Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00172)

NAMO KWAN SHIH YIN
NAMO SKILLFUL MEANS

Tom,
You Wrote:

>I believe there are 7 planes of spirit-matter that are relevant to
>human beings.  From the top down, they are:

>7) divine
>6) monadic
>5) spiritual
>4) intuitional
>3) mental
>2) emotional
>1) physical

Yes, this is what we are taught. But it is a meaningless list of words
if known by rote alone. Gender identity does not exist above the lower
mental subplanes (rupa-manas). It is distinctly a phenomenon of personal
identity and has as the scope of its activity only the three lower
planes of your chart (really only #1, #2 and the lower half of #3). The
Ego in the causal body, (on the arupa-manasic subplanes) does not gender
identify. It is the resolution of all such conflicts and distinctions.
It is also the root of all gender and the source of the ray that
periodically incarnates and assumes gender as one of the potentialities
and characteristics of it's newly forming psycho-sexual personality.

Intuition, as a characteristic of Buddhi is also what we are taught. But
we are additionally asked to know Buddhi as loving kindness and wise
compassion. This knowledge is born out of the intuition of the intrinsic
oneness of identity as Life and the experience of the unity of our
individual identities as One in the universal. There is individuality
here, but no gender distinction. In the higher reaches, there is not
even individuality. I AM THAT I AM. Only when we turn earthward and
personalize this intuitive understanding, do we then think thoughts of
and feel feelings of "Brotherhood", "Humanity" "Love for one another",
"Kindness" and "The Spirit of all Humankind".

Don't forget that there ARE higher reaches of Kama (the first three
subplanes) that correspond to and act as vehicles for just these
feelings. When experienced they are evocative of spiritual identity in
the personality rather than the merely personal.

If we are going to discuss anything relating to gender, or try to assess
the relative values of Nature's male and female characteristics as they
appear in human personality traits, I would ask that we keep this
top-down view and acknowledge the "reality" of our identity to be the
sexless, birthless, deathless, eternal.

>From this perspective it becomes easier to fairly judge the necessity of
movement and balanced polarity in the operation of our personal natures
as we evolve (mind, emotions and bodies). It also gives us clues to the
nature of inter and intra-personal conflicts and hints towards resolving
them.

>The higher that something is in terms of these planes, the greater
>value and significance it has, and the more real it is. The thought of >a building is more real than a physical building, for example.

I would caution against using this justification to assume carte blanche
male personal superiority. It may look favorable from your point of
view, but quickly falls apart whenever you yourself get emotional OR
buddhic. It's a trick of the lower mind, although the male personal ego
has loved it for a very long time and worked hard to force women to
subscribe.

People are both mental and emotional. Neither gender can claim kama or
manasic exclusivity or superiority. I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA. Every person
is by definition BOTH. In fact from another point of view, the wisdom
teachings have also claimed that both genders (read: ALL PERSONALITIES),
considered together, can be polarized "FEMALE" in relation to the "MALE"
attraction of the reincarnating Causal Ego (sexless and impersonal).
This is the esoteric interpretation of the saying that "Christ is the
Bridegroom coming to meet His Bride" (Ladies, don't you agree that it's
about time for a female avatar? She'd straighten all this out. Or how
about a Holy Couple - then we'd get gender, love, relationships and sex
all in one fell swoop. Wouldn't that be nice!)

The sad misappropriation and misuse of the gender identity of both Jesus
and Gautama by patriarchal power systems has only confused us and
obscured the true beauty of their spiritual attainment (Gauatama's
faux-pas notwithstanding). It was very convenient for those who wanted
to consolidate religious power to co-opt this fact to their own benefit.
But in the last analysis, those guys missed the mark and fell short of
both teachers. Their legacy is this cultural lopsidedness that needs
correcting.

I hope you've studied enough to understand what I'm trying to say. If
you cling to the view that Yang is better than Yin, you'll just get
stuck there and miss the realization of Tao, nevermind the experience of
knowing that even the Tao dissappears.

Lastly, lets try not to get too ossified in the distinctions of the
planes. We are also strongly cautioned against that, and are reminded in
the very first principle of the Secret Doctrine that all of these
separations are maya. There is but one substance-principle. THAT is real
identity. Thou art THAT! The boys are THAT, The girls are THAT. The cats
and dogs are THAT. If we open inwardly to the THAT truth, the
resolutions to all of these problems will become apparent.

NAMO KWAN SHIH YIN
NAMO SKILLFUL MEANS

nuff said,
Mark at ArtHouse

"I am both the Tigress and Euphrates"