The Masculine and Feminine Principle of the Soul, Mind, and Body

All spiritual ideas that represent laws and principles are conveyed in symbolic form as metaphors, analogies, and allegories that demonstrate the principles as creating in the material realm. The material world itself exists as symbolic form of the spiritual. The spiritual plane exists in a state of wholeness as pure potential that’s unformed, yet forms the basis for all material manifestations as the result of choice, will, and imagination. All matter exists as both a particle and a wave simultaneously. The wave is a “field of potential†as archetypes that exist as a theme that contains all the information necessary to produce realities of an infinite variety based on how it enters into relationship with the infinite mind of the individual vibrating at the same frequency, which resonates with a singular possibility as an idea that it chooses by absorbing, allowing it to impregnate the imagination with a seed that it then grows into a full-fledged reality by continuing to think about it. As we think about a newly conceived idea, we develop and construct it through a process of adaptation to produce a unique variation of the same general idea.

When an idea as an archetype is drawn into the womb of the imagination, it’s united in relationship with the sensory-emotional state of the body (individual mind), where it undergoes a process of adaptation that grows certain aspects to various degrees, while leaving other aspects dormant, producing a modified version of the general idea (archetype) that forms a template as a possibility for manifesting a reality within the context of their everyday life. All of what we call “reality†exists as a personal creation of a universal theme formed by the relationship that naturally takes place between the masculine and feminine, which together birth an offspring that’s a combination of both to form a new whole.

The Monad, Dyad, and Triad

The Monad (the number 1, represented by a sphere with a center) symbolizes the soul or mind in its unified state as containing both the feminine and masculine attributes as polar forces within its own nature. The mind on the material plane consists of both the subconscious (feminine) and conscious (masculine) as complementary aspects of the same mind that play different roles in the same overall operation. The Monad, when descending into the dense plane of matter, regenerates itself by dividing into dual aspects, forming the Dyad as both the inner and the outer, the self and another, and the Me and I. This principles is expressed in the Biblical allegory as the creation of man, first as Adam (hermaphrodite), who was divided by the feminine aspect of itself being “cut out of its sideâ€, producing Eve as its dual aspect, who together form a unified whole as a single entity. This not only allows for companionship in terms of not being alone, but also provides the basis for entering into relationship with itself in (the illusion of) another, and in doing so being able to “see†aspects of itself normally hidden as unconscious aspects through the perception of the other in its own image. As long as they were side-by-side, they couldn’t see each other (themselves in the other), so they were turned to face each other. By facing each other they act as a mirror which reflects back to them their shared nature.

All single and individual entities still maintain dual aspects that make up its basic nature as both feminine and masculine aspects, not only represented by the dual nature of the mind as the subconscious and conscious minds, but also as the two hemispheres of the brain (right and left), and the symmetrical structure and function of the heart, which acts as a dual pump beating together in unison forming a single cardiac cycle. Whatever gender as the sex of an entity determines which aspects are more than likely dominate and which ones are passive in terms of degrees of activity and which aspects were stimulated and appealed to through our formative conditioning, and strengthened through utilizing most often in the dynamic being played out in our everyday life that we participate in by playing a role.

These dual aspects of masculine and feminine energy always exist in polarity of each other as complementary opposites that serve to stimulate each other into an active and dominate state as forming different roles in the same dynamic, operation, and cycle. While we’re all born with a preformed nature as what’s been developed in us (our soul) up to that point, forming our subconscious memory that automatically gives us a natural predisposition, temperament, and tendencies, we are consistently undergoing a form of evolutionary growth by what complementary energies are being expressed around us that we naturally enter into and coexist in relationship with that serve to stimulate and bring out in us the opposite aspect of the same quality that forms the basis for the nature of the interaction as a dynamic (thematic pattern), that develops that aspect through that specific dynamic, conditioning us to it, and reforming us accordingly by strengthening some aspects while others remain latent and unused in their potential state.

Likewise, every “quality†as a way of being that’s ideally played out through different types of dynamics (stories) exists in a polar relationship as a “range†that moves from a negative expression (destructive) to a positive (constructive) one. The opposite qualities as aspects that form our character can only be known, accessed and brought out for possible development through expression, by contrasting and seemingly opposing each other through a common dynamic or state of which they both play a part as a role that leads to a different experience as an outcome. Fear, for example, has as a potential relationship and manifestation of both cowardice and courage. Whichever one is stimulated or actively chosen and used in relation with the fear, determines not only the outcome or result that’s produced by the fear, but also who we “become†by way of either a passive or active use of choice and free will.

The feeling itself as an emotional sensation contains within it not only the polar aspects as potential for expression and creating, but a whole range of possibilities as degrees that separate and differentiate them. How we respond to it in terms of how we perceive it and behave as a result, is a form of our creative ability through choice and will, and is either made in a passive and unconscious manner, where we don’t perceive a choice and just respond in an automatic, instinctual manner as our tendencies and inner nature, or it’s made in an active and intentional manner through self-awareness that chooses to counteract unconscious tendencies and break automatic patterns, and so courage is chosen in light of fear. We’re always in the process of creating our experiences of reality and ourselves by way of those experiences through our ability to consciously choose and willfully act out our choice, whether it’s done in a passive or active manner. In other words “no choice†is a choice.

The Dual Nature of the Self – the “Me†and the “Iâ€

What we call the “Selfâ€, like the soul, mind, and reality, is three-fold in nature, and dual in nature on the lower, material plane. These seemingly two selves work in perfect unison and conjunction as separate (opposite and complementary) forms of consciousness that perform different parts of the same operation. We’re all born into this world initially with only our subconscious (feminine) mind active and fully functioning and is what forms the “personality†of the body, which consists primarily of hereditary gene’s and memories that are further established and developed by our family unit, which share the same genes and are conditioned to the same dynamics as tendencies (memories) inherent in the genes as a form of instinct, that forms what we sense, perceive, and come to call “Meâ€. The Me of the personality is the identical twin that births and gives rise to the mental “I†(identity). Though these twin aspects appear to be different in terms of their consciousness and characteristics, they’re both phenomena arising from the same will.

The Me is often mistaken for the I because it’s the personality of the body as our most natural and primary sense of ourselves, which forms all of our natural perceptions, thematic interpretations, and behaviors out of the memory of our ancestors and formative conditioning. The personality is composed of all the things of the body – feelings (sensations), emotions, tastes, likes and dislikes, tendencies, connections, habits, characteristics, etc., all of which make up the constitution of the personality, also commonly referred to as the “lower self†that’s a member of the animal kingdom. All of nature in terms of plants and animals only possess the subconscious aspect of the mind, which lacks the ability to think in a separate and individual manner, outside of the species it’s a part of, and is driven purely by instinctual means as the automatic behaviors born out of tribal knowledge that all who are a part of that same species performs through unconscious impulses, while still having a personality of its own as unique characteristics that make it vary only in how it goes about performing the same behaviors.

The personality of the body as our lower self that operates out of instincts (group memory) of the species as human beings, forms the “herd mentality†by rendering their will passive, and allowing it to be controlled and utilized by another. The consciousness of the body is subject to the Universal Laws that govern the subconscious nature of Rhythm and Polarity, that keep it moving between emotional extremes as the memory associated or inherent in the emotion, which is designed to produce automatic, impulsive behaviors. Because humans have the higher capacities of the mind to self-create within the material realm of the subconscious, all thoughts and perceptions that ultimately result in actions and deeds of some sort are emotionally driven. The emotions of the material, instinctual plane of species oriented memory, are what provide the template as a theme that shapes thought into thematic perceptions that form its behavior and its “sense of self†simultaneously by way of the experience created through its actions. Those who are “emotional in nature†and are run and ruled by emotional states that they feel helpless to control or lack an actual awareness of what’s actually happening and that they have the ability to control their emotions, tend to “live out of this state†and form their identity with it, bonding their soul (through identifying with it) to what is predominately a lower state of consciousness that makes them equivalent to the animal kingdom where they are being shaped and developed by blind forces that they allow to inhabit them.

In this state of total identification with the body (animal nature), our sense of self is dependent on the body, and our body is something we require in order to know (experience) ourselves, and we begin associating our mind as belonging to and being produced by the body (formation of the false-ego). We begin imagining that the Self, like the mind that acts as a vehicle for it, is a product of the body, and therefore can’t or doesn’t exist without it, and in making this fundamental misconception as a mistaken identity, we render the soul mortal and capable of dying with the body. This is the birth of the false-ego where our perception of our “self†is created through identification with our body and the material realm, which dies with the body and is annihilated or made extinct. The soul moves between planes based on what it identifies with and creates itself out of as an “ideaâ€, based on what qualities and abilities it employs through its identification.

As we rise in the scale of consciousness and are able to disentangle our identity from the personality (Me) of the body, we begin realizing that the mind not only doesn’t belong to the body, but that the body belongs to the mind or the mental part of us that’s independent of the body and is what acts to “operate the bodyâ€. But even in this awareness there’s still a tendency to identify with the mental states, feelings, emotions, and so on that we experience as living within us. Because these are experienced within us, as us, it’s easy to mistake them as being an essential part of our “Selfâ€. Yet by creating a sense of being separate from our body, we can also realize that we have the ability to change and direct these inner states in any way that we desire through active use of our will and imagination.

By separating our “sense of self†from these inner feelings, we find ourselves in possession of our true Self, which is the “I†and the “Me†as dual aspects that together produce the “Self†as an active expression that produces the “experience of the self†through the mechanism of the body. The body can be recognized as the mental instrument or channel through which thoughts, ideas, emotions, feelings, and other mental states may be produced. The body as the feminine aspect may be perceived as the “mental womb†(Vesica Pisces) capable of generating mental offspring that become the basis for material reality. While many like to separate the spiritual from the material, the higher soul from the lower soul, the spirit from the soul and body, and so on, the fact is they’re all a part of the same thing, and one systematically emerges out of the other as a process of descending from higher planes to lower planes, and ascending from lower planes to higher planes. Spirit is comprised of both masculine and feminine aspects and is what acts to birth, operate, and sustain the entire causal, mental, astral, and physical world.

The subconscious mind is passive and receptive in nature and has the latent powers of creation and generation of mental imagery of all sorts and kinds through the faculty of the imagination. The creative powers of the Feminine aspect of the mind are enormous on the material plane, yet it must receive energy and direction as a seeded idea from either of its “I†(active male) companions. The subconscious exists as the connective medium between active aspects of both the higher, spiritual plane, and the same plane of its equivalent Masculine aspect, both of which are capable of impregnating it with an idea as a seed for manifesting in its physical form. Awareness and realization of this principle brings with it enormous capacity for mental and creative ability to self-create by way of self-induced experiences.

Conscious Self

The conscious aspect of the mind is the aspect that can become aware that it (masculine) has the mental capacity to willfully direct the subconscious (Feminine) by intentionally subduing its emotional activity while introducing a thought as an idea into the imagination that it will develop and grow into an outer experience, that will allow the “Iâ€, after actively creating it by way of the subconscious, to stand apart from its own creation and witness it as its offspring. This is the part of the self that has the ability to not only willfully and actively manifest an idea through the subconscious, but also has the ability to “project an energy†(life force) from the conscious to the subconscious as the process of willing through which the mental creation begins and proceeds into material manifestation. The Self, in the active conscious mode, can then act to witness its own creation in the imagination as a reality that’s being “viewed†both from within as a direct experience of it, and apart from it watching it play out like a movie. This is the dual aspect of the mind inherent in every person.

Subconscious (Feminine) and Conscious (Masculine) Process of Creation

The subconscious mind is the dominate aspect of the mind in the material world as the passionate forces that energize, organize, structure, and produce material form while imbuing it with characteristics that govern its behavior and how it functions or operates as an animation. This is because in its primary state it has both the passive and active components, and is what forms both the mental and emotional plane of instinct, thought, and automatic behaviors that are produced through feeling-emotional impulses, and has no will of its own (doesn’t perceive itself as separate from its maker), even though it acts to birth the self-conscious aspect of itself (on the same plane and level) as its personal will. It’s constantly being impregnated with seeded ideas as the memory of the species and genetic code that are inherent in the morphogenic (astral) field of which it’s a part. The subconscious acts to “draw in†and be the receptor for the seeded ideas and complementary energies of the Higher Will which it then systematically births as joint offspring.

The subconscious-feminine then gives birth to the conscious-masculine aspect of the lower plane that acts to witness the creation of the Higher Will as its outer reality, which is produced as an extension of the self by way of the subconscious. It witnesses the outer world produced by the inner world of the body as being separate or being a part from it, and therefore doesn’t realize that it’s the result of its own creation, and imagines itself as being produced by the body and shaped by the events of its outer world, and therefore becomes subject to it. Once the conscious mind realizes the outer world is produced by the subconscious mind as the passive receptor of an idea that can be both unconsciously absorbed from the active will of others and the collective unconscious, or intentionally introduced through its own will, it can take an active role in exercising the ability to introduce desired ideas that are grown in the imagination while introducing the complementary emotion that sets the creative process in motion and directs its development with a sense of precision.

Creation

The entire lower (material) creation is a product of the Higher Will or the personal will, both of which are the same thing formed on different levels, perspectives, and degrees of consciousness. The Higher Will simply operates in a neutral fashion to play out soul memory as karmic patterns over and over, which can only be resolved, changed, and broken by active use of the personal will. While creatively operating out of a primarily unconscious state, we perceive life as happening to us beyond our control and having nothing to do with us in terms of being self-created through past deeds as memory continuing to be played out in a habitual and automatic fashion.

The Feminine Principle is always the aspect receiving mental impressions, while the Masculine Principle is always the one giving the mental impressions. The Feminine aspect performs considerably greater work as what generates thoughts, ideas, and concepts, as possible realities in the imagination. It takes in and acts as the vessel for the “seed†as information in its potential state that it uses to build and construct a material body as its outer expression. The Masculine Principle contents itself only with the work of the “will†which introduces the seed into the imagination (womb) in an intentional and deliberate way. When the subconscious is not being seeded and directed by the inner, personal will, it still acts as the passive receptor for receiving mental impressions as suggestions from the active wills around it, from outside sources and the will of others being projected upon and into it. Through absorption of mental impressions of others, it creates the reality of their will instead of producing original and unique mental creations.

By concentrating on an idea and giving continued attention to its inner development we intellectually employ both aspects of the mind and consistently produce original creations as our offspring. We take an active and willful role in our own creation by employing the creative capacity of our mind to move away from unconscious and adulterous modes of creation and into conscious, fully aware, and deliberate modes of creation. When we realize that what we perceive as our outer world is the projection of karmic memory being produced by the passive absorption of our Higher Will, showing us what we normally remain unaware of, and experience as happening to us instead of being our own creation, we can begin actively working with it by introducing thoughts and ideas into the subconscious mind that counteract it, correct it, and rewire our system as a new configuration (relationship), that serves to transform and evolve the memory to become the basis for producing a new experience of reality. By giving our subconscious mental impressions of a desirable nature, then nourishing and supporting those with consistent attention and thought, we transform our inner being by re-informing it with new patterns (ideas) that are projected outward and act to systematically modify our perception of reality, and how we experience ourselves through and by way of that reality, that alters and shapes our “sense of self†as an intentional act.

The willful mind stimulates the creative portion of the mind, which generates a reality out of stimulation. Whatever is stimulated within us, is activated and brought out as the basis for creating an experience that develops us by strengthening those aspects. Most people are content to live their entire life out of the thoughts and ideas instilled in them by others through their formative conditioning by other minds and wills. Most lend their will to create themselves as the idea or progeny of others, without ever realizing what they’re doing and why, or that they have the ability to begin shaping themselves by way of their own ability to willfully rewrite the memories of the subconscious and begin telling a new story that transforms and evolves the soul by way of that story.

When we take an attitude of being mentally lazy and assume a passive role, subject to the conditions and circumstances of our life, we are ruled almost entirely by the mind and will of others, allowing them to do our thinking and creating for us. To appreciate the magnitude of this idea all you have to do is realize how few original thoughts or ideas come from the average person. Most think that by adopting and claiming as their own whatever they’ve been taught, were told, read, watched, and accepted as true, and therefore acted to make real as their reality through the acceptance and belief in it.

Summary

The feminine is the primary principle of the mind operating within the material realm as its creator. The entire material world of what we call reality, including the body we inhabit, is produced and maintained by the creative power of the Feminine Principle, which has no will of its own, and is always acting as the passive receptor of the will as mental impressions and seeded ideas given as suggestion, that it turns into a reality in the imagination. The reality created in the imagination of the subconscious as its manifestation of will (Masculine Principle), is then “witnessed†by the conscious mind, both as it’s inner aspect and its outer reality which is produced as a projection of the inner, as being apart from it. Through our conscious perception of the outer world we experience our own inner, self-made creation. The outer world appears as an analogous correspondence to the inner imagining or an idea. The imagined reality as a living idea turns it into a vibratory frequency that connects us with that same idea in everything else, while simultaneously reordering the appearance of the outer world through resonance (making different components active and passive), forming our perception of it out of which we experience ourselves in relationship with it.

The subconscious is programmed to produce realities by either aspect of the active (masculine) mind of both the Higher Will, which feeds it memory acquired from past deeds, or the personal will which has the ability to give it mental impressions of realities that contradict, and therefore transform the dynamic patterns of karmic memory, producing new realities and experiences in its place that become memories as the programming of the body and personality. For this reason the soul is referred to as feminine, and the will as the active force of both the Higher Mind and complementary aspect on the material plane as the masculine. These terms have nothing to do with sexual gender of being a man or woman (because we all have both), and are instead referring to the polar and complementary aspects as the dual nature and mind that’s creatively active in every individual and manifestation of reality.

The soul, like the mind, has three aspects, all of which contain both feminine and masculine components that exist in polarity not only within the same plane, but within complementary and parallel planes of higher and lower, or smaller planes nested within greater planes, all of which interact by stimulating each other through feminine and masculine aspects which form a harmonious union as a unified creation of self and the reality in which the Self lives. The Higher Mind works through the feminine subconscious mind of the lower plane, which is passive and able to receive ideas for manifesting as reality. The masculine, conscious mind of the body, being active also, can’t receive ideas or guidance directly from the Higher Self, and relies instead on the subconscious to reflect the ideas in the imagination as mental impressions it’s been impregnated with, or through what’s being realized through the outer reality which is also being produced as a projection and reflection of the subconscious imagination. This is why in Esoteric literature the man is always depicted as looking at his female companion (wife) with his arms outreached, who’s looking upward at the angel that oversees both of them as their guiding light.

Dr. Linda Gadbois

Integrative Mind-Body Medicine Consultant and Spiritual Mentor