Save the Male. Part A

By Antraeus de Herschia, 14 March 2014

 

[This essay can be taken as an introduction to much of my writing. Indeed, it looks like I wrote it as an introduction to a section of my work that I was originally going to call ‘Save the Male.’

It was written in about 2000, before I was aware of the photonic energies of Light now flooding this planet to restore the higher vibrations and support Gaia’s ascension back to the fifth dimension and beyond. It has undergone a slight revision prior to publishing]

The Age of Air that we are gradually entering stimulates people’s minds and opens them up to the truth. Individuals, freed from the personal and cultural biases, pride, fears and bigotry of the past, develop greater awareness of the whole. The ‘whole’ is feminine. It is all life and consciousness, openness to all. So many aspects of life, of nature, of the world, of history, of the Universe and humanity’s raison être that have been buried and exiled are re-emerging. This renaissance of wholeness is referred to as the ‘Return of the Goddess.’ To me the Goddess is the infinite Mind of God which is also projected as the blank canvas of pure consciousness on to which worlds are projected for the purpose of experience and evolution. Her return is the opening of wisdom, attunement to the Universal Mind.

Hidden qualities emerge but, before the essential qualities of mind and nature are revealed and revered, there is some clearing out to be done. Suppressed negative energies in the collective unconscious find outlets in the world in order to be purged. The negative emotions that people have poured into it in response to external conditions are being released. It is for this reason that the world is in such a bad state on the surface. Personal consciousness resembles a small rock pool. It is our home, our soul, for the duration of this life. Unless we keep it clean and pure with self-control, with mental discipline and positive thought and energy, it will attract and fill up with water from the sea, the quality of which depends on collective input. Consequently, when our thoughts are negative, we contaminate the sea a little more when the tide sweeps over our home on the shore and receives our personal impressions. When they are positive, the sea takes away with it a higher frequency of energy, a positive charge that can help to invoke the positive potential within others.

Human beings are able, potentially, to combine the objective view of Sun and subjective oneness of the sea whose surface is illumined by the solar rays and therefore contains a film of conscious awareness. At present, humanity has reached the levels of sea (consciousness) and clouds (subconscious) with the Sun shining between them, casting its light unpredictably on the sea here and there and withdrawing in between these moments of positive energy and clarity. The source of light remains a mystery, especially since people’s attention is turned towards the world of effects rather than to the causal level of truth and will.

The more that people are true to their essential Selves and express the creative energy of their eternal nature, the more harmonious the outer world will become because the collective unconscious will be channelling qualities such as love, truth, beauty, confidence and joy. We are one Sun, one God, individualised in the form of crustaceans. We are subject to the Moon’s cycles and their effect on consciousness, but our true Self is the very source of this ceaseless current of change and upheaval. There is a King Canute, a master of consciousness, within us all!

Viewing this analogy from a different angle, one might say that human beings have created so many clouds that the sea is dark, brooding and negative, devoid of light. The more we express the Light within ourselves, the more we will realise the Sun as our true nature and shine upon the sea. The Sun is shining eternally just as the Self is the positive energy of Being itself. We need only to clear the clouds away and allow that Light to be expressed in this world. It will shine as far and wide as we allow it. It is not sufficient to empty our bowl of consciousness, at least not during these dramatic, troubled times. The beggar’s bowl will receive whatever others put into it. It will fill up with rubbish rather than the true sustenance one needs. It would probably be different in more peaceful times when people preserve the spiritual ways of life and appreciate each other’s devotion to the true Self. Then, there is more positive energy to give and to draw upon, and people are both ready to give and to receive so that an abundance of positive energies fill the world. I experienced a degree of this in India when I was there in 1992. It may only be a fraction of what is possible, but it made the consciousness in Southern England seem like just negative, lifeless energy when I returned!

If thought is not positive, then it is inert and, therefore, negative. If it is not attracting positive energy, then it is attracting negative energy. “Energy follows thought,” explains Johua David Stone. “The application of this Hermetic law is that anything you think, if held long enough, can and will manifest. I have used the power of my own mind and the power of the ascended masters to manifest healing, ascension leadership and self-realisation. This law is always working, and if you are not focused on God realisation on all levels, then this law is unconsciously being used to attract the opposite.” (Stone, p.78).

We must be careful, then, and we must embrace this wonderful opportunity to shine our Light as individuals. We have taken on a great challenge and adventure, a test of strength. The seed that lands upon the ground and bathes in the natural light of the Sun may never grow, not recognising its good fortune and celebrating the spiritual atmosphere in which it lives. The seed that is pushed into the cold, damp soil, and ‘left for dead,’ however, may well rot but it may also thrive as it is forced to find its own way towards the light to survive and to inherit its natural birthright of light and warmth. It is no easy task purely because we are so lost in our negative conditioning. We do not even recognise that the Sun exists! ‘God?’ we laugh cynically. Endeavouring to talk about spiritual matters to many British people is like trying to walk on water. One needs to be a miracle man to even broach the subject.

Scepticism is a good thing. We have learnt not to believe what we are told, at least in spiritual matters. It seems customary nowadays to get one’s fix of lies and trash through the popular press. Bill Hicks, if he were still alive (I can hear him laughing: ‘you think you’re alive?) might say that our minds are like ‘love tunnels’ that ache for a good ‘rogering’ (bar the British slang) by the egotism of the media. I can understand people having no faith in something they have not experienced, but I also know that experience can only be received through the qualities of sensitivity and openness. It is a vicious circle especially while people get off on all the brainwashing they can find in order to feel whole. Popular culture is the new religion and orthodox Christianity is what primed people for adopting this inert, ‘missionary position’ state of mind.

This is the ‘excess yin’ condition. It is the lower, negative form of the feminine, the impure consciousness as opposed to the natural purity of the Universal Mind which is also feminine in nature. The individual reclines and wants to go underneath, to relax and allow the subconscious to take over.

People then complain that they feel powerless and insecure in the world and that they are penned in by the sheep dogs that control their lives. Of course the Church wanted us all to be as meek lambs to the slaughter: it is the power of the Roman Empire that was secretly preserved. This Satanic Elite knows exactly how to dominate the people: through guilt. It threw its egotistic, Patriarchal eight around and knew that the masses would bow down to their authority as they had to that of the Roman Empire which had conditioned them through the threat of violence. The Church employed all manner of cruel measures and methods of emotional manipulation to keep people down.

How about this: we are all lions and there is enough ‘food’ to go around if we draw upon the abundance of the Self and ‘create’ (or allow) it through positive will and energy? So, we can all share the planet without having to choose between a competitive, masculine, right wing, ‘me first’ attitude or a dependent, feminine, left wing ‘let’s all suffer together’ approach to life. The former extreme creates abundance but only for itself and keeps the rest of humanity down both to feed off and to protect their wealth. The latter is not creative or constructive at all; it is more nurturing and facilitative. It seeks to distribute whatever is there between everyone so that, in the end, no one survives because there is not enough to go around. Which is better: wealth in the hands of the few while the masses endure and complain resentfully about life or everyone having nothing so everyone can complain about life and not have to hunger for what others have? Well, on the surface, the latter condition appears preferable. The former condition, however, being more diverse, allows every soul to find the right conditions on Earth for its karmic development. It is for this reason that we have been able to experience both of these situations in the world in various times and places in our soul evolution.

People are so accustomed to being on the bottom as the Lunar masses, the feminine receptacle, and looking up to the solar sovereign or government and ruling classes with their ‘superior’ and intimidating mastery of education, language, culture and religion as well as other constructs such as law, media and government. Of course the Elite excels in these areas and understands a lot more than the peasants: they invented these institutions for the very purpose of setting themselves above the ‘common’ people. Their intention was to make themselves the educated and successful cream of humanity, to enjoy having the monopoly on power and confidence, to make it easy for them to do what they want with not only no opposition but passive submission from people who literally ‘bend over backwards’ to help. Why? Because the yang power of those people makes the hoi polloi feel secure. They believe that there is potential to benefit from the Establishment, if not now then in the future, or through some other means. This effect overrides the fact that those to whom they give all their power away can also trample them underfoot, abuse and destroy them, even wipe their entire family off the face of the planet at a whim!

The degree certificate that people study for a few years to obtain is designed to enrol people into preserving the status quo. It is based on an archaic desire to benefit from the feudal class system. That class system may have been diluted somewhat now but its very nature means that it exists to raise certain people above others, encouraging them to identify with the System and to represent it loyally no matter how unjust it is. All that has changed is the flavour of the middle class. People collect their earnings and go off and enjoy them, build lives based on material security and read a newspaper that assures them of their superiority and deserved power. That piece of paper merely shows that a person has achieved a level of intellectual development. And this makes them fit to go for the best jobs and run and benefit the most from the system? You’re shitting me! Surely, it would be preferable to teach people some real, important, universal truths and place more importance on what they are learning than their ability to memorise a whole bunch of useless facts that serve only to feed the System, sustain a consumer society and benefit only those who identify with it and who are, therefore, not centred in, or even interested in, their true Identity as spiritual beings.

Consciousness is receptive and therefore feminine. Being is active and therefore masculine. Unlimited Mind is pure; limited thought patterns and subconscious conditioning are impure. The Self, the true Identity, by its very nature overflows with Light, with the creative expression of positive energy like the Sun. The physical ego, which is a state of identification with the body is aggressive. It uses force and activity to survive because if one should become still and relaxed, especially habitually, one’s heart opens up. The Light of the true Self then floods in and the ego can no longer live as the central identity and will.

Marcus Aurelius has this to say on the matter: “To shrug it all off and wipe it clean - every annoyance and distraction - and reach utter stillness. Child’s play.” (Aurelius, 5.2, p.54). The individual who has developed true masculine, or yang, will and identity does not allow his or her mind to be affected from outside. There are no clouds of conditioned responses to gather momentum and obscure the light of the true Self. The mind is kept clear and each moment is an expression of eternity. “Forget everything else,” says Marcus. ”Keep hold of this alone and remember it: each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.” (Aurelius, 3.10, p.32).

People inherit so many fears from their parents, from practically everyone whom they meet. They inherit such a habitual, deep-seated lack of self-love and self-confidence, ignorance  and, equally, they worship the institution of marriage, family values, childbirth, all the things you find spewing out of the television screen, especially when soap operas and advertisements ‘come on.’ All the things that the authorities have used for centuries to keep the people enslaved. It is just like the collective unconscious having its period, gushing with negative energies which it is compelled to release because it has been conditioned with rubbish in a perpetual cycle of negative responses not only to life but also to the soap opera versions of life as well!

When a person pushes the force of their personality at us, we tend to back down and surrender. If they express those qualities that define the ‘superior citizen’ we do not even blink. If they have wealth, we do not blink. In the past, if they were liars pretending to be good Christians simply by going to church on a Sunday to allow people to see who their superiors are in society or by joining a ‘Christian’ club as cover, we did not blink. If they have a good career, we do not blink. That is why people always ask the question, ‘What do you do?’ ‘Ah, that sounds very respectable, you must be a decent human being because you identify with the System, so I can trust you.’ ‘Tosh’! What nonsense!

If other people are confident and extrovert it does not necessarily mean that they represent a higher state of identity. They may appear to us as ‘good’ only because they need us. We should learn to recognise the subtle power of the yang spirit within ourselves and other people rather than being impressed by displays of force or flamboyance through the physical personality and going along with what those people want. In the same way, infants scream and holler to ensure that their needs are met. They are dependent on others so they roar with a lion’s power to make themselves heard, just in case anyone was inclined to ignore them and think of themselves first!

I am criticising both men and women. I have noticed that, when I criticise women or make what I see as justified generalisations regarding female inclinations in society, they are quick to defend themselves. I know they may be more inclined to take things personally, to be more subjective and to invest more emotion into the interaction, but I expect, too, that women have understandably reached a limit to their tolerance of male chauvenism and Patriarchal oppression and that makes them touchy. They need all the positive will and energy, confidence and encouragement, they can get. Don’t worry, I will probably be criticising men a lot more even (as well as trying to ‘save their souls’ and bring my readers’ attention to the more positive and liberating masculine phase of human development)!

The transition to post-Patriarchal society in Britain finds individuality stifled by a mix-up of ccultural energies, financial limitations and a general feeling of insecurity. Both national and individual identity seem to be dissolving. This means that there is less encouragement for young people to explore and express themselves as unique individuals. It also means that those developed identities that were weaker than perhaps they appeared to be have withered while others either stand firm or are transformed into a deeper level of self-awareness. Some people are clutching onto whatever they can salvage of the past, it seems, as well as trying to hold onto their jobs. Others are surrendering to the chaotic currents of collective consciousness, confused by them, accepting them or observing the world as it gradually erases all trace and memory of the life that they once knew.

It is not necessarily a sinking ship, but neither does it appear to moving anywhere with purpose and conviction. The ship is, more than likely, moored in the harbour. It is simply not going anywhere. No one is running the country; there is no one at the helm. The government is preoccupied with keeping the country going and with Europe and foreign matters, drawing our attention away from domestic concerns that it is unable too sort out. It is one big game of suppression and distraction (the word ‘government’ literally means ‘mind control’). Perhaps it is due to be turned into a restaurant or maritime museum! The truth is probably that the ship was on its last legs and due for retirement anyway so there was no choice but to sail into the harbour and try to repair some of the wear and tear. Perhaps the harbour is Europe itself and the battle for independence has finally ended. The war veteran can finally let go and die in peace. Until a new world merges from the European Union [Update, 14 years on: BRICS rather], however, this country is in danger of enduring a sense of stagnation, helplessness and all manner of leaks. Strangers climb aboard and there are conflicts onboard but also a growing tolerance for each others’ differences.

People cannot say what they like any more. They are accused of being offensive even if their words are simply conveying ideas and observations, imaginatively or in humour, without intending to harm anyone. English people did not take themselves this seriously until now, but perhaps that was their way of coping with feudal oppression and that regime’s descendants. Freedom of speech does seem to be taking a back seat to political correctness. Self-restraint to this degree is like pouring poison on the roots of identity so that individuality eventually dies. So there is a general feeling of paranoia, confusion and insecurity following the Patriarchal Fire Age, but a synthesis also appears to be taking place. Many divergent elements are being flushed out and run through a liquidiser. Yet, we are also ‘children of the Universe’ as never before.

The ship is not feeling the wind in its sails so identity is not reaching up to the plane of freedom and ideas - the element air - even though it might be preparing for a future voyage. It is swaying back and forth like an old rocking chair. It is not mastering the seas and going places, experiencing more of life, but anchored and grounded, applying its wisdom and maturity to the world’s gradual unfoldment. Now that Patriarchal zeal has faded, air is the element that is rising to prominence in the world. Those countries that have a strong air component to their characters find that they can achieve more now and come into their own. They are ‘in their element,’ literally. In England, masculine energy is thwarted while feminine energy surfaces. The old feminine nature of the land is returning and Scotland, to me, seems to be particularly enjoying the changes.

Some men feel very insecure about the way society is changing and need all the reassurance and support they can get, all the nurturing qualities of a caring society that is more feminine! We are sensitive creatures too! My work relating to these changes in global consciousness may help guys to see why it is a good thing for their ego to be confused, feel lost and insecure. The experience can open one up to the power of the true Self. Such flowering is feminine but releases the identity from being stuck in the physical realm which the male body tends to cause. It increases one’s potential as a spiritual being; it is a shamanic transformation no less!

Women could be more interested in reading about relationship, lifestyle, diet and beauty issues. They find books that will make them feel better, maintain their health and allow them to relax appealing. Many are simply getting on with the process of unfoldment and loving it. Men are the one’s who are questioning not only the Patriarchal society that is fading away but also wondering where the hell they fit into the future one (let alone the present!). My hope is that many women will read my various writings on the elements and ages who might otherwise have read a book on feminism. For all my good will towards the female sex, however, I do not think I make a very good feminist! My gift of perception seems to be one of seeing both sides of the coin.

It can be strengthening when you have something to prove. One could possibly say that women are being energised by the masculine fire element whilst men are opening up to the feminine whole and need to stay centred rather than feel overwhelmed by the state of the world and collective consciousness. It is imperative to become more conscious, to be rooted firmly in the positive will of Identity and to look out at the world in an objective, detached way. This is the solution, the next phase of human development, characterised by the element air.

Men and women each have their part to play in the condition of the world and the biggest problem of all is that people identify with the physical body and its gender. This leads to certain interests and behaviour that produce a one-sided identity and view of the world and other people. People cannot be balanced until they are complete and the only way to be complete is to realise one’s true nature as spirit, which is the source of both male and female qualities. In the paradoxical ideal of authentic, universal unity, individuals celebrate their own uniqueness and that of others.

In Britain, the division between the sexes is very evident even though Patriarchal consciousness is waning considerably here, which is very promising. I am sorry, but guys whose lives revolve around watching football down the pub and women who crave the next episode of the soap operas - and we are often talking any and every team or soap here - are unbalanced. Women who are overly masculine and men who are overly feminine are also unbalanced but I always find that more encouraging to see since it shows that these individuals are expressing qualities that are not linked directly to their physical gender. They may have had unconventional childhoods or else have brought those qualities with them as male or female souls or something. The opportunity for soul growth, for individuation, exists for us all. It is not necessary to make such a big song and dance about transcending gender roles and material values. It is the attachment, the investment of attention and energy, that holds us back spiritually.

It is not a matter of revenge or a terminal clash between the sexes. Increasing equality in society gives many individuals an opportunity to develop both centredness and wholeness. Consequently, people are able to achieve a greater rapport between each other as complete individuals, and ‘interdependence’ that is a more evolved way of relating than co-dependence (feminine), which does not allow for individual expression, and independence (masculine), which excludes those people (including entire nations and races, and even the female sex itself) who differ from one’s own identity (which is basically a war: ‘us and them,’ ‘for and against’ ‘in or out’). Each of these ways of relating has in common a demand for others to conform to one’s expectations.

The whale, the sea monster, the mouth of the sea - consciousness as a whole – threatens to swallow up the individual, the hero who is attempting to conquer life and express his individual potential for power first as an ego and then gradually as a god. As the universal whole returns to human consciousness and its pressure is felt tangibly as the Earth unleashes her suppressed negative emotions and releases her burdens, the individual is under threat from the forces of chaos. Drowning in these collective unconscious energies is a matter of choice but maturity of choice is an expression of strength and wisdom. The individual who is still a child spiritually, that is, solely identified with the body, will inevitably struggle more to rise above the currents of chaos that may plague the world. One who knows the Father, the true Self in its aspects of divine purpose and Will, has more chance of being centred in eternity, whether constantly or sporadically.

The male is perhaps especially under threat since he prizes individual identity whereas the female inclines to adapt to cycles and changes in the whole. Moby Dick’s (I mean Captain Ahab’s) Patriarchal order is wearing away but it is important to recognise that we are not returning permanently to a state of collective dependency familiar to Matriarchal order. The survivors of society’s shipwreck will find themselves on new shores where each individual will, without losing their conscious identity, know all as one. It is this universal spirit that feminine wholeness is now applying pressure upon us to awaken. So, embrace the female, the whole, and forget Patriarchy, but save the male (identity). We can then create a civilisation of unity and harmony as individuals.


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As you may have guessed, the title of this book has another implication. Humanity, unlike the whale, is not threatened by extinction. Or is it? As we have the power to destroy nature, so do the gods have the power to destroy our race if they so wish. We are too ignorant and arrogant to see this! Our heads are buried in the sand of material life day-by-day. We have forgotten that this stance, this approach to life, does not exercise our real potential. Ideally, we should hold our heads high and celebrate our power and our opportunity to know the Sun, to realise the Self. At some point, we might remember to call for help. Deep down, we sense that there is something more than this mental darkness, this oppressive plane of cold, dense soil in which our heads are stuck. We may become so desperate that, in our ‘hour of need,’ our ‘dark night of the soul,’ we devote our attention to getting ourselves out of the mess we are in any way we can. Our hearts find their way to the Absolute, to the Source, to Reality. ‘Free your mind!’

‘Uh, I’m stuck, help me.’ The gods smile, ‘Okay, we will help, but you’ll have to do most of the work for yourself. We cannot interfere with your free will and just yank your head out of the ground you know!’ For, what would be the point of that when we have deliberately entered the earth plane to liberate ourselves and know the Self individually? ‘Oh pooh!’ Ah bless, we are so impatient! It may take some longer than others to evolve to this state of true self-awareness. There are as many paths as there are individuals. It is said that, long, long ago, we instructed beings on other planes to come and guide us out of this predicament. Thus, the ‘parrot’ helps the ‘ostrich’ to conclude its trial of initiation at a certain moment in its development. ‘Cool, that looks like fun.’ ‘That’s what I once thought. It’s not, believe me!’ Well, it can be. It is certainly an adventure, human life.

Nostradamus, the Hopi Indians and others predicted an Armageddon that is said by current sources to have been averted because a sufficient number of humans have made progress in terms of positive thought and communion with the creative Source. They say that humanity was indeed on course for destruction, that a meteor or suchlike was to be hurled like a thunderbolt at Earth to wipe all but a small number of human beings off the face of the planet. In addition, the Earth’s purpose itself is possibly changing course as it meets with a wave of the Cosmic current of evolution (‘or something’). To my mind, all of this sounds reasonable enough so I am open-minded without swallowing it whole as the ‘truth.’

There has been many an unmanageable child who has settled down and achieved an exemplary balance of opposites. This has enabled the individual to do much for the world as a result of possessing an indomitable will and a high degree of self-confidence. A powerful soul arrives on the Earth plane and expresses its power dominantly until tempered by experience and reason, perhaps through finally realising the scale of the upsetting effect it has had on other people. Patriarchy can be likened to a youthful bully whose self-centred attitude and aggressive behaviour is sustained by ignorance and subjective perception. Through self-reflection, he eventually develops self-discipline and a more responsible approach to the world. He reaches maturity of self-awareness and sees others as individuals in their own right with freedom to express their own will and identity.

As we will see, this is a natural progression from Fire to Air. Perhaps the consciousness of one age is unable to really tune into the emergence of the next element. For, surely enough, if the Fire Age had gone on much longer humanity would indeed be consumed by fire whether it destroyed itself or was exterminated through divine intervention. The human disease of selfishness and greed was not allowed to spread to other planes at the time of Atlantis as perhaps it had previously. The Deluge ensured that it was contained on this planet in the incubation unit of limited mental faculties that the human body, in its present form and density, possesses.

It now requires a deep understanding of the alchemical transformation process for a soul to be completely liberated from this world whilst living in it, to gain full mastery over the body and to realise the immortal Self here in this world. This can be attained only through proper instruction and total self-discipline and dedication. Most of us, if we steer our ship of life on a course for spiritual realisation over the sea of consciousness, following our own spiritual path, can achieve a balanced awareness in which we are, at least, centred in the recognition that we are essentially spiritual beings inhabiting physical bodies.

Personally, I believe that we are able to continue and complete this journey without returning to Earth providing our karmic balance sheet is clear and we have achieved a high enough level of true self-awareness. It is, however, difficult to know when, or how much, one’s ego is involved in such convictions! On an autobiographical note, being confident in the mystical area of spiritual experience and understanding does contribute to my laziness in the very realm where I ought to excel. Yet, biding my time through such a lack of self-discipline whilst my body has yet to slow down through age also provides me with this opportunity to employ my creative talents and express what I have learned.

There is no way that I would be capable or inclined to suffer the nervous tension and restriction to consciousness caused by intellectual thought had I transcended the mode of the ‘Thinker,’ the ego. And, to be honest, I can see that I am likely, at some point in my life, to exhaust my own limiting curiosity and fascination with the expression of universal truth in beautiful forms of expression, in imagery, words and even music. The ‘self-absorbed loner’ is a temporary condition and due, partly, to circumstance. This is another reason for needing to figure what the hell is going on, not only in my personal life but in this apparently tragic state of affairs in the world we live in today. It is really this end to which I have sought to apply my will since I left school and found myself to be seriously shocked that life out in the world seemed to be even worse! I have a memory of walking a fair distance alongside a country road some five miles from where I still lived with my parents. I must have reached a deep feeling of exasperation in my contemplation of life and the world during that walk because it is the symbol in my mind for my first steps on a journey towards meeting the Dao, the eternal Path. I also realise, unlike some teachers, that everything is exactly as it should be, in its rightful place in space and time, to facilitate the evolution of consciousness, both individually and collectively.