Welcome back! Lots of stuff going on. Happy holidays to all, and away we go!

News Flash!

This Edition's Topic: On Being a Healer and a Man

Men who are interested in spiritual work or healing will sooner or later learn their feminine side, and use it to aid them in their healing work. I did this myself for many years, and I've reaped the rewards of being able to access both the masculine and feminine polarities in my spiritual work.

As a matter of clarification: I'm not talking about specifically being male, female, heterosexual or homosexual. I'm talking about the polarity of the masculine and the feminine. The Sun and the Moon. The dark protector and the life-giver.

As a matter of social evolution, I of course believe in the economic, social, political, and all other equalities between men and women. But, that had led me to actively suppress my masculinity. Being a spiritual student, teacher, and healer I instinctively felt that I should try to keep my polarity as close to the middle as possible, so as not to cause disruption. By keeping the equation balanced, I thought that I could be more effective that way.

However, what I found the more that I pursued this course of action was that I became more and more stagnant. I had neither the clear unyielding direction of the masculine, nor the free-flowing creativity of the feminine. This process lasted over a year before it finally came to a head.

After I ran out of things to try to reboot my life, I decided to revisit my polarity. My darling wife has stayed with me through thick and thin, yet she was getting worried and frustrated that I seemed locked in the doldrums. I took a few days to myself for some soul searching. I realized that what she needed was for me to be a masculine man. Taking a hard, honest look at myself, I realized that this is what I needed too. Although spiritually we have both polarities within us (and thank goodness!), I am incarnated, put on this Earth, as a man. And one with a strong masculine polarity. And so, the only peace I will find to do my work is to accept the nature of my physical existence.

Knowing this, I started seeking enlightened examples of masculine power. I started reading of the precepts of David Deida, and exploring an outline of a man who is neither a pushover, nor a bullying King Kong.

At this point I'm going to share something many of you don't know. In my home culture (USA), an unintended and generally unwholesome side effect of the civil rights movement (which is necessary and good), was that men learned that a civilized man keeps his drive, his power, his desires buried. To do otherwise is to be an aggressor. This leaves men I've spoken with, and myself of living in such a way as the world seems to be made of cardboard, or phyllo dough, even.

As I contemplated and studied, I started to put together a map of the difference between such a brute and a conscious, masculine man. A brute uses his masculinity to trample others, to gratify his own petty needs. He cares nothing for others and seeks only to please himself. He lives in constant fear, because the only thing in his vision is a life-long game of King of the Mountain, and he's always about to be pushed to the bottom of the hill.

A conscious, masculine man recognizes and honors the feminine both within himself, and especially within others. He sees the open, vulnerable beauty of the feminine, and brings his masculinity to bear to be a protector, and servant, and guide. Keeping a keen eye on the horizon, he pilots a course into the future. He has purpose and passion. He lives to love and love is how he expresses his life.

This is my metamorphosis. It will, of course, never be "complete" with life being what it is. However, simply accepting this is how I am incarnated on this earth has freed me from spiritual constraints I didn't even know I had.

For example: My darling wife is my guinea pig as far as healing work goes. Any changes in technique, form, or substance, she's eager to try it out. (Don't look at me; Aside from two decisions in her life she's absolutely brilliant. Strike one: She married me. Strike two: She offered to be my guinea pig. Go figure.). Keeping this new revelation in mind, we did a Reiki session. We both felt a much higher flow of energy, as if I had been holding back a flood that has now been let loose. The session was very effective.

For those of you who follow my Twitter feed, you may recall this little line: You can't transcend what you can't embrace. In order to surrender and let go you have to first accept.

My mistake was in thinking that by denying both the masculine and feminine that I could simply rise above them. In truth, you will need to know both to truly live your polarity. When you have the knowledge and consciousness of this, then you can really begin to move beyond.

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