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Power is an important expression of the human experience. Human expression is an important factor of the human species and the opportunity to be heard powerfully as a human voice is essential to personal human satisfaction. Every voice given to each human being has a value that should be honored. Whether you are a man or a woman, black or white, or of a person of a different culture or just a part of the human race, your voice is a large part of your power source. Also, another important fact about power is how you use your voice and how your voice is allowed to be used or heard. If our voice is boxed and wrapped in a bow, you become voiceless. A boxed voice is a voice of silence.
When one has been boxed in a forced silence, the animal of rage becomes stronger and looks for a way to be expressed. Usually, when that occurrence brings itself forth, it is not a pretty picture and the outcome can be harmful to all involved. The series of school shootings happening in America, in these modern times, is an example of this factor. What seems to be in play or a reaction displayed in our daily lives is the lack of “emotional literacy.”
Emotional literacy is defined as this…
The ability to understand ourselves and other people, and in particular to be aware of, understand, and use information about the emotional states of ourselves and others with competence. It includes the ability to understand, express and manage our own emotions, and respond to the emotions of others, in ways that are helpful to ourselves and others.
K. Weare ( 2003)
Rage is a human expression, a way to express frustration about a situation in which you do not seem to have any control. When the rage has no place to be rerouted or redirected, it becomes volatile chaos. It causes the human being to become reactionary and not proactive. It becomes an opportunity to be disempowered.
As long as men are being corralled as historically outdated stereotypes of what men should be and not as what men need to authentically be as functional human beings in a modern society, we will have silently angry men. Rage is the most common reaction to this frustration.
Unresolved rage is counterproductive.
Maintaining “emotional literacy” means to be aware and willing to be a proactive human being, whether you are male or female. Everyone is calling for equality while equality is calling for social justice and mutual support. We came into this world to be expressed.
Our culture has ceased to support its individual people within the society. The relationship between men and women is one of a working partnership, whether it be romantic or just as supportive working partners or friends.
The paradigm of the macho man and the silent supportive women is outdated in our modern world.
Our modern culture is evolving to allow men and women to be active and supportive of themselves, their families, and the ever-changing modern world. We need to experience our divine right of wholeness, being holistic in our nature.
We need to nurture ourselves as individuals and a society.
The nurturing of our emotions or our reactionary feelings are an important factor to be addressed. The unity of the human race is the key to the success of the human race.
No one wants to exist within a living box.
No one wants to be silenced or be left unheard.
No one wants to exist in a state of silent rage.
Everyone wants their human expression to be expressed and heard with respect. Everyone craves the power of their voice to have a meaningful place in our society.
Men have historically been in a place of power and the abuse of that power contributes to the erosion of our power system and culture. Women aiding the maintenance of the present power structure are not being supported by themselves, by men, or the society at large. We need to teach our children “emotional literacy” and create a social container of mutual support and shared power. We need to see beyond just our individual personal needs and look at the needs of the society at large, the bigger picture. We need to create a vision with the intention of achieving social justice for the entire modern society. We don’t need to continuously experience the “me too” experience. We need not experience school shootings where teachers and children are slain, all because of silent rage.
We need to develop a language of compassion and love, a language of social healing. We need to cultivate rituals of living that inspire our children and ourselves, create opportunities for becoming more aware and mindful. Being mindful allows us to take a breath and gives us a chance to think before we act or react.
We need to remove the rituals of living such as racism, sexism, emotional dominance, white privilege and the patterns of financial enslavement. The freedom of expression allows the freedom of the soul.
I personally have refused to live inside the box, the man box, which was given to me.
That particular act created freedom for me, in spite of the personal pain which was created by the reaction of the society at large. Being a child of the 1960’s, I consciously attempted to rewrite the role description of what a modern man was by being physically androgynous with a balanced sense, or blend, of the divine masculine and the divine feminine. The movement was underground and groundbreaking. It allowed men to explore their voices within.
By taking this stance, along with many other groundbreaking rituals of living, I proudly demanded liberation from the historical man box. It was not working then and it is not working now. Our society is demanding freedom in many ways and the messaging of those desires is not always productive in execution. But, the voiced demands are ones of desired freedom. We as a society and culture need to redefine our approaches and methods to living more balanced and more accurately expressed human lives.
It is time to release women and men from their societal prisons and give them physical and emotional freedom of choice and more mindful living in harmony. We can live more meaningful lives and breathe in more lifelike, breathing in a conscious freedom of being supportive human beings in the midst of celebrating a united life.
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