We are told that we are in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, for a number of reasons, this does not feel like the most accurate description of everything that is actually happening within and around us.
It is evident that technology is a huge influencer of what we do and how we live, and that maths and science are critical skills, but it feels like there is something about this age that is so much more profound than it being another iteration of an Industrial Revolution. It is an age during which the Humanities hold as much influence over our future as the Sciences. It is a period that is uncomfortable and confusing and it is stirring up emotions and throwing our ideas of ‘how things should be’ into turmoil. It can be overwhelming and make us want to hold onto what we know, but it also seems to be inevitable and completely necessary.
All around us, we can see the breaking of an order that has sustained itself for centuries. Things that were not questioned - such as religion, colonisation, paternalism, family roles and corporate responsibility - are being looked at through a multitude of different lenses. Everything is up for re-evaluation.
Within this context, the power of masculine energy and the subversion of feminine energy provided the fuel for the patriarchal system of governance in most civilisations and is at the core of what is changing. The dominance of masculine energy enabled those in power to remain dominant over or emotionally disconnected from those over who they ‘ruled’, and went largely unchallenged as the ‘natural order of things’.
While it was generally accepted that men held the rights to masculine energy and therefore its power, there was so much more to it than gender inequality. There have always been examples of domination across the gender lines that have mastered the power of this energy, even though it was largely the domain of the males of our species. Physical strength, it seems, translated into power.
It is the power that this masculine energy has held that is breaking, just like how the power of a dry season is eventually broken by the rain. Initially, it may break slowly, but it is often accompanied by flash floods which sweep up the debris that has collected along the dry river beds. It may break the banks and cause destruction, in a similar way to how the power of feminine energy can be felt as it flows in to take its place. It is an energy that is equally powerful and has been making its presence known less subtly as we shift into this new age.
Our collective consciousness is increasing daily and while some hold on to ‘how things worked before’ even more aggressively, the rebalancing of our energetic system is inevitable. Feminine energy, to which we all have access, irrespective of our gender identity, has largely gone uncelebrated in womxn and beaten out of men, but is propelling us into the Age of Awareness. The initial force with which we are experiencing this shift - both those who want to fight it and those that are for the change - could be seen as a right of passage. The fallen branches and rocks may try to block the river but ultimately, it will flow, and when it does, it will eventually settle into the new ‘natural order’.
The consciousness of the world in which we live and the drive to remedy the actions of our past and present unconscious excesses is part of this shift, as is the increase in focus on human rights and the rejection of sexism, racism, discrimination, violence and domination in any form.
The confusion is around the fact that we still elect world leaders who aggressively hold onto the power of masculine energy, but their era will pass, too, just like that of the decision-makers that burn our source of oxygen for profit. The profit-god will also lose its power as we move deeper into the Age of Awareness.
As human beings, we can fight this fundamental shift, as we fight most changes that come our way, or we can go with the flow. Within the Age of Awareness, the increased consciousness with which we act may be the antidote needed to reduce our fear and our need for domination of one energy source over another. Whichever way we are choosing to respond, the change is happening.