SUMMER?

Summer came in one day. Will it last? I saw a butterfly yesterday; a little orange and brown one, the size of a half dollar. I will have to look it up when I locate my butterfly book. Actually, the book is in the bookcase right behind me. I could be afflicted with laziness. The sandhill cranes are making a racket; the air is filled with other bird noises and fat robins are hopping around the yard. The world has sure changed from a day or two ago.

I am trying to find the origin of the fear of sexuality and the demonization of women. It really got cranked up with Augustine and the Christians of that era, but it predates that period by several hundred years and perhaps longer. Although, it was a preexisting  idea, Augustine made it much worse by linking it with original sin and claiming the sin was carried on by sexual intercourse. Eventually, those early church fathers believed all pleasure was sinful.

I understand how a group of people, i.e. early church fathers, could be nuts; we see it all the time and especially now. But why did so many people go along with it? How could anybody swallow such an incredibly stupid idea? What was the state of humanity at the time that lent itself to the acceptance of this madness? Remember that the three major religions of the Western World were well steeped in this madness. The fundamentalist versions of our religions still are.

It wouldn't matter to me one way or another if I didn't see this poison still operating in our society. You don't have to be religious to be affected by it. In fact you could be an atheist. We are all affected by this pernicious belief. How better to keep a society from being fully functional by pitting one gender against another. Emphasizing male aggression and dominance makes it easier to raise armies to conquer your neighbors. Is that the reason this idea was so exploited? Would war be possible without male dominance and exploitation of women? I am just asking, I don't know the answer.

It would be helpful to know how all this craziness started. I know we are getting over it, anyway. We can't have a world created by love until we do get over it. And we are getting over it. It is sometime helpful to understand the disease you are putting behind you. I will research the area until I have some reasonable hypothesis.

It is 70 degrees now and it appears it will be another marvelous day. I have much work to do outside but I am afflicted with Spring fever. After I get the dishes washed, I might just sit outside and soak up the energy from the earth.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Love and Peace, Gregg