Integral impulse and gender / sexuality issues in spirituality

What I want to write about this morning...

Integral impulse...

It strikes me that the integral impulse involves addressing elements of life on their own terms ... not trying to make other areas of life "count" or make up for a given area of life...

Let me be more concrete with a specific example:  I have become aware of needing to address some aspects of my interpersonal style in my relationship with my partner that have not been helpful.  It would be tempting for me to want to "solve" these interpersonal issues by ramping up my efforts in other domains -- perhaps being a little more disciplined in my exercise routine, so that my stress is more manageable, or perhaps taking in a meditation retreat or weekend that will get me in touch with the deeper spiritual qualities of life.

But, a key element of a more integral approach, it seems to me, really a part of an integral ethics, is that I accept that my interpersonal issues must be address interpersonally!  I don't attempt to bypass them, if I accept the challenge of an integral ethos.  I address life issues on their own terms, in their appropriate domain.

 Switching topics, since this is a free-flowing blog...I am interested in the relationship between gender/sexuality issues and the teachings of various spiritual teachers.  I just finished reading Andre Van Der Braak's excellent account of his years with teacher Andrew Cohen.  Cohen's tendency towards a kind of misogyny is illustrated in a campaign to address women's shortcomings, accompanied by a pronouncement that women are somehow farther away from enlightenment than are men.  This echoes the kind of bullshit sentiment that was present in the community of my upbringing ... it is "patriarchy", pure and simple.

However, what has not always been recognized is that we now find examples of misandry (hatred of men) showing up in spiritual teachings.  For example, Eckhart Tolle claiming the opposite, that women are somehow closer to enlightenment than are men.  

Here is a quote from Tolle's Power of Now:

"Why women are closer to enlightenment"

Are the obstacles to enlightenment the same for a man as a for a woman?

Yes, but the emphasis is different.  Generally speaking, it is easier for a woman to feel and be in her body, so she is naturally closer to Being and potentially closer to enlightenment than a man". (p.138)

Those interested in a more integral approach to gender and sexuality issues within spirituality need to take a strong stand against both of these teachings.  Tolle, in this instance, appears to be reflecting the postmodern "status quo" in viewing women as superior; Cohen, perhaps in attempting to move beyond the postmodern, instead is caught in a pre-trans fallacy, and ends up producing a throw-back teaching.

 We need spiritual teachers and teachings that are sensitive to the issues on both sides, that recognize that women and men are both alike and different in different contexts, and that, as Ken Wilber has noted, "both men and women are neck and neck in the stupid race" -- that is, men and women need to help each other to attain more enlightened living.  Divisive teachings such as Cohen's and Tolle's, in these instances, only make this worthy goal harder to attain.