This past weekend, my wife, sister-in-law and I went to the theater to see Wild. The movie is about a woman who walks a section of the Pacific Crest Trail - alone. Although I would have preferred to see more screen time devoted to the womans relationship with Nature, I did appreciate the storys major point - that the landscapes she hiked through provided a wonderful context for her to work through her own inner suffering, much of which had to do with other human beings. I found, however, that as I watched the movie, I became agitated every time the woman encountered a man or a group of men. I found myself thinking: Please, please, respect her and make sure she knows shes safe in your presence! Although there was one incident that was potentially threatening, fortunately, most of the encounters were benevolent. I imagine that female viewers - and many men - had a similar reaction. The movie caused me to wonder: will we see the day - sometime soon, hopefully - when women will not have to live in such fear of harm every time they are alone? There is such a need in our society for men to do deep spiritual work - to get in touch with their sufferings, and to stop projecting their own inner issues outward onto women in violent, oppressive ways. In the late 1980s and 1990s, I was involved with the Mythopoetic Mens Movement, based around the work of Robert Bly (author of Iron John), James Hillman, Michael Meade, Sam Keen, Richard Rohr, and others. Finally, men were beginning - en masse - to deal with their own sufferings (rather than simply denying them and projecting them outward onto others), and seeking - in the process - to end the negative aspects of our overly patriarchal society. Soon, however, the movement ended, and men went back to lives of work, work, work. Many also returned to denial of their pain, and for this reason, we still have a violent society where people (especially women) live in fear for their safety. I meet with a group of men once every two weeks. We drum, meditate, socialize, and discuss important issues, many of which deal with our own inner joys and pains. I pray that men in our society will once again become introspective and do the inner work necessary to make our society a healthier place for all of us to live :) When women can finally feel safe, then ALL of us will breathe easier :) Then, perhaps, we all - both men and women - can enjoy happy, carefree interactions in which the Divine present WITHIN - and AMONG - each of us is finally able to manifest Itself in all of its wonder and glory! https://youtube/watch?v=tn2-GSqPyl0
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 17:25:54 +0000
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