Honoring Men: A Manifesto for Conscious Women

Last fall, Arjuna Ardagh and Gay Hendricks shared the Manifesto for the Conscious Man on Facebook and then, more recently, a video, called “Dear Woman.” Arjuna also posted The Art of Worshiping Women at the Huffington Post. These pieces triggered strong reactions in many, ranging from appreciation to anger and everything in between.

The intention was clearly to honor women. And, many women felt acknowledged, and appreciated the collective apology from men. Yet, it was also inadvertently dishonoring, and even insulting, to many men, including my husband John.

We could say men have just as much to be honored for, and women have just as much to apologize for. Maybe even more.

In any regard, we decided to balance out the story here.

While John wrote the first draft, together we shaped it into “The Manifesto for the Conscious Woman.” We submitted this to the Huffington Post in December 2010, but they felt it was too “edgy” and “not a fit” for their audience. We’re now sharing the Manifesto at my Everyday Inner Peace blog, because one of the biggest keys to inner peace is recognizing and acknowledging reality “as it is.” We may like reality or we may be repulsed by reality. Regardless, “seeing clearly” is where sanity begins.

To all the men in the world, I truly honor you.

And for all the ways my sisters and I have caused you suffering, hardship or pain, I offer up a collective apology. Just as Arjuna and Gay offered to women some time ago.

Here’s to our collective healing between genders. There is clearly a lot of pain we’ve inflicted both ways.

This manifesto is written in the spirit of truth. If parts seem harsh, perhaps it’s because we are so used to politically correct talk these days and we recoil from straight talk when we hear it. Besides we had to toss in a little humor to keep it interesting. Please know everything said here is based in fact.'