Gazing in the Mirror

April 24 - Women Warriors

You gain strength, courage and
confidence by every experience
in which you really stop to look
fear in the face. You are able to
say to yourself, 'I lived through
this horror. I can take the next
thing that comes along'. You must
do the thing you think you cannot do.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

No person who is enlightened would
seek to use this Law destructively,
for he would know that, sooner or
later, the very power set in motion
by himself would ultimately destroy him.
~ Ernest Holmes

I once came across some bias about women making war. Perhaps it was also a bit of idealization. The war that was being discussed was not physical war, mind you – it was spiritual war. This boggled my mind in a modern day and time. I was reminded of that discussion today as I was reading this date's offering in "The Lunar Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao about The Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven. He notes that legends suggest "that by the time a woman goes out to fight, she has had to overcome all her natural reluctance. She goes to battle only when necessary: her cause must be both urgent and moral. Thus she must win because the situation is both urgent and dire".

Deng goes on the note – "There's no question that women lack the brute force of men. Therefore, a woman warrior has to rely on superior intellect, strategy, weaponry, and perhaps even subterfuge. Throughout history, women warriors have often bested men, taking advantage of the men's assumptions that strength and power were supreme. They are not. The person who is better prepared and who has greater determination will win. ... The warrior goddess takes life and gives life. That is sometimes necessary, and none of us should shirk when we must – perhaps when there's no other choice – go into battle".

So it was surprising to me that a modern day man could continue to think as this one was. He said "It is my understanding that it requires that he be masculine. Men localize themselves in space and time to separate the past from the future". Hmmm. He felt that "When a female exercises her masculine traits, she is surrendering some leverage that comes from exercise of her feminine traits." This gives me pause . . . as a woman who truly enjoys being a woman even though I did grow up a bit of a tomboy. Am I denying something fundamental about being a woman ? Am I somehow resisting the "role" that goes along with that gender ?

He continued – "I would actually assert that the "traditional, symbolic 'aspects' are reflections of biological and psychological differences that make one sex suitable for carrying and caring for helpless infants. This predisposition to be a 'we' has enormous spiritual implications. One woman I know shared that during delivery of her first child, she became aware that she was joining a long lineage of women. As for men, establishing an independent identity can be an enormous struggle. We cannot be mothers, and our energies are focused elsewhere, but we are brought into the world deeply enmeshed in our mother's psychology. I don't know why this is so difficult to accept. ... I think that their prior disposition to avoid exploitative and destructive behavior patterns was rather a credit to their gender."

I wonder the same thing – why this is so difficult ? I appreciate that as a mom I'm part of "the club" that goes back into the remote reaches of unrecorded historical time. I think I am beginning to understand what troubled me before and I think there are some mis-perceived qualities. I struggled with it the day I tried to get this written. Trying to understand what it is that was wanting to be said and also feeling rather blocked by the demands of my family life from really focusing on it. What came to me on my hike that evening was that there is a difference. I know that sounds obvious but I mean a totally different perspective that a female warrior brings to her battles compared to a male warrior. And I am grateful I don't have those male implications to live up to.

Throughout history war and fighting have been seen as men's activities, however, the actual truth is that women have always been involved in battles and sieges. That was the truth that I was somehow knowing when this came up before. It's called survival and that is what women have always been charged with as regards the human species. Women took part in battles most commonly when their home or town was attacked. A woman would not hesitate to take charge of defending her family in her husband's absence. That is the difference, I believe. Women will defend mightily the lives they are charged with nurturing even if it means stepping into battle. The Mama Bear or Lioness protecting her cubs. Men have been known to be aggressors. Men have historically been the ones to start the battles, or to cause the battles, as well as being the protectors when called upon by circumstances. This essay doesn't feel fully formed within me but I'll let it rest there – for now.

~ perspective

I don't wish to be called
into war because I do not
like the disruptive nature of
all that destruction and
I don't wish to be in the
midst of that fog of war
confusion, honestly I don't
want to fight for survival.
There are times that we
are jolted out of our comfort
zones and forced to do what
must be done.
If challenging times come,
it is best to meet them with
confidence for hesitation and
doubt will not help overcome
the barriers of necessity against
peaceful preference.
If I must lead in a dangerous
situation, may I lead courageously
and be brave enough to succeed.
In times of extreme need
one cannot play small but
must give their all.

#assumptions #battles #gender #identity #inclination #men #mothers #preference #protection #survival