Feminine Mysticism and the rights of women

March 15,1994

     The topic is Feminine Mysticism and the rights of women. You know, many women feel oppressed by men. They feel that the men  are only taking advantage of their soft nature, that men are exploitive and abusive. Many women have this attitude towards men. Do you know why? Because the society has deteriorated to the point where proper relationships between men and women are somewhat rare. So women become discouraged. They begin to think, there are no good men who understand women and respect them. They become angry with men and great harm is done to them in regards to their psycho-spiritual development.This anger, this disappointment with the males is widespread, not only in America but in other countries as well. How many women of this world cry themselves to sleep in the night because their husbands have beaten them. 

     So women, many women, are very angry. It is understandable and the faults lay with men, men who have not established their manhood, who have not learned from their boyhood, who have not been shown by their fathers proper conduct and proper attitudes towards women. You see these men have not learned how to treat women nor have they learned to respect themselves. They have not learned proper conduct.  In the absence of these qualities, they resort to brute force or emotional abuse to assert their manly dominance. And in the response, women grow angry and bitter. Their hearts close, their minds fill with ill thoughts and they trust no one. Such women are badly wounded and it is difficult  for them to give themselves openheartedly to anyone or anything, as they fear they will be further injured.  Particularly,  they learn to distrust men.  It is spiritually harmful, this position  but it is a natural outcome of such a situation.

     Now what to do when so many women find themselves in such difficult states, for every woman forced  away from her home due to extreme abuse of a cowardly man, there are a hundred more who have been abused but who have tolerated the situation. In some cultures it is considered acceptable and a women will get no sympathy if she complains about the abuses of her husband. So much has the society degenerated. 

     Now, a new society must  be built, not only on economic reformations and on cultural and ethnic respect, but it must be built upon strong commitment to the betterment of the condition of women around the world. It is not sufficient to reform the society but leave the condition of women as it stands.  It must change or no reformation will occur. Women must gain economic and political freedom, as well as greater standing in religious life, in the working world and in the home.  Their dignity must be preserved, their rights established. When this is done, the anger which eats at women today like a poisonous snake will fade away and such well respected and well treated women will find their hearts open and free from the taint of this anger and hatred of men.  They will find that they can love deeply and fully, surrendering themselves in marriage without becoming powerless, a downtrodden and helpless victim of the whims of their husbands. They will find that they can entrust themselves to men who are reverend of women and kind and give those men authority without diminishing themselves or becoming victims of exploitation.  If the man is undeserving of the surrender of his wife, if he does not look to her welfare above his own, if he does not secure his manhood in a noble fashion, then she should have ample freedom to remove herself from his authority and the economic means available to her for her own survival and that of her children. Then her surrender will be voluntary and from her heart.  It will have to be won by the noble attitude of her husband.

     Those men who are not deserving of such respect from a woman, should not get it automatically because their status is more than that of their wife.  Then the men will have to think twice, 'is my conduct proper and am I giving a proper care to my family?' It is women who will teach  men to change and then again fathers will show their sons proper conduct for a manly expression. So you see, once these changes have happened, many things will change in the society and the new dawn will come. The advancement of women is a part and parcel of this evolutionary movement within the human society.Once women have greater status, economic and political rights and freedom, then they may individually give themselves in openhearted trust without fear of exploitation. Spirituality cannot be won when the heart is closed and bitter. So oh women, open your hearts and your minds to the Divine and leave forever anger and oppression behind you.