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VII. Our Earthuman Ascent: A Major Evolutionary Transition in Individuality

5. Half the UniVerse: A Woman's 2020 Wisdome

Wang, Robin. Dong Zhongshu’s Transformation of Yin-Yang Theory and Contesting of Gender Identity. Philosophy East & West. 55/2, 2005. A Loyola Marymount University philosopher clarifies a distortion of the original Chinese correlative cosmology which finds the feminine and masculine principles to be engaged in a complementary harmony. But as widely known, in China and across Asia women have long been degraded and treated as inferior. This dissonance is attributed to the founder of imperial Confucianism, Dong Zhongshu (179-104 B.C.E.), who disparaged yin as associated with emotion, greed, and weakness, which served the male patriarchy. Professor Wang carefully reconstructs how cosmic energy is seen to flow equally through female and male, which ought and need to be reappreciated in their egalitarian balance and creativity.

This qi interpretation conceives yin and yang as dynamic and natural forms of flowing energy, a complementarity in the primal potency of the universe. (211) The concepts of yin and yang are initially tooted in balanced change and harmony. Neither is superior or inferior; both are equal. Yin-yang theory needs to be reconsidered if we are to take sufficient account once more of its dynamic and flexible complexity. (225)

Wang, Robin. Yinyang: The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Reviewed more in An Anthropocosmic Code, Dr. Wang notes at the outset that while Asian history ought to be egalitarian, long ago men cast Yinyang to their own advantage so as to oppressively burden and rule women. Lately western male theologians cite a “complementary” marriage, of course as they define the roles. (I log this on November 7. While thank goodness Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren won, why can it not be seen that the “two parties,” which in post-election analysis divide in every aspect along gender lines, are the natural, archetypal polarity of Me men vs. We women?)

My research on the work of Dong Zhongshu (179–104 b.c.e.) in 2004 first awakened my interest in yinyang. I was investigating what appears to be a puzzling contradiction: on the one hand, yinyang seems to be an intriguing and valuable conceptual resource in ancient Chinese thought for a balanced account of gender equality; on the other hand, no one can deny the fact that the inhumane treatment of women throughout Chinese history has often been rationalized in the name of yinyang. These two conflicting observations are reflected in divisions within scholarly circles. Some scholars claim that the concept of yinyang can be a primary source for understanding Chinese gender identity and that it has much to offer to contemporary feminist thought. On the other hand, arguments have been given that the denigration and abuse of women in ancient China is a direct result of the idea of yinyang. This puzzle and the theoretical discussions around it led me to wonder what yinyang thought really meant in early Chinese texts, and why Chinese have for thousands of years continued to approach the world through the lens of yinyang. (xi)

Weisstub, Eli. Self as Feminine Principle. Journal of Analytical Psychology. 42/4, 1997. In this study, an integral personality is seen as a holistic complement to the rampant male ego.

Whatever the terminology agreed upon, it is important to go beyond the limitation which binds these principles to a particular gender and to realize that these principles are dynamically interdependent and universally applicable to the psychic reality of both men and women. I am extending the usage of these principles, contending that ego, hero and deintegration are part of the masculine principle: self, heroine and reintegration embody the feminine principle. (429)

Wilber, Ken. The Eye of Spirit. Boston: Shambhala, 1997. Chapter 8, “Integral Feminism,” contains a sensitive attempt based on Carol Gilligan’s work to perceive female or male propensities as either communion or agency, roots or wings, Agape or Eros, each open to the other, by which to aid a personal and planetary ascent of the stages of consciousness.

Wilson Schaef, Ann. Women’s Reality. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985. A feminist best-seller manifesto. The “White Male System” analyzes, defines and controls while the “Female System” is a synthesizing, emergent network.

Wright, Peggy. Connected Knowing. Revision. 22/4, 2000. An introduction to a topical issue on the need for a feminine “connected self” to balance the masculine “agentic self.” Such a relational emphasis would mitigate polar differences and foster a “hieros gamos (sacred marriage) between masculine and feminine ways of apprehending the universe.”

Zack, Naomi, ed. Women of Color and Philosophy. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000. Voices are raised in the welling movement to right millennia of oppression by a truly compassionate, meaningful worldview.

Zelezny, Lynette, et al. Elaborating on Gender Differences in Environmentalism. Journal of Social Issues. 56/3, 2000. Women are found to possess the relational values which are vital if the ecological devastation of the biosphere is to be corrected in time.

Females across cultures are socialized to be more expressive, to have a stronger “ethic of care,” and to be more interdependent, compassionate, nuturing, cooperative, and helpful in caregiving roles. On the other hand, males are socialized to be more independent and competitive. (445)

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