Masculinity: A New Story

Session Two: Transparency, Community, and Eros

with Sabine Lichtenfels & Benjamin von Mendelssohn

This conversation, recorded in a redwood forest in California, focuses primarily with masculinity as it relates to women and the feminine principle, ranging from the archetypal to the highly personal. We talk about the origin of patriarchy (not the historical origin though) and why masculine energy has turned violent – violent not only toward women, but toward the planet. What we have done to the waters of the planet, says Sabine, we have done to erotic energy as well.

Some of the viewpoints that Sabine and Benjamin articulate are likely to be controversial, especially as they diverge from current PC views. Yet they are hard to dismiss, borne as they are from decades of intensive practice and teaching. Here are a couple of samples:

Sabine: “The power of feminine sexuality that men could not meet, was transformed into demandingness by unsatisfied women for whom the men were never enough, which drove them toward patriarchy, violence, overcompensation to prove themselves worthy. The origin point of patriarchy is a historical inferiority complex.”

Benjamin: “We really need mature women who give us the feedback ‘We are OK as sexual beings, with all our masculine power.’ Because we are so afraid of power today, because we have abused it so much that we walk away from it. But it is needed today in the protection and service of life.”

About Sabine & Benjamin

Sabine Lichtenfels is co-founder of the Peace Research Centre Tamera in Portugal, theologian, pilgrim in the name of Grace. In 2002, she initiated the Ring of Power// A Global Spiritual Network of Peace. In 2005 she was nominated by a Swiss initiative for the Nobel Prize as one of the worldwide “1000 Women for Peace.” In Tamera she leads the Global Love School and “Terra Deva,” the department for spiritual research.

Benjamin von Mendelssohn co-founded the Peace University at Potsdam and later researched many social experiments and intentional communities. Trained as a healer, dancer and choreographer, Benjamin has been an innovator in nurturing new models of community based on holistic principles. Living at the renowned, highly influential Tamera eco-social experiment in Portugal since 1998, he has become one of the community’s leaders.

A Conversation with Sabine & Benjamin

Questions for Study, Meditation, and Discussion

1. Make an inventory of the secrets you keep and the desires you dare not express. Really do this! Don’t worry, you are not asked to then reveal these secrets. Just be aware of what you hold secret.
2. What are some desires you would feel afraid, angry, or betrayed to hear your partner express?
3. What does “masculinity in service to the tribe” look like for you? Think of a time when you witnessed yourself or another expressing masculinity in a way that was beautiful to you. Don’t worry about intellectually justifying calling this behavior “masculine” — just go with the gut feeling.

Follow-up Conversation with Q&A