Ways of Life

They say we are all different.
They are right yet they may be also wrong.

Our nature is rich in its variety. Let us take the example of the food that we consume each day for our sustenance. Depending on the place where we live, we end up consuming a wide variety of food. Not one human race can claim that their cuisine is superior to the other. Through the different languages we speak or the different religious beliefs that we follow or the different professions that we follow, we may be different yet we are connected in many ways than we would like to believe. Our fates swing like a roller coaster between the masculine and feminine forms of life.

I read the entire works of the famous Indian author Amish Tripathy this year. His semi fictionalised take on Shiv and Ram takes the tales of the giants of Hinduism to a whole different level. Hidden in Amish’s books are his great hypothesis on the great masculine and the feminine versions of life. Though explained in the context of Devas and Asuras, Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis I believe his perspective on both these ways of life have a greater impact of our life as we know it. They exist ingeniously through the various stages of our life. Just as we are nothing but mere cosmic dust, we also follow one of the basic rules of the cosmos- the duality nature. What is this duality nature? In the context of light, another cosmic form that we are exposed to daily it is as follows- light can exist both as a particle or wave. If one understands the Heisenberg’s principle, it exists in both forms simultaneously though one cannot be certain which exists when.

What is this masculine and feminine versions of life? The masculine version is simply the macho version where strict laws are created and enforced. You live life according to pre-set rules, systems and processes. There is no space for error, you follow this pattern throughout your life-incessantly. The masculine version follows order. For example, if you look at your life once you are established, it is very difficult to change status quo and any change to an established pattern is generally frowned upon. You wake up when it is day and you sleep when it is night. Everything follows a set pattern with no or little space for error. If you look today at the giants of the world, they follow this pattern. They simply do not change and follow a rigid approach and pattern. This system of order and discipline provides great benefits and is generally favored. But there is also a bad side to this orderly masculine nature-intolerance for a different way of life or even an opinion. The masculine order abhors anarchy and mayhem.

On the other hand, the feminine way of life abhors order or even for that matter discipline. It is free, creative and do not generally like to be under a system or even a pattern. The feminine side is established on the bedrock of freedom and innovation. Creativity is a way of life. There are no set patterns and you do not wake up just because it is day neither do you sleep just because it is night. Life is unfastened and unattached. As the second law of thermodynamics literally signifies that the universe is expanding- change in entropy is always greater than zero, the feminine side is abound with waywardness and anarchy.

The human life simply follows the duality seen in nature in establishing itself around these two ways of life. Whether you know it or not, there are times in your life where you follow the masculine way of life: for e.g., the professional development that commences with you beginning to read and write till you make important decisions that involve millions of dollars and sometimes even the lives of many people around you. Or for that matter making critical decisions in one’s life. One simply cannot be wayward in these stages and most people follow the masculine way of life. But the feminine side also creeps up when one is forced to have creative streaks in cooking, travelling to even learning how to woo a girl!

From the Heisenberg’s principle, it is not clear which state (i.e., masculine or feminine exists among humans). For example, your boss can be really serious about meeting deadlines and chastise you for being disorderly or being imperfect at one time to shaking a leg with you later that day in the pub with no discernment to any system or order. Life consistently swings between the masculine and feminine ways of life.

Concluding, life is a journey traversing between creation to death. Like a star that gives out light till the day it burns out to be a black hole and then begin to absorb the light, the journey of life just like light swings between a dual nature of masculine and feminine. There are no absolutes in this cosmic journey, only the switch between the dual ways of the cosmos.