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Checking my watch, I noted the time was getting late. Thoughts of having to get up fairly early to catch my flight to Washington glided through my consciousness. This was trailed by a flock of added considerations - such as, by the time I drove Jennifer back to her house, returned to my apartment, and looked after a few pre-journey tasks, the time was going to be later still.

Earlier in the evening, I had been beset by worries that Jennifer was going to pull the plug on the evening. Now, ironically, I was going to have be the one to do the pulling, although I would be doing so most reluctantly.

Turning to Jennifer, I said: "As much as I hate doing this, I think, perhaps, we should head back to the car. I figure that if I average 140 miles per hour between getting you home and me home, I'll have the luxury of an hour's sleep before I go to the airport."

Jennifer checked her watch and exclaimed: "Oh, my goodness, David, where has the time gone? Here, I've been droning on so thoughtlessly..."

"Not at all," I interrupted. "I have been enjoying myself thoroughly. Moreover, pretty much everything you have said has been both interesting and quite illuminating."

"Only 'pretty much everything'?" Jennifer said with feigned chagrin. "I guess I better start listening to my prosperity and personal power tapes more often."

"Don't do that," I pleaded. "If you get any more illuminating and brighter than you already are, I'll have to start wearing sun glasses in your presence."

We both got up from the bench and began to walk slowly back toward the spot where the car had been parked. We were amongst the last of the stragglers walking along the Charles, all of us trying to squeeze the last, delicious drops from a pre-summer night's dream.

As we walked along, Jennifer slipped her arm through the space near the crook of my elbow. The touch of her arm felt quite nice, and we both made adjustments for the sake of comfort.

After a few moments of strolling in silence, I inquired: "Had you finished everything you wanted to say before I kind of preempted you?"

"I fear," she said, "that if I say anything more, the one hour of sleep you may get this morning will be filled with nightmares of one sort or another."

"Not really," I responded. "Usually, I need more than an hour to get into the REM stage of sleep.

"Consequently, I believe I'll be alright today. Of course, I can't guarantee my sleep will remain unaffected tomorrow night as a result of your... what was the phrase? ... oh! yes, 'droning on'.

"However, if I should suffer a sleep disturbance episode of some kind due to your current dissertation on feminism, I may require your clinical expertise. You may have to hold my hand, in a long distance sort of way, and talk me through the whole ordeal.

"If you are prepared," I cautioned, "to observe your duties of care and follow up on these possibilities in a responsible fashion, I believe I am prepared to run whatever risks may be entailed by listening to the rest of what you have to say. Does that strike you as being a fair arrangement?" I concluded.

"Yes ... yes," Jennifer admitted, "this strikes me as fair. It also strikes me as being rather long-winded."

"Wonderful," I replied. "I've always thought that women and men who, respectively, drone on and are long-winded make such charming couples. Don't you agree?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to invoke the Fifth Amendment on that one, David," she remarked with a laugh. "However, if you will permit me to proceed against the advice of legal counsel, there are a few other things that I had wanted to say in order to finish off the previous discussion."

I nodded my head in assent. Then, by way of verbal confirmation of the gesture, I said: "You have both my permission and my full attention."

Jennifer was quiet for a short time and, then, began with: "Among the most fundamental issues at the heart of the feminist critiques of the processes of patriarchy and gendering involve, on the one hand, the extensive nature of the destructive impact which systematic oppression has on the lives of both victim and victimizer and, on the other hand, the adverse ramifications that follow, for both men and women, from the imposition of an identity which is alien to, and 'other than, one's real nature and identity. Although feminists have succeeded in exposing some of the ways in which these social processes have prevented women, and men, from realizing different aspects of human potential, most feminists have failed to see that the real source of oppression, alienation, manipulation, deception and exploitation, namely, the false self or ego, has been left almost completely undisturbed in their analysis.

"In my opinion, many feminist theorists have seen deeply, but not deeply enough. They have identified some of the disguises that the false self assumes in order to keep us busy chasing various manifestations of injustice, but they have failed to give a clear description of the one who is organizing the whole charade.

"Ironically, one probably would have as difficult a time trying to convince feminists about this lacuna in their analysis, as feminists have had trying to convince men and women about the insidious presence of patriarchy and gendering in our lives. Indeed, many feminists would be as much in denial about the way in which they are systematically oppressed by their own false selves, as many men are in denial about the roles they play in oppressing and exploiting women.

"The longings of many feminists for freedom, identity, and the realization of individual potential are, as they are for men, a double-edged sword. They mean very, very different things to the two edges of this sword: the false self and the true self.

"For the false self, freedom is about maximizing choice, irrespective of the price that may have to be paid by the true self or by other individuals. Alternatively, for the true self, freedom is a matter of giving expression to our spiritual nature and, thereby, among other things, attempting to help transform, in a constructive fashion, the character of the false self.

"For the false self, identity is a matter of inventing ourselves, from moment-to-moment, or day-to-day, as an arbitrary function of the way the internal dynamic of the false self becomes entangled in the world through the desires, ambitions, purposes and motivations of the ego. On the other hand, for the true self, identity is a function of trying to discover, and bring to fruition, the character of our being rooted in Divinity.

"Finally, for the false self, the realization of potential involves the impossible task of seeking to satisfy the endless thirst of the ego for stimulation, gratification, power, status, and possessions. However, for the true self, realization of one's potential is a matter of actualizing one's capacity for knowing, loving and serving Divinity under all circumstances.

"In view of the differences between the false self and the true self, then, as far as issues of freedom, identity and realizing potential are concerned, a feminism that is embedded in the false self will be quite different from a feminism which is oriented by the true self. And, this will be the case regardless of whatever agreements may be reached on the nature of the impact of patriarchy and gendering upon the lives of women and men."

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