Is this the age of the female principle?
Impulses from the universe have influenced human behaviour over the epochs
Many years ago I was introduced to various systems of meditation and delved into arcane and occult (in the literal sense) works that sought to reveal the truth behind the illusions that permeate all human life.
What is the Self? What is the Overself? Behind the physical universes, a timeless and ultimate reality exists, its nature beyond our full understanding, say the books of wisdom. And the universe is said to send impulses that have influenced human behaviour over epochs. I sometimes convince myself I can sense such impulses but, such is the way of these things, I can never be certain. It is only by reflection that the effects can be recognised.
For centuries these impulses focused on the Himalayas or Eastern hemisphere and, say the sacred texts, this is the reason why the emergence of the great religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Zoraosterism, for example, were concentrated in this region of Earth.
This was the epoch of the male principle with men responsible for both the greatest achievements the world has ever seen and the worst desecrations. I can’t think of many wars, genocides, subjugations, or brutal occupations that have been instigated by women. But this period saw the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, building the infrastructure of the world from the glorious architecture that is Rome and Venice and the wondrous works of art to philosophies, transport, technology, space exploration, medicine, and the Internet, to name just a few.
Women had to fight to be recognised and to contribute. Exceptional women did just that but as a gender struggled under the yoke.
We then entered a period of darkness until the impulses shifted to the Andes and the Western hemisphere. A major feature is said to be the emergence of the ‘female principle’.
Looking back from today you can see how the consciousness of women has steadily become more powerful and assertive, from the suffragettes onwards. Women today are coming into their own in all walks of life as the pulse of the female principle continues to inform the way we think and behave.
Hence the emergence of the populist movements of emancipation and feminism. This must, of course, mean that we have been living with masculinism (although that word has never been used to my knowledge). for as long as we can remember. It has not gone away, it has just been muted.
But the expansion of the female principle is not spread evenly in neat time capsules. Women are still being repressed, and unable to make choices, mainly in regions of the western hemisphere. Afghanistan is a perfect example, but you need to perceive what lies beyond the religious aspect and delve into the universal.
Even bringing all this down to earth and looking at the book publishing business I see the phenomenal increase in the number of female writers, literary agents and publishers.
And social media sites such as booktok are dominated by women readers and authors. There could be a more mundane reason for this in addition to mystical pulses from the universe. Women tend to read more. Young men, I hazard to suggest, read far, far less than girls and women so the publishing industry reacts to this because it is, after all, just another business. And there are some wonderful female authors.
In the recent past, circa the 18th and 19th centuries, men dominated the book world, but it is now men that are struggling to break through.
There have always been exceptions through time on both sides, of course.
One conclusion I have come to (they do vary) is that all people regardless of gender, tastes and proclivities should form an equal part of what I describe as the general fabric of society. Not an easy call if you have been marginalised but it should be the aim of a free society. That may seem fanciful given the authoritarian states that flourish today.
Perhaps the pulses from the universe have not finished pulsating quite yet.
My own modest contribution is a psychological surrogacy thriller in which an infertile young woman loses everything, including the baby she desperately desired, before discovering her own inner strength, asserting herself with deadly effect. I wrote Misconception under a pen name, Alex Steel (the female – or gender neutral – impulse in action, perhaps). Go to Kobo or Draft2Digital
Note: Problem with Amazon at the moment. Please find at the above links.