Even the most optimistic among us must admit it: we are facing a wide range of crises today. (Geo)political, financial, ecological, technological, ethical… I guess there is not one societal or even personal field that is unaffected by the rollercoaster of events we are currently in. The world as we knew it no longer exists, and is changing so rapidly that we can hardly keep pace. In our attempt to move forward while creating solutions for the challenges ahead, we even expose ourselves to the danger of self-annihilation as a human species. Is this really the future we want to create? And is this old way of coping really the way we want to tackle the crises we are in?
Historically we tend to solve societal crises in a masculine way. We react rationally, by imposing measurements, regulations, laws. Top down. We solve problems superficially in the hope that the show can go on – and suppress disturbing symptoms that tell us otherwise. When things really get bad, we identify an enemy that we can furiously fight, or we provoke a war. ‘After destruction, comes rebuilding,’ I guess that’s the reasoning. So, let’s destroy the enemy. Problem solved. Or so we think. The human pain we caused by this destruction, is considered collateral damage, and we naively hope that oppression will not take its revenge in a devious way, and come back to us. How much are we willing to destroy? And what do we think this eternal division and fight will lead to – knowing that our crises become increasingly global?
How much more are we willing to destroy? As a woman I watch this evolution with growing disbelief – and alarm. What are we doing?
As a woman I watch this evolution with growing disbelief – and alarm. What are we doing? What is this heading to? Every cell in my body is telling me: stop. This cannot go on. Sooner or later, we will have to accept that we are trying to subdue monsters that have become too big for us to defeat, and that the solutions we are suggesting are sucking life out of all of us. Sooner or later, we will have to admit that no-one really knows what we are heading to – even the ones who think they do. And we will have to acknowledge that, if we want to create a livable future for the next generations, we will have to radically turn the wheel. But what does this mean?
In this book (A Feminine Answer to Crisis) I am taking you on a journey – the personal journey I experienced between 2020 and 2023, leaving my old life behind and stepping into the big unknown. While at that time the world was being guided through a global crisis by a strong paternal voice, I found myself being led in a completely different direction – one that I can only describe as the feminine way.
While the world was being guided through a global crisis by a strong paternal voice,
I found myself being led in a completely different direction.
This challenging journey made me realize that, in times of crisis, we need more than the well-known effective masculine qualities of leadership, vision, action, determination, and clarity. We also desperately need less familiar and appreciated, yet profoundly powerful feminine qualities. Like the ability to accept the unknown and enter the mystery. The strength to hold space for discomfort and to endure periods of decay and emptiness, before giving birth to the new. The power to connect and collaborate as one body, and to heal the pains that we have been carrying for generations. But also, the mystical reconnection to the soul and to a reality that is bigger than our egos. And the ability to dream and create from the heart.
When fear of unknown territory and fear of the feminine push us to overemphasize traditional masculine strategies when dealing with crisis, leadership becomes unbalanced and even toxic. Instead of healing the roots of a crisis, we risk amplifying the pain. Instead of finding new solutions, we tend to blindly rely on the very thinking that is at the root of our systemic crisis. And in doing so, we may miss the opportunity as a culture – and as humanity – to involve into a new chapter of our history.
I am willing to share a range of essential, yet forgotten feminine qualities that we will all need,
if we want to make it safely to the other end.
If we want to change the course of events, we will have to turn our compass. Decisively and courageously. I know no-one has the full truth, nor the one solution, but am willing to share my viewpoint, as a Western woman and journalist who has been observing the world for decades. And I am willing to share a range of essential, yet forgotten feminine qualities that I discovered on my personal journey. Qualities that – facing a systemic crisis – we will all need, if we want to make it safely to the other end.
I know parts of this story are unconventional. The deep feminine is. The stranger the story might sound, the more I hope you understand how far we distanced ourselves of an important and deeply human part of our psyche that we absolutely need in challenging times. My hope is that many of you – and especially new, young leaders – will feel inspired to trust, develop, and embody these qualities, balancing them with healthy, empowering masculine ones – because we absolutely need these too. We have to develop both assets to face a crisis: masculine and feminine. Only then can we draw on the fullness of our human potential – and not just half of it – to navigate one of the most challenging periods in history that we may ever experience.
Only then will we be able to dream and create a future that will benefit our children.
* * * BY ANNE WISLEZ.
This text is the introduction to my latest book: A Feminine Answer to Crisis.
Want to read more? Great! 🙂 Get your own copy here, or the e-book here.
Art work (cover) by Shambhala Light Visionary Art
