written 2
February, 2018
published 11Feb18
I recently
saw two wonderful movies, The Battle of
The Sexes and The Post. Both films portray events in 1973. Battle,
with Emma Stone and Steve Carell, depicts the exhibition tennis match between
Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs. The Post, referring to The Washington
Post newspaper, starring Meryl Streep as publisher Katherine Graham and Tom
Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee, is about publication of the Pentagon Papers. I streamed Battle, and was delighted to see The Post in Ukiah. Regal cinema
seems to favor movies that keep the public frightened and distracted, rarely showing
more thought provoking films.
Misogyny is
a fact in our culture, and both films show a feminine challenge. Battle
directly addresses misogyny in the form of unequal pay for women, and the idea
that a woman couldn't compete with a man in sports. The
Post is primarily a story of freedom of the press in holding our government
accountable, but the subplot recognizes the particular challenge of a woman
facing down not only the president of the United States, but an all male board
of directors.
The democratic
principle that all citizens are equal under the law, and have a say in
government, is a non-dual understanding.
When America was formed, this was a radical idea, considered utopian and
unrealistic. The first citizens were exclusively
white male landowners, but quickly changed to include all free white
males. The struggle to include women and
people of color continues to this day. In
this effort, Trump may be an asset. His unapologetic
racism and misogyny have stimulated a political will, much like a festering
splinter that is finally expelled, so that healing can begin. The Women's March was exciting and lifted the
spirit for a day. Political mobilization
is encouraging women to activism, working in campaigns, running for office, and
getting elected.
Politics is
the outward expression of change, but an important internal change is also
happening. Transgender issues and gay
and lesbian rights have updated the definitions of what makes a man or a woman.
Compassionate men and strong women show
that we all have the best qualities of each sex, and the foundation of sexist
separation is weakening.
There are
many ideas about how this separation arose. As divine consciousness intersected with material
space/time, it got distracted and captured, like surface tension or static
cling, always looking outward at the infinite variety of differentiated material
form. There is evidence that the sense
of self as separate from the world, arose about 3500 years ago, encompassing
most of recorded history. This was when
alphabetic literacy began. Being symbolic,
it is processed by the left brain which perceives differences. The power of writing gave undue focus on
differences, as opposed to the right brain perspective of synthesis and holism. Civilizations became based on domination and
misogyny, which lead to the degradation of the natural world, or Mother Nature.
We have now reached the point where
human existence is threatened.
About 2500
years ago, the awareness of deep connection transcending the self was
introduced by Buddha and Lao Tzu, and later by Christ and mystics from all
religions. Technological developments in
the last 150 years (photography, radio, TV, and the Internet) have allowed
widespread transmission of information processed by the right side of the
brain, helping to change the illusion of absolute separation between self and
other. Increased awareness of environmental
issues, civil rights, and gender equality all over the world are further
indications that a shift is happening.
Each of us
have the obligation and possibility to transcend the illusion of separation to
heal the whole world. I am currently
working my way through the text of A
Course In Miracles, and recently read a section suggesting that the
Biblical exhortation to praise God, doesn't mean telling God what a good job is
being done; God already knows that. Real
praise is to love every person, recognizing them as expressions of the Divine,
as are we all. Racism and misogyny are
denial of that divine connection, and even if wrapped in religious scripture,
are an insult to the Divine. We can all
play a part in changing the world by changing our own awareness.
