Individuality: masculine and feminine

What is an individual?

What is an individual? The physical body, the relationships, the feelings, the memories, actions; all these together make an individual. And yet apart from this is a principle, which is beyond all this. The individual in the physical reality or the material aspect is the combination of the different aspects that we just mentioned and in its divine or spiritual aspect is that which is beyond all this. Yet we always know that the divine needs the physical in order to learn the spiritual lessons.

In order to learn the different lessons, the divine assumes different forms; which are essential for learning. The different relations, situations in a particular life also reinforce the lesson of that life. The memories and the feelings arising from a relation or the situation decide if that lesson is learnt. The action taken by an individual also depends on his Emotional life. All this is decisive in the growth process and for the spiritual lessons.

The masculine or the feminine are essentially the part of this physical reality and in a way are helping the divine to learn the lesson. Divinity is beyond gender. But there is a need for the divine to understand this aspect of the ‘Self’ and in order to learn the lesson it must experience both extremes. The aim of the 'Self' is to get free from both the extremes and balance both the aspects and thus go beyond the gender. The divinity is truly expressed when the person allows for the expression of the opposite extreme accepting the one that is already present.

The question of identity or individuality is basically this quest of an individual to find the other extreme. But the challenge here is to accept the one that the person already has.

It is quite easy to accept the one that is already present without experiencing the other extreme. The social structure is always putting these labels. But true individuality is expressed when in spite of these labels the individual accepts the other extreme.

In understanding the true divinity the important is the individual’s attitude towards handling the challenges and the acceptance of both the extremes. Otherwise it is very likely that a person again becomes one sided. Be the behavior be submissive or rebellious, the challenges in both if taken healthily, the true individuality of the person is experienced, which is beyond any label, any rebel.