The power we’ve been mastering for the last 50 years has been a masculine version of power.
Until now, power has been defined exclusively in masculine terms. If you look up the word “power” in the dictionary, the definition given is the ability “to do, to act, to accomplish, to wield command or control over others.”
This masculine power system has given us the miracles of science and the marvels of industry. It has enabled us to create an unprecedented standard of living and have opportunities beyond our grandmothers’ wildest dreams.
It was a brilliant strategy for us to collectively take on mastering the masculine power system some 50 years ago, to level the playing field between men and women and emancipate ourselves from the tyranny of oppression.
Though there is still a long way to go, especially on a global scale, we have become the most autonomous, free, independent, educated, and powerful generation of women in recorded history.
In fact, the yearnings we have for self-expression, spiritual partnership, creativity and contribution are high quality problems we’re now navigating as a result of our unprecedented success at mastering power in the masculine.
It’s an odd paradox that the kind of power that has brought us to this point is not the power that we now need to move forward.
Indeed, if we look at what’s missing from our lives and from our world, we can see that the things we most deeply desire—such as love, intimacy, connection, belonging, creativity, self-expression, aliveness, meaning, purpose, contribution, and a brighter future for generations to come—can’t be created with a system of power based on control, analysis, and logical, linear thinking. Nor can they be executed with a strategic plan.