“Shiva and Shakti,”
some say,
“are indistinguishable.
They are one.
They are the universe.
Shiva isn’t masculine.
Shakti isn’t feminine.
At the core of their mutual penetration,
the supreme consciousness opens”.
Energy, ability, strength, effort, power and capability
(शक्ति [śakti])
and happiness, welfare, prosperity, bliss and liberation
(शिव [śivá])
are what they are
and integration of the two
(for those that see them
as distinguishable
[which need not be the case
at a fundamental level])
is typically associated
with enlightened thoughts –
there is no need
to attribute gender to them
(or for that matter
to anthropomorphize the concepts
[they have most adequate definitions
that are just fine as they are]).
Douglas Colston has played in Ska bands, picked up university degrees, supported his parents during terminal illnesses, experienced chronic mental and physical illnesses consequential to workplace harassment, married his love, transitioned into Counselling as a vocation, fathered two great children and had his inheritance embezzled. Now, among other things, he is pursuing a PhD.