Thursday, December 25, 2014

His and Her Directions


Using our bodies as guides, we see rather plainly that man is external facing, and that woman is internal facing.  A man's reproductive organs are installed on the outside of his body, and a woman's reproductive organs are installed on the inside of her body.  The powers of procreation are, from start to finish, "spiritually significant". 1

In the walled-garden analogy, man is the wall.  His job is to stand erect in order to protect the life contained within his circumscription.  Within the walls of man's purview is contained all life - a garden of needs being met, of growth, of beauty, of meaning.


The wall can, in a certain sense, be called two-faced for it faces both the outside and the inside.  The life within the borders of the wall, while tending to the inward parts, results in outward growth.  So each role, both masculine and feminine, takes part in each direction... when they are performing together.  If we take each alone, we see that the "primary" responsibility of the masculine wall is to look outward, toward dangers; men are to go out into the field, and bring home the harvest.  I mean this both temporally and religiously.  If there were no garden to look at, the wall's only focus would be external, because there is no danger from within.  Taken alone, we see that the "primary" responsibility of the feminine soil is to look inward, toward life's emerging needs; women are to watch for emerging needs and meet them with the same tenacity with which men are to watch for emerging dangers and meet them.  Women are to magnify the home that it's light burn so bright that all who belong to it will want to return to it, and dwell there in felicity forever.  If it feels difficult to separate roles this way, it is because each of the divine genders has a piece of the other within itself, and, by design, neither is the woman supposed to be without the man, nor the man without the woman.

Still, before two may be sealed as one, each must know its part and play it.  It is a matter of  efficiency and function that one gender face one way and the other gender face the opposite way.  It is not feasible for a person to focus on life's emerging needs AND vigilantly guard against threats to those same needs.  Further, the love which makes the home fire burn bright must needs be unconditional.  The promise, "I will love you no matter what" attracts the hope which can feed the change when it is required.

"Dad's love is a little more negotiable [than mom's]." 2 This is by design.  As a the wall, he can be said to be two-faced, not in purpose, but in practice.  One side faces the light, a reflection of the feminine burning within his border.  His other side faces the dark cold. He sees - he even is - both sides of the coin.   This conditional way-of-being serves a purpose: it can employ the dead-end in the two-fold process of nurturing.  This catalyzes repentance by showing clearly that "there is no other way".  In the wall is the door to the home; the divine masculine, therefore, is the gate by which we must enter. 

We receive "inspiration" to grow from both the conditional and unconditional roles of the nurturing process.  Gender must be divided, then unified to efficiently effect the growth of souls.

In Math, we see another clear example of gender direction.  Give me that in the symbol of sex man brings everything to the table and woman brings nothing, i.e, an empty vagina. Give me that man is the substance the way Adam is dust, and that woman is the meaning the way water, in clay, gives form to dust.  So, I may then begin my math metaphor with this statement: men are whole, and women are derivatives.

Counting whole numbers, let's start at one and progress outward - we go 1, then 2, 3, then 4, and so on into eternity.  This direction is external.  There is no end to counting numbers this way.  
Now, counting fractions of whole numbers, or derivatives, let's start at 1 and count inward (toward zero) - we go 1, then .9, .8, .7 and onward to .1, then .09, .08, .07 and onward to .01, then .009, .008, .007 and so on into eternity.  This direction is internal.  There is no end to counting numbers this way. 
Between each whole number, there are infinite multitudes of numbers, all derivatives of the whole number.  This is a family structure, with the Father as the lead or head, carrier of seed and name, with his wife taking his name, and all of their kids being derivatives of him.

Just as fractions are derivatives of whole numbers, woman is a derivative of man. 3 The word "female" is derived from the word "male" and the word "woman" is derived from the word "man".

Derivatives take the name of their origin.  Men, women, and children receive their names from their fathers.  All who make God their father take upon them His name.  In the case of the devil, however, no name is given him.  Christian scripture makes it clear that evil has no name. 4 

All of the infinite fractions which exist between 2 and 3 are defined by the existence of 2. 2.3 takes 2's name, as does 2.4, 2.6, and 2.7458923478923479982374.  See, his name stands out in front, like a Mrs. John Smith, or more exactly paralleled, John Smith.Mrs. 

Who knows, maybe things will invert in the next life, and we'll have a matriarchal order like the Jews have now? I'd be okay with being a derivative, as long as the origin is warm and loving. I'm just teaching principles. If you see in them respect and equality via interconnectedness, then you see them as I do.  If you see in them a painful inequity, and your desire is withdraw from the tapestry, then you see them differently.  But, numbers are numbers and body parts are body parts.  Our response to them is relative to our desire.  

As beautiful and meaningful as those infinite amounts of fractions between 2 and 3 are, they would be nothing without 2.  Derivatives acknowledge the indispensability of the original.  And, as essential as whole numbers are to fractions, without the infinite depth of fractions, math would be a lot more boring than it already is. Indeed, it would be meaningless.  Both acknowledge their incompleteness without the other. 

I recently read an article by a young woman wherein she complained that men get to "stretch out" (literally) and expand themselves while women are expected to minimize their space - to cross their legs, hunch their shoulders, and be smaller.

The notion that there is only space for the outward journey, and no space for the inward journey, leads many people, both men and women, to question the inward-facing role and, ultimately, the value of women.

I'm barefoot and outdoors as often as possible; I feel separated enough. In this condition, I feel connected to Father God above, and Mother Earth beneath. Imagine me, standing in nature with one arm pointing up toward heaven and the other arm pointing down toward the center of the earth. I am pointing outward and inward - outward toward space and inward toward center.

Math and science and nature inform us that infinity stretches in both directions.  One of my favorite scriptures states "and there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom." 5  

Fractions and other small things can make worlds of difference.  Remember, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass...and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls", 6 by a few degrees outcomes can vary vastly, 7 and on the hinges of moments, gates of eternal consequence swing.  

We can learn to revalue femininity without transgendering it.  Let's keep both the microscope, and the telescope. 8



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1 Elder David A. Bednar, "We Believe in Being Chaste"
7 "A Matter of a Few Degrees" - Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
8 Here's one story of a microscope saving millions of lives
thanks to Eugen Belyakoff and Dusan Popovic from The Noun Project for the microscope and telescope images

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