Men and women are different. We look at the world differently. We solve problems differently. Our spiritual connections are profoundly different. That’s a fact, and if you want to argue with me, go ahead. You have the right to your own opinion, and if you use that right to be totally wrong, that’s your choice, not mine.

There are some people I know, and you know who you are, who will use that statement to imply that the “women’s way” is somehow less than the men’s way. You know the typical bullshit about being illogical or overly emotional. The fact is that woman have a more emotional and visceral connection to the Divine. It’s easier for us to connect with the Divine, because we carry in our bodies the creative force in the Universe. We create and give birth to life. Men are part of the cycle but women are the cycle. Daily, monthly, yearly and for most of our lives, it’s what we do. So we’re more emotional about it. What the fuck is wrong with that??

Men connect to the Divine literally, and at first on a purely intellectual level. Now, before you go all ape shit on me and tell me I don’t understand, I’ll tell you that this wasn’t something I believed until my husband said it. If you want to throw stones, throw them at him first. (I’ll warn you, he throws back, and he has really good aim, so think about it first. He’s not a sweetheart like me.) Men think in an almost exclusively linear fashion. Point a leads to point b leads to point c… On and on times infinity…. They learn that way, they solve problems that way and they live their lives as almost entirely goal oriented.

I’m not bashing men when I say this. It would be like being angry at my cat for being unable to resist the yarn on the coffee table. It’s just the way they are, and it’s cool. They say that there are men out there that don’t think this way, but I’ve never actually met one. I think they’re like unicorns; you have to be a virgin to meet one. (that train left the station a looooong time ago, so I’m not holding my breath.)

Women think and connect differently. We think and connect by seeing the relationships. While men see a tree, women see the tree as the leaves, roots and trunk and how they relate to one another. It’s just a difference, that’s all; one of the inherent differences between men and women that make life exciting and frustrating.

Here’s where the problem lies. Men, for reasons of power and control, decided long ago to portray a woman’s way of seeing and dealing with the world as inferior to theirs. “Women’s intuition” is as reviled as it is feared. Women’s emotionality is considered unstable. A woman’s ability to multi-task, as in cook dinner, keep the kids from killing themselves and others, doing the laundry and studying for an exam, is looked at as a lack of ability to focus. They aren’t looked at as the strengths they actually are, they’re portrayed as negatives. Men don’t do it as well as women, so they say that women’s ability to do somehow makes them unfit. Or, perhaps, they want to “spare the little lady” anymore stress. (that’s what they say at least. I’m calling bullshit on that.)

What I’m trying to lead up to, and going the scenic route to get there, is that men have set the world up in a way that makes it harder for women to be our authentic selves. Women are at war within themselves. On the one hand, we know that we have a built in connection to the Divine, but on the other, we’re being told that the connection we have is wrong or faulty in some way. It’s not a “logical,” or linear connection, so it’s either not a true connection or the connection was formed wrong. (Yes, I’ve actually been told that.)

Almost every religion designs its structure on a linear, goal oriented, male model. I’m including all of those “feminine positive” ones in there as well. I say almost, only because there are some I haven’t seen yet, and it’s possible, though not likely, that there is one or two out there that don’t. What are we saying to women, when we structure everything in a way that makes in harder, if not impossible, for them to achieve prominence by using our gifts and talents in a way that is native to us? We’re saying, in short, that women are inferior, and that’s not the truth.

I’m not trying to overthrow the world. (okay, maybe I am, but it’s for a good cause.) What I want to do first is to level the playing field. I want people, men and women alike, to understand that women and men can do the same things, but that we can to them equally well but differently. We don’t have to use the same path to reach the same destination; we just have to all get there.