Samsara, not the parfume by Guerlain, but the Buddhist understanding of the word: the endless cycle of birth and death that humans repeat–(no new learning from lifetime to lifetime)–when we are unaware that there is anything more than daily life, currying the favor of those in charge, expressing current family and social values, competing for jobs, money, status and power, and finally–dying. 

Samsara can be transcended, say Buddhist teachers, by various meditation practices that progressively raise our consciousness, our awareness, in the same way that a wind moves clouds that obscure the sun, revealing the bright light and clear blue sky that was there all along. As we get less and less caught up in changeable emotional states–desire, unhappiness, greed, fear–we begin to live differently, make different choices, loosen our ‘grasp’ on any given ’street-level reality’ and discover a way to live at deeper and deeper levels of peace, with wisdom, generosity and compassion.

When I look around at what isn’t happening for women currently: we still sit behind most reception desks (my pet peeve), we have fewer employment opportunities than men (and in a visionary mode, I add that we have not yet created and defined work on our own terms, we do what men define as ‘work’), we earn less $$$, we retain the majority of responsibililty for raising children–more and more alone (single mothers are the fastest growing sector of impoverished humans), women in their twenties still cook and clean for their boyfriends, our bodies are judged, degraded, abused and exploited privately and commercially–I can’t help but see us in our own unique brand of “female samsara”. 

Honestly, it seems to me now that we are largely repeating our subservient status over and over again, with not much sign of protest or struggle–certainly less than in the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s. To the extent that there is no struggle, there is a presumed acceptance of things being the way they are.

Are they really supposed to be that way?–women are just weaker, women are supposed to do the dirty work and prioritize raising kids over developing professionally, men are in charge because they know better, our work is worth less, emotion is our strength, not our intellects (smaller brains), and part of being a woman is being the object of sexual fantasy and desire (so put on that makeup, lose that weight, get some stillettos, get your hair did and get out there and seduce someone!). 

Women, is this really how our lives are supposed to be? IS there some ‘natural order’ that dictates our subservient status?

There seems to be some contemporary confusion and fear about the word feminism. Back in the day (1979 for instance) from my perspective on the campus of a prestigeous women’s college, the fear of feminism was linked to fear of lesbianism, basically, if you were a feminist, maybe you were also a dyke (oh no!) (and many women were trying that-all out. It was a fun time…) Now? That interpretation is far too obscure to fuel current fears of feminism, I think, which seem more about devaluing men. In response to current understandings of “feminist”, perhaps, the site feminist.org produced a basic video called   What Does A Feminist Look Like? (click on this link to view)

Yes, one aspect to my observations includes Hillary. What I am considering is whether women today are so caught up in our current samsara, that we cannot transcend enough to vote for her, tragically, because we really don’t think she can do the job BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN. Yes, folks, you know Tina Fey got it right with her truthfully sarcastic commentary which included, ”well, women are apparently feeling so liberated these days that they don’t feel like they need to vote for a woman candidate.”

Right.

Not.

Listen, if you are one of those women, I need to ask you to ‘check yourself’, and your self-dislike and self-denegration, and imagine for a moment what it would be like to actually believe that she could do the job–I am asking you to have a feminist moment! I’ve known women to actually, YES, have their own CRYING MOMENT when they realized that sexism, devaluing their own gender, was the only thing keeping them from voting for the candidate who can most effectively do the job.

Baby, it’s time that we all ’come a long way’. Back our gal. She is a woman AND she can do it. She is so much stronger than either of those boys.

You think this election isn’t having an effect already? Today in Target I overhear two 9-year-oldish girls playing around the corner from where I was browsing. One of them said to the other, “Hey, who do you think you are, President of the United States or something?” I thought of Hillary. I had not heard little girls every say that before. I don’t think I did. Notice that they did not say, “First Lady”.

I LOVED THAT.

Here’s a hiphop song “Why Not A President?” by  ProfessirX, who is supporting Hillary.

Enjoy, feminists of every type!

Peace, love and consciousness,

Ms. SpinC