The Nutty Nut and the Wild Slut -- A Play for All of You
Ladies and gentlemen who are present here, and those who are not yet present but want to sneak in later. Also everyone who does not want to identify as either lady or gentleman. Yes, all of you, whoever you are, I invite you to have your eyes wide open, so that you can see clearly how the gender distinction splits the human race in two, in male and female, in masculine and feminine, and how that split affects all of us, all of you. This play is meant for you.
Our gender identification matters little for some, but for most of us it matters quite a lot. Glued to gender there is attraction or repulsion, physical pull and push, promise of delight or flag of danger. Male attracted to the female or to the male. Female attracted to the male or to the female. Or attracted to both, for that matter.
Confusion is caused by the murky ways in which gender connects us with our animal nature, with the core of our living self. The split between masculine and feminine runs deep, through the whole of the animal kingdom, and further, much further, being present in plants as well. We may even extend it to the planetary scale, if we view the sun – illuminator of all – as masculine and the moon – quiet reflector on what is dark – as feminine.
Whoever you are, for you there is gender, and the gender distinction affects you in deep and unfathomable ways. And, fortunately, there is something that transcends the genders and unites us, our common core of humanness. There is the painful awareness that in our culture the genders are not in proper balance, a thing that is hard to talk about because of the connection with deep hurt, with horrible things that have happened in our past and that are still happening in the present.
If you are this gender you are not the other gender. Gender neutrality does not exist in the spicy realm of physical attraction. It is difficult to have adult conversations about this, or to address the topic in philosophical debate. Adult conversations are awkward and cause discomfort, philosophical reflection kills what is alive here, reducing the conversation to a cerebral back and forth that can derail all too easily. There is the stuff of drama here, a drama of misunderstanding and hope.
The yab-yum posture is a picture of the male deity in the rapture of sexual embrace with his female consort. This represents the mystical union of the active warrior force – conceived as masculine – with the passive wisdom force – conceived as feminine, the union that cuts through illusion, the union that overcomes the false duality between the world of appearance and the absolute. The yab-yum of sexual union is symbol for mystical union, our connection to the totality of being. Ecstatic harmony between male and female is a gateway to the absolute, a reminder, for men and women, that union and ecstasy can connect us with what is beyond the pair of opposites. Yab-yum is a promise of what can be.
There is all of this, and this play is about some of it, and it touches on all of it. Read and enjoy!