could I say, then, that implicit in the process of becoming adept is the possible partial polarization towards service to self because simply the adept becomes disassociated with many of his kind or like in the particular density which he inhabits?

As for the male/female conditioning I feel this is mostly the evolutionary processes at work, combined with a subconscious fear within men generally that if they are not the leaders, they will be lead.

Apologies for the detailed context (me me me lol) but one final thing. I have a lot to give to other selves in our culture and I am not resting on this past attitude as a deep pain will result from the repression of that deep pre- incarnative desire that I cannot re-veil.

[Nicholas]

this suppression or inhibition of a sizable portion of the self is 'liberated' by things like alcohol;

To focus on plenum's second point here Ra also speak to this cultural aspect of conditioning.

83.12 Questioner: Then you say that there are no cases where those who are service-to-others oriented are using in any way techniques of enslavement that have grown as a result of the evolution of our social structures? Is this what you mean?

Ra: I am Ra. It was our understanding that your query concerned conditions before the veiling. There was no unconscious slavery, as you call this condition, at that period. At the present space/time the condition of well-meant and unintentional slavery are so numerous that it beggars our ability to enumerate them.

To add to Reeay's wonderfully crafted and caring reply (I am working on learning to be more sensitive, my distortions are very obvious to me!) Ra elude further...

80.11 Questioner: Could I say, then, that implicit in the process of becoming adept is the possible partial polarization towards service to self because simply the adept becomes disassociated with many of his kind or like in the particular density which he inhabits?

Ra: I am Ra. This is likely to occur. The apparent happening is disassociation whether the truth is service to self and thus true disassociation from other-selves or service to others and thus true association with the heart of all other-selves and disassociation only from the illusory husks which prevent the adept from correctly perceiving the self and other-self as one.

So if we take that leap of faith, it is only our attitude that we are changing, not 'who we are'. Its that journey towards our true self rather than the perceived separation by others that we are associated with. An analogy to assist us I feel in this transformation would be to compare out attitudes to the operating system on our computers. How well is it going to serve us if we refuse the updates offered to us? Especially the 'critical' ones!

I found this short commentary by Terrence McKenna to be quite inspirational where a mans emotional needs are concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eu9GfHCpVo