In this post, I want to raise an idea I had that male and female celibates play different roles. By celibacy I mean, not simply the state of being unmarried, but people who have specifically chosen to remain unmarried in order to fulfill a special role.
It appears that male celibacy is associated with separating oneself from society in order to do unusual work. An example would be the archetype of the good wizard, who deals with arcane knowledge for the benefit of his people. Another is hermits, such as Cuthbert, Dunstan, and Antony, all of whom were said to have struggled with demons. They go outside the community in order to fight against its unseen foes. In a comment on my post on the Desert Fathers, Bruce Charlton made a good point that hermits were believed to benefit their communities simply by their life. Even people whom they never met or who never knew about them. Another example would be an unmarried shaman who lives away from the main tribe, but who is able to help with tasks which require his unusual capabilities. Yet another example is the genius scientist or alchemist who forgoes family life to pursue something outside the normal range of human experience.
On the other hand, I think that female celibacy is associated with holding the community together, rather than going beyond it. One example would be the vestal virgins, who tended the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta, the goddess of the home and hearth. Rather than caring for a particular family, their influence was seen as binding Rome together.
A different example would be the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandira, who has been entirely misunderstood by modernists. Within Hellenistic paganism, raising a family was regarded as a duty. So, I believe one reason for Hypatia's celibacy, in addition to philosophical discipline was that by refraining from one duty, she was then permitted to perform another.
If any readers have other examples or ideas on this subject, leave a comment.
Broadly, masculinity seems to concern the frontier of society and human consciousness, whereas femininity has the interior. Men hunt, women gather. Men fight the forest, the wolves, and demons, and women bind the village together with home-making, feasts, and celebrations. I see this reflected in your description of male vs. female celibacy. Male celibates release certain social bonds in order to go even further out on the frontier; female celibates sacrifice theirs so that they can bind the interior together even more intensely.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this all gives some hint as to the activities of male and female angels.
"Broadly, masculinity seems to concern the frontier of society and human consciousness, whereas femininity has the interior."
Delete"Male celibates release certain social bonds in order to go even further out on the frontier; female celibates sacrifice theirs so that they can bind the interior together even more intensely"
Good summing up.
I also like your point about masculine and feminine angels. It seems intuitively plausible.