According to Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium there used to be an androgynous primal human unity that was cut into the two sexes of male and female after which these two halves have ever sought each other out in order to become complete and one again.1 Whether Aristophanes' lore is right in its entirety is yet to be seen, however it is clear that that males and females seek each other out. In this they basically seek completion of themselves through a complimentary partner. This is of course obvious on the physical level (males have external sex organs while females have internal sex organs) but this prime difference extends into the lower psyche of humans. There males are considered as active and females as passive2 (which is in line with their physical sexual functions)3.
Note that above the term 'lower psyche' was used. This usage implies the existence of a higher psyche. In earlier contemplations a distinction was made between the lower psyche, consisting of instinct, emotion and concrete thought, and the higher psyche, consisting of abstract thought, intuition and will,4 whereby the lower psyche can be regarded as the field of research of the academic psychology and the higher psyche as the field of contemplation of the contemplative psychology or the psychosophy5.
So on a physical level and on a lower psychic level humans seek completion though the search for a complementary partner. However identification with the physical body and the lower psyche can be transcended, and this happens when one starts to identify with the higher psyche, when one starts to identify with abstract thought, intuition and will.6
Now these levels of the lower psyche and the higher psyche are also distinct as those of the personality and the soul. The personality consists of body (instinct), emotion and concrete mind and the soul of abstract mind, love (intuition) and will.7 So as long as a human identifies with his personality he may seek completion at the other sex, however when he starts to identify with his soul he may discover to be complete within himself, for on the level of the soul sex does not exist, at least not in the way it exists between personalities.8
So far the emphasis was laid upon sex between personalities, however there was also touched upon sex as it exists between a personality and a soul. In his lower nature a human seeks to complete himself through a complementary human, however when he turns his eyes inwards and upwards he discovers his soul, which more perfectly than any personality can complement and complete him. And this is also a form of sex, be it of a different kind. It can be said that sex between different personalities regards sex on a horizontal line, indicating a duality on a same level, while sex between a personality and a soul regards sex on a vertical line, indicating a duality on different levels.9 A personality uniting with his soul regards a mystical sexual union and completion.
The subject of such a mystical union has been contemplated before.10 And it has also been thematized before that the soul can be considered as a threefold, for it is thought to consist of abstract mind, or active intelligence, love-wisdom, or intuition, and will.11 Sometimes terms such as 'light', 'love' and 'power' are also used to describe the qualities of the soul.
Now the above mentioned qualities or principles of the soul relate to each other as do a father, mother and child. From the union of a father (to be) and a mother (to be) a child may be born. Similarly did the soul come to being through the union of spirit as the father principle and matter as the mother principle,12 but also similarly can it be considered that the soul qualities of power, love and light, of will, love and intelligence, take on the roles of father, child and mother. The will is masculine, intelligence is feminine and love is androgenous, so it can be said.
Above the masculine and feminine qualities were thematized as primary to the secondary (because resulting) androgenous quality, for the father and the mother exist before the child comes into existence. This however is not in line with the lore of Aristophanes. For he put an androgynous unity as primary towards the secondary duality of male and female. And in the same manner we may consider love as a primary whole that already contains the duality of will and intelligence. The soul is love and its will then is loving will, and its intelligence loving intelligence. Its power is the power of love and its light is the light of love.
Above we basically simplified the triple soul into the dual soul, namely that of the masculine loving will or power of love and the feminine loving intelligence or light of love. This is of interest for our line of contemplation. It was found that on the personality level male and female personalities seek to complete themselves through the search for a complimentary partner. This means that a male will seek a female and vice versa. On the pure physical level this will be expressed in the search for an opposite sex, but on the level of the lower psyche this will happen in the search for an active or passive personality. Active personalities will seek out passive personalities and vice versa. Thus completion is sought. But such a completion will only be truly satisfactory be found when it is sought out on the level of the soul. The soul can be anything for the seeker. A male seeker with an active personality for example may find a higher satisfaction in the loving intelligence of his soul like a female seeker with a passive personality for example may find it in the loving will of her soul. Anything one seeks to find in someone else on the personality level can be found within oneself on the soul level, be it power, light or, as always, love.
When thus on the soul level completion is found it does not mean that on the physical and personality level man and woman cannot come together anymore. It does mean however that having found both completion within themselves they can approach each other in order to give instead of to receive and in an independent relationship. Coming together thus as a (to be) father and a (to be) mother they can let the love child be born.