How Patriarchal Value Systems Affect Consciousness

According to social psychologist Christa Mackinnon, none of the countless issues we face on this planet today can be resolved by our current way of thinking and being, based on our established, mainly masculine, value systems. A functioning, sustainable whole requires the feminine and the masculine to be integrated within the individual and within humanity as a whole, and we are increasingly aware of the dysfunctional results of millennia of human development based almost solely on patriarchal, masculine value systems.

The feminine wasn't always subordinate to the masculine. As far as we know, it was the earth – nature itself – who provided our ancient, tribal forefathers and mothers with the concept of the Great Mother and with a value system based on nature's ways and cycles. The Great Mother was a symbol of life itself. In her womb grew all of life; from her body emerged all of life; she sustained all of life through the nourishment she provided, and all living things returned to her when dying. Therefore, the Great Mother, as an inclusive force of life and its cycles, was seen as being sacred.

The feminine principle stems in its origins from this nature-based concept, as the female body exhibits the same patterns and cycles as nature. Consequently, the feminine was seen as the life-giving, nurturing, sustaining and life-embracing force, the 'creative vessel of life that contained, birthed, nurtured and protected'. Not surprising, then, that ancient people respected the feminine. Read more.