|
ok. I think this thread has gone pretty unnoticed for awhile with not much discussion.. And I'm interested because I'm almost done with the book.
To address sexymama's points:
1. The Sacred Feminine. Cunt did not have its negative connotations it has today until the 20th century. Part of this was because of the shift from pre-Christian to Christian times when the Sacred Feminine was disregarded by the church. To me, it is a step backwards because it took a long time for women to get any recognition since then. In the Renaissance Era, you weren't a famous painter unless you were a man.. And if you were a women, it was a big deal to be a women more than your paintings itself, etc. It wasn't until the mid-1800's when the women's rights movement took place.. and that was only towards the right to vote! Surely, women's inequality still suffered significantly. I often wonder what life would be like today if the church never shunned the Sacred Feminine. I wonder what the church was afraid of?
2. Sacred sex. This reminds me of some eastern philosophies/tantric sex, etc. In pre-Christian times, people would come to women to have sex and achieve orgasm all the time. They were the modern day whores and I believe the church called Mary Magdalene a "whore" because of her associations with sexuality. An interesting book about women's sexuality and history is Cunt: A Declaration of Independence. I don't think these "modern day whores" were actually considered whores at the time. Again, they didn't have those negative connotations. They were highly revered because of the sacredness of sex.
Now, we are taught sex or pornography is a sin. Women aren't nearly as respected as they used to be and they are constantly being objectified everyday in the workplace, in movies, advertisements or other media and in pornography. What would it be like today if the church did not shun the Sacred Feminine? If they didn't preach that sex is a naughty act and that we were born as sinners? I think our society would be a lot healthier in its views of sexuality and maybe some semblance of the Sacred Feminine would still be there... rather than this alienation and decadence we have today.
While we may view the hieros gamos as an erotic event, I'm pretty sure the ritual wasn't thought of in that way because it was a spiritual act. I had a hard time *not* viewing this as sexual or erotic because of our conceived notions of this in society.
3. Jesus and Mary. Jesus was a normal guy, who experienced normal things like love, sex and erections. There are even some paintings depicting Jesus with an erection underneath his cloth coverings. The bible as far as I know it is purely metaphorical and allegorical. It's scary that a vast amount of people do not even know the difference between *metaphor* and *reality*. The bible was revised many times from many different people specifically to cater towards certain ideals that the church could preach.
None of the major concepts in this book surprised me or were new to me. I had already known about the "Sacred Feminine" prior to reading this book but didn't know it was called Sacred Feminine until reading it. In my opinion, the Sacred Feminine is where we should be in society and it is unfortunate that we have all these things that disregards it. It is a healthier view of sexuality in general. Whether you like it or not, history has a big, direct affect on present times and it doesn't matter how far back you go. The more we leave issues unaddressed, the more it will propel to greater problems.
__________________
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~Anais Nin
|