Holding Back Half the Human Race

As revealed to God’s Messenger
Marshall Vian Summers
on November 14, 2007
in Boulder, Colorado

There is a New Message from God in the world, and one of the things that it calls for is the emergence of women leaders, particularly in the area of spirituality and religion. It is time now for certain women to be called into these greater roles and responsibilities, and it is important around the world in different quarters and in different religious traditions that this be allowed.

It will be interesting, perhaps, for you to consider that in advanced nations in the universe—advanced nations in the Greater Community of intelligent life in which you live—that where there is a distinction between men and women, or male and female, in those particular races, the races that are not androgynous in nature, that the female is usually given priority in matters of conscience and spirituality.

This represents an advancement and a practical wisdom as well, for leaders within this context must essentially be providers, and they must essentially be maintainers. The role of being a religious leader in whatever context it may exist—whether it is within a formal tradition, whether it is within a hierarchy of leadership or whether it is much more informal, dealing with smaller groups of people—it is in all cases a role primarily focused on providing and maintaining.

To be creative in the area of religion is only appropriate if it is to meet practical needs of people and to adapt a religious teaching to changing circumstances. Even here it must be carried out with great care, for people like to change what has been given and alter it to meet their needs, their preferences, their desires and their own self-interest. So creativity in the area of religion is actually extremely hazardous.

But religion itself, in whatever context it exists, must change and evolve. It must have a greater capacity to serve people who are undergoing change in their personal lives and change at the level of nations and societies as well. Indeed, even as the environmental conditions of this world change in the face of the Great Waves of change that are coming to the world, religion will have to adapt and change as well.

What essentially is the role of religious leaders in nearly all situations is to be providers and maintainers. And what they are providing is not really of a material nature as much as of a spiritual nature, within the realm of a deeper experience and recognition that is possible for all human beings and other races within the Greater Community. For God has placed a deeper mind within all sentient beings—a mind that is called Knowledge in the New Message.

Clearly, women in many societies have been taking greater roles, but there is still considerable resistance, and in some traditions, it is not allowed at all. But there must be a greater recognition here of the inherent strength of women and the natural capacity they can serve in this regard. For even in current traditions, women may not serve as the recognized leaders, but they are in most cases the backbone of the religious organization and tradition itself.

Men should not be threatened by this, for it is an assumption of natural abilities. And while men will continue to be religious leaders, the opportunity for women should be greatly expanded. For if an individual, a woman in this case, has developed her skills in learning of the deeper mind and of responding to it appropriately—in carrying out its direction responsibly, without altering it or redefining it for herself or for the expectations of others—then as she gains this maturity and this responsibility, she can assume a greater and more natural role as a religious leader.

Clearly, if you look in the past century, you have seen in all of society’s evolution, in many places in the world, the rise of women to roles of prominence that were previously only assumed by men. This is a natural evolution and should be continued. There are now heads of state who are women, but they are still blocked from becoming religious leaders in many, many traditions and in many cultures. They can become the president of a nation, but not a priest or a rabbi or an imam, in many circumstances.

If humanity could learn from advanced races in the Universe, you would see what an error this is. You would see what other races of beings have had to learn and how they have had to cultivate their native wisdom and skills in surviving and in functioning within a Greater Community environment, which by its very nature is extremely competitive and complex. If you could learn from these examples, then you would see the wisdom of what We are saying here.

In many advanced societies, as We mentioned, women are the priests; they are the religious authorities. In this case, in races very different from your own, the feminine is recognized as being more receptive to the direction of Spirit, or God, while men in general—in most situations, the male aspect—are more competent in physical or practical measures.

This is not simply a human phenomenon or a historical precedent within this world alone. It is something that holds true throughout the universe. In certain advanced races, the male and the female have been joined into one being to gain access to the skills that both of these aspects of Creation can provide. But that is not humanity’s reality, nor need it be, for the male and the female, the masculine and the feminine, both have tremendous assets and qualities to be cultivated and which must be cultivated.

Therefore, that is why this could be called the Age of Women, the rise of women—not only to positions of political prominence, not only to positions of leadership in business or commercial affairs, but really in the realm of religion and spirituality.

While women possess great strengths, they also have weaknesses and liabilities within the human family. They are very prone to persuasion. They are very prone to the influences of social cohesion and consent. They are very prone to the difficulties of facing disagreement and disapproval. And their anger and their issues can be over extremely petty and insignificant matters. But in spite of all this, they have a natural ability to resonate, to care for, to sustain and to maintain, and to provide the greater resources of life, which are non-material in nature.

For all human beings have material needs and spiritual needs. Spiritual needs cannot be met by meeting material needs, but until material needs are met, spiritual needs cannot seriously be entertained by most people. But they are different, you see. Once you have satisfied certain physical requirements of life regarding food, water, shelter, security and so forth, then you begin to entertain a greater set of needs. These are perhaps psychological and emotional in nature, but psychological needs bridge to your deeper spiritual needs.

Ultimately, the greatest spiritual need is the same within all people, and that is to find and to fulfill your specific mission in coming into the world. This holds true regardless of your culture, your religion, your family circumstances, your economic situation and so forth. But to be able to entertain this seriously and responsibly, you must have certain material needs met. That is the first requirement.

Because material providership historically has fallen primarily on men, women have been able to cultivate providership at other levels—at the psychological and emotional and spiritual levels to a far greater degree, and they are naturally endowed to do this. It would be foolish to think that women are going to displace men in providing, in the provision of material needs. Where women’s greatest power is the power of empathy, the power of service. They face the same problems of fear, desire and preference that men do, but they still have these natural assets in great abundance. To deny them opportunities in the realm of religion and spirituality is a great mistake and a costly one at that.

The affairs of the spirit are different than the commercial and material affairs of people and should not be confused. In no case should the state and religion be the same. That has proven to be disastrous in history. The great casualty of attempting to join those two is religion itself, which becomes a tool of the state, which becomes used as a form of manipulation and persuasion, of self-righteousness and condemnation of others.

People try to simplify things and make everything the same, but things are not the same, you see. Nature expresses itself differently within different contexts, and while there will still be women who will be marvelous leaders of commerce and political leaders, and there will still be men who will be superb at being religious teachers and leaders, there is a natural orientation that gives the feminine, the woman, the advantage.

Do not think, however, that if women led religion the world would be magically transformed, for this is not the case. But the opportunities to maintain religion and to maintain the spirit of religion in all traditions would be enhanced.

You still need people to run organizations and to deal with financial necessities and to maintain infrastructures and all of this, but the spirit of religion becomes lost when it is united with commercial and practical needs exclusively. Its ethical foundation erodes away, its spiritual emphasis erodes away, it becomes formalized, rigid, governed by rules and regulations; it becomes constrained by the governance of the state, of political powers, economic powers, and the life goes out of it. It becomes stale and static and oppressive as a result.

There is a natural ascendancy for women in the realm of religion and politics. That is not to say that all women will ascend there, or that that will be the purpose of all women. Certainly not, but the opportunity for those who are naturally given—who have purpose, real purpose, in this arena— should be allowed the opportunity to assume a greater role. 

Continued ….

Hear the New Message from God at www.NewMessage.org

www.NewMessage.org