Written by Fiona Blenman

Human beings are extraordinarily diverse.

We differ physically, psychologically, culturally and socially. Even within categories such as male and female, no two people express themselves in exactly the same way.

Yet throughout history, humans have repeatedly described nature through complementary principles: light and darkness, activity and stillness, Sun and Moon, Yin and Yang, masculine and feminine.

Within my own philosophical framework of Conscious Energy, I explore a similar relationship.

I describe two complementary principles:

Consciousness — receptive, reflective, observational and inward

and

Energy — active, expressive, transformative and outward.

I have traditionally associated Consciousness symbolically with the feminine/Yin principle, and Energy with the masculine/Yang principle.

But there is an important distinction.

These are symbolic qualities within my framework. They should not be interpreted as scientific claims that women are Consciousness while men are Energy—or that a person’s biology determines their personality, abilities or place in society.

Every individual contains a complex mixture of characteristics.

Perhaps the more interesting question isn’t:

Are you masculine or feminine?

but:

How do these complementary qualities find expression within you?

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Nature’s Complementary Principles

Many philosophical and spiritual traditions have used paired qualities to contemplate the natural world.

Yin and Yang provide one well-known example.

Within my Conscious Energy framework, I use a similar symbolic map:

These relationships are philosophical associations, rather than scientific classifications.

For example, electrons genuinely possess negative electric charge and protons positive charge, but physics does not identify electrons as feminine consciousness or protons as masculine energy.

Likewise, the Moon is not scientifically feminine and the Sun masculine.

I use these relationships symbolically because they help me contemplate a recurring theme:

different qualities can appear to oppose one another while simultaneously belonging to a greater whole.

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Biological Sex and Human Variation

Human biology does contain meaningful differences associated with sex.

Sex encompasses biological characteristics including reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones and other physiological features. Most people are biologically classified as male or female, while variations in sex characteristics also occur.

Some average physical differences become especially noticeable after puberty.

For example, males on average develop greater lean and skeletal muscle mass, while females on average have a higher proportion of body fat and different patterns of fat distribution. Hormones contribute to these differences.

Female reproductive biology also includes processes that males do not experience, such as ovulation, menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth and lactation.

These biological differences matter.

But recognising biological differences does not require us to conclude that every psychological or behavioural difference between men and women must arise from biology.

Human beings develop through an interaction between biology, upbringing, culture, relationships, environment and individual experience.

That makes us considerably more complicated than two opposing categories.

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Are Male and Female Brains Different?

This question deserves more nuance than I gave it in the original version of this article.

Researchers have identified some average sex-related differences in brain anatomy and function. However, scientists continue to debate the magnitude, causes and significance of many of these differences.

One major review concluded that, beyond overall size, reliable male-female brain differences are generally small and that brains don’t divide neatly into two fundamentally different types. Other researchers have argued that some regional differences remain after accounting for overall brain size.

The important word is average.

An average difference between two populations tells us very little about any particular person because the distributions can overlap substantially.

We therefore cannot examine someone’s sex and reliably conclude that they will be more logical, emotional, nurturing, aggressive, reflective, creative or intelligent.

Nor does current neuroscience establish the simple stereotype that women “think without acting” while men “act without thinking”.

Those descriptions may sometimes feel familiar because cultures contain longstanding expectations surrounding masculinity and femininity.

But individuals frequently contradict them.

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Masculine and Feminine Without Stereotypes

I still find the concepts of masculine and feminine useful within Conscious Energy.

I simply use them differently now.

Rather than saying:

Women are nurturing. Men are protective.

we might say:

Nurturing is a quality any human being can develop.

Protection is a quality any human being can express.

A father comforting his frightened child isn’t becoming less masculine.

A woman leading an organisation isn’t becoming less feminine.

A man can be gentle, intuitive and emotionally expressive.

A woman can be physically powerful, assertive and highly competitive.

The qualities exist.

What changes is our assumption that particular qualities must belong exclusively to one sex.

This gives the Conscious Energy spectrum considerably more flexibility.

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The Conscious Energy Ratio

This brings me to what I call the Conscious Energy Ratio, or CER.

Within my model, every person contains both Consciousness and Energy.

We think and act.

Observe and participate.

Receive and express.

Rest and move.

Reflect and create.

Rather than assigning a fixed CER according to someone’s sex, I think it is more useful to ask how these characteristics manifest within the individual.

Someone might be highly contemplative intellectually while extremely energetic physically.

Another person might be socially assertive but internally reflective.

The same person’s ratio may even appear to change according to circumstances.

At work, someone may need to lead and act.

At home, they may become quiet and nurturing.

During exercise, physical Energy dominates.

During meditation, reflective Consciousness becomes more apparent.

This suggests that CER may not simply describe what we are.

It may also describe how we are operating at a particular moment.

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Balance Does Not Mean 50/50

When I speak about balance, I don’t mean that everyone should become perfectly divided between masculine and feminine characteristics.

Nature rarely works that way.

Different people have different temperaments, bodies, interests and strengths.

Someone may naturally enjoy quiet contemplation.

Another may thrive on constant activity.

One person loves caring for children.

Another wants to build a business.

Someone else wants to do both.

Balance means recognising our natural tendencies while developing enough flexibility to respond when life requires something different.

A highly active person still needs rest.

A deeply contemplative person eventually needs action.

Someone accustomed to independence may need to learn how to receive help.

Someone who constantly cares for others may need to learn how to care for themselves.

In this sense, the opposite side of our spectrum isn’t necessarily our enemy.

Sometimes it contains something we need.

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Sex, Gender and Gender Identity

This is another area where clearer terminology helps.

Sex refers primarily to biological characteristics.

Gender concerns socially constructed roles, behaviours and expectations associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy; these can vary between cultures and change over time.

Gender identity refers to a person’s internal experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned to them at birth.

Gender expression describes how someone presents themselves socially.

And sexual orientation describes patterns of romantic, emotional and/or sexual attraction. It is distinct from gender identity.

These distinctions matter because the concepts shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable.

Being gay, for example, does not tell us whether someone is masculine or feminine.

Being transgender describes gender identity rather than sexual orientation. A transgender person may be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual or have another sexual orientation.

Human identity has multiple dimensions.

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Gender Roles Are Not Fixed Laws of Nature

Societies have historically divided responsibilities between men and women in many different ways.

Biology undoubtedly influenced some historical divisions—pregnancy and breastfeeding are obvious examples.

But many other roles are cultural.

Who earns the income?

Who cooks?

Who teaches?

Who leads?

Who repairs the house?

Who comforts the children?

Who manages money?

Who grows food?

Who provides emotional support?

There is no biological rule requiring all these responsibilities to be permanently divided according to sex.

Gender itself varies between societies and changes over time.

A household may therefore find balance through complementary roles without requiring those roles to follow a predetermined template.

What matters is whether the arrangement works fairly and respectfully for the people involved.

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Rethinking Masculinity

A healthier understanding of masculinity doesn’t need to discard strength, courage, ambition or protection.

It can broaden them.

Strength can include emotional resilience.

Courage can mean admitting fear.

Protection can mean creating safety rather than exercising control.

Leadership can include listening.

Providing can include emotional presence as well as financial support.

A man doesn’t become less masculine because he nurtures.

Perhaps nurturing is simply another expression of strength.

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Rethinking Femininity

Likewise, femininity doesn’t need to mean passivity or dependence.

Nurturing can require enormous strength.

Empathy can coexist with assertiveness.

Sensitivity does not exclude rational thought.

Motherhood does not define every woman’s purpose.

And independence doesn’t diminish femininity.

A woman can build, lead, compete, protect and provide while remaining entirely herself.

Perhaps what we traditionally call feminine strength has sometimes been underestimated precisely because strength itself has been defined too narrowly.

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What About LGBTQIA+ Identities?

Human diversity becomes especially apparent when people’s experiences don’t fit conventional expectations surrounding sex, gender and sexuality.

Some people identify with the gender conventionally associated with their sex at birth. Others don’t. Some identify outside a strictly male-female gender binary.

People also experience different patterns of romantic and sexual attraction.

These experiences should not be interpreted simply as someone possessing an incorrect balance of masculine and feminine Conscious Energy.

Nor does a transgender identity mean that someone has become “dissociated from physical reality.”

Gender identity and biological sex describe different aspects of a person, and gender-diverse identities are recognised within contemporary health terminology.

Within my own framework, I would instead interpret this diversity as another reminder that human beings cannot always be reduced to simple categories.

We contain overlapping biological, psychological, social and personal dimensions.

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Complementarity Without Conformity

This brings me back to the original inspiration for this article.

I still believe complementarity matters.

But complementarity doesn’t require conformity.

A relationship doesn’t need one person to represent pure Consciousness and another pure Energy.

Nor does society require women to perform one set of functions and men another.

Complementarity can occur within the individual.

I can be reflective and active.

Strong and gentle.

Independent and connected.

Logical and emotional.

A teacher and a student.

A nurturer and a protector.

These qualities don’t cancel one another.

Together, they make us more adaptable.

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From Gender Divide to Human Spectrum

Perhaps the problem begins when we mistake averages for rules.

Men and women can differ statistically in some biological characteristics.

Cultures can produce different behavioural patterns.

Individuals can feel strongly masculine, feminine, both or neither.

All of these realities can coexist.

The Conscious Energy framework therefore doesn’t need to tell us what a man or woman should be.

It can ask a much more interesting question:

How are Consciousness and Energy expressed within this particular human being?

Where do they naturally reflect?

Where do they act?

Where are they strong?

Where do they need support?

When should they move?

When should they become still?

And where might greater balance enrich their lives?

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Two Principles, Countless Expressions

The Yin-Yang symbol contains an insight I continue to find valuable.

Opposites don’t necessarily need to defeat one another.

They can define, complement and transform one another.

Within my Conscious Energy framework, masculine and feminine symbolism serves the same purpose.

Consciousness without Energy remains observation without expression.

Energy without Consciousness becomes activity without reflection.

Together:

we think and act.
we receive and give.
we reflect and create.
we rest and move.
we learn and express.

Human diversity means these qualities will never appear in precisely the same combination twice.

And perhaps that is the point.

Our differences don’t have to become divisions.

Instead of asking everyone to conform to one definition of masculinity, femininity, male or female, perhaps we can become more curious about the individual standing before us.

Different bodies.
Different identities.
Different personalities.
Different expressions.
One humanity.

And within my philosophical framework, countless expressions of the same underlying relationship between Consciousness and Energy.

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Conscious Energy and the Conscious Energy Ratio are my own philosophical frameworks. The associations between Consciousness/Yin/feminine and Energy/Yang/masculine in this article are symbolic interpretations rather than established principles of physics, biology or neuroscience.