Our physical bodies serve as symbols for spiritual realities. By understanding these powers in the physical, we can project them into the spiritual.
Physically, man is larger and stronger than woman. If there was ever a literal, physical war between the genders, it would be short. Men would destroy women. Men are AWESOME in strength! Men can run faster, shoot straighter, and kick harder than women. Men are the builders of existence. Because she cannot force man, she must persuade him to move. The empowerment of women in the last century has arisen by virtue of her ability to persuade men in power to give it away. Do women storm the castle? No, they infiltrate. Do women force men at the end of the sword? If, at the end of the day, a woman wants a man to move his body or change his legislation, she can't force him. The choice is his.
A woman's body sells vitality, marketing to weary bodies and souls "come, and be nourished." Her vagina solicits rest & replenishment. Her breasts advertise nourishment, literally supplying food for others. Women can encourage, enliven, and buoy better than men. Women are the designers of life. Women understand the nuances of life, and can arouse its remote parts to come out and play. At the end of the day, if a man wants life to be sweet, even meaningful, he needs woman. Because she replenishes and encourages, his strength is, in a very real sense, hers to wield. But, woman does more than beautify existence; her beauty arouses existence. 2
Both men and women "show off" their power. He "shows off" by performing feats which say, "I can protect and provide for you", while she "shows off" her beauty which says, "I can make life meaningful and enjoyable for you."
All power can be used to enrich or destroy life.
Some men use their dominion over women to enrich life. They hold the line in spiritual and physical war, creating a boundary around the beauties of life. This wall of safety circumscribes, providing safety to his family. Safety is prerequisite to growth and life. Without safety, life is not sustainable. These men reap the fruits grown within their walls, but always with respect and deep gratitude for the hands which produced it. An awareness of who produces the richness causes men to cherish women. These men also know that taking without respect disincentives future production, even stops it altogether. These men have discovered that the continued use of force for reasons other than protection end the production of life - beauty and meaning disappear. He contributes the seeds of life (the beginning) as well as the safety requisite to preserve it (the end). His sacrifice takes the form of a permanent willingness to die for the safety of his loved ones.
Some men use their dominion over women to devour life. They deplete life by exploiting, rather than protecting weakness, forgetting that since men need that nourishment, they deplete themselves. Exploiters are willing to take from women, but not care for them. They steal the fruits engendered by other mens' strength, such as fathers'.
Some women use their power through life as leaven. Leaven is an element, influence, or agent that works subtly to lighten, enliven, or modify a whole. They sweetly, often quietly, and always powerfully, inspire. They sense & identify needs, and then creatively meet them. They respect Choice in order to encourage learning, helping repair when mistakes are made. Their sensitivity gives them access to critical opportunities to influence. These women employ compassion and wisdom subtly to enable and inspire life-altering decisions. 3 With an arsenal of patience, forgiveness, and charity, she leads souls through wind and storm to reach their full potential.
Women are either the leaven or the lead in their family's home-baked bread. The knife on which women divide camp is honesty. If a woman uses the lure of her beauty with integrity, she lifts. If a woman uses the lure of her beauty with deceit, she kills. Like the man's misuse of strength, a woman's misuse of lure is the easy, short-sighted route. Woman's deceitful misuse of her beauty is as deadly as man's domineering misuse of his strength, and thus, ought to be punished with equal vengeance. How many bits of carcinogenic metal does it take to ruin a loaf of white, steamy bread? But, to ensure destruction, these kinds of women, like those kinds of men, leave no crumb of life behind. Screaming is their song; berating is their charm; poison is their harm. Her arsenic in the OJ kills just as surely as his hammer to the head.
There are two powers equally capable of enabling or disabling life.
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1 "The Evolution of the Swimsuit" - Jessica Ray
2 “Man can never know the loneliness a woman knows. Man lies in the woman's womb only to gather strength, he nourishes himself from this fusion, and then he rises and goes into the world, into his work, into battle, into art. He is not lonely. He is busy. The memory of the swim in amniotic fluid gives him energy, completion. Woman may be busy too, but she feels empty. Sensuality for her is not only a wave of pleasure in which she is bathed, and a charge of electric joy at contact with another. When man lies in her womb, she is fulfilled, each act of love a taking of man within her, an act of birth and rebirth, of child rearing and man bearing. Man lies in her womb and is reborn each time anew with a desire to act, to be. But for woman, the climax is not in the birth, but in the moment man rests inside of her.” ― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
3 "When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound o lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?" Neal A. Maxwell, "The Women of God," Ensign, May 1978, 10-11 italics and bold added ~ “Women who make a house a home make a far greater contribution to society than those who command large armies or stand at the head of impressive corporations. Who can put a price tag on the influence a mother has on her children, a grandmother on her posterity, or aunts and sisters on their extended family? We cannot begin to measure or calculate the influence of women who, in their own ways, build stable family life and nurture for everlasting good the generations of the future. The decisions made by the women of this generation will be eternal in their consequences. May I suggest that the mothers of today have no greater opportunity and no more serious challenge than to do all they can to strengthen the [home]” (Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes[2000], 152). ~ "The prophet who sits with us today could tell us of such togetherness, when at the time of his overwhelming apostolic calling he was consoled by his Camilla, who met his anguished, sobbing sense of inadequacy and, running her fingers through his hair, said, "you can do it, you can do it." He surely has done it, but with her at his side." - Neal A. Maxwell, speaking of Spencer W. Kimball in "The Women of God" April 1978 General Conference
