I have had the good fortune of being asked to speak at the Buena
Vista community’s Collegiate Peaks Form Series (CPFS) in April. The CPFS is a
forum for lectures in Philosophy, Religion and Science in the Arkansas Valley
area of Colorado. My topic is “Synergies in Seeking Self Consciousness: The
Importance of Healing the Male and Female Archetype in us all.”
As I start to prepare for the lecture, my husband has been
giving me ideas for jokes and levity to keep the audience engaged. When he
suggested a few lines from the movie As
Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt (both Oscar winners for
their leading roles in the movie), I scoffed at the idea that I would lend
credibility to the stereotypes that the funny scene invokes. But, the more I
thought about it, the more I realized that this comedic example does help
further my point that we all need to balance the masculine and feminine aspects
within us all.
If you aren’t familiar with the 1997 movie, Nicholson plays
a famous reclusive malcontent writer and Hunt plays a single mom who is a waitress
at Nicholson’s favorite restaurant. The scene that Pat suggested as levity takes
place between Nicholson and a receptionist at his publishing house. The
receptionist, to Nicholson’s horror, is trying to tell him what his work means
to her and how well his writing understands what is in her heart and her head.
The receptionist asks him: “How do you write women so well?” His response is, “I
think of a man and take away all reason and accountability.”
This scene demonstrates the stereotype of women and men
thinking differently as a consequence of them being different genders. The
premise of my topic is that we will all be more evolved versions of ourselves
when we balance the male and female aspects within ourselves to make a whole
and complete healed being.
Let’s take the traditional interpretation of the left and
right sides of the brain, as example. In our society, people (regardless of
gender) who are tax accountants and engineers might be considered “left brained”
in that their professions require a lot of logic, linear thinking, analysis,
order and planning. This type of thinking is considered more masculine. Whereas,
artists and actors are considered “right brained” because their professions are
intuitive, creative, spontaneous and “in the flow”. These traits are traditionally
considered more feminine type thinking. However, when we look at anything in
its parts, we may be missing the larger points about its whole.
You do want a tax accountant who is logical with the good
analysis skills and the ability to plan. But, accountants who are the most
valuable to their clients are the accountants that can combine the left brain
logic with the right brain creativity. Many can read the tax law, it is those
that interpret the tax law who find creative solutions to their client’s needs
that are using both sides of their brains. (We will leave the ethical
discussion of whether creative accountants have been using both sides of their
brains for “good” or for “evil” for another day!) The point is that true
problem solving is a mixture of logic and intuition, analysis and creativity. Balancing
the traditional aspects of masculine thinking and feminine thinking is where
the true wisdom is. Using logic ONLY can be stifling in its structure. Using
creativity ONLY can produce a lot of ideas but might not allow for the follow
through to bring something into form. Both are required for balance.
This desire and need for balancing logic and creativity is
not dependent on which physical form a person has. The idea that Men are from
Mars and Women are from Venus in its extremes does a disservice to both men and
women who strive for balance.
As humans, we are served better by both “feminine” and “masculine”
characteristics well balanced in wisdom, well balanced in power and well
balanced in love. When we have balanced that within ourselves and within our societies,
that is truly As Good As It Gets.
