Feminism: the suicide of the feminine in human nature
“Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
(Prov 31, 30)
The world seems to have turned feminist, but instead of witnessing the blossoming of the feminine we are just contemplating its funeral procession. Darkness, vacuum and sterile silence are only broken by the tacit groan of so many women who have committed the worst of suicides unknowingly. Women have killed the feminine and, drunken with fury, have betrayed their very selves pretending their liberation. Feminists are the real misogynists, because they have come to deeply hate the very essence of the feminine.
Although one could argue that separating women from the feminine is not possible, this implies a poor understanding of the eternal realities that are hidden behind their individual carriers. C.S. Lewis in Perelandra gives a profound explanation on the distinction between sex and gender, showing how the human female is a sort of glimmer of the magnificent reality of the feminine, and clarifying how women embody and participate in the fundamental reality of the feminine gender without covering it as a whole. “Gender is a reality, and a more fundamental reality than sex. (…) Masculine is not attenuated male, nor feminine attenuated female. On the contrary the male and female of organic creatures are rather faint and blurred reflections of masculine and feminine”[1].
This differentiation is vital in order to understand how womanhood is to be seen in relation to the feminine as a metaphysical reality, as a truth that surpasses and transcends the limits of the individual. Thus, the perils and intrinsic evils of feminism become clearer as the rejection of the feminine in our world cannot destroy its eternal reality but does ruin women who thereby deny their identity. “The bearer may discard his symbol; but the symbol itself will remain”[2].
Fully grasping the eternal meaning of the feminine is an impossible task, but C.S. Lewis offers a great portrayal in the second book of the Ransom Trilogy. Besides the Green Lady, Perelandra, as he names Venus, is described as feminine both in the depiction of the planet and the characterization of its Oyarsa, showing that this eternal reality gleams in multiple layers of the cosmos.
The first strokes of the feminine are always full of mystery, a mystery that “is symbolized (…) by the veil”[3] and that embeds every corner of its essence. There is a certain “unfathomable depth”[4] that is proper of the feminine and that has led men to complain about the complexity of the female psyche. This sort of female enigma creates in the male counterpart a common perplexity that C.S. Lewis transposes in the first encounter with the planet, Perelandra. Both the reader and the character discover themselves among the uncertain reality of the waves, lost in the midst of the ocean, taken by its melodic and gentle dynamism with sweetness but without clarity. Deepening in the knowledge of the planet, Ransom keeps finding the mysterious essence of the feminine in the floating islands. It takes him a certain effort to adapt his brain, his nerves and his muscles to the flexible and apparently shapeless land of Perelandra, embodying the effort of the male when faced with the nature of the feminine.
Meeting the Green Lady is also a discovery of some sparkles of the feminine. This encounter is full of mystery in such a way that Ransom “was thunderstruck”[5]. He finds in her an impenetrable being that he cannot fully understand. Sometimes she seems like a child and afterwards she evidences a brilliance that proves her superior to him. His usual response when interacting with her is amazement and bewilderment, such as the male reaction tends to be when his eyes discover the feminine.
Yet, the mystery is also found in the role of the Oyarsa in the planet. Unlike Malacandra, Perelandra does not unveil her existence until the end of the book, leading and guiding in silent anonymity. The Queen and the King witness this humble and mysterious attitude when they affirm: “we often wondered whose hand it was that we saw in the long waves and the bright islands and whose breathe delighted us in the wind at the morning” (P, 262). There is a kind of magic associated with the feminine due to the mystery that surrounds it and that keeps her doing in secret. That is why, even after revealing her existence, Perelandra keeps herself hidden and humble as she offers herself to the King to be of help without ruling on her own.
This calls for a second aspect of the feminine that C.S. Lewis portrays in his novel: surrender and receptivity. It is important to highlight that it does not mean passivity, but the readiness to be fecundated, to be opened to that which is given in order to make it fruitful. That is why the archetype of the feminine is the Blessed Virgin Mary, which reflects the inherent bond of womanhood with a free and fruitful surrender in her fiat.
In the novel, the idea of receptivity is described through the Oyarsa’s eyes. While Malacandra has his sight fixed on the horizon, “the eyes of Perelandra opened, as it were, inward, as if they were the curtained gateway to a world of waves and murmuring and wandering airs, of life that rocked in winds and splashed on mossy stones and descended as the dew and arose sunward in thin-spun delicacy of mist”[6]. The masculine tends outwards, while the feminine looks inwards, showing how it is in receiving and making that fruitful that the feminine flourishes.
Ransom could also grasp that “Malacandra was like rhythm and Perelandra like melody”[7]. Malacandra, as an image of the masculine, leads; while Perelandra, following, surrendering to his compass, builds the meaningful and sublime melody of the feminine. Both depictions describe how masculine initiative blossoms only through the surrendering attitude of the feminine, which is not passive, but receptive. The mutual coordination and harmony that the Great Dance suggests is needed in order to reach fruitfulness and it is beautifully described by the author, showing the complementary reality of both genders.
No one would even pretend to fully explain all the majestic aspects of the feminine, as its inherent mystery leaves a great door opened to the unknown. Nevertheless, this is already sufficient to see the intrinsic opposition of feminist movements with the eternal meaning of the feminine, as surrender, receptivity and mystery are directly despised and considered negative in today’s world. The masculine, seen as the active principle, is valued and preferred by these women who neglect their very selves due to a secular vision of sex and gender. In ‘That hideous strength’ C.S. Lewis goes even further than in Perelandra when he identifies every creature with the feminine, stating that it is proper of the creature to receive the infinite love of the Creator to make it flourish. “What is above and beyond all things is so masculine that we are all feminine in relation to it”[8], he affirms, suggesting a great bond between secularism and feminism. In its deepest roots, feminism grows only from the initial rejection of the state of creatures that leads to disdaining that receptivity that is inherently feminine. “Because in her very being, and in her innermost meaning, she is not only destined to surrender, but constitutes the very power of surrender that is in the cosmos, woman’s refusal to surrender denotes something demoniacal and is readily experienced as such”[9]. In Perelandra, it is the Un-man the one who, acknowledging the vital role of surrender in women and in the cosmos, tempts the Green Lady with autonomy and emancipation from the King. She did not fall, but the modern woman, following Eve’s path, has fallen into the trap of fake ‘empowerment’. In her desire to be known and admired, she unveils herself in the wrong way, not in a self-giving attitude; but wishing to possess and control through her power.
When human beings decided to give up on God and raise themselves as their own gods then the deepest value of the feminine was lost. The mystery is occult for secular eyes that are unable to see the mystical realities that are hidden, that are incapable of understanding the grandeur of that “Be it done unto me”. Alas, just as the cosmos is dark and silent, so is the reality of the feminine and the masculine because “only in the light of woman’s nature does man’s being also become evident”[10]. The profound and eternal realities of the genders seem to have been lost, and with them the very essence of the human being in its female and male sex. Rejecting that metaphysical reality implies a denial of the nature of the human being, leading to an alienation from their selves. Thus, not only have feminists committed female suicide, but they also have murdered the masculine. The world walks through the worst darkness ever seen, through the nothingness and vacuum of being. They have abolished both the feminine and the masculine, and so they have completed the abolition of man.
Nonetheless, the restoration of the human being and redemption of womanhood and manliness is to be done. The stars can better be seen only once the night is darker. There are no lights to see any gleams of gender today. But the first ones will follow from a rediscovery of the supernatural and the recovery of the cosmic music that engages us all sooner or later in that eternal dance that portrays the plenitude of the human being. It is through the sparks of the couples who have been finally tuned in with the music of celestial spheres that light will be recovered in this world; that the suicide will be overturned and the feminine will be crowned and admired once again. Our world has many false ladies at this time, yet the truthful and real woman can never be lost because the mystery of the feminine goes beyond human nature. Then, where sincere openness to the eternal is achieved, a rediscovery and reincarnation of the feminine can take place even when it had seemed absolutely lost. Participation can be regained, music can be unveiled to our ears and human beings can, once again, join the cosmic dance of the spheres, but this will only happen when women are willing to embrace her femininity in celestial surrender, allowing themselves to be given, to be gifted by Our Lord. It will be merely through free obedience to God that the beauties of womanhood will rise again in cosmic melodies, awakening the silent planet, Thulcandra, with the charming notes of the feminine.
[1] Lewis, C.S. Perelandra. Harper Collins Publishers. 2005, p. 254.
[2] Von le Fort, Gertrude. The eternal woman. The Bruce publishing company. 1962. P. XIII
[3] Von Hildebrand, Alice. The privilege of being a woman. Sapientia Press of Ave Maria Univeristy. 2002. P. 89
[4] Ibid, p. 88
[5] Lewis, C.S. Op cit. p. 63.
[6] Ibid, p. 254
[7] Ibid, p. 253
[8] Lewis, C.S. That hideous strength. Harper Collins Publishers. 2003, p. 437
[9] Von le Fort, op cit, p. 8
[10] Ibid, p. 35
