What I care about is what you think a MAN is. I have my own views.
My perception has a more spiritual bias to it that I think yours, but you've asked for our opinion, so I will give it to you.
The question "what is man" isn't quite so direct as "what is masculine." "Man" is simply an expression in this physical world of the
masculine/feminine
yin/yang principal.
Masculine/feminine are very simple: in a healthy system, the masculine force acts upon the feminine force, which accepts and receives it. Together
these two forces bring about change. Any change. Masculine/feminine is simply one way of perceiving the process of change.
For instance I believe the terrorists of 9/11 were MEN!
Of course. Any force which acts upon another force is masculine. There is nothing "good or bad" about the force itself. Your weight pressing down on
your chair is masculine. A person who lifts a drowning stranger out of a pool is acting upon the child, and thus masculine. And yes, someone who kills
someone, or as in your example, commits and act of "terrorism" upon a nation...all these acts are simply masculine forces acting upon another.
However, in the case of your weight pushing down on your chair, the chair is also pushing back with an equal amount of masculine force, and thus there
is no "movment." There is no "child" of the exchange. In the case of The person lifting the stranger out of the pool, however, the stranger
"receives" that masculine energy and there is change manifested in his life: he lives instead of drowns. He acts as a feminine force by "accepting
and receiving" the rescue, and the"child" of that exchange manifests as him being lifted from the pool and not dying.
For instance I believe the terrorists of 9/11 were MEN!
Yes. In this case, masculine forces acted upon a feminine force that was unaware of the force acting upon it, and accepted and received the energy
offered to it...unwittingly. Rape. Though this is a simplification.
So my question is WHAT IS A MAN TODAY BY TODAY'S STANDARDS?
What do YOU think makes a man a man?
A woman a woman? A human being a human being?
So far I've discussed forces. Human beings are creatures that possess and identify with these forces to varying degrees. If someone tells you to do
something, and you do it...they are acting as the masculine force and you are acting as the feminine. Physical gender has little to do with it, though
in general, people who are male probably tend towards a greater association with masculine energy. That is, after all, why they're male.
As far as society's "standards" go, however, it's basically the same. A "man" is someone who acts in the nature of the masculine force. He says
and does what he wants. He
acts. He doesn't let others push him around. Why? To be "pushed" would be to accept and receive a masculine
energy offered by another. Acting upon masculine energy offered by another would be behaving in the nature of the feminine force.
"Being a woman" by society's standards is essentially the same: someone who acts in the nature of the feminine force. A woman does what she is
told. (Instant emotional reaction from the audience.) Isn't it interesting that nobody has a problem with the above of "being a man" but some
people freak out when they hear the obvious
complement to it?
But, to be fair, this is all a gross simplication. Yin/yang is a simple way of viewing things. A more precise perspetive may be had with an alchemical
perspective: viewing the act of change as three forces instead of only two. For example, working with stereotypes, it would be "unfeminine" for a
married woman to have sex with every man who expressed an interest. Why? Simply accepting every masculine force would match perfectly the description
I've given of the feminine force, right? Yes. But our expectations of "man and woman" isn't neatly described by yin/yang.
Let's refine our metaphors somewhat. Forgive me if this is unfamiliar. Let's add a third force. We'll call it "salt." Salt is a preservative.
Food that is salted resists the act of decomposition "masculinely offered" by bacteria. Fields that have been salted resist the plant growth being
"masculinely offered" by a seed. Salt, in our metaphor, is essentially the "force" of resistence/inertia/preservation.
In addition to acting, a man in our society is also expected to protect, yes? He protects his woman, his country, his beliefs, from being changed by
others. This is salt. And a woman is expected to be loyal to her man, yes? To resist the masculine forces offered by other men. This too, is salt.
[edit on 31-8-2009 by LordBucket]