The two aspects

The intelligent man must note the duality that prevails throughout the universe. Sun and moon, night and day, electron and proton, male and female, two by two they present themselves to his observation. Yet it should always be borne in mind that they are two aspects of the one, and that One is Spirit.

In my day the equality of the sexes was hotly debated and many highly intelligent individuals held the idea that women were inferior to men and as incapable of shouldering the responsibilities as they were of appreciating the privileges of citizenship. Such a conception could only spring from an instinctive belief in materialism. Those who looked beyond this present life and the limitations of the physical structure, and who had faith in a spiritual universe, necessarily recognised, if they thought clearly at all, that the inspiring source of all was neither male nor female, but Spirit; that women, as well as men, possessed souls; and that they too, equally with their fathers and brothers, were inspired by Him in whom we live and move and have our being.

It is regrettable that God or the Eternal Spirit should have been given a masculine denomination. For the idea that divinity is pre-eminently male conveys a suggestion of inferiority in women, which, through the centuries, has had an injurious effect upon their character. Their gifts have often been allowed to atrophy, their ambitions have been thwarted and they have developed small, petty vices through being constantly relegated to a subordinate and dependent position.

THE TWO ASPECTS

In the matter of sex, however, discarnate beings are forced by their experience to take the larger view. For they realise that, in connection with birth and death, in the majority of cases the soul which has been a man in one becomes a woman in the next earthly existence. If, physically, he has developed very pronounced male characteristics he may, when compelled through the tendencies in his character to be born in a woman's body, bring into his conscious life all that stored-up masculinity. Then he evolves into that rather unfortunate type the so-called masculine woman, and in addition to displaying unfeminine qualities, finds pleasure in the company of women rather than in that of men.

On the other hand certain individuals who have led an essentially feminine life in a previous incarnation are driven, by the deeply graven impression it has made, to seek male companionship and even to court criticism and contempt by refusing to lead the normal life of the well-balanced man.

Whether they are men or women be tolerant of such people. I do not for a moment suggest that immorality should be encouraged, but bear in mind that, owing to her mistakes in a previous life, the excessively feminine woman may become an effeminate man and the pronouncedly virile male may become a masculine woman. Both types suffer considerably through the limitations imposed on them by a sex which does not express the fundamental temper of their natures. For them life may be a long and harassing conflict between the two aspects&emdash;between, that is, the masculine type which expresses itself through a feminine shape, or the feminine type which expresses itself in the masculine shape. There has to be constant readjustment; the practice of much self-restraint and watchfulness lest bitterness develop and destroy the soul.

In these matters there can be no iron rule because, as I

BEYOND HUMAN PERSONALITY

have just explained, our character in this life may have been formed in a previous life when we belonged to the opposite sex. Usually it is only in the case of extreme masculine or feminine types that we find this attraction for the same sex persisting in the next incarnation. When it occurs we have merely to realise that here we are faced with a type which can be perfectly explained if it is recognised that we are not merely a new creation here and now, but possess a history that is temporarily hidden and which may, if sought for through experiment, disclose an inevitable development instead of a hideous and inexplicable inversion of the laws that govern the psyche.

The so-called 'old-maid' of the Victorian era was, as a rule, psychically a very much hampered man, hampered and burdened by the developed characteristics of a previous life. The unpleasant and soured old bachelor, mean and grasping, unable to share with others, is, psychically, in most cases, a woman who brings to this life all the harvested tendencies of a limited feminine existence in a previous incarnation.

The idealist and earnest seeker of a noble life should, therefore, hold in his mind a sense of our common frailty, a sense of pitying fellowship for all mankind. "There, but for the grace of God go I" should be his password as he travels down the years.

If the staid and devout, the upholders of tradition were not, in so many instances, materialists, they would recognise the often repeated fact that the soul is neither masculine nor feminine, and that mind has no sex. Of course, these truths are, perhaps, only fully realised by a discarnate being. I have, through my post mortem experiences come to apprehend the significance of the words of St. Paul:&emdash;"By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Equally, in that which relates to mind and

THE TWO ASPECTS

soul, there is neither male nor female, but all are one in God.

It may be claimed that St. Paul did not, during his earthly life, entertain such a view of men and women. But we must bear in mind that he was much influenced by oriental tradition, by the nature and character of his race. Christ, the Supreme Master, did not suggest in any of His reported utterances, that woman was fundamentally inferior to man. Indeed, in His attitude towards women and in His whole life, He seemed to express the view that the psyche is neither male nor female, that we are all equally the children of Our Father.

When man comes to realise more surely his place in etemity&emdash;that he has before him the great cosmic adventure&emdash;he will no longer believe that the physical shape is all important or that the possessor of a female body is, for this reason, condemned to a position of inferiority.

Whether an individual be man or woman his only claims to superiority are in the possession of a noble mind, in a lofty vision of soul, and in the wisdom which is ageless because it is divine.

Chapter VII

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