I’ve been reading Steve Pavlina for the last three years. Even though I have not always accepted his ideas, I’ve been fond of the way he expresses his thoughts. I’d say passion and honesty are his main qualities.
Recently, he wrote an article: “How to Be a Conscious Man.”
The truth is, to understand, or explain how to be a Conscious Man or a Woman is not an easy task.
There is no definite description for that state; to be Conscious is to perceive reality without any conditions.
The following is an excerpt from an article by Roberto Assagioli, Italian Psychiatrist,who was the founder of the psychological movement known as
Psychosynthesis, that goes beyond self development, that is transpersonal development
There is not, and there cannot be a general psychosynthesis of women or, for that matter,
of men. There is only, for each individual, of either sex, a personal, unique journey, toward
the development of all his emotional, mental and spiritual faculties.
“The human being today is no longer defined by any of his roles. I believe in the primacy of the human being not conditioned by his sex.
The point is not to try to define what these principles are, but to distinguish, in our
consciousness and in our relations with others, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ from ‘man’ and
‘woman’. We need to recognize that both the masculine and feminine principles exist in their
own rights, and that they are present – although in unique forms and different proportions –
in every man and in every woman.
We cannot accurately speak of women and men in general. Each one of us is a human being
before being ‘man’ or ‘woman’. And each one of us, man or woman, has roles and functions to
fulfill, individually, inter-individually and socially.
Here is where the differences begin. These are most emphatically not differences in value, only differences in function. The human being is never defined by any of these roles. Women, as human beings, can accept or not accept the role of wife or of mother. She can choose another vocation. It is not a ‘must’, a necessity. It is a free choice.
Woman therefore is right in demanding that she be treated as a human being and not as a
‘mere woman’, as simply a woman and only that. She is right for refusing to be identified
with a certain image of woman.
She is a living being, with all the dignity and the potential of
a whole human being. All attitudes which limit the possibilities of woman are mistaken.
Women have the right to demand respect and parity with men. And the same, of course, is
true for men.
Therefore, in human society, we need a proper balance between the adventuresome and
creative push of man and the safeguarding compassionate protectiveness, of woman. Woman
then, has an important social function to perform, and she can fulfill it best without any
commitment to “feminism”.
Rather, to be a feminist would be to abandon her true nature and
to make her a poor imitation of man. It is true that she should develop some of the better
masculine qualities to some degree, that she should thus enrich and complete her own
personality; but she can do this while remaining essentially feminine in the highest meaning
of the word.
Besides being a good wife and mother, she can gradually evolve out of the
limited domestic sphere and demonstrate within society her “spiritual motherhood”. In this
way she can bring comforting love, compassionate tenderness, and a healing protectiveness
to her fellow men.
The more woman becomes conscious of this vaster mission of hers, the better will she fulfill
it, and the nearer shall we all approach the true “psychosynthesis of mankind”, that
integration which will make possible more serene and more satisfying ways of living, more
warmth of cultural expression, and higher spiritual possibilities.
