My sense is that practically every woman today has been at least sexually harassed and only those who were abused by someone well-known are speaking up in public. My heart goes out to both, the abused women, and the accused men, (yes to the men too, in the same way, I feel for the child who is the aggressor.)
What is missing is the quieter and much less spoken-of abuse of almost every woman in terms of the freedom to be oneself and to be the mother each one of us wants to be. The fathers too often don’t seem to do their 50% in parenting, and may even get in the way of mothering as part of unconscious patriarchy.
Women’s liberation will only be complete when both, women and men relinquish the old imposed gender image cultivated over thousands of years.
(Since the agricultural revolution was mostly, a result of work and possession of the land that created hierarchy, wars, and sickness.)
Once men are free of the old image that thwarts their inner freedom to feel and connect, they will naturally do their full share of parenting including nurturing and learning. At the same time, for women to be free, they too must relinquish the passivity, dependency, and sometimes inability to assert themselves as equals that results from the same old indoctrination. The feminine and masculine images are supposed roles that are simply an invention, not natural phenomenon.
Amongst you, there are more and more couples who actually are equal partners, allowing us to witness the transformation that occurs when old images don’t grip us any longer. In such families I see tender and nurturing men and women raising human beings without injecting any concepts about gender; I see qualities of strength and leadership in both girls and boys, as well as tenderness, emotionality, and creativity. This delightful evolution is an inspiration for generations to come.
At the same time, most of your mothers and fathers are still playing the game of patriarchy to some degree. Until you stop, the next generation will not be free of inequality. It is your job as parents to take life on as human beings and raise human beings who value each other as united equals; without teaching them the division. It means modeling such equality as well as avoiding all stereotyping (gender, race, religion, nationality… anything.) Males and females will stay males and females, only without the added limiting imposed character traits and the burden of specific duties.
The way to create peace is by abolishing domination and hierarchy at all levels and with every human being. This will also stop the raping of our planet. Destroying the planet can only be perceived as correct by a culture of dominance that sees one being as more important than another, one gender, race, nation, or creature above anything and above the earth. In reality, inclusiveness is the way to peace, and including women and children in sharing life as equal members is the beginning that can bring to an end all dominations and exclusions. When we do that, we know the earth too is part of us. The division is a mind-invented concept that is the source of most struggles on this miraculous planet.
Keep Eckhart Tolle’s words in mind: “Whenever you feel superior or inferior to anyone, that’s the ego in you.” Egos (mind, thoughts) create the illusion of division and therefore of hierarchy and domination. I invite you to make a conscious commitment to model to your children how to be conscious humans. That means being inclusive of all beings, life, and humans with no “us and them” or any attitude of being better or worse than anyone else. Believe it or not, this includes not pumping the children’s heads with a sense of being special. The child is a miracle and so is everyone else. When children grow up seeing the miracle in themselves and in everyone, they will create a society that celebrates all humans with awe and love, with no distinctions of rights or roles based on gender or any other concept.
I will start with me: Traveling and speaking I often encounter people who wish to “pin” me to nationality and other specific attributes. I always say: “I am a human being from planet earth.” By not identifying as anything other than a human being, I invite connection and inclusiveness. I am saying that I am part of you, us, and the planet.
Raise children whose identity does not create a division of me and you, us and the others; raise them to feel one with all humans and the planet/universe. No family, group, religion, country, nationality… Just like John Lennon’s timely song, Imagine. Although they kept John’s lyrics unchanged, saying in the masculine, “brotherhood of men” they staged and sing the song so clearly, in the spirit of unity that I recommend you not only listen but also watch:
