The Mona Lisa, God & Gender Identity

Nat King Cole's famous musical tribute to the Mona Lisa, as the 'lady with the mystic smile' reflects the mystery surrounding the most famous of painted faces. Art historians have long debated the androgynous dual nature of the two halves of the Mona Lisa and whose face has actually been painted. Although the Mona Lisa is generally said to be the face of a pregnant silk merchant's wife, Lisa Gherardini, some art critics reveal a hidden layer of possibility, revealing that each side of the face is painted slightly differently, with differing layers of shadowing around the facial features, such that if one looks separately at each side of the face (coving over the other) one side looks distinctly more masculine, with coarser features than the softer, more feminine side. The painting remained in Leonardo's hands until his death, whereupon it was bequeathed to Salai, his male companion and possible lover. Some have suggested that the Mona Lisa has some striking similarities to Salai's face - indeed, others question whether Salai modelled for him whilst completing this picture, amongst other paintings, originally intended for the silk merchant's wife.

Whatever the mysterious truth is behind the fascinating story of the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile, the androgyny of the Mona Lisa serves as an artistic allegory for spiritual-philosophical teachings of the ultimate androgyny of the Divine, with both 'male' and 'female' natures of the Divine, as in the Ancient Wisdom, emerging through various spiritual traditions through the ages. For example, Hinduism, or its original term the Sanatana Dharma, meaning the Eternal Way, perhaps best preserves the dual nature of Divinity, theologically expressed as a duality of Divine consorts, such as Shiva-Shatkti, Vishnu-Lakshmi, Rama and Sita. Although in Roman Catholicism, Mary is venerated as the Mother of God, sadly the feminine aspect of Divinity was largely denied in Post-Reformation Protestant Christianity, focussing solely on God the (male only) Father, with many theological struggles grappling with the original feminine term Sophia for the Holy Spirit as an aspect of the Holy Trinity, as understood in traditional Christianity, rather than in Unitarian theology of Unity. Sometimes, the term Sophia is translated as 'Jesus', as the traditional 'Word of God'. However, interestingly, Gnostics have seen Sophia as the syzygy (female twin/counterpart aspect) of Jesus.

In the spirit of Interfaith breadth, the American Indian tradition of the Ancient Wisdom, similarly expresses the Divine in both male and female terms. The dual-nature of Divinity is given beautiful articulation by White Eagle: 'As God is both Father and Mother, so there are creations of the Mother-Father, male and female; the two are one, and the two will come together eventually. But at the same time, I am trying to convey to you that you must try to get away from that box with a label on it. Oh, but we do like labels! I want to convey an idea of blending, both male and female. In the beginning, God created male and female, yes, but in that male and female is the opposite. There is both in the one. The two aspects are in the male, the two aspects are in the female, in the spiritual creation, in the whole being, but that does not alter the truth, the fact that the two are one, the perfect whole, both male and female.' This perennial truth of life's complementarity of male and female energies containing the opposite within themselves, echoes Taoist wisdom, where the black-and-white circular Yin-Yang symbol illustrates yin-in-the-yang and yang-in-the-yin!

The Post-modern, some say Aquarian, Age heralds a more open-minded breadth to the gender spectrum of Divinity, both as a theological concept and also as the reality of androgynous Divine Light or Spirit manifesting itself in the hearts of all human beings, howsoever they identify on the gender spectrum. All human beings are made in the image of God; the word 'image' perhaps best understood in terms of a 'reflection-image' of the light of Divine Being in our souls, in which we are all 'One'. Therefore, I believe that God is both male and female, yet also beyond gender in the physical plane of life.

It may not have escaped your attention in the media that the question of 'Gender Identity' is very current, especially for the younger generation, with increasing numbers of people reflecting on and choosing how they identify in terms of their gender and, significantly, which pronouns they prefer to use and be used by others. Importantly, gender identity is not the same question as one's physical biology at birth. You may already have noticed, indeed it can hardly escape your attention, that many people choose to include their choice of pronouns after their names (she/her, he/him, they/their) as a mark of respectful inclusivity, although this can understandably be a sensitive matter for some others. In some Interfaith spiritual circles, especially those with spiritual beliefs in reincarnation and successive lives of the soul, lived as both males and females in different incarnations, the terms 'gender neutral' or 'non-binary' can be popular, reflecting a deeper level of identification with the genderless, non-binary or gender-neutral nature of our souls, as being of light, beyond the physicality of our bodies in our current incarnation.

Therefore, I find it interesting that in a contemporary context, Chloe Specht reflects theologically on the most appropriate pronouns for God, saying, I believe in harmony with White Eagle's teachings, that 'actually, "They" is a beautiful pronoun for God'. Specht says that 'God is neither a man nor a woman, and yet God has both masculine and feminine characteristics. We need more expansive language to describe the truth and beauty of God...Some consider "they" to be a genderless or gender-neutral pronoun, and it certainly can have that function. However, this is just one dimension of the word. Because "they" can refer to anyone of all genders, this also makes "they" the most gender-full pronoun or a pronoun full of gender possibilities! This creates a perfect opportunity to utilize "they" to describe the gender-expansiveness of God'.

Whatever your personal, sensitive views are on gender, (personal, spiritual or theological), I simply offer these profound theological thoughts for quiet moments of reflection, recognising the sensitivity of the full spectrum of issues around gender identity and its burgeoning relevance in today's society. The Anglican Church is certainly not 'blended' on LGBTQI+ issues and is currently facing public divisions with regard to same-sex marriage, or even blessing same-sex marriages in church after a legally recognised ceremony - out of step with post-modern values and legalities. However, gender theology, such as that expressed beautifully by Chloe Specht, is creating a significant shift in some contemporary revisions of post-modern theological reflections on God/Divinity within more traditional Christian theologies and even the Anglican church is currently reflecting upon its use of gender pronouns for God. Here, we can see how important it is that progressive theological thinking continues to help to 'move and shake' the various churches and to drag them kicking and screaming if necessary into harmony with modern values of universal love. Theology in the post-modern age is increasingly beginning to influence the thinking of the churches, rather than be confined to its dogmas and creedal confines, in fear of being labelled heretical.

Heeding the previous wise advice on how much we human beings do like 'labels', I wonder whether, rather than making any definitive theological pronoun-labelling choices for God, for everyone to use, in the same way that we are free to choose our own gender identity and choice of pronouns, so too, we are free to choose the pronoun (or no pronoun at all) that we prefer to use for the Divine; both gender-possibilities being of the 'One', especially in our quiet moments of prayer and contemplation.  In this way, Divine Being is not labelled one way or another, but reflects the 'reflection-image' of every soul, male or female and everything inbetween or beyond, cumulatively in wholeness. So, the mysterious androgyny of the Mona Lisa, reflects the perfect wholeness/oneness of the Divine Mystery of Being. In the wise words of the Indian sage, Mahatma Ghandhi, 'God has made of man and woman, one complete whole.'

– Rev. Jenny Miller