The Perennial Path: Sacred Masculine

While the sacred feminine is too often overlooked in modern religious traditions. the sacred masculine has too often gone unchecked. Centuries of patriarchal societies have centered religions around the masculine experience to the point where women are excluded from leadership in many religious circles. To get to the heart of sacred masculinity we have to sift through a lot of unhelpful and even dangerous notions of how the divine is expressed through masculinity.

One year ago, an armed group made up of mostly men and a large numbers of Christian nationalists stormed the US capitol building. This past year we've also seen countless stories of sexual abuse and corruption by religious leaders. But these types of stories aren't completely new. Militant religious extremism and abuses of power have manifested in various religions and countries where men have co-opted religious zeal with a thirst for power. Violence, bloodshed, and coercion seem to stain the histories of most religions of the world, yet many seem to regard this as a feature rather than a flaw. Many will tout love and compassion until their dominance is threatened. As soon as power is threatened, the battle lines are drawn.

Beneath this glorification of power and violence, do these religious traditions have anything else to offer for how we might see the divine expressed in a healthy masculine form? How does the perennial path — that sacred way of peace, love, and oneness expressed in many traditions — offer us a way through a world of conflict and war?

The metaphors of war and overcoming evil in sacred texts have too often been taken literally and become justification for violent retaliation. Jesus, along with many other notable religious figures, promoted a way of peace and non-violence. They were able to confront violence and oppression not through retaliation or inaction, but through a third way of non-violent subversion. Non-violent subversion requires patience and craftiness rather than brute force or cowardice. We can hear this in Jesus's words as he tells his disciples, "I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." We see it modeled in his teachings to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile — both examples of subversive acts that exposed the abuse of power being perpetrated.

The perennial path is one of giving up power rather than exerting power. It uses whatever influence we might have not for our own selfish gain, but for the betterment of those without power. It doesn't cling to power or feel threatened by others who rise to equal status. When I think of the all-too-rare man of wisdom — full of hard-earned joy and a peaceful, innocent smile — I can't help but see the drastic contrast between many men today who spend their time complaining about other worldviews and decrying the passing an older era (which inevitably includes men like themselves being in charge). Rather than celebrating those on the margins finding a voice, too many men who have never been on the margins grumble and resist their perceived loss of power.

The point of speaking of the sacred masculine and the sacred feminine isn't to create a binary in our minds. Reality (and divinity) is much more complex. Neither is it to erase these unique expressions of humanity. Healthy spirituality is always about integrating those parts of ourselves that have lived in the shadows. To see the divine expressed in masculine, feminine, and various other ways helps us to see the ways in which we fail to reflect the divine in ourselves. It should pull us back from the dangerously extreme expressions of masculinity that plague so many churches and institutions. It should soften our edges enough to see that many of the battles we are fighting are of our own stubborn creation.

There is no blueprint for manhood, but any man seeking to reflect the character of God should remember the fruit of the Spirit and prioritize those qualities above our cultural ideals for manhood. Instead of focusing so heavily on strength, bravery, and independence (which women usually display much more effectively), we should focus more on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Perhaps these words became too familiar and lost their meaning. Perhaps it is time to remember why these characteristics are so important before we perpetuate any more violence.