{"id":12,"date":"2010-08-27T11:31:20","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T11:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/insweetcompany\/2010\/08\/to-peter.html"},"modified":"2010-08-27T11:31:20","modified_gmt":"2010-08-27T11:31:20","slug":"to-peter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/insweetcompany\/2010\/08\/to-peter.html","title":{"rendered":"To Peter\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

[As a young girl] “I was very attracted by the concept of the Madonna, the loving mother… this loving countenance is part of human experience, even during periods in our history when violence and abuse are dominant.\u00a0When we are hurting, we all want someone we can go to and say, ‘Take care of me. Love me. Help me.'”<\/em>— Riane Eisler, IN SWEET COMPANY: CONVERSATIONS WITH EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN ABOUT LIVING A SPIRITUAL LIFE
\nThank you for your response. As the (very) old Dinah Shore song goes, “It’s so nice to have a man around the house,” a “real” Man, one who is not defended about or insistent on patriarchy or rolling his eyes about matriarchy, who understands that balance, the blend, is the spice of life!\u00a0
\nYour comment brings to mind something Sri Daya Mata said in In Sweet Company: \u00a0“…\u00a0[Paramahansa Yogananda] taught that men and women are equals.\u00a0Woman did not inherit half a soul from man; she is whole within herself.\u00a0Man is also whole within himself. Both are reflections of God, both express His nature in different ways.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n“…\u00a0Men and women are meant to be helpmates, working together as divine friends, as divine companions, to help each other become more balanced within themselves.\u00a0Neither should try to control or dominate the other.\u00a0This is part of the divine purpose of marriage, of every relationship between man and woman.”\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0
\nSo, Hooray to balance! To enrichment of experience! To expansion of consciousness! To connection! To the ability to “Live Love.” And to Helpmates, Divine friends, Divine Companions! \u00a0
\nAnd Hooray to men like you, and the two gentle and powerful men who sing this song to the Divine feminine in us all.
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2ziHZoCnyfs&feature=related
\nYour thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[As a young girl] “I was very attracted by the concept of the Madonna, the loving mother… this loving countenance is part of human experience, even during periods in our history when violence and abuse are dominant.\u00a0When we are hurting, we all want someone we can go to and say, ‘Take care of me. Love…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-journey","category-the-divine-feminine","category-womens-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nTo Peter\u00a0 - In Sweet Company<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/insweetcompany\/2010\/08\/to-peter.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Peter\u00a0 - In Sweet Company\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[As a young girl] “I was very attracted by the concept of the Madonna, the loving mother… this loving countenance is part of human experience, even during periods in our history when violence and abuse are dominant.\u00a0When we are hurting, we all want someone we can go to and say, ‘Take care of me. 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She speaks and writes about things women care about: how to make our lives and our work be about what we value most; how to navigate challenge and change; how to live with integrity and grace, to look at error in ourselves and others in a forgiving way and view life as an invitation to transform ourselves into instruments for the Greater Good. \"I laughed, I cried, I was silent, I cheered. Most of all, I loved.\" Spoken by a woman at In Sweet Company Retreat, these words express what women experience when Margaret engages them in dynamic, soul-searching conversations about their lives. Margaret holds degrees in art therapy, psychosynthesis, and leadership and human behavior. Her work takes her to universities, to conferences and retreat settings, to living rooms and board rooms -- wherever women gather. 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