The Power of Yin

The Power of Yin: Celebrating Female Consciousness
Edited by Barbara Delaney
Cosimo Books
ISBN: 1596058870
Non-Fiction, Memoir, Philosophy
Reviewed by Jean Roberta

This unusual book of philosophy (for lack of a clearer word) began as a marathon conversation among three women in 1977. It was preserved on tape, edited and transcribed to print. One of the three authors, or speakers, Hazel Henderson, is described as a “futurist, evolutionary economist and consultant on sustainable development.” Jean Houston is (or was) an advisor to UNICEF (a committee of the United Nations) in human and cultural development, and is “a principal founder of the Human Potential Movement.” Barbara Marx Hubbard (a descendant of Karl Marx?) is described as “president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution.”
Apparently the manuscript of this book gathered dust in Hazel Henderson’s attic until she rediscovered it in 2006, when she realized that the global issues she had discussed with her friends Jean and Barbara in 1977 were still current, and more pressing than ever.
As Henderson explains in her section of the introduction:
“We don’t look for short-term outcomes or surface ripples on the mighty river of human history. We are concerned with deep currents below the surface, processes of social change that are beyond the span of one or several lifetimes. Mahatma Gandhi was once asked about the effects of the French Revolution. His answer: ‘It’s too early to tell.’”
On the other hand, Jean Houston claims (in 2006) that the human race is in “Jump Time,” a period of sudden change in evolution. She claims:
“In a Jump Time, with everything in transition, we can no longer afford to live as remedial members of the human race. A new set of values—holistic, syncretic, relationship- and process-oriented, organic, spiritual—is rising within us and around us. These, of course, are women’s values, women’s genius, women’s gift. These are the powers of yin!”
Barbara Marx Hubbard admits that in 1977, she had never met women who “truly inspired” her until she met Jean and Hazel. She claims: “Even though I was a liberated woman in many ways in the 70s, the cultural imprint of feeling that a man would know best was so deep that it has taken a whole lifetime to free myself of that.” For her, the importance of the conversation in 1977 has increased since then:
“The breakdown of current social systems and dominant patriarchal structure is more obvious. There is a desperate last-ditch stand of the old power structure to maintain itself. The flaws in the system are more apparent; the violence born of oppression, inequality, and regressive memes are closer to the surface. The failure of war to win anything is becoming clearer. And there is a new uprising of revulsion against war as a way of deciding anything. The failure of unlimited, competitive commercial growth is now obvious as we discover its destruction of community and environment, and its failure to nourish the human spirit. The systemic breakdown of the environment is far more obvious than it was when we met. The threat to our life-support systems is now front-page news.”
The conversation itself is divided into sections, including “How Do you Find a Paradigm for an Emergent?” in which the three women agree that a new human mind-set and culture are arising from old systems of thought, and that it is hard (or impossible) to define in traditional terms. In the second section, the women agree that looking for philosophical paradigms in conventional Eastern culture (e.g. Buddhist thought) is no more useful than looking for them in conventional Western culture. Be that as it may, the four women (including Barbara Delaney, who edited the rambling, recorded conversation) agreed on the Chinese term “yin” (dark, cool, receptive, opposite of “yang”) as the best term to describe an emerging female consciousness.
These are smart, articulate women. Each of them has a somewhat different take on a view of the world in which all living species, and the earth itself, are at a crisis-point in which something fundamental has to change if life is to survive at all. They all criticize a competitive, hierarchical, non-compassionate masculine model of human culture as the mind-set which brought us to this point. They each express faith that in 1977, there were small but encouraging signs that this mind-set was giving way to something better.
The conversation ranges from current popular culture to scientific discoveries (DNA testing, nuclear physics) to styles of communication. The three women practice what they preach by listening to each other respectfully and adding points without trying to invalidate each other’s statements.
At some moments, the conversation takes on an aura of fantasy or sci-fi. Jean suggests that a new global consciousness is literally being manifested in her body, that “women are the egg” for this and that the experience feels sexual. Barbara responds:
“We are starting with experiential knowledge and then intellectualizing about it – after the fact.” She continues: “I have found an excitement generated at these moments in myself and others that I literally feel as electricity in my body.” When Jean asks her how this experience compares with regular sex, Barbara tells her: “It’s better.”
All three women express tremendous enthusiasm, a kind of abstract love for each other and hope for the future. Even though they saw a world in terrible shape in the 1970s, they all seemed to have faith in miracles that happen when they are most needed. This reviewer hope can only hope that the women’s faith was justified.
This book is definitely food for the mind, but whether you (the reader) can accept a belief in conscious evolution (or the development of new capacities as needed) seems to depend more on emotion and “instinct” than on logic. This book belongs on the same shelf as other debate-worthy manifestoes. If you read it, consider using it as the basis for a discussion group.