The world is in pain, crying just like this little girl — you and I feel it everyday, yet we are helpless. It is depressing, sad, frustrating, mind-boggling, and most of us have no idea what to make of it. We are just bracing ourselves to see what comes next, drowning ourselves in work in the meantime, trying to forget. How is it that the most confident yet ignorant are the ones in power? And what does this tell us about what it takes to be successful? What does it teach our world’s children about success and power?
The separation of children from their parents at the U.S. border seems to be perfectly symbolic of the problem we face in the world today — the separation of the Earth from its “Mother.”
While everyone is busy arguing and fighting to be heard on how to eradicate the other “evil” side: leadership from the heart, that is, the Divine Feminine is the missing element.
Before you say: “Yes, exactly! Why doesn’t the other side/person see that? They are such a-holes,” take a step back: most of us are not leading from the heart anytime we
malign the other side without trying to understand them. The heart doesn’t reject, label, or judge anything — those are all actions of the mind. The heart allows things and people to be as they are and aims to include them as they are. It takes a great deal of strength and clarity of mind to embody the Divine Feminine — a kind of strength that is totally different from what we are used to exercising in Western society.
What is the Divine Feminine?
It’s not a person; it’s not an organ. It’s much bigger: it’s an energy. It’s the energy of the heart, of pure “being:”all-encompassing, and able to hold within it all things. It’s an energy that is being suppressed in our world today, no matter how much we seem to tout women’s rights and equality as a society. It’s an energy that is looked down upon and derided, told that it shouldn’t exist. It is sometimes sadly confused for “weakness” or “spiritual mumbo jumbo.” I used to think so too, for most of my life — until I started consulting in organizational change, ironically.
When the masculine takes over and egos clash and get out of control, everyone wants to be seen and heard, everyone wants to be “right.” The Divine Feminine is the force that allows everyone to be right, in their own way.
It is the mother that senses the baby’s needs and gives it what it needs to grow. It sees with the heart rather than with purely the mind. It is the great Womb that we call this Universe, capable of holding all polarities — good and evil, joy and pain, the most surreal beauties and the most hideous obscenities — side by side without judgment.
Imagine in a meeting, the one person who listens and “receives” more than he talks. A person who is tuned in, intuitive to the needs of the entire group and each individual. A person who is able to bring multiple disparate ideas together into an integrated solution that can serve everyone’s needs. This person embodies the Divine Feminine force, which aims to build bridges, rather than walls.
“Heart, feelings, and emotions?” You might say, “They shouldn’t get in the way of important decisions.”
Yet unfortunately, they do all the time. I see everyday how buried resentments, ego clashes, and hurt feelings cause teams and organizations to operate ineffectively, hurting business results. I now see that our organizations are in dire need of the Divine Feminine — the heart — because it is actually supremely perceptive. It can understand and identify the emotions behind behaviors. It can also see the love and connection, the humanity that is underneath all differing thoughts, views, and perspectives. It creates space for all types of thought and perspective; all types of beings. It operates using “and” rather than “or.” It is the energy of pure acceptance of all there is.
The Divine Feminine is also the power found in vulnerability.
We’ve probably all heard of and experienced the masculine tendency to want to be “right”- saying “I don’t know” to a question is considered shameful. The danger with this tendency is that while it serves the ego temporarily, it hinders growth long-term; it keeps someone in a toxic mindset and behaviors, because admitting he/she is wrong would be too vulnerable.
It is vulnerability that brings a CEO to ask front-line workers for feedback on his leadership and how he can improve. It is vulnerability that brings a political leader to learn from citizens and put them first by empathizing with them.
Ironically, there is strength in this vulnerability— the best organizations of the world today are those that are willing to be agile and change according to customer and employee needs- they are willing to be wrong and keep learning and growing.
Receptive energy alone, of course, is not enough to change things.
Active and receptive, masculine and feminine, the yin and yang, must work together and balance each other in the world for real progress to happen. Feedback needs to be put into action, and vice versa. They must honor and respect each other as equals and be willing to collaborate and open to one another. They cannot put each other down or take advantage of each other.
I am imagining a new world where the masculine and feminine can truly work together hand in hand, and I believe that starts with each individual working on him/herself: learning to balance doing and being, penetrating and receiving, ego and heart, self-expression and empathy, confidence and willingness to learn. I believe when these two opposing energies make space for eachother in our lives, we will truly be in a beautiful place.
Originally published at www.shaktiarts.org