Feminine Wisdom as an Evolutionary Imperative

” As women we give birth to life, to our selves, children, to a warm home, and to our friends and loved ones. Our wisdom is the inner knowing that it takes to guide these births. Without our innate wisdom our species would not thrive!”

Barbara Marx Hubbard set the tone for the Women of Wisdom Conference,October 1-3, 2010, at the Sophia Institute in Charleston, South Carolina. This convocation of evolutionary women leaders discovered new dimensions of their feminine wisdom and power.

Jean Houston said, “We are the stewards of a critical shift. This is the time. We are the people, As women, we are essential.” My heart broke open with the courage, and complete “yes” of every woman there.

As women we pay attention to what is nurturing for life! What is nurturing to those around us – what will help them grow, what will support them to be all that they can be. We encourage them in directions that will develop their skills and talents into something useful to society. And, when we are really wise, we pay attention to nurturing ourselves, our own growth and health, constantly developing new skills and talents.

As Sue Monk Kidd said, “This is the genus of women.” Sue and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, got us thinking when they asked, What is genius of women? How can it be cultivated? Their conclusion – we need to redefine what constitutes genius. (more on this in another blog!) Claire Zammit and Katherine Woodward Thomas spoke about our feminine power, and how our power “lies in creating a future that doesn’t yet exist.”

What is being asked of us? It seems that especially in the worst of times, we can be helpful, able to guide others through crisis and toward new opportunities when we put our attention on what’s being born. When we are stuck with a focus on what is ending, we narrow our gaze, bewail one door closing, and clutch to what is familiar. (anyone relate?)

The sad part is – when we hang onto the past – we are not wise. We aren’t serving the world, our communities, our families, or our businesses with our wisdom.

We all agreed, it’s tough sometimes to see what is new, because it is just emerging. It’s easy to label it as “inadequate”. It can be really hard to articulate what we see, we don’t have a language for this. Plus, it is not picked up by the news services, it’s not validated or lauded in the talk shows or blogs.

That’s because it’s new! A baby is laudable and promotable because we know that she will grow up to be a woman! When it’s a new solution to an age-old problem, or a new idea that will eventually move mountains, it’s not yet proven, studied in academic papers, or laid out in a spreadsheet. As Barbara said when she and I shared a beautiful picnic lunch under the gracious trees, “How can you have footnotes on what hasn’t yet happened?”

We are evolutionary women leading change. Our leadership is called for. – it’s an evolutionary imperative. I wake each morning deeply excited by what is being asked of women at this time and how we are – each and every one of us – stepping up as best we know how to say “yes”. The world needs us, and we are responding in our feminine wisdom.

What if the call of feminine wisdom is simple as this: Sense what is emerging and love it into a full and healthy life?

How are you responding? I’d love to know.