Some time ago I encountered a metaphor I liked about one aspect of a relationship between male and female qualities. It suggested that male creates a space in which female can express itself. Male will do hunting and gathering and in doing so enable female to create family. I often need to remind myself that male & female is not man and woman. We all have a measure of both in our personal constitution. Please keep this in heart as you keep reading and I will do the same as I continue writing.
Another metaphor that stuck with me from my creative work with Shahar is “space & place”. It comes up often when we explore relationships between a performer, a performance space, other performers, elements in a performance space, audience, intents, motivations, movement, etc. It is a perspective that inspires me.
I see a connection between Male & Female and Space & Place. A space is empty, it contains a potential for something to happen. I have often observed Shahar create a space – it is a practical task of removing unnecessary objects, bringing in light & air, cleaning the floor, stirring energy. It takes an active pursuit of intent to create a space (in which creativity can reveal itself) – it feels to me like a male quality of doing. Then when a space is present there is a feeling of delicacy – there is a divine container. I have often observed Shahar (and others) enter and move in a space – and it feels like a female quality, a soft embracing, inviting, curious, appreciative state of being. When this happens a space becomes a place – it absorbs context, it becomes specific.
It occurred to me that this metaphor can also shed light on womb. Womb is an expression of male that exists inside a female. It takes male presence to transform this space into a place – a place where life is born, a space of creation. It takes a female presence to nurture it with patience and sacrifice.
A few minutes ago I read these words from a book called Spirit Babies: How to Communicate with the Child You’re Meant to Have
On a divine-consciousness level, we always feel whole and connected. On a basic human level, we yearn to experience this sense of connection and unity. We generally seek this experience through our relationship with others… This desire to re-experience this unity is the basic force that draws parent and child together… The karmic forces that draw parent and child together represent their commitment to explore the divine aspect of life.
I have an image in which male and female dance one within the other. As if there is endless pattern in which one gives birth to the other – female in male in female in male. A pattern in which a continuous spiritual existence can resonate freely. A pattern that embraces human existence and survives it. It gives me hope, it gives us hope.