Masculinity and Feminity

BELOVED OSHO

WHILE YOU WERE POINTING THE FINGER TO THE MOON YOU SAID TODAY, "MEN HAVE TO BECOME MORE MASCULINE." WHAT IS THIS MASCULINE?

Masculinity can have two directions, just as feminineness can have two directions. The masculine mind can be aggressive, violent, and destructive; while the feminineness is inactivity, lethargy, indifference.

But very dark cloud has a silver lining.

Positive masculinity is initiative, creativity, adventure. Destructiveness and creativeness are not two things, but two aspects of one energy. When aggression is initiative it has a beauty of its own. When violence becomes adventure, when violence becomes exploration, it is tremendously beneficial.

And so is the case with the feminine. Inactivity is negative, receptivity is positive. You will need very penetrating eyes to see the difference between the inactive and the receptive. The receptive is a welcome, it is an awaiting, it has a prayer in it. Receptivity is a host, receptivity is a womb. Inactivity is simply dullness, death, and hopelessness. There is nothing to wait for, nothing to expect, nothing is ever going to happen. It is falling into lethargy; it is falling into a kind of indifference. And indifference and lethargy are poisons.

But the same thing that becomes indifference can become detachment. Indifference is simply no interest. Detachment is not absence of interest -- detachment is absolute interest, tremendous interest, but still with the capacity of non-clinging. Enjoy the moment while it is there and when the moment starts disappearing, as everything is bound to disappear, let it go. That is detachment.

Lethargy is a negative state. One is like a lump of mud just lying there -- no possibility of growth, no exuberance, no flowering. But the same energy can become a pool, a great pool of energy -- not going anywhere, not doing anything, but the energy accumulating and accumulating and accumulating.

The day your inner man and woman meet, you are enlightened. That day is a day of great celebration, not only for you but for the whole existence. One man has arrived back again. Out of millions and millions, one man has arrived. When Buddha became enlightened, flowers showered from the sky. But the first lesson has to be learned outside, remember. Unless you have known the woman on the outer plane, in all her richness, in all her sweetness and bitterness; unless you have known the man on the outside, in all his beauty and in all his ugliness, you will not be able to move into the inner dimension. You will not be able to allow the yin and yang, Shiva and Shakti, to meet inside.