WEBVTT - The Alphabet and the Goddess, Part 1 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.840 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:14.200 Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.120 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. Joe, 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:21.960 quick question here, who is your favorite goddess? Oh? Man, Well, 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.040 it depends on if you ask me while I've just 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.520 been listening to some some Stevie Nicks jams. If I'm 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:33.120 going to go into the Fleetwood Mac kind of Rhiannon territory. Uh. 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.199 But if not, I think I'm going to stick with 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.280 something that. Actually I wonder if there's a linguistic relationship 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:41.360 between Rhiannon and the one I'm about to talk about, 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.320 because it's kind of a cognate the Sumerian goddess in Anna. 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:46.919 You're familiar with in Anna, but she's the one who 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:48.800 rings like a bell through the night. No, no, no, 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.520 that's also Rhiannon. But in Nana does sort of take 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.760 to the sky like a bird in flight, and I 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.000 don't maybe sometimes she promises you haven't. She is definitely 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.880 the darkness and she rules her life like a fine skylark. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.560 But let's not get sidetracked. In Nana has hymns of 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.440 her own that we can sing and I think we 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.000 actually should read some in a second here. So in 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.480 Nana is a Sumerian goddess. She is also known as 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.520 the Acadian Ishtar. I think that they're This is believed 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.720 to be the same goddess, essentially across a different stream 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.240 of tradition, and the deep history of the Mesopotamian goddess 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.320 has lots of different things associated with it. So in 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:29.280 some sense, Nana is the goddess of the storehouse, meaning 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.960 that she rules over the stores of things like dates 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.200 and meat and grain. But she's also a goddess of 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:39.000 fertility and sex and war and slaughter. So she's got 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.840 all of this interesting stuff gathered up under her feathers. 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:45.160 I don't know why I said feathers. I don't think 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.520 she's a bird under her dark wings. That's a different 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.800 that's a different song. But it's interesting because all the 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.280 things that she is encompassing here. Um, this, this is 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.120 the domains that we would cover in a vast pantheon 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.680 of gods and goddess is from other traditions, all wrapped 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:03.440 up into one. Yeah, And to give a sense of 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.440 the power of Ananna, I if Robert, if you will comply, 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.000 I think we should have a reading of some excellent 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:13.200 ancient texts. Let's do it trivia question. In fact, I 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.200 didn't know this until this episode. Who do who do 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.720 you think is the earliest named author in all of 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:24.200 world literature? M hmmm, well it certainly it would probably 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:26.920 tie to this time period, but I had no idea 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.760 who the individual would be. Well, very often we find 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.360 ancient texts and carvings things, you know, marks made in 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.840 clay and cune of form and stuff. We don't know 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.080 who the author is. It doesn't say like you know, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.359 Jeff wrote this clay tablet inscription. But a strong contender 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:45.560 for the title of the earliest named author in all 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.440 of world literature is in Headuwana, a twenty third century 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.120 b c. E. Mesopotamian high priestess and poet twenty third 0:02:55.200 --> 0:03:00.799 century b c. Forty three hundred years ago. This priestess 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.040 and poet she was the daughter of the Akkadian king 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.320 Sargon the Great, and she's named as the author of 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.079 a collection of hymns and poems, many of which are 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.680 devoted to the praise of the Sumerian goddess in Hannah. 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.359 And I think we should read some selections from Inhduanas 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.560 him the Exultation of Anna. And this is from a 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.080 translation that I found on the electronic text Corpus of 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.639 Sumerian Literature based out of the University of Oxford. Now 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.800 the poem is way too long to read in its entirety, 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.680 but I put together some abridged selections. So here we go. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.680 On the Exultation of Anna, Lady of all the divine powers, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.600 resplendent light, righteous woman, clothed in radiance, beloved of On 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:48.640 and Rak, Mistress of Heaven, with the great pectoral jewels. 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.400 She loves the good head dress, befitting the office of 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.320 ain priestess. Like a dragon, you have deposited venom on 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.920 the foreign lands, Lady who rides upon a beast whose 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.200 words are spoken at the holy command of On the 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.360 great rights are yours? Who can fathom them? Destroyer of 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.600 the foreign lands, you confer strength on the storm, beloved 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.320 of Inlil. You have made awesome terror way upon the land. 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.080 Because of you, the threshold of tears is opened, and 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.760 people walk along the path of the House of Great 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.720 Lamentations in the van of battle. All is struck down 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.760 before you. With your strength, My lady, teeth can crush flint. 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:33.000 You charge forward like a charging storm, My lady, the 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.640 great an Una gods fly from you to the ruined 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.440 mounds like scudding bats. They dare not stand before your 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.560 terrible gaze. They dare not confront your terrible countenance. Who 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.840 can cool your raging heart? Your malevolent anger is too 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.480 great to cool, Lady Supreme over the foreign lands, who 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.920 can take anything from your province. Blood is poured into 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.000 their rivers because of you, and their people must drink it. 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.680 And then there's a section that's talking about if a 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.479 city has not acknowledged itself to be hers, if the 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.560 city doesn't say I belong to an Anna. Quote, it's 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.960 a woman no longer speaks affectionately with her husband at 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:12.600 dead of night. She no longer takes counsel with him, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.560 and she no longer reveals to him the pure thoughts 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:20.120 of her heart. I in head to Anna, will recite 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.039 a prayer to you. To you Holy in Anna, I 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.360 shall give free vent to my tears like sweet beer. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.200 Be it known that you are lofty as the heavens. 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.400 Be it known that you were broad as the earth. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.479 Be it known that you destroy the rebel lands. Be 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.120 it known that you roar at the foreign lands. Be 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.039 it known that you crush heads. Be it known that 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.279 you devour corpses like a dog. Be it known that 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.279 your gaze is terrible. Be it known that you lift 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.719 your terrible gaze. Be it known that you have flashing eyes. 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.200 Be it known that you are unshakable and unyielding. Be 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.880 it known that you always stand triumphant. The light was 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.200 sweet for her, Delight extended over her. She was full 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.280 of fairest beauty, like the light of the rising moon. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.200 She exuded delight. Robert, how would you even begin to 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:12.600 characterize this awesome mixture of brutal, merciless conquest and all 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.520 these statements about radiants and beauty. Oh, I mean, well, 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.119 but she's not to be trifled with, and she's really 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.200 on on on par with the sun in terms of 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.839 just beautiful, radiant. But but but also with all this 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.960 destructive potential. I think it's fun. It talks about delight. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.760 This is a poem with delight in it. And also 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.840 they will make you drink the blood. Yeah, I mean 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:37.520 that The best I can think is the sun. It 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:39.880 is delightful to stand in the sun, but you will 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.279 and can be burned by the sun as well. I 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.360 mean it is, there's just a primal and vital energy 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.000 to her. Now. She in many ways I think here 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.080 is described as having the qualities of a storm god 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.600 like Baal or mar Duke or Yahwe or Zeus or 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.960 thor you know, these these storm war gods where the 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.280 sky weather deity tends to be so ceated with conquest 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.480 and power and killing um. But she's also embodied, as 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.560 you know, resplendence and delight, and she has all these 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.320 other qualities we see in in other stories about her. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.960 That she's associated with stores of grain that are necessary 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:19.080 for survival, that she's associated with sex and fertility and happiness. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:21.200 And so how does it end up that you've got 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.240 this one deity who's got all these different qualities gathered 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.080 underneath her. Yeah, and then what is taken away from 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:31.600 her over the centuries to follow. That's a good question, 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.720 you know. Uh. In thinking about my own favorite goddess, 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.560 my mind instantly turned to Fetis because I've been interested 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.920 in mythic sea creatures of late, and we've talked about 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.320 the Iliad quite a bit of late. So I I 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.760 thought to Thetis, who through really throughout the history of 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.720 written language. She's most well known as the mother of Achilles, Uh, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.120 you know, the the nearly invincible warrior of the Iliad. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.800 And she's commonly described as an immortal near it. And 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:05.520 she begot Achilles through her union with the mortal Pelias, 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.960 king of the Mermaidans. And to protect her mortal son, 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.600 she dipped him by the heel and the river sticks. 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.920 And she also commissioned Hephaestus to forge his armor and arms. 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:20.560 And she petitions Zeus himself on her son's behalf. Now, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.960 Thetis never strikes me as as someone you want to 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.760 cross or mess with, especially as as far as the 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.280 welfare of her son is concerned. She commands a fair 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.280 amount of power and influence in the Greek pantheon. And 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.240 and she herself as the daughter of the sea god Nereus, 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.880 and her brother in law is Poseidon. And yet there 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.800 is something reduced about her. Uh. This this this being 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.800 that is that that was worshiped as a goddess. Uh 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.040 seems to be somewhat diminished in the Iliad and in 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.720 other works. It's like she's been reduced to a supporting 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.679 role when she once was the star. Yeah, and so 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:57.880 I I researched this a little bit and I can't 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.079 ram it ran across a pay per titled The Wrath 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:05.520 of Fetus by Laura M. Slatkin from Columbia University and 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:10.120 was published in the journal Transactions of the American Philological Association. 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.040 And she points out that in the Iliad, she's quote 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.480 a subsidiary deity who is characterized by helplessness and by 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:21.840 impotent grief, and yet she persuades Zeus to set in 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.840 motion the in the events of the Iliad, and in 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.040 Mighty Achilles invokes her name above all others. He asks 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.760 her to pretention Zeus and remind the king of the 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.319 gods that she is the one who saved Zeus when 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.240 all the other Olympians wanted to bind him, and to 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.400 be bound, Slatkin points out, is the doom of a god. 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.040 And Thetis does nothing short of saving the cosmos and 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.840 maintaining cosmic equilibrium by preventing Zeus from going down like 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.800 Zeus's own father Cronus. So that's kind of funny to 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.120 suggest that you would be saving the cosmos by saving Zeus, 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:59.520 because like, of what good is Zeus? Zeus is just trash? Yeah, 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.199 but it but he's the trash we know, right, You 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.400 can imagine a situation was like, oh man, these gods, 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.600 gods are crazy, but at least we kind of have 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.559 worked out, you know, what their their mad passions are. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.880 We don't need another revolution so that the other Olympians 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.680 will rule the roost. I mean, Zeus mostly just does 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:22.880 bad stuff. Yeah, but it's true, it's true. Well, there's something. 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.239 It's like it's almost like we make excuses for him 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:31.880 as this like bad tempered, criminal, violent male deity, or 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.400 we're just like, oh, boys will be boys. What a rascal? 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.880 Are we still talking about mythology or not talking about 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.200 current events? No? No, no, I mean I think that well, 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:43.240 I think there's something to be said about that, and 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.760 that will tie into today's episode. So fetis were also 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.400 told in the writings of the Greek poet pindar Uh 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:55.200 was destined to birth of son more mighty than his father, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.120 and that's why her her original suitors Zeus and Beside, 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.600 both abandoned her love and forced her against her will 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.000 to marry Immortal instead. Uh So, think of that. There's 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.600 tremendous power in thetis, like she was faded to birth 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.760 this this child greater than its father. So if she 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.600 had born the son of Zeus or Poseidon, that would 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.520 have been a rival to the King of the gods. Right, 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.600 but the King of the gods. If the King of 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.160 the gods has a son who's too powerful, he asked 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.600 to fear, he will be dethroned. Right, So maker Mary immortal, 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.960 so at least her mighty son will be mighty, and 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.360 more or less the mortal realm, and certainly at Kells 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.280 is mortal. That's kind of the that's the whole theme, 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.720 and this immortal mother and the son that is doomed 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.440 to die, and sola Can points out that this was 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.760 an established trope because Thetis has a lot in common 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.800 with Eos, the god, the goddess of the dawn, and 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.560 the mother of Memnon, who we've discussed on the show before, 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.040 and the Colossi of Memnon episode. Yeah, the established role 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.880 of an immortal mother looking after her mortal son who 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.440 is doomed to die, and the Iliagist sticks to Fetus 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.479 in this one role, but still invoking the established mythological 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.360 role of the old Indo European don goddess. Interesting. So 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.760 Thetis was certainly worshiped as a sea goddess in her time. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.040 But this goes beyond the mere limiting of a mighty 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.720 deity to a supporting role in the iliot Uh. Slatkin 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.240 points out that the Laconian traditions identified her as a 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:28.280 primordial creatrix, so she she is quote not simply a 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:32.120 cosmic force, but the cosmic force. She not only has 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.679 power in the sea, but is the generative principle of 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.080 the universe. Well, that seems to go along with the 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.920 nature of the sea and creation myths, right, Like when 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:42.920 you have the sea, you've got the waters. First, there 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.079 is like the darkness and the waters, and then you've 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.439 got creation coming out of that. The water is almost 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.719 kind of symbolize a primordial chaos from which some kind 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.000 of order can be wrought. And you see that in 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.120 other creation myths too, like in the Tiamat creation myth 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.360 where mar Duke slays Tamat, the sea monster, you know, 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.960 the who re presents the water being yeah, and then 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:07.400 uses her body to make the world. So we've already 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.720 established this this trend where we see a a often 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:17.880 a primordial like all powerful cosmic goddess who is then 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.680 reduced over time made a minor role in a story 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.720 of warring men or a or a minor deity that 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.880 is that is overpowered by masculine deities. What what happened 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:34.000 and what potentially is still happening in our culture? Yeah, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:38.360 And on one hand, that kind of male dominant, misogynist 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.600 rewriting of cultural ideas and mythology and stuff like that, 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.360 it seems so common that you might not even stop 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.800 to ask why things are that way, right, I mean, 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.120 it just seems like, well, that's always what happens in culture. 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.040 You know, men think they're better than women, and they 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.800 want to rewrite all of the cultural stories and everything 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.720 to downplay women's roles and make themselves feel more important. 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.079 And and some people just say, well that, yeah, that's 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:05.480 just how it is. But why wouldn't that be an 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.280 interesting thing to have an explanation for why that is 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.360 such a trend. And that's what we're gonna be talking 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.680 about in today's episode. We're gonna talk about one hypothesis, 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.520 one fascinating hypothesis for why this has come to pass. 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:22.480 And this was presented in the book The Alphabet Versus 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.200 the Goddess The Conflict between Word and Image by American 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:30.360 surgeon author and inventor Leonard Schlaine, who lived n seven 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.760 through two thousand and nine. Yeah, so, in the late 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.960 nineties when this book was written, Schlaine was the chief 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:40.240 of laparoscopic surgery at California Medical Center in San Francisco, 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.080 and apparently he worked at least to some degree in 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.800 performing surgeries on the arteries supplying blood to the hemispheres 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.560 of the brain. And just a fun bit of trivia 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.120 that really has nothing to do with our episode today, 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.840 but his daughter Kimberly is married to the actor Albert Brooks, 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.920 and his daughter Tiffany as a noted filmmaker and founded 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.240 the Webby Awards. Stuff About Your Mind incidentally, is a 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.840 Webby Award winning podcast. I don't see that as a 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:05.840 conflict of interest, but I just thought I pointed out 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:10.720 but wait a minute, Albert Brooks, Hanks Scorpio, Yeah, Hank 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.200 Scorpio himself is connected to this episode. Now, before we 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.080 lay out sh Lane's central claim and discuss some of 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.280 his arguments, I definitely want to say that this is 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.760 an idea we're discussing because it's interesting and because it 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.560 raises questions worth investigating, and not because we're endorsing it 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:28.680 as correct. I'd say this is going to be more 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.000 in in bicameral mind kind of territory, where this is 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.520 a book that brings up a lot of interesting questions, 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.400 takes us to a lot of interesting places, but ultimately 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:39.480 we're not going to be saying we think that this 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.000 guy has the right idea. And in many cases I 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:44.840 think that I'll go ahead and say that I'm not 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.520 convinced by his core thesis, and I've got a lot 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.520 of criticisms about his approach to argumentation. But at the 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.280 same time, I think a lot of peripheral arguments and 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:57.680 observations that come up in this book merrit individual analysis, right. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.480 And then he's using he to build this hypothesis. He's 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.960 using uh, he's using science, and he's using history. He's 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.880 using a number of just fascinating cultural examples. So he 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.000 is uh. Even if we ultimately are not won over 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.560 by the hypothesis, uh, he supports it with so much 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.280 fascinating information, and it really does force you to at 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.400 least re examine some of these things that we've taken 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.160 for for granted, like just the absence of or that, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.040 for the most part, the absence of goddesses from our 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.440 our our major world religions. Okay, so let's start with 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.320 Schlane's central claim and then back up and and run 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.720 through his argument. What do we have a quote here 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.760 that will help us get to the heart of Schlane's 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:40.560 claim from the beginning? We do. We have at least 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.920 a couple of quotes here, and and certainly he was 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.000 he was a great writer, so his words capture at best, 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.640 he writes quote, there exists ample evidence that any society 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:55.520 acquiring the written word experiences explosive changes. For the most part, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.880 these changes can be characterized as progress. But one pernicious 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:04.480 of fact of literacy has gone largely unnoticed. Writing subliminally 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:09.359 fosters a patriarchal outlook. Writing of any kind, but especially 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:14.440 it's alphabetic form, diminishes feminine values and within them women's 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.280 power in the culture. WHOA. Now, that is a far 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:22.040 reaching and radical hypothesis and something that, if it were true, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.520 would have profound implications for the whole world. Indeed, and 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.200 that's that's kind of the heart of his hypothesis here. Yeah, 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:32.400 So whenever you've got these big kind of hypotheses like this, uh, 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.040 radical claims about something very fundamental about like say, the 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.959 role of gender egalitarianism or the lack thereof in the world, 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.000 and explaining it through something as widespread as the idea 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:47.520 of literacy. You definitely it makes your ears prick up right, 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.600 you know, you want to know what this was about. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.840 I've got another quote that expresses part of the core 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:57.080 of his idea. It's quote, literacy has promoted the subjugation 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.359 of women by men throughout all but the very recent 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.439 history of the West. Misogyny and patriarchy rise and fall 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.080 with the fortunes of the alphabetic written word. Another nice 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.800 summary from from later in the book is quote the alphabet, 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.880 through its emphasis on linearity and sequence, caused the left 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:20.200 side of the brain of those who learned it to hypertrophy, 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.920 resulting in a marked cerebral dominance of one lobe over 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.200 the other. Metaphorically, the mind listed to one side as 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:32.520 one carrying an unevenly distributed load. So we're talking about 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:38.479 like a major, lasting influence on the way the human 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.160 brain works. Yeah. Now, Schlan talks. He tells a story 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:44.600 in his book, and he talks about how he first 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.400 began to form this thesis when he was touring Greece 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.440 with this great antiquities guide who kept going to sit 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.679 after sight and explaining, okay, what was once here was 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.359 a shrine to a goddess, female goddess, but then later 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.000 it was rededicated to a male god. It's kind of 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.560 an odd pattern to just see happening over and over 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.879 in one place after another. If the if the tendency 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.640 is generally toward male dominance in the culture and patriarchy 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.639 and misogyny, why did you have all these female goddesses 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.760 to begin with, and why did the changeover in power 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:23.000 to male dominated pantheon's occur? And so Schlan started to 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.760 wonder what what would cause all that? Yeah, because basically 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.920 we do have a wealth of goddesses in the polytheistic tradition, 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.520 but we see most of them fall out of favor 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:36.159 over time. They're either reduced to minor deities or demi gods, 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:40.080 or or certainly they are just the the feminine at best. Really, 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.320 they're the feminine aspect of the same god that also 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.440 has a masculine aspect as well, while the male gods 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.200 continue to climb up the hierarchy. Because really, outside of 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.000 Hindu Shaktism, which focuses on the feminine aspects of the 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.600 gods and the cosmos. Can you think of any widespread 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.920 goddess movements outside of WICCA and the neo pagan goddess 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:02.520 movement that is also rather modern. Well, the key is widespread. 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.399 If you go into beliefs held by smaller numbers of people, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.560 I think you'll get into all kinds of things with 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.320 with female deities and and even uh, you know, matriarchal 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.119 kinds of pantheons. But the big religions of the world, 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:17.120 you know, you've really just got a few that are 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.640 representing the vast majority of humankind, right, and those tend 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.240 to be the big monotheisms. And then you've also got 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.719 Hinduism and Buddhism, right. So as a sort of an 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.800 inform formal survey of sorts, I reached out to the 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:32.840 folks and the discussion module which is which is the 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:35.920 official stuff to Blow your Mind Facebook group, which you 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.720 should all join if you want to engage in meaningful 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.480 conversation with other listeners and and also your hosts here. 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.439 But I said, hey, what are what are some goddesses 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:49.840 or divine females that are displayed in your homes? Uh? 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:51.600 And I and I also open this up to sort 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.119 of hyper real religious examples as well, which will say so, 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.560 just a quick list of some of the uh goddesses 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:03.240 that were mentioned. I this wonder Woman, the Virgin Mary 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:06.800 Desire of the Endless, which is a character from the 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.760 Sandman comic book. Um, somebody mentioned sort of an abstract 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:16.480 feminist goddess tattoo, uh Freya, Princess Leiah Calisi from Game 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:22.160 of Thrones, um Mucha's Claire de Lune painting. And also 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:27.560 Marlene Dietrich who was an actor, right, yeah, uh Tara. 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.680 In fact, here is a quote from listeners sorry, who says, 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:33.679 I have several white Taras in my house. She's a 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.679 Tibetan Buddhist deity thought to help curb ego driven thoughts 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:41.520 and action. So I thought this was interesting beginning. I 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:43.200 had to ask because I was looking around my own 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.000 living room and I realized, well, we have several depictions 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.320 of various gods, but they are all masculine. Why do 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:51.960 I not have any images of a goddess in here 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:53.880 as well? I'm gonna have to fix that. Yeah, what's 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:55.720 wrong with your living room? Man? I know I've got 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.120 I've got I've got to balance it. And that brings 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.240 us back to uh to Schlane's are here, how did 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:04.639 this unbalancing occur? Yes, And another side of the theory, 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.720 of course, would be how come we see goddesses diminished 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.480 throughout the world for the last few thousand years? But 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:12.440 now you've got all kinds of people who say, yeah, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.119 I've got wonder woman, she's a goddess. Where did that 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:17.399 come from? She Len has an answer for that too, Again, 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:19.600 not necessarily something we're going to agree with him on, 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:22.119 but it's an interesting thing to consider. All right. Well, 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:23.480 on that note, we're gonna take a quick break and 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:25.760 we come back. We will jump into she Lene's hypothesis. 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:29.680 Thank you, thank you. All right, we're back. Now we're 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:33.640