We occasionally reprint Andrew Cohen’s weekly email quote if it touches on a matter that particularly interests us. This week’s excerpt is titled, “The Evolution of Gender”.

The question posed concerns gender in the postmodern age — which may now have passed — and especially in the state of consciousness beyond ego, which we term “enlightenment”.

If you would like to receive Andrew’s weekly emails, click on the link below the quote.

The Evolution of Gender
If enlightenment is the experience of consciousness beyond ego, then what does that consciousness look like, expressed through postmodern men and women? What happens to our identity, to fundamental self-structures like gender, when we take that leap beyond ego? This has always been a confusing matter, but it is even more so in a time and cultural context when so many of us are unclear about what the contours of a male or female identity should be. As both men and women evolve from traditional to post-traditional roles in culture, religion, and society, the roadmap for what it means to be a man or a woman, beyond some very basic distinctions, has become less and less clearly defined. And for those of us who are endeavoring to pioneer new stages in the evolution of consciousness and culture, this uncharted terrain is the very place in which we choose to live. So what does it mean to be a man or a woman as we develop beyond conventional structures and post-conventional confusion to post-postconventional clarity?

Andrew Cohen