BEHIND THE ZIPPER OF A MAN (Part 2)
/Behind the zipper of a man we find his self-proclaimed manhood. A fair amount of men identify with this aspect of themselves through this organ. Yet, what makes a man cannot be simply reduced to such a small part of him, regardless of size. I feel that this understanding is relevant to modern times. Let's explore this further through history.
Man and woman are not that old in relationship to the age of this planet. When the first man was born he was governed by a primal nature which solely resided in survival of the fittest through maintaining an intelligence that thoroughly comprehended the surrounding environment where he cultivated his capacity of resourcefulness. He had to outsmart predators and competitors. To ensure his genetic lineage he would mate. The woman (and this varied with tribal dynamics around the world) would support this process and provide the nest for him. As humans first discovered the ability to harness fire this was the first step of awakening. Anthropologically and biologically, this may in fact be around the same time the evolution of the cortex along with the inherent wisdom of the body formed the neo-cortex and higher brain functions. As each generation of humans evolved so did brain and to various degrees. And, regardless, the designed base level functioning of humans has never sacrificed the primal necessity for love, security and sexual expression. Interestingly, we can understand this development according to the ancient system and philosophy of the chakra system; the seven major energy centers of the body that not only are representative of the five main elements but also the psychological vantage point that explains evolution of spirituality from the ground up. For instance, the first chakra, at the base of the spine, is about stability, security and base need for survival. The second is within the pelvis and within the region of the reproductive organs, where our power, creativity and sexual expressiveness reside. From here, with each having a purpose, we progress to the naval area, then heart, then heart, next the throat, arriving up to the center of the eye brow area and then the ultimate high, which is the crown chakra where we connect to the highest realm of spirituality, awakening and absolute consciousness. The details of the chakras are beyond the scope of this article and can be researched separately. The point of all this is to see the progression of lower consciousness to higher planes of consciousness as we evolve in these bodies.
As we explore this and have it exist in the background of our mind, we can formulate our relationship to time, space and nature. Within the realm of higher conscious we can determine that there are two main energies at play in the universe. These being the masculine and the feminine. Masculine energy is symbolically represented by a spear-head and the feminine energy is represented by the receptive cup. Biologically, the predominance of testosterone is common in men and estrogen in women. The quality of hot is more masculine and cool is associated with the feminine. Various cultures around the world have their own wisdom that defines the qualities of masculine and feminine. In pre-historic times, it was more cut and dry to understand the roles of the masculine and the feminine. As consciousness evolved and continues to evolve, we understand more easily how in actuality the male energies and feminine energies exist in each other, like the yin-yang symbol where we clearly see how the colors of black and white are in each other perceived by the inner circles.
Currently, the understanding of how masculine and feminine can be defined isn't as determining as it once was of time past. Though anatomically the physical genders can still be ascertained to some degree, inclusive of the transgender genre as part of society (please forgive my ignorance if it seems as though I didn't accurately or respectively understand the best words to describe this amazing group of light beings), the clarity of these roles of masculine and feminine fall within the gray zone. Times have changed. Men are becoming more in touch with their feminine side, gay or not, and women are more in touch with their masculine side. In some homes, men are stay at home dads while mom works and in other homes, women still stay home while men work. Other homes in between, we have single moms and single dads. Modern times even show us a home with either two moms, or two dads. Within the latter scenarios, we can see that in such interrelationships that one person more than the other tends to express themselves with a predominant role and in some cases there is an equal sharing of roles and responsibilities that isn't restricted to conventional definitions of masculine and feminine.
We have evolved greatly over the thousands and thousands of years that we have existed on this planet. The old definition of what is a man and what is a woman no longer serves the current times accurately. Now it’s more about what is it about being human?
Since this article is about men here is where I'll focus the attention, though there is much overlapping disparity to maintain a separation from the two qualities and energies, in my perspective. Men come in all shapes and sizes. They participate in vocational settings that are no longer gender specific. They engage in sexual roles that are no longer typically defined. Self-care is increasing and the mentality of men is evolving, catching up to our female counterparts. The list is growing and men are changing, slowly. Yet what exists behind the zipper of a man is no longer restricted to the importance of his physical penis. The mental version shows itself through competition and we can say that this competitiveness comes from the primal urges that still exist deeply within our being since the beginning. We can see this inherently rooted importance to establish our manliness through how we tend to participate in society. Whether gay or straight, there is a common them for survival to some degree. Both versions of men seek to establish themselves with some level of importance, and who knows? Maybe this is some simple function of having more testosterone because chemicals have intelligence. Anyways, both versions are competitive and we can see a distinct split between gay and straight men. Here's how. Straight men generally come across with a stern, retracted and confining demeanor. This may be a way that, as in pre-historic times, he had to ruffle his feathers to gain superiority over others. They did this to preserve themselves and survive and at least prolong their survival through progeny. Gay men, though they may be operating from a similar place, have less of a possibility or maybe even less interest in enduring time through progeny. In simpler words, both straight and gay men are still men. Both, on some level may have a drive to prolong their genealogy for survival via a competitive edge that supports survival of the fittest but and unless gay men adopt or find a surrogate mother, straight men may be more inclined to pursue this avenue. Gay men may in fact redirect this to other ways of self-preservation or not be that interested. I'm hoping this message is clear at this point.
Now, I'd like to also shed light on men that aren't as forthright or as driven and seem complacent or gentler. This does not make them any less than a man. It's actually that simple and for there be a need to justify this would simply encourage that competitive mentality which is rooted in duality, fear and essentially an unrealistic definition. I say this from a spiritual standpoint and that in the eyes of the Divine we are all equal, straight, gay, lesbian, men, women, all colors, all shapes, all religions and all creeds. There is no separation. One is not lesser or more than. We are all created in God's image which is infinite in form. Again, it's that simple. Love and God are one and since God is love and doesn't discriminate, neither does love.
The point of all this is to move from a place of fear and back to a place of love that lives in all our hearts. Behind the zipper of a man is more than his penis, our penis. As we evolve within our consciousness, higher consciousness, we rise within love in our hearts. For women, they are not as pre-occupied by their vagina because the quickest way to a woman's heart is through her heart. We tend to error on the side of thinking that the quickest way to a man's heart is through his penis (and/or his stomach) but at the deepest level, when a man has the awareness, the quickest way to his heart is his heart too. The mind has created a story and men can have dense barriers that must be transformed and dissolved so that we can access his heart completely. His mind has taken over as a powerful tool for self-preservation and maintenance of the survival of the fittest philosophy, in modern times, to stay above the ever changing times. In my opinion, for a man to truly secure his lineage it is by being in the heart with love more and less in the mind where fear resides. We can see this in some examples such as major world male figures that have operated from their heart such as Jesus, Moses, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Their legacy lives on because of love. Freedom and health comes from a heart that is open and loving, less from a critical mind. We must continue to explore the dense shadows of the past that keeps us trapped and bound to the point of where we feel claustrophobic and asphyxiated. Step by step, we must be willing to surrender the layers of fears seeds and rise above like the phoenix. For a man to truly be successful, we must be intimate with our vulnerability and show up in the world as such. The Divine knows that we can because the very fabric of who we are was created as such. Now it's a matter for us to tune in and know that we can too. There is no need for competition since we are all eligible and deserving of life's riches and richness. The universe is abundant in all ways and we are each equally entitled and deserving of all that is has to offer; we all have a lot to offer. We must recognize that competition is a mask of fear and if we explore this fear we can see how unrealistic and untrue it is.
So, what is a man? A man is integrated with all his pieces as being part of the one story of him. A man in integrity is a man who takes responsibility for himself and shows up in the world as his own version of the divine and in the world. Then, this man can also see that a woman is essentially and fundamentally no different than him; that male qualities and female qualities exist in each one of us, making us whole and reminding us that we are all love. (we just forgot)
Behind the zipper of a man is much more that what is superficially understood. There is an entire universe that awaits us if we take the time to really sink deeper and let the heart be our guide.