Recently, while lecturing (on Zoom) about the need to balance the sacred feminine with the sacred masculine, a man asked me: “How do you recommend men entertain more the divine feminine?”
It is a good question.
I offered one answer yesterday in my sharing on Francis of Assisi because he truly stands out as a man who had an amazing balance of the feminine and the masculine. It is so much in evidence in his poem on Brother Sun as I indicated in the video where I read much of the poem. He found the divine feminine (but also the masculine) in nature.
So that is one answer: Check nature out. And look for its feminine aspects—which are everywhere.
It is important to put our hunting-gathering instincts into answering that question, for a patriarchal culture has so flooded us with the uber masculine that we can find, in such a fog, neither the healthy masculine nor the feminine.
This is where praying the feminine names for divinity such as we have been meditating on for weeks becomes a meaningful—and important—exercise.
Such a practice brings the feminine back to one’s own consciousness.
So too is realizing our own mysticism. Mysticism itself is feminine, as Dorothee Soelle described it. Mysticism “comes closest to overcoming the hierarchical masculine concept of God….The mystical certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God grows when we ourselves become one with love by placing ourselves, freely and without guarantee of success, on the side of love.”
The male mystics are very good at this (as are women mystics)
.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 278.
See also: Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: “Mural of St. Francis of Assisi and the Wolf of Gubbio at the St. Francis Inn in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pa.” Photo by Jim McIntosh on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Soelle that mysticism deconstructs hierarchical concepts of divinity and replace them with something fuller and more balanced? What examples of this can you offer (including St. Francis)?
Recommended Reading
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr.; from Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart to Thomas Merton; from Father Bede Griffiths to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations.” — Adam Bucko, co-author of Occupy Spirituality.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.”
— Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
Source: Men in Search of the Divine Feminine – Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
Pas De Merde 