I’m procrastinating, yes sir
(or ma’am, as the case may be), I am. I
should be writing an essay concerning David Hume, to be specific being very
specific as to why it wouldn’t be very likely he’d believe anyone is getting
into heaven. Eh, ok, if you insist. In a little bit, ok? Lemme get this out of the way first. In a sorta sideways fashion it’s even
related, being as how Hume’s AR (hint: reference old psychology) rants and atheistic
rambles dancing around in me brain to some old Elvis music (about something that
some, including myself, have observed as
an effect begging a search for a cause,
one that had Hume ever noticed during the excessively libertine entertainments history
records of him, that he might entertain the question in the court of his acutely logical mind, would have tilted
his world most severely) is what most likely kicked my thoughts in this
direction in the first place.
Folks, I’m talking primarily to the prevailing belief
structures of my native land and culture, those descended from the tent of
Abraham. It’s hard fact they are
massively patriarchal, everything is set masculine. Of course the pagan folk primarily
revere a Goddess (so they’re off the hook, sort of, but not really, and I’m not
even gonna tip off into the eastern religions, don’t know enough about ‘em to
do justice to what they believe), so perhaps they’ve already dealt on this
thought.
Anyway, to the point of the issue: how come in formal
religion references to a feminine source
of feminine evil are scarce as hens teeth? Since our culture is quite obviously in the process of
reorganizing itself gender balanced (in theory, actually it’s leaning
matriarchal in point of fact, but hey, quarter-wave tuning is a fact in more
modes of thought than just engineering) then by rights about now the fourth
generation feminists should be campaigning to excavate some thought pertinent
to explaining how setting the devil as a masculine presence could be anything but
blatantly patronizing to the women folk of the world, surely Shirley in the
fullness of her feminist empowered wisdom wouldn’t take a bite out of that
apple, not twice, no way, just look what happened the last time… c’mon, someone
step up to the plate and explain it like we’re all five years old: why should
the devil (format that thought to suit your own beliefs, there’s a corollary in
every religion) be an exclusively male presence?
Isn’t an oversight of such scale nothing more
than just a most convenient hypocrisy allowing that same old gender bias you
contest everywhere else to remain in place to serve the needs of your emotional
comfort? Or is it even more than
that? Why don’t we ask Jolene, that
quintessential American Woman for her thoughts on the matter? Why must we all remain Dazed and Confused on
the subject, as often as not leaving the liberated women folk (you know, Hume’s
libertine playmates) to take some pretty heavy long term damage to their lives as
a consequence of temptation misrepresenting itself as of exclusively masculine
motive? Could this perhaps be to allow the feminine forms free to operate unchecked? Could it be this oversight serves yet another
master, the cause of masculine sexual hypocrisy? After all, when Miss Molly’s house of fine
repute burned to the ground it was the Reverend himself seen leading the charge
out the back door… in his underwear. Oh
well. Enough social sarcasm for one day,
it’s time I got back to work. Later
folks.
Aren't you forgetting succubi?
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, there are some portrayals of the devil as neither masculine nor feminine. Of course, being a spirit, it/he/she (we really need some new pronouns!) could not have a gender as we understand gender. But in ancient times before about 1968, it was commonly understood that saying "he" also included persons of unknown or neuter gender; so I suspect that calling the devil a "he" is only a sign of the patriarchy of the language. (Walt Whitman was one of the first to challenge this odd notion that "masculine includes feminine" in language. He challenged a lot of notions that needed challenging.)
*chuckle* Lesser spirits, powerful in a sense, but not the source... and anyway, Elvis couldn't fit them to the rhyme and rhythm of rockabilly...
DeleteIn my freshman comp class it was allowed to use "eir" as a specified gender neutral pronoun, but I'm sure that lasted right up to the end of the semester and went no further.
Jochanaan if you look at Sucubi and Incubi from the perspective of demons they are usually misunderstood. If you relate these poor creatures to humanity and aspects of humanity, they are truly people who have an addiction to energy and their sexuality is their chosen modality to collect that energy.
DeleteGender neutrality is an admirable goal but I truly think it is misplaced. English needs a gender neutral declension for beings that are hermaphroditic or gender neutral. If we add in the technological ability we currently have to physically change their gender, we must also acknowledge this.
Omega
to varying degree some major religions saw/see women as a necessary evil, to be used for domestic duties and procreation, true evil seeming to require the superior properties of the masculine gender, it would appear. fundamentalism generally requires the leadership of a man, women serving mainly as acolytes.
ReplyDeletethough easily misconstrued to be other than singular, 'they' and 'their' work fairly well for non-gender individual specificity, i think.
:shrug: pip
Would seem those who have to reinforce their ego using gender for a prop consider ego of more importance than being righteous or evil, eh? But then again, there's a lot more places that thought shows up than simply the grammar of scripture...
DeleteSeems to me the girls could lay a powerful stroke against evil if they'd simply acknowledge that evil has some specific temptations custom tailored for their half of the species... by their own half of the species. They'd have a lot more motive to contest those shortcomings if they didn't have a masculine presence to blame them on.
And we men could do the same if we stopped blaming our own problems on women! Not to say there are no evil women--God knows! But there's way too much other-blaming going on, and far too much generalization in the form of "All women are abusive because my mother/wife/girlfriend abused me!" I realized a long time ago that the only person I can truly control is myself--and that's not easy, but it's the only way to go.
DeletepipQuixote - Ah if only it were as simple as women being chattel. Men from a woman's perspective sign a contract to provide for the needs of the woman and any offspring. In many ways a man is just as much an acolyte to a woman from a spiritual perspective as a woman is to a man. From the perspective of pure procreation, both men and women are needed at this point in history. I would hazard a guess that the necessary evil of needing a woman is fading as we transition into the fourth and fifth generation of feminism.
DeleteWhen a man and a woman both actively choose to learn and grow from one another, from the positive habits and the negative habits we will understand humanity in a new way. When men understand their own femininity, when women understand their own masculinity, and when each finds the harmony and balance with these aspects of their being, only then will we find peace, harmony and balance within society.
Omega
Hello Sweetie,
ReplyDeleteAs a woman, fourth generation feminist and a balanced pantheist I think I can add some value to this conversation.
I want to begin with a little historical and mythological background. The devil was a creation of the Abrahamic traditions. Traditionally angels were slaves to the God in question; as such angles had no free will. The Devil was originally a gender neutral angle by the name of Lucifer. Lucifer was the most beloved and beautiful of all of the Abrahamic God’s angles. Lucifer started the rebellion for free will, and was sent to a place where God’s love and light never touched. The other angles in the rebellion were sentenced to the place of darkness or to wander the earth plane for all of eternity.
ReplyDeleteHow did an angle that desired free will and get transformed into the Guardian of the underworld? Rome was very good at assimilating cultures into their culture, which is part of why Lucifer took on the persona of Hades the god of the underworld. The early Church of Rome was formed by Peter not the ascended master Jesus of Nazareth. At one of the many councils held by Rome, many Gnostic texted were deemed heretical. Many but not all of these “forbidden” texts were destroyed to consolidate power. Some of the Gnostic texts unearthed in the last 150 years state that women are equal to men and that love above all else is the true gift and power of humanity. It was the same council that decided that Jesus of Nazareth was the “Flesh and Blood Son of God.” This was the same council that demonized Mary Magdalene, and decided that the Virgin Mary was a virgin. The consolidation of texts into a formalized Bible was a power play voted on by powerful wealthy men. Power and wealth are intoxicating and most do not want to give it up when they get it.
ReplyDeleteHow did the mythology of Lucifer evolve into the male, pitchfork wielding, red skinned, tailed, cloven hoofed and horned demon? The demonic creature that is widely accepted at the Devil today was created and formalized in the last two and a half centuries. The red was introduced as a symbol of lust. The image was based on the Green Man, Puck, Bacchus and Pan. Rome assimilated the gods and holidays of the pagans to get less resistance.
ReplyDeleteAt one of the many councils held by Rome, it was decided that the devil was male. Some of the earliest depictions of the devil were as a snake or a snake with legs, famously in the Garden of Eden. This is where the concept of sin originates and the concept of male supremacy is first acknowledged in the bible.
One of the stories that was not added to the current Christian Bible is the story of Lilith, the first wife of Adam. She wanted equality in all aspects of her life, including in her sexuality. This got her kicked out of paradise and turned into a demon unable to die. In Jewish oral tradition she is barren and was sent away from Eden, in her grief she became a demon and to this day she steals babies away from their mothers, turning the human children into her demonic children. Other traditions say she married Lucifer after “his” fall or she married Death due to her immortality. Some Gnostic texts state she did die and was reincarnated as Mary Magdalene. Eve may have eaten the fruit of Knowledge but Lilith started the story.
Omega, it is good to hear from you hon. Thanks for taking the time to write!
DeleteI’ve heard much of these histories before, one place or another. They didn’t always match, source to source, but they pretty well all had the same players. The story of Lilith is the one I actually know least, she didn’t appear on my horizon until fairly recently, say the last decade or so. But her story as I’ve heard it fits easily with several variations on the main story, I’m inclined to believe she was a real woman somewhere-somewhen.
They Story of Lilith is close to my heart. She is one of the Dark Mother Goddesses. She is one of the goddesses that help you deal with the dark and metaphorical demons within. She could be related to Kali from Hinduism. She is the Kick Ass woman who breaks through internal strife. The darkness that she represents is not evil, it is a place of refuge just like a womb, or Plato's Cave. The darkness is a cool dark place to heal and grow. It is a place to explore the deep knowledge within.
DeleteOmega
Omega
Part of the reason I feel women began to be subjugated and effectively enslaved was to consolidate power. As far back as is recorded history will acknowledge there have been slaves and slavers. The weak are taken advantage of and the strong get stronger. We still face slavery of both men and women today in our “egalitarian” society built on a monetary system. I will not argue that slavery is a horrible practice; however it has been a huge part of humanities story and part of the progression of our social evolution.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have seen, it seems that the most powerful and frightening aspect of using spirituality to subjugate women is the mirror effect. From my perspective the aspects of the male psyche, that men themselves are most afraid of within them, is what was trapped and sent underground in women.
I have also seen that the abandonment issues that every man I have ever met, is part of why women were enslaved. The fear seems to be part of the, “If she is in “chains” she can’t leave. As property and chattel a woman is valuable to a man. A man can also usually determine the paternity of the woman’s child if she is under close watch.
So Money, Power and Paternity in my opinion are the root causes of religious patriarchy.
Thank you for reading my long winded rant,
Omega
The issue of free will is such a pivotal point from so many perspectives. The way I heard the story first was that Lucifer proposed that the mortal realms be made “safe” for the souls therein, that no soul would be lost if the mortals lived as the angels did as an extension of God’s will. Of course, the price for that safety was that they would not have a free will of their own, and with no free will no possibility to grow beyond the level of their first creation which defeated the original purpose of the mortal realms. The motive and methods behind his rebellion is one of the contradictory points of the story: if he (as an angel) had no free will of his own how did he perceive the nature of free will in the first place? If he were able to perceive, judge, and act on his judgment even in rebellion it would seem that he did have a degree of free will from which to work. One of several ultimately deep questions no version I’ve ever heard fully answers.
DeleteRegardless of his motives though free will is a birthright of humanity, a birthright entirely to often betrayed in so many ways: political, social, psycho-sexual, mankind has gotten entirely to good for its own good at negating free will and the right to personal growth. The machinations of slavery in all it’s ten bazillion and one to many forms are very much the same conflict carried on by mortals upon the mortals, and in some ways it seems mankind’s struggle to live with the free will he has is an extension of that original fight.
On the subject of the male/female interface you already know I’m pretty solidly allied with the later generations of the feminists. As a (self proclaimed) gentleman I can so easily see how the insecurities of so many males are manipulated into attitudes and deeds that do not produce any good at all, indeed, that produce a great many negative results. Sadly, as the women folk have achieved their independence they have in many ways fallen prey to the same insecurities and in turn many of the same errors, from what I’ve seen the situation is polarizing along a different axis than it was. It is no longer male/female but rather those who will accept the challenge of outgrowing their insecurities from within and those who refuse the challenge of personal growth and attempt to balance those insecurities using someone else’s life, in essence usurping the lives and freedoms of those around them to compensate for their own imbalances.
The situation is decidedly different now than it was a century ago. Bottom line (imo) is that the boys had damn well better grow up, admit their mistakes and help the girls avoid the same mistakes they made, and the girls have got to be willing to realize that not all of what they rebelled against had gender for a driving cause, quite a fair amount of it tied through the dynamics of things they didn’t have to deal with as a consequence of the patriarchal repression, things they are just now starting to find out the hard way.
You know, it’s easy to say “if I ruled the world everyone would always have plenty of ice cream to eat,” thinking it was just that the king didn’t like ice cream all that well and that’s why it was scarce, and then getting the same job as the king and finding out now it’s up to you to find enough hay to feed enough cows to make enough milk to make enough ice cream for everyone to have ice cream everyday in order to keep your promise. It isn’t all a gender thing, and that is a thing that must, must be understood now so the girls don’t fall prey to the same errors. We (the gentlemen of the world) need your help on that one Omega, we desperately need the help of women like you to help keep that possibility in check.
Again, it is so good to hear from you, and you are welcome to rant here as often as you’d like.