A tale of shifting energies
Quest for balance, harmony, and embracing the yin within.
Some find a way to tap into this mysterious knowing. Others let it pass through, not believing, forgetting the dance of natural rhythms.
Today I want to talk about energy, that beautiful ever-shifting ever-moving force around us. The one that can be felt but can’t be touched. I want to focus particularly on the balance of different energies, on striving for an equilibrium, on achieving harmony. Chinese philosophers have been particularly interested in this harmony and have studied it extensively. Giving rise to what they call Yin and Yang, a perfect balance, the concept of duality. The interaction between Yin and Yang is thought to maintain the synchronization of the universe and to inspire everything within it. Yin is considered the feminine energy, it covers the darker areas, it’s the negative space, the mysterious, and the unknown. Whereas yang is considered the masculine energy, it reflects the brighter areas, the white space, the knowing, and direction.
Sitting on the cliffs of beautiful Canarian mountains, a paradise that is geographically located in Africa but politically called Spain, it is here that I start wondering about energies, as a soft ocean breeze starts whispering to me. The whispers grow into daunting questions about the energies that shaped our world. Not just the natural world, but the tangible human world that we call society, economy, civilization. I am an optimist, and while I take pride in all that humanity has achieved, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by the amplitude of things that we could be doing better.
The latest research suggests that the gap between the have’s and have nots is increasing at a rapid rate. According to the 2022 World Inequality Report, the poorest half of the world population owns just 2% of total net wealth, whereas the richest half owns 98% of all the wealth. The report also confirms that inequality is not inevitable, it is a political choice. Humans have the means and resources at their disposal right now to end poverty. (A small percentage of reduction in the global military budget as suggested by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), would be enough to fund a 15-year plan to end extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. Source: Reuters)
Global warming is a reality that can no longer be avoided instead we are starting wars, increasing our expenditure on defence equipments, and pursuing costly ego-centric adventures of building spaceships for intergalactic travel. Which is money and resources that could have been used for fighting climate change, poverty, and creating equitable earth for all of its inhabitants, you and me included but not limited to.
How did we end up creating a world with so much imbalance and disproportionality? When did our perspective become so narrow and ego-centric? They say to understand the future, we must have a hard look at the past. So let’s reverse back a few hundred years, perhaps all the way back to the 15th Century.
500 Years of Yang
The foundations of the world that we live in today find their roots in the changes that happened from the 15th Century up until the 20th Century. Today’s Trade systems, financial systems, and industrial innovations are by-products of the imperial era. This is the period where we saw the rise and fall of the global colonial economy. Of exploitation of resources and growth of modern commerce. While I am interested in the political aspects of this period, the focus of this conversation rests on energy. And this is the period of a predominant yang and a mostly dormant yin. It’s an era of direction, of assertiveness, of survival, of domination. It’s also an era of detachment from the natural world and the beginning of ashift towards a material world. A creation of new hierarchy where humans are detached from its earthly surroundings, superior to it. Within this new hierarchy, males, especially white males, found themselves at the top, while everyone else(women and people of color) found themselves deemed inferior, a phenomenon also called “othering” (A recurring theme within the study of colonial violence is the practice of othering through which coloniality came to justify and legitimize the expropriation, dehumanization, and domination of diverse peoples, knowledges, and lifeworlds). A brief but prominent period in history where notions of compassion, humility, equality, and harmony held little importance. Where attributes associated with Yin, were shunned down, locked away in dark places of the human psyche.
We hear great tales from this period, hailing the marvelous, charismatic leaders of that time. Of Christopher Columbus and his adventures, of Napolean Bonaparte and his astute military leadership, of the great kings and their courage. Pages in history books are covered with praises of Yang values. But where I wonder, were all the female leaders? Where were the Michelles Obamas and Angela Merkels of that time? Where did the Yin go hiding? If we visualize the leadership distribution during this time, it would look something like this:
Male leadership represented by the dominante white space on left. Female leadership represented by the smaller negative space on right. (Leadership distribution from 15th to early 20th Century)
I wonder what led to this, but more than that I wonder how differently colonization would have played out if more leaders were embracing their Yin, their feminine energy. Would we have oppressed whole civilizations if women leaders had a stronger say in this matter? Would we have begun the excessive exploitation of earth if leaders paid heed to whispers of Yin?
The slow waking up of Yin
Interestingly, something started to shift. A change seemed to be underway towards the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. We see a period of decolonization, the rise of democracy, the industrial revolution, and the entering of women into the workforce. There seemed to be a shift of focus from “individualistic benefit” to a focus on “collective good”. Notions of equality and human rights started emerging. “Softer topics” and “delicate conversations” started to circle around.
We see non-violent, yin embracing leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela pave way for independence and equality. We see Rosa Parks and her courage that accelerated the Civil Rights Movement. We see globalization and the opening of the world to diverse thoughts. We see women breaking barriers across all industries, Marie Curie, Earhart, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and Oprah Winfrey to name a few. We witness a certain change in energy, a search for equilibrium.
The visual we saw before starts to look like this:
Slight increase in female leadership towards the end of 20th Century, as illustrated by expanding black region. Yin is starting to wake up, give out a big yawn and stretch.
Current state of affairs
While female energy is starting to expand, the rate of expansion is still too slow. The World Inequality Report 2022 provides the first estimates of gender inequality in global earnings. Overall, women’s share of total income from work neared 30% in 1990 and stands at less than 35% today.
Graph 1. The share of female incomes in global labor incomes was 35% in 2020, far behind the 50% mark for gender parity. Today males makes upto 65% of total global incomes. Source: WIR 2022 and Neef and Robilliard 2021.
In a gender-equal world, women would earn 50% of all global income. However, in past 30 years, progress has been very slow at the global level, and dynamics have been different across countries, with some recording progress but others seeing reductions in women’s share of earnings. These statistics look grimmer when we look at female representation in leadership roles across different sectors. For example, in corporate America, only 20% of C-Suite executives are women out of which only 4% are women of color.(Source: Mckinsey, Women-in-the-workplace.)
Graph 2. Note: Figures may not sum to 100%, because of rounding. Source: Women in Workplace 2021, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey, 2021
We live in a world where history has been shaped and written by men(white men in particular), a world where the foundations are built on yang. This results in over importance on masculine values of growth and single directional activity. On the material, rational world over the natural, mystical world. It results in reduced empathy, descent in the importance of harmony, and negligence of long-term sustenance.
I know that today we stand united in holding the belief that there needs to be a fundamental and platonic shift in the way we lead and govern this planet. That we cannot have a nationalistic view anymore but a planetary one. That we should learn to let go of the power and redistribute it. That we must trust each other and nurture each other. It is my belief that we unanimously agree on the urgency to direct humanity towards a future that’s not only prosperous but also harmonious. Into a world where human values are aligned and not distorted. A world that is led with universal balance, that moves to its natural rhythms. A world that is in sync. A world where we remember that we are earth beings. Here to cultivate and nurture the land. Shape and mold it, yes, but not extract and deprive it. Perhaps it’s time to re-earth ourselves. To remember to get our feet and toes deep inside the mud and let it dig deep in our nails. Perhaps it’s time to listen to the whispers of the wind(our deep intuition) and let it guide the way.
While there are many paths to lead us towards this future, one crucial pillar would be the leadership we will choose to shepherd the way. And I hope this time around we will have a better place for yin. That we will recognize her for all she has to offer to us. That we will let her show us a way that’s different. That we will finally pay head to those whispers.
To create an equitable world we need to first balance the energies that are leading and shaping this world. A yang-led world has got us this far but to go further we would need the support of yin. We would need not only strong female leaders in key positions across all fields and domains but also kind male leaders who are empathic, courageous, and tuned into their yin. It’s time for yin to expand and for yang to make space for her.
Where we are and what we need:
One true future. A balance of male and female energy.
The future we want to create is achievable. A future where wealth is distributed fairly and not the one where many slave their time for the profits of a few. Where we live in tune with the planet. Where each child gets access to education and no one, I repeat no one, sleeps hungry. In this time and space, we have all the resources and knowledge to achieve this seemingly “ideal” yet realistic dream. There are many ways to realize it but it starts with the leadership we choose. It starts with rebalancing our energies. It starts with refinding Yin. It starts with equal representation.
Post Script: The first draft of this article was started in January 2022. Back then I had heard faint rumors of a potential war being ensued but never could have imagined that within a few months, we would find ourselves in a world where some leaders willingly choose to go back to the old ways and regress to violence.
When the world is slipping, wars are starting, peace is being put into question, we need Yin more than ever. When few power-hungry men choose violence and fear for self-profiting, disproportionate and delusional expansion, we need courage, compassion, and humanity. When aggressive energy is being used to undo all the progress society has made, we need nurturing, calm energy to make peace again.
Could our collective Yin be an answer to hold these shifting sands of history and stop us from sliding behind?
And more interestingly, would a balanced Russian cabinet, the one that would have had a 50% female leadership, choose to go to war?
The government of Mikhail Mishustin, January 21, 2020. A yang dominated government choosing to supress its yin. Source: http://government.ru/en/gov/persons/
Coincidetally, the last time a country declared global war, its leadership looked something like this:
Adolf Hitler poses with his cabinet shortly after assuming power as chancellor of Germany. Hitler is flanked by Joseph Goebbels (left) and Hermann Göring (right). Berlin, Germany, 1933
Despite past mistakes, Germany has been able to rebuild the nation on strong new foundations and embraces its yin values. Interestingly enough, the German government has evolved in terms of gender representation too. The photo below is a stark difference from the photo above:
Post-Merkel German government, 2021. Germany still has room for improvement but this photo is a far cry from the one taken in 1933 in terms of female representation.
I have faith in governments like that of Germany who have come a long way in their shift of values and who are embracing peace and progress. It gives me hope to see that people change. That nations can radically rebuild their values. That yin can find its way back and create a balance.
This is not a conflict of gender, it is a fight for re-balancing of energies, of recentering of values, of nurturing humankind, of nurturing all earth beings and this beautiful rock in space that we call home.
