My last article shared how visiting my father sparked appreciation for classically masculine qualities. I talked about how many aspects of traditional maleness have been devalued and lumped into the murky badlands of toxic masculinity—that ill-defined term. I reported the 1990s Harvard research that portrayed masculinity as a “problematic construct” to use scholar Ronald Levant’s words.
The opposite term is Divine Masculine; toxic is its archetypal shadow....same as how the Divine Feminine has as its shadow the toxic feminine. Heiros Gamos is the goal; restoring both of these beautiful archetypes to their original, highest expression. :)
Great article Carson and kudos for approaching this unfortunately controversial topic! I appreciate the term ‘sacred masculine’ as the healthy masculine counterpart/compliment to the divine feminine in each of us.
I wonder if there's just "masculinity", rather than "sacred," "divine," "healthy," etc. Like feminity, masculinity's shadow side can dominate when its moderating virtues are lacking or deficient. But there's nothing inherently toxic or sacred in a set of characteristics or virtues.
Maybe we don't need to neatly categorize, especially when the categories are polarities.
Regardless, I like your take that action is a core piece of masculinity, and I appreciate your shout-out to stillness as a moderating virtue.
The opposite term is Divine Masculine; toxic is its archetypal shadow....same as how the Divine Feminine has as its shadow the toxic feminine. Heiros Gamos is the goal; restoring both of these beautiful archetypes to their original, highest expression. :)
Great article Carson and kudos for approaching this unfortunately controversial topic! I appreciate the term ‘sacred masculine’ as the healthy masculine counterpart/compliment to the divine feminine in each of us.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so the saying goes.
I wonder if there's just "masculinity", rather than "sacred," "divine," "healthy," etc. Like feminity, masculinity's shadow side can dominate when its moderating virtues are lacking or deficient. But there's nothing inherently toxic or sacred in a set of characteristics or virtues.
Maybe we don't need to neatly categorize, especially when the categories are polarities.
Regardless, I like your take that action is a core piece of masculinity, and I appreciate your shout-out to stillness as a moderating virtue.