THE PRINCIPLE OF GENDER TAUGHT BY THE KYBALION

 

The chapter 13 of the book The Kybalion details about the seventh Hermetic principle, which is the principle of gender.

 

"Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes.” — The Kybalion.

 

The great Seventh Hermetic Principle—the Principle of Gender-embodies the truth that there is Gender manifested in everything-that the Masculine and Feminine principles are ever present and active in all phases of phenomena, on each and every plane of life. At this point we think it well to call your attention to the fact that Gender, in its Hermetic sense, and Sex in the ordinarily accepted use of the term, are not the same.

 

The word "Gender" is derived from the Latin root meaning "to beget; to procreate; to generate; to create; to produce." A moment's consideration will show you that the word has a much broader and more general meaning than the term "Sex," the latter referring to the physical distinctions between male and female living things. Sex is merely a manifestation of Gender on a certain plane of the Great Physical Plane—the plane of organic life. We wish to impress this distinction upon your minds, for the reason that certain writers, who have acquired a smattering of the Hermetic Philosophy, have sought to identify this Seventh Hermetic Principle with wild and fanciful, and often reprehensible, theories and teachings regarding Sex.

 

The office of Gender is solely that of creating, producing, generating, etc., and its manifestations are visible on every plane of phenomena. It is somewhat difficult to produce proofs of this along scientific lines, for the reason that science has not as yet recognized this Principle as of universal application. But still some proofs are forthcoming from scientific sources. In the first place, we find a distinct manifestation of the Principle of Gender among the corpuscles, ions, or electrons, which constitute the basis of Matter as science now knows the latter, and which by forming certain combinations form the Atom, which until lately was regarded as final and indivisible.

 

The latest word of science is that the atom is composed of a multitude of corpuscles, electrons, or ions (the various names being applied by different authorities) revolving around each other and vibrating at a high degree and intensity. But the accompanying statement is made that the formation of the atom is really due to the clustering of negative corpuscles around a positive one—the positive corpuscles seeming to exert a certain influence upon the negative corpuscles, causing the latter to assume certain combinations and thus "create" or "generate" an atom. This is in line with the most ancient Hermetic Teachings, which have always identified the Masculine principle of Gender with the "Positive," and the Feminine with the "Negative" Poles of Electricity (so called).

 

Now a word at this point regarding this identification. The public mind has formed an entirely erroneous impression regarding the qualities of the so-called "Negative" pole of electrified or magnetized Matter. The terms Positive and Negative are very wrongly applied to this phenomenon by science. The word Positive means something real and strong, as compared with a Negative unreality or weakness. Nothing is further from the real facts of electrical phenomenon. The so-called Negative pole of the battery is really the pole in and by which the generation or production of new forms and energies is manifested. There is nothing "negative" about it. The best scientific authorities now use the word "Cathode" in place of "Negative," the word Cathode coming from the Greek root meaning "descent; the path of generation, etc," From the Cathode pole emerge the swarm of electrons or corpuscles; from the same pole emerge those wonderful "rays" which have revolutionized scientific conceptions during the past decade. The Cathode pole is the Mother of all of the strange phenomena which have rendered useless the old textbooks, and which have caused many long accepted theories to be relegated to the scrap-pile of scientific speculation. The Cathode, or Negative Pole, is the Mother Principle of Electrical Phenomena, and of the finest forms of matter as yet known to science. So you see we are justified in refusing to use the term "Negative" in our consideration of the subject, and in insisting upon substituting the word "Feminine" for the old term. The facts of the case bear us out in this, without taking the Hermetic Teachings into consideration. And so we shall use the word "Feminine" in the place of "Negative" in speaking of that pole of activity.

 

The latest scientific teachings are that the creative corpuscles or electrons are Feminine (science says "they are composed of negative electricity"-we say they are composed of Feminine energy). A Feminine corpuscle becomes detached from, or rather leaves, a Masculine corpuscle, and starts on a new career. It actively seeks a union with a Masculine corpuscle, being urged thereto by the natural impulse to create new forms of Matter or Energy. One writer goes so far as to use the term "it at once seeks, of its own volition, a union," etc. This detachment and uniting form the basis of the greater part of the activities of the chemical world. When the Feminine corpuscle unites with a Masculine corpuscle, a certain process is begun. The Feminine particles vibrate rapidly under the influence of the Masculine energy, and circle rapidly around the latter. The result is the birth of a new atom. This new atom is really composed of a union of the Masculine and Feminine electrons, or corpuscles, but when the union is formed the atom is a separate thing, having certain properties, but no longer manifesting the property of free electricity. The process of detachment or separation of the Feminine electrons is called "ionization." These electrons, or corpuscles, are the most active workers in Nature's field. Arising from their unions, or combinations, manifest the varied phenomena of light, heat, electricity, magnetism, attraction, repulsion, chemical affinity and the reverse, and similar phenomena. And all this arises from the operation of the Principle of Gender on the plane of Energy.

 

The part of the Masculine principle seems to be that of directing a certain inherent energy toward the Feminine principle, and thus starting into activity the creative processes. But the Feminine principle is the one always doing the active creative work-and this is so on all planes. And yet, each principle is incapable of operative energy without the assistance of the other. In some of the forms of life, the two principles are combined in one organism. For that matter, everything in the organic world manifests both genders—there is always the Masculine present in the Feminine form, and the Feminine form. The Hermetic Teachings include much regarding the operation of the two principles of Gender in the production and manifestation of various forms of energy, etc., but we do not deem it expedient to go into detail regarding the same at this point, because we are unable to back up the same with scientific proof, for the reason that science has not as yet progressed thus far. But the example we have given you of the phenomena of the electrons or corpuscles will show you that science is on the right path, and will also give you a general idea of the underlying principles.

 

Some leading scientific investigators have announced their belief that in the formation of crystals there was to be found something that corresponded to "sex-activity" which is another straw showing the direction the scientific winds are blowing. And each year will bring other facts to corroborate the correctness of the Hermetic Principle of Gender. It will be found that Gender is in constant operation and manifestation in the field of inorganic matter, and in the field of Energy or Force. Electricity is now generally regarded as the "Something" into which all other forms of energy seem to melt or dissolve. The "Electrical Theory of the Universe" is the latest scientific doctrine, and is growing rapidly in popularity and general acceptance. And it thus follows that if we are able to discover in the phenomena of electricity-even at the very root and source of its manifestations a clear and unmistakable evidence of the presence of Gender and its activities, we are justified in asking you to believe that science at last has offered proofs of the existence in all universal phenomena of that great Hermetic Principle-the Principle of Gender.

 

It is not necessary to take up your time with the well known phenomena of the "attraction and repulsion" of the atoms; chemical affinity; the "loves and hates" of the atomic particles; the attraction or cohesion between the molecules of matter. These facts are too well known to need extended comment from us. But, have you ever considered that all of these things are manifestations of the Gender Principle? Can you not see that the phenomena is "on all fours" with that of the corpuscles or electrons? And more than this, can you not see the reasonableness of the Hermetic Teachings which assert that the very Law of Gravitation-that strange attraction by reason of which all particles and bodies of matter in the universe tend toward each other is but another manifestation of the Principle of Gender, which operates in the direction of attracting the Masculine to the Feminine energies, and vice versa? We cannot offer you scientific proof of this at this time-but examine the phenomena in the light of the Hermetic Teachings on the subject, and see if you have not a better working hypothesis than any offered by physical science. Submit all physical phenomena to the test, and you will discern the Principle of Gender ever in evidence.

 

Let us now pass on to a consideration of the operation of the Principle on the Mental Plane. Many interesting features are there awaiting examination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVATIONS

 

I do not agree with this chapter because gender is only part of the ability to create, and therefore it would be more correct to speak about the principle of creation and not the principle of gender.

 

And by this I mean that everything in the Universe is created from another entity (from atoms to stars and beyond). Everything has its creator, but this creation does not necessarily have to be through the union of a male and a female, as is the case in creation through gender.

 

For example, here the author makes a correlation with the creation of atoms, but modern physics has discovered that the matter is much more complicated than simply the union of negatively charged particles and positively charged particles, because they have also been discovered neutrally charged particles and many other exotic particles that demonstrate that quantum physics cannot be compared to sexual creation.

 

But even at the organic level there are other ways to procreate apart from sexual, for example:

 

Cells reproduce by dividing.

 

 

 

 

Lower green plants such as fungi, algae, mosses, and ferns reproduce by propagating spores, which are reproductive cells that generate new organisms without the need for fertilization.

 

 

 

 

Underdeveloped animals such as sea sponges, cnidarians and bryozoans reproduce through budding, which is a process in which a prominence is formed over the parent individual, which, when growing and developing, originates a new being.

 

 

 

 

Other slightly more developed animals and plants, such as starfish, flatworms and polyps, can reproduce through regeneration, which consists of creating a new being from a fragment of their own.

 

 

 

 

 

And some readers will think that these forms of reproduction are particular and marginal cases, but this is not the case, since Blavatsky indicated that the first human races, when they were still astral, reproduced by means of these methods.

 

The first root-race (the polar race) was asexual and reproduced by fission, while the second root-race (the hyperborean race) remained asexual and reproduced by budding, and it is only in the third root -race (the Lemurian race) that produced the formation of the sexes.

 

But Blavatsky also pointed out that humans were not originally intended to procreate as animals do, as she wrote:

 

« Animals were the first to initiate sexual procreation, because they were the first to separate into male and female. And it was not in the plan of nature that the human should follow that bestial procedure, as shown today by the relatively painless procreation experienced by animal species, and instead the tremendous suffering and danger experienced by women. »

(DS II, p.262)

 

 

Blavatsky did not specify what the human way of procreating was going to be, but what we do perceive is that the way of procreating becomes more and more elaborate as beings develop more and more, and since the human kingdom and the other kingdoms of the planet are barely halfway through their evolutionary path, we can deduce that in the distant future new forms of procreation will emerge even more elaborate than those we currently know.

 

 

And what the author of the Kybalion says is also incorrect:

 

« Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes. »

 

That is false because the Masters have specified that in the subtle planes the souls are no longer separated into masculine and feminine, but are simply asexual. And also esotericism explains that celestial beings (angels, archangels, etc.) are also asexual.

 

And this is because sexuality is a particularity of the physical body, but not of the subtle bodies.

 

And we also perceive that at a more macrocosmic level there is no sexuality, since the planets are not separated into feminine and masculine, nor are the stars differentiated between feminine and masculine, but simply the planets and stars exist, with different characteristics but not gender ones.

 

And this is logical because God is neither masculine nor feminine, but he is UNITY, and therefore the beings of the Universe, as they evolve, get closer and closer to that unit.

 

 

In conclusion: I suspect that gender is not a hermetic principle, but the author of this book put it because the author sought to describe seven principles since the number seven is very important in esotericism.

 

But since he no longer knew what to put, it occurred to him to say that the seventh principle was gender, committing a mistake there, because gender (male-female) only corresponds to a type of reproduction that takes place on the physical plane and that it is associated with the principle of polarity. But it is not a principle in itself, because it is only one of the numerous forms of procreation that exist in the Universe.

 

And on the other hand, what is a universal principle is the Law of Creation, of which gender is a part.

 

And this is one of the errors that make me consider that the author of this book was not true initiate in hermetic secrets, but he was a simply esoteric researcher who, when writing The Kybalion, said interesting things, but also said mistakes.