Men: Please affirm this manifesto with your comment (below) and share this with other men on social media and by email.

In vulnerable circumstances and intimate relationships, the awakened male recognizes and honors:

  1. Women are equal in autonomy and consideration—not someone to use or take advantage of when she is in a vulnerable situation or when having power over her.
  2. Has conscious interactions with women that preserve and honor their autonomy and informed consent participation—disclosing intentions and desires, seeking input/feedback and waiting for consent before proceeding with intimate interactions and in emotionally vulnerable circumstances.
  3. Preserves a co-created intention and doesn’t unilaterally make changes to the direction or limits of an interaction without consent.
  4. Provides true opportunity for consideration of consent before interacting intimately —physically or emotionally, especially with sex.
  5. Zero tolerance for abuse of women. Preserves a woman’s right to have any experience she sincerely wants to have—and to not have any experience she doesn’t want to have.

*If something is happening to a woman that you wouldn’t tolerate happening to your sister or mother; or if you are about to do something to a woman that you know your sister or mother wouldn’t want a man doing to them—then stop. Say something and do something.

Certainly not all men are abusive—and if you realize that you have been abusive of women and stop it, then thank you! Now get some help to understand yourself better and deeper. Find a mentor, therapist, or coach who can be objective with their feedback and guidance while helping you integrate your shadow. Learning more about who you are and what motivates you is a life-long exploration and process. Seek to know, understand and accept yourself while you grow and evolve your consciousness.

If the abuse is known to you and you don’t feel safe intervening then call 911 and try to get backup to the scene. If you hear of another man planning something that doesn’t pass the sister/mother test then step up and say something, question what he means and intends to do and stand in defense of women from being abused. Women must do their part by not tolerating or keeping quiet about abuse; and men must step up to support them by having zero tolerance for abuse of women.

It’s time for spiritually awakened men to raise their voice in support of women and be a stand against the pervasive abuse of women in our culture. This issue is personal for every male because we all have a mother, and most of us have sisters, lovers, partners, wives, and friends, who we care about and wouldn’t want subjected to abuse. Men who consider themselves to be part of the counter-culture, consciousness movement, or spiritually awakened, have an ethical and aspirational duty to do what each one can to preserve a woman’s ability and right to not be harmed physically, emotionally, or sexually. “Be the change” —not part of the problem!

Contact Sunyata

 

 

 

 

.

Latest posts by Sunyata Satchitananda (see all)

Originally posted on January 12, 2014 @ 9:01 pm


Sunyata Satchitananda

Sunyata is a Spiritual Counselor, Certified Tantric Healer and Author of "Safe Sexual Healing: a Guidebook for Healers and Clients." Ordained Minister (1980), Certified Tantric Healer (2007), Reiki Master (2009). Sunyata specializes in helping men and women achieve deep transformation, spiritual growth, sacred sexuality, heal from sexual abuse and emotional trauma, and develop a greater, deeper intimacy and connection with their partner.

2 Comments

Anthony Joyette · January 25, 2014 at 10:38 am

“Tell me Adam. Why do you feel you must apologize to women? Sorry about my reaction just now.”
This may sound crazy and perhaps take some time to digest, but do hear me out. It’s about asking God’s forgiveness. It is communicating with the divine presence of womankind through you. After centuries of man’s disrespect, I pray my ramblings free me
from such guilt and influence us to rethink the way we see each other in this life.”
“Wow! Back track a bit. Communicating with the divine presence of womankind through me? What are you saying?”
“Instead of kneeling to other ideas of God’s presence and say my deepest thoughts. I decide to literally kneel at your feet and share them with you.”

David Jacobs · January 23, 2014 at 10:16 am

Awesome. For some men that know power and violence, this has come with effort. What took me some time was to find that when I act from the unconsciousness of patterns that our fathers taught us, I become numb to my deeper needs. The continuation of that pattern is an erosion of the consciousness I have worked for. Choosing to know the patterns of dominance and then choosing to look deeper is a guide to my taking care of myself and healing myself. Men sharing this work with each other is a gift we can share with each other. Women and Children will benefit, but I have recovered my humanity and my life is fuller now , so primarily it benefits me and I am clearer about my motives for doing what is suggested for men in this writing above.

It is fair to ask men to look at their behavior. It is more effective for men to ask other men to look at what another is doing and help that man see the deeper motives that he may not have the skills to see. It is time for men to speak up.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.