The patriarchal inversion and dimensional collapse
Patriarchal theology has systematically inverted the relationship between action and reflection, treating the masculine principle of direct action as primary while relegating feminine reflection to secondary, passive status. This represents what can be understood as dimensional collapse—the reduction of multidimensional creative reality into flat, linear causation.
When the Shekhinah is described as being in "exile," this represents not mere absence but the veiling of dimensions of reality. As modern Kabbalists note, "when we no longer feel Her presence...there is a deadening effect" where divine dimensions become inaccessible to ordinary consciousness. The suppression of creative principles correlates directly with loss of access to multiple dimensions of being.
Theological implications of Generative Suppression
The systematic suppression of creative principles has produced what Rosemary Radford Ruether identifies as interconnected crises—ecological devastation emerges from the same dualistic thinking that dominates women and exploits nature. When the reflective principle is suppressed, reality loses its relational, interconnected character, collapsing into atomized, exploitable fragments.
This suppression leads to a loss of "dimensional possibilities." Catherine Keller's work on "tehom" (the deep) reframes primordial chaos not as void requiring masculine ordering but as fertile creative potential. Creativity doesn't represent disorder but rather the matrix of infinite possibility from which order emerges through relationship rather than imposition.
The entitlements of patrimony—the inheritance system that passes property through male lineage—forms the historical backbone of Domination Systems.
Patrimonial systems require:
- Control of women's sexuality to ensure legitimate heirs
- Conversion of land and resources into property that can be owned and transferred
- Legal frameworks that recognize inheritance rights
- Social structures that validate patrilineal descent
Modern forms of the Master's House entitlement to resource extraction and reproductive control aren't new but evolutions of ancient patrimonial systems. The Master's House treats both land and women's fertility as resources to be controlled for intergenerational transfer of wealth and power. The Master's House normalizes domination itself.