Know the male,
yet keep to the female:
receive the world in your arms.
If you receive the world,
the Tao will never leave you
and you will be like a little child.
Know the white,
yet keep to the black:
be a pattern of the world.
If you are a pattern for the world,
the Tao will be strong inside you
and there will be nothing you can’t do.
Know the personal,
yet keep the impersonal:
accept the world as it is.
If you accept the world,
the Tao will be luminous inside you
and you will return to your primal self.
The world is formed from the void, like utensils from a block of wood.
The Master knows the utensils,
yet keeps to the block:
thus she can use all things.
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu describes the inner-workings of the balancing forces of yin and yang in his Tao Te Ching. The yin has been used to describe female characteristics in nature, while yang describes the masculine characteristics of nature. According to Lao Tzu, when “the Master” not only knows, but understands the nature of yin and yang, trying to become one with the Tao, she then learns of happiness. It is only when she knows the Tao and the balance needed for stability in life, that she can receive the world as a child would. Not only does this part of Taoism contrast with the highly masculine world of the West, it informs readers to “keep to the female”. The female (yin) is attributed to quietness and an intuitive manner in looking at the world. Far from the loud yang described in Western philosophy and religion, Lao Tzu alludes to the peaceful and tender understanding of the yin as being closer to the Tao. He suggests, almost to the point of being direct, that living intuitively through yin leads to becoming one with the primal identity.
Those who know don’t talk.
Those who talk don’t know.
Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.
Yin is a force in nature that can be described as negative, female, dark, passive, intuitive, soft, and cold. It is found in nature as the night and the moon.When the Master uses both intuition (yin) and logic (yang), she can be led to happiness and become a reflection of the patterns of the world. Yang is the countering force of nature. It is attributed to positive, male, light, day, sun, hot, and hard. It is observed in nature as the day and the sun.
Virginia Woolf, a Western pioneer for the androgynous mind, strikingly contrasted with the societal constraints placed on both genders. She broke the gender barrier, championing for the breaking of the barriers of women. She urged women to become writers, gain employment outside of the home, and to consider themselves equal and capable to carry out tasks that men perform. This advanced woman, far beyond her time, delved into the minds of her contemporaries. Woolf did much more than merely advocate for the equality of women, but caused unprecedented and disagreeable notions which conflicted with old-fashioned viewpoints on the differences of men and women.
Before I explain more of Virginia Woolf’s attitude toward the androgynous mind, I would like to point out questions that arise only when one begins to consider the societal constraints placed upon them. Discard the need to impress others and follow the child-like instinctual premise to follow your own desires. I ask these questions in the viewpoint of American and Western societal standards.
Why are men encouraged to excel in sports? Why are women expected to leave their careers to raise families? Why do women change their last names and take on a new name to be considered “married”? Why is is preferred for men to play sports rather than to become involved in the arts? Why are men viewed as the breadwinners? Why are men expected to be more mentally and physically tough than women, while there are a plethera of cases where the opposite is the case? Why are women ostracized if they do not wear makeup or dress in the “popular” fashions? Why are women, still to this day. being evaluated more on their appearance, while men are judged on their words and actions? Why does our society tend to be concerned with the outside, while not being considering the inner workings of the human experience? Why is gender used as a term to divide the human race, when it should be used to unite us in the common goal of morality and happiness? Most importantly, why can a man not do what a woman can and why can a woman not do what a man can?
The societal rules set up to orient ourselves with our gender are helpful in a way, but keep us from viewing the entire picture. This societal structure still reigns supreme in the psyche of America. From a young age, girls are acclimated to a world where it is most acceptable to like the color pink, play with dolls, act like their mothers, be gentle and kind, and to let boys be the ones to excel in sports. Concurrently, boys become accustomed to a life where they should like manly colors like blue and green, wrestle and fight each other, become “strong” like their fathers, be aggressive and curt, and to dominate the sporting fields.
These societal rules, though subconsciously meaning to be a source of identity in a positive way, has become limiting. One must understand the “female” qualities as well as the “male”. I do not like to use these two terms to describe a person. One can usually tell the gender of an individual just by looking at them. Does this tell you anything about that person? No. Society may refer to a woman in a derogatory term as being masculine or a man in an “insulting” way as being feminine or “a sissy”. Individuals should disregard the standards of society and its contracting and stuffy immaturity to be themselves. Knowing oneself and acting in an innate manner is one of the core principles of Taoism. Men and women should not be defined as masculine or feminine, but by their personality and moral merit. In regarding human beings this way, they are not constrained by their gender, but are transcended to levels of upright being. This should be the guideline of all humans, not the ephemeral barriers placed by a fleeting society.
In the words of Virginia Woolf:
“And I went on amateurishly to sketch a plan of the soul so that in each of us two powers preside, one male, one female... The normal and comfortable state of being is that when the two live in harmony together, spiritually co-operating... Coleridge perhaps meant this when he said that a great mind is androgynous. It is when this fusion takes place that the mind is fully fertilized and uses all its faculties. Perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine…”
Dr. Elizabeth Wright, a professor of English Literature at the University of Saint Andrews in Fife, Scotland, is a specialist on Virginia Woolf and writes in her thesis "Virginia Woolf and the Dramatic Imagination" on the decisive meaning of the Woolf's ideas of the androgynous mind.
...Woolf does not suggest that the body should be suppressed, rather that
being a woman or a man is still an important factor – just not the only factor and not
the conscious factor. Woolf keeps an awareness of the body in her writing, otherwise
why advocate the development of the women’s sentence and state that “Poetry ought
to have a mother as well as a father?” Yet at the same time Woolf reminds the
reader and writer not to judge or create the work on that basis alone. Ultimately, it is
an unconsciousness of sex, not a “void of sexless absence” that Woolf calls for.
"Virginia Woolf and the Dramatic Imagination"
Wright's thesis, though written in the most consciously unbiased manner, shines with the glowing support of the work of Virginia Woolf. Men and women alike should be aware of their sex, but should not be constrained or feel suppressed by the walls already built for gender stereotypes. This "consciousnesses of sex", which Woolf believes in and Wright informs readers of, parallels Lao Tzu's Taoist teachings of the innate being of an individual and the flow of being oneself regardless of society. Woolf's and Tzu's depth of character and independence from the present-day constrains are constant throughout their works, proving that their theories and philosophies are applicable to any time period.
...Woolf does not suggest that the body should be suppressed, rather that
being a woman or a man is still an important factor – just not the only factor and not
the conscious factor. Woolf keeps an awareness of the body in her writing, otherwise
why advocate the development of the women’s sentence and state that “Poetry ought
to have a mother as well as a father?” Yet at the same time Woolf reminds the
reader and writer not to judge or create the work on that basis alone. Ultimately, it is
an unconsciousness of sex, not a “void of sexless absence” that Woolf calls for.
"Virginia Woolf and the Dramatic Imagination"
Wright's thesis, though written in the most consciously unbiased manner, shines with the glowing support of the work of Virginia Woolf. Men and women alike should be aware of their sex, but should not be constrained or feel suppressed by the walls already built for gender stereotypes. This "consciousnesses of sex", which Woolf believes in and Wright informs readers of, parallels Lao Tzu's Taoist teachings of the innate being of an individual and the flow of being oneself regardless of society. Woolf's and Tzu's depth of character and independence from the present-day constrains are constant throughout their works, proving that their theories and philosophies are applicable to any time period.
It is from the liberating and unrestricted minds that society gains knowledge. Though separated by thousands of years and crossing a continent of cultures, Lao Tzu and Virginia Woolf became enlightened by, in the words of Mrs. Banks from Mary Poppins, “casting off the shackles of yesterday”. These are just two of the myriad of authentic artists who break the structure of society in regards to gender roles.
Virginia Woolf and other societal boundary-breaking authors provide wonderful insight into the androgynous mind as well as insight into living authentic lives unbounded by the times.
If you enjoyed this blog, I encourage you to read previous blogs and to be on the lookout for my upcoming blog entry on Benjamin Hoff’s “Cottleston Pie”, the Taoist art of understanding oneself, and the dangers of a life without understanding oneself.
Please ponder this quote from Benjamin Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can’t whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don’t know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”
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