No equal opposite
Wayne's journal
April 7, 2025
I read Goddess V’s glossary for her new website, and it brings up a question and a couple of thoughts I’ve had before.
The question is about the Divine Feminine having no equal opposite. I know it is probably my patriarchal education that makes my brain fight this concept of no equal opposite because nature and science teaches that everything has an equal opposite. So I thought of something that might be the equal opposite of the Divine Feminine that I wonder how Goddess V. would see it? Maybe I am off base and my question will illustrate the flaws in my understanding?
Anyway, I wonder if the equal opposite of the Divine Feminine is actually a void? Nothingness. If the Divine Feminine represents life and the vibration of energies, then maybe the opposite of that is a vacuum and eternal stillness. I was going to suggest it might be “death and decay”… but that’s not quite right because then we are getting into cycles of life and regeneration and that’s part of life and therefore part of the Divine Feminine, I think?
Am I off base to think this way? I know I should just accept what Goddess teaches and accept that there is no opposite… but my stubborn brain is having trouble with that concept of no equal opposite. I can definitely accept that the Divine Feminine has no equal masculine counterpart… which may be the main point. But what if it isn’t about feminine and masculine and it is more about feminine life and energy vs.a void and a vacuum?
Voids and vacuums do have intense power. They can leach the life out of organisms and represent a distinct lack of life-giving abundance. And black holes are the most powerful known void/vacuum I can think of… sucking matter into the void.
I admit that I have gotten attached to this idea of the opposite of the Divine Feminine being a void of nothingness, stillness, or even a vacuum. It makes my brain hurt less than considering that something can exist that doesn’t have an opposite. But I wonder what Goddess V. thinks about this? Would Goddess agree in any way, or maybe she would want to set me straight about this to help me see it in a different way?
Satsang - no equal opposite
I love this discussion and I am more than happy to clarify.
What this dasa refers to as the “void” is known in Sanskrit as Siva. But even a void seems to imply darkness or a vacuum, which would be part of Devi. So Siva is not a void, either.
Let's use Sanatana Dharma as a starting point. In Sanatana Dharma, Siva is sometimes viewed as the opposite of Shakti or Devi. But it is also made very clear in non-dualist traditions, that they are not two separable forces or objects. Siva could be better understood as Devi in her resting state, before any movement, light, vibration or creation. This resting state is pre-existence and so cannot be the opposite of, well, anything, including Devi. And that is very hard for the human mind to grasp. In fact, the concept of not existing is one of the most difficult concepts for humans to wrap their heads around.
Siva is “that which is not.” That is to say Siva is pure potential. I would not call Siva “nothing.”But potential has no dimensions, no movement, no features, takes up no space and exists outside of time. When we meditate and reach the state between sleeping and waking we are trying to reach the most subtle state that exists just before touching Siva. When one actually reaches Siva while still existing as a physical being, it is extremely difficult to come back from that and function in this world. It threatens to wipe the mind out completely. If one reaches that state, there must then be a conscious process of re-embodiment. Often meditators long to reach that state because pure potential has no qualities, no pleasure or pain or up or down or inside or outside. Our minds are infinitely curious about it. But reaching it is not a very useful goal. It simply satisfies that curiosity, nothing more. However, getting close to it through meditation has a peaceful, calming effect on the mind and psyche. That can be used as a nice reset button to relieve one from the stresses of existence.
We return to Siva when we die. This is why Siva is known as the god of destruction. When we reach Siva we simply cease to be in every sense and return to the pure potential from which we came. To reach Siva while alive is like a temporary death and is not the goal of your spiritual journey here on earth. Our goal is simply to experience all that we can experience so that Devi may know Herself through our unique perspective. In short, we are here to play.
As for the Divine Masculine, this is also not the equal opposite of the Divine Feminine, because it was created by and from Her. It was brought into being by Her merely as a tool to support,observe, measure, describe, and contain Devi. Whereas female bodies are the direct connection and doorway between the infinite potential and life in the physical realm and they have a special role. Devi moves vibration into matter through our bodies. Male bodies were also, like the masculine, created to support the female body and manufacture pieces of DNA in order to add even more variety to the possibilities of life and make all bodies more resilient and resistant to pathogens. Maleness is a positive mutation to help mammals evolve and survive. It is not an unimportant role, but it is not the same as the role of women and the Feminine.
The Divine Masculine understands his supportive and protective role clearly, which is what makes him divine. He knows his purpose. Males who view themselves as superior are mundanely profane.
Everything that exists and its opposite are all Devi! And beyond opposites there are also networks of meaning that do not abide by any binaries. The binaries are simply the masculine way of organizing the observable world to make more sense of it. It is useful to a point but not the ultimate truth. In the same way that a clock is not time itself, binaries are just a measuring tool to measure reality, but they are not reality itself. I hope this helps to make sense of things for the mind stuck in duality.
