XXXIII  THE FEMININE ONE  by WILLIAM BOND

  Inspired by my efforts in writing ‘The New Religion’ William Bond jumped in to present several

chapters on the subject.  Here’s the first one:

Chapter One

We all come from the One and the One is female. We were all one mind, one spirit and lived in perfect love and harmony. Unfortunately that total perfection created stagnation. In a total harmonious world there was no reason or motivation to change anything. So there came a desire from the One to experience life outside of itself, to experience individually and relationships.

To do this, She created a material universe and within it created bodies, so parts of the One could inhabit these bodies and experience the illusion of being separate from the One. This gave the One, a taste of what it is like to be separate but then it went further and created beings that had no memory of being part of the One.

Because of this, these beings began to experience loneliness, fear and suffering in this world of separation. For this reason they quickly had a powerful desire to return to the One. So their first exploration in the world of separation was brief.

Yet, the One wanted to learn more about the world of separation and created a being that revelled in a separate world and that was how the masculine was created.

The masculine was able to live outside of the One because it was created to enjoyed competition. Someone who enjoys competing, fighting and conflict is a person that can live outside of the One. But this competitive instinct also led to hatred, violence and suffering.

This wasn’t a too much a problem in animals but became a real problem in an intelligent creature like a human being. As men found that could make weapons like spears and clubs in which to attack each other, leading to murder, wars and genocide.

For this reason the One created men to want to worship and obey women. This gave women power over men so they could restrain their violent instincts. Women also had a stronger connection the all-powerful One and could easy call on her power and wisdom when it was needed.

Unfortunately, the human male is an intelligent creature and because of his competitive instincts began to plot and scheme for ways of competing against women for power. So some men would be attempting to undermine women’s confidence or try to manipulate and deceive women.

These efforts never worked while women remained in contact with the limitless wisdom and power of the Feminine One, but then some men found a way to break this connection.

At the time, people worshiped the Great Mother who gave birth to the world. So men suggested to women that it was unfair that people only worshiped a Female deity and they should worship a male deity as well. Women did think this was fair and reasonable and went along with it.

So then the Great Mother had a son, (similar to the images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus or Isis and Horus). Then later people began to worship female and male deities as brother and sister or male and female lovers.

At first this didn’t seem to be a problem, but the worship of a male god caused problems for women trying to connect to the Feminine One. The feminine is complete Oneness, love and harmony. The masculine is separation, loneliness, conflict, fear and hatred. So the vibrations are totally different, making it more difficult to connect to the Feminine One, when praying to male deity alongside a female deity.

Over time as women prayed to these male and female deities they found it harder to connect to the Feminine One. They slowly lost their power as men no longer worshiped them as goddesses and they become equal in status to men.

Men’s competitive instincts drove them to wanting more power so the male deities became more important than the female deities. This then made contact with the Feminine One even more difficult for women and they found themselves at the mercy of male aggression and violence and the patriarchal age was born.

Finally, the new patriarchal rulers decided that there was only one god and he was male. Women then lost their connection to the Feminine One and became the slaves of men.

This is a disaster for both sexes because although women have suffered under patriarchal rule, so has men. This is because without her control and guidance man is in danger of destroying himself and the world he lives in.

As the male is separated from the One, he can explore what it is like to be individual and separate. But when he breaks away from the control of the female he then goes into a spiral of loneliness, fear, conflict, hatred, violence, war, chaos and destruction. Unfortunately this is exactly what has happened over the last 5,000 years.

This then is the dance of the female and male. The female is forever taking us back to the One to experience total love and harmony. The male is attempting to take us further away from the One into conflict and chaos.

This means that men learn from women about love, compassion and harmony. Women learn from men about aggression, competitiveness and hatred.

A world totally dominated by men will quickly destroy itself, as men will continually fight each other. While a world dominated by women will return us back to the One of total love and harmony. So can we find a way to return to the One through a matriarchal religion?

Religion is about our connection to God as well as teachings to make our lives better for us all. But unfortunately, patriarchal religions fail to do this. Most people who pray to God fail to find any connection him while the teachings don’t seem to make life better for us.

The problem is that we worship male gods and this is the main reason why religions fail to deliver on what they promise. Male gods are masculine and the masculine is all about aggression and competition. So for this reason it’s not surprising to find male dominated religions and religious sect fighting each other.

Male gods are not only aggressive but intolerant as well, as people are threatened with, ‘hellfire and damnation’, when they die if they fail to follow the teachings of the male priesthood. So it is no wonder people find it hard to connect to a judgmental and punitive god like this.

Gods like this give religion a bad name and for this reason some religions have attempted to show god in a better light. We find this in the Christian teachings of Jesus in the New Testament where he promoted the idea of loving Father God. This has been only partly successful as many Christians have preferred the judgmental God of the Old Testament.

Buddhism has also attempted to give more compassionate teachings and Buddhists are encouraged to connect to Nirvana through meditation. Unfortunately only a minority of people are willing to spend years of meditation to do this.

So what would it be like to worship God as a female and have an exclusive female priesthood? It would be a religion based on the feminine rather than masculine principles. So what difference would this make?

We can see how this plays out in the animal world. Male animals like stags, bulls, rams and lions fight each other for dominance and access to females. Then when the strongest male animal has impregnated the females, they give birth and devoted their time caring for their young.

So males have competitive and aggressive instincts while females have maternal and nurturing instincts. These is why men like watching and playing sports and compete with each other in business and politics and why male dominated countries and religions fight wars.

Most women on the other hand have desires to give birth to children and devote their lives to caring for them. Women not only want to care for their own children but will care for other people’s children as well as the sick, the elderly and animals.

So if we were to worship God as a Woman we would expect her to be nurturing and love us all unconditionally. So this would be a deity we would find easy to connect to as we know she wouldn’t judge, condemn or punish us. The teachings of a maternal Mother God would also be about love which would encourage us to love each other and make our world a better place.

We can only return to the love and harmony of the One when women reconnect to Her and become, once again, one with Her unlimited power and wisdom.

  (End of William’s chapter,  ‘The Feminine One.’)

XXXIII  Addendum From Rasa Von Werder: Concerning William Bond’s article

‘The Feminine One’

William, you speak of going back to the One but when I wrote my chapter on Banishing the Ego you wrote in an e mail you did not believe a person could live without ego (but banishment of the ego is the path to connect with the ONE) – & I do understand your point & agree that without some connection, affiliation with time & space it would be difficult to function in this world, take care of ourselves & those around us.  To be completely & at all times TOTALLY abstracted in the One (yogis call it SELF, Christians call it CONTEMPLATION or something similar) one would be IN A TRANCE such as Ramakrishna was for months (was it six?) where he did not eat – but a wise yogi would rouse him & make him swallow rice water, another yogi would beat him with a stick to wake up, eat, then Ramakrishna fell back into his trance.

When Ramana Maharshi, at age sixteen, magically entered the state of nonduality, he went to a far-off region with a sacred mountain, Aranchula threw away his money, bowed down to the local Temple saint, submitted himself, & stayed in trance for THREE YEARS.  He would lie around in the Temple or around it where WICKED BOYS would torture & tease him – he did not respond.  Insects crawled on him & bit him – he didn’t notice.  (Luckily a kind man understood his situation & locked him in a gated garden nearby, providing him the meager food he ate - he was skin & bones.)

(Similar to the Christian saints who sequestered themselves either in a cave, or on a high mountain such as Jesus & Moses, or their private room like St. Catherine of Sienna & dealt little with the world–such experiences lasted two, three years.  After coming out of this they were transformed but could function well in the active life.  I went through this in my apt in B’klyn.  The length of time is not crucial, Jesus did the same in forty days & nights, my time alone was partial for a year, then almost total another year–I HAD to take care of myself & could not go completely ‘OUT’ but I attained the same graces these saints did.  I saw God FACE TO FACE TWICE & that is PROOF I entered NONDUALITY completely, not partially, because I saw that I WAS GOD, GOD WAS ME.  This state is in some way reached by all saints in all religions, whatever they call it, however they describe it.) 

Being in the One, according to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi as well as my own experience, is being INSIDE oneself,  the focus or attention on the Eternal Consciousness within, or one could also say ABOVE THE WORLD, seeing it objectively,  where one’s mind/focus is NOT HERE SUBJECTIVELY, not here like ‘I am in my body, I feel pain when people insult me’ but I am ‘here in the realm of Infinity, above the world, above people….they cannot affect me or hurt me, flatter me or defame me, as I feel no reaction, I am not there inside my body within the character I play – these characters are all fronts, they are not me, I am an Infinite Being, I am watching the world, people, their reaction to who they think is me, but they cannot move me, I am NOT THERE, I am even watching my own self like I am in the front row watching a play.

 William speaks of women having to return to this state which he calls THE ONE which means the same as Nonduality – Finding the God Within, the God Self – which we originally were in, representing  a MOTHER, & controlling/guiding men into righteousness.  He says this is the solution & when women do this & take back the men under their wings we will have peace.

What is THE ONE based on other terms?  I began writing this religion explaining how women must find the God WITHIN THEMSELVES–& have reiterated that now we must step apart from men & work on this angle – safe space for women – our autonomy – create our own world, religion, spirituality, zeitgeist, POV, moral compass, OUR AGENDA.

I suggest that those who can should forfeit marriage to work on finding this God – those who can’t should spend enough time each day, on themselves, alone, in meditation when possible – not interrupted by family, & this will SAVE THEMSELVES.  Saving themselves first will enable them to save others – their family & the world.

I also put forth that those women who have the vision should find relationships with other women – gay or straight relationships, without fear of reprisals, criticism or judgement from this society.  They can set up female dormitories, female co-op apartments, or women-only families (they can get sperm from outings which could be regular, ‘night out for fun’ but not permit the males to know anything about the progeny, put on the birth certificate ‘father unknown’–the males are irrelevant & have no parental rights over the child.)  This would be stepping apart from Patriarchy in a big way.

 

As to the religion I propose, the one of finding GOD WITHIN.  I shall only give a brief synopsis now & will enlarge upon it in future. 

One of my gurus, Sri Ramakrishna, had this to say about THE GOD WITHIN – NONDUALITY – ADVAITA (prodounced Adoita): 

 

Sri Ramakrishna: “I” and “mine” indicate ignorance. Without ignorance one cannot have such a feeling as “I am the doer; these are my wife, children, possessions, name and fame”.

Thereupon Keshab said, ‘Sir, if one gave up the “I”, nothing whatsoever would remain.’

Sri Ramakrishna: I am not asking you to give up all of the “I”. You should give up only the “unripe I”. The “unripe I” makes one feel: “I am the doer. These are my wife and children. I am a teacher.” Renounce this “unripe I” and keep the “ripe I”, which will make you feel that you are the servant of God, His devotee, and that God is the Doer and you are His instrument.

~ from “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna”, chapter 12 – ‘The Festival at Panihati’ -> http://www.rkmhq.org/gospel/chapter12.htm 

 

What is non duality in Christianity?

 another research:  

What does non duality feel like?

Right now, have a go at feeling out the space around you. … You are always in a non-dual state, even if you feel like everything is duality. Non-dual awareness is supposedly like being the entire space and any feeling of a “body” is dissolved. There is no feeling of effort when going about your daily life.  another research concerns Ramakrishna endowing his disciple Vivekananda for the first time with nonduality:

     

On Vivekananda’s second visit, Ramakrishna placed his foot on his body, with the result that the room vanished and Vivekananda felt like he was about to merge into a void; this apparently far surpassed any of his childhood experiences:    “I was terribly frightened and thought I was facing death, for the loss of individuality meant that. Unable to control myself, I cried out, ‘What is this that you are doing to me? I have my parents at home!’ He laughed at this and stroking my chest said, ‘All right, let it rest now. Everything will come in time.’ No sooner had he said this than that strange experience vanished. I was myself again and found everything…as it had been before. All this..revolutionized my mind. I thought what it could possibly be. It came and went at the mere wish of this wonderful man!”

RASA SAYS:  IF YOU MAY RECALL MY WRITINGS ON NONDUAL EXPERIENCES, HOW SPOOKY THEY WERE.  I WAS IN ‘OUTER SPACE’ WITHOUT ANYTHING TO HOLD ONTO THE FIRST TIMES IN 1982, AFTER WHICH I SAW GOD FACE TO FACE TWICE.  ONLY RECENTLY I BEGAN MEDITATING ON THIS THEME AGAIN & AT THE EDGE OF IT FELT LIKE I WAS ON A CLIFF IN THE GRAND CANYON WHERE I COULD FALL IN & SNAPPED BACK FROM FEAR.  UPON STUDYING THIS LOOKING BACK I THINK THE FOUR DAYS & NIGHTS OF BEING ‘ABOVE IMAGES,’ A BLISSFUL TRANCE-LIKE STATE, A GIFT GIVEN ME UPON FINISHING THE FOUR VOLUME ‘MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD’ – WAS NONDUALITY.  THIS WAS LATE 1981. 

My last Yoga guru was Ramana Maharshi.  He guided me into nonduality in 2007 -

I had started the journey with a female living guru, ‘Swami G’, but we had a falling out as she simply did not like me & insisted I DID NOT have the ‘Divine Stigmata’–(she failed to understand the Interior Divine Stigmata which is real & harbored by several known female saints – St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Faustina, St. Gertrude the Great – & said if I did not have bleeding wounds I didn’t have it.  I asked her if her Kundalini was real &she said yes.  But it is invisible, is it not?  So is my Divine Stigmata.) 

There is an excellent video on You tube with teachings from Ramana.  It’s called ‘Sri Ramana Maharshi – JNANI, uploaded May 25, 2018. 

This philosophy/discipline/consciousness is not easy to attain but there are formulas.  I reviewed with you my Christian formula which led to the Beatific Vision in chapter XXVII ‘Ego Banishment.’  In future I will discuss the Yoga formula & my recent attempts with it.  Meanwhile, remember,

Woman Thou Art God, 

finding the God within, realizing Her, living her, will free you from Patriarchy, the slavery to it & men,  will save you, bring you happiness,  enable you to help others & save the world – Go for it!

To be continued  Article by William Bond  Addendum by Rasa Von Werder  11-3-19