LOTR, the Masculine, the Feminine, and Spirituality

[qos]

The most recent issue of Presence, the journal of Spiritual Directors International, has an article called "Masculine Spirituality: A Journey through The Lord of the Rings." LOTR has become very precious to me, and seeing its spirituality expressed solely in masculine terms sent a jolt of resentment through me. I haven't had the time yet to read the article, but ever since I saw the title I have been reflecting quite a bit about the topic of Men's and Women's spirituality -- what the differences are, how important/significant those differences are, and to what degree some of us may have started to limit ourselves by focusing on gendered spirituality.

Don't get me wrong: I think that the discovery and exploration of gender and spirituality is a fascinating and important development.

But I've been wondering recently what parts of Men's Spirituality would speak to me if I started exploring it. I have, after all, been called "masculine" in my thinking and attitudes on several occasions, by a diverse group of people. Some of Women's Spirituality is profoundly moving to me. Some of it, especially that around the body and physical rites of passage, leaves me cold.

Of course we all embody both the masculine and the feminine, and one aspect of the quest for wholeness, whether expressed in spiritual or purely psychological terms, is the integration of our masculine and feminine natures.

I'm too tired to think much more about this at the moment, but I am dearly hoping that the marvelous group of intelligent, spiritual, unconventional people who have chosen to Friend me are willing to dive in and comment on this topic. I really am curious to find out what you think about this.

Comments

[archyena.livejournal.com]

What I think is strange is that while people would agree with masculine-feminine wholeness (yin yang, etc.), the concentration of a vast amount of popular spirituality is on the feminine. I think it is reminiscent of, no in step with, Susan Faludi's book Shaft that discusses the displacement of men in a culture of idealized feminimity brought on by post-industrialism and that while men's "natural identity" that was once secured by factories wasn't replaced by anything at all and instead was restrained by cultural forces that, while they never used that rhetoric for the most part, wanted women's liberation to be the same as the destruction of men.

[qos.livejournal.com]

the concentration of a vast amount of popular spirituality is on the feminine

I think you are right about this. I wonder if part of the reason is that "spirituality" transcends specific religious tradition, and is generally less involved in rules and tradition. The feminine qualities that don't get expressed as much in traditional religion are finding an outlet in "spirituality."