NationStates Jolt Archive

"God spoke, and created the world." In an ironic twist of Fate, the written word might have created God.

An interesting article that suggests that the invention of writing is responsible for the dominance of the masculine over the feminine, and hence the monotheistic God religion over the prior Goddess religions.
http://www.ofspirit.com/asokaselvarajah5.htm
In his excellent book, "The Alphabet Versus The Goddess", Leonard Shlain provides compelling evidence for an astonishing phenomenon present in human history. His essential contention is that the rise of literacy in the form of alphabetic writing has led to an over-emphasis upon masculine left-brain thinking at the expense of the feminine right-brain. This has resulted in a decline of the feminine archetype within the cultures where literacy has been introduced. Not only has the Goddess herself declined as the primary deity, in favor of her masculine competitor, but women themselves rapidly become subjected to extreme debasement.

Shlain is not alone in this contention. In fact, he is in good company. Neither Socrates, Buddha or Christ wanted their teachings committed to writing, but instead subscribed to the oral tradition. Their teachings were only preserved in written form decades or (in the case of the Buddha) centuries after their deaths. More recently, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss stated:

"There is one fact that can be established: the only phenomenon which, always and in all parts of the world, seems to be linked with the appearance of writing...is the establishment of hierarchical societies, consisting of masters and slaves, and where one part of the population is made to work for the other".

In essence, the conflict is between Word and Image, and the way our brains accept and integrate information from both. The masculine left-brain function is primarily associated with logic, numeracy, abstraction, analysis, reduction, writing and speech. The feminine right-brain is non-verbal and its language is that of image. It controls non-logical states, views things in concrete fashion rather than abstract, and is connected to intuition. It is both creative and nurturing, and is holistic in viewing things in an "all-at-once" fashion.

Thus, the two are very different and both have valid contributions to make. Ideally, a balance of both is required. Yet, throughout history, it has been the masculine left-brain that has dominated, and this can be traced back to the profound change that writing has had upon us.

(more on link)

[QUOTE=Willamena #1]
Is writing responsible for God?

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"God spoke, and created the world." In an ironic twist of Fate, the written word might have created God.

An interesting article that suggests that the invention of writing is responsible for the dominance of the masculine over the feminine, and hence the monotheistic God religion over the prior Goddess religions.
http://www.ofspirit.com/asokaselvarajah5.htm

Quote:
In his excellent book, "The Alphabet Versus The Goddess", Leonard Shlain provides compelling evidence for an astonishing phenomenon present in human history. His essential contention is that the rise of literacy in the form of alphabetic writing has led to an over-emphasis upon masculine left-brain thinking at the expense of the feminine right-brain. This has resulted in a decline of the feminine archetype within the cultures where literacy has been introduced. Not only has the Goddess herself declined as the primary deity, in favor of her masculine competitor, but women themselves rapidly become subjected to extreme debasement.

Shlain is not alone in this contention. In fact, he is in good company. Neither Socrates, Buddha or Christ wanted their teachings committed to writing, but instead subscribed to the oral tradition. Their teachings were only preserved in written form decades or (in the case of the Buddha) centuries after their deaths. More recently, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss stated:

"There is one fact that can be established: the only phenomenon which, always and in all parts of the world, seems to be linked with the appearance of writing...is the establishment of hierarchical societies, consisting of masters and slaves, and where one part of the population is made to work for the other".

In essence, the conflict is between Word and Image, and the way our brains accept and integrate information from both. The masculine left-brain function is primarily associated with logic, numeracy, abstraction, analysis, reduction, writing and speech. The feminine right-brain is non-verbal and its language is that of image. It controls non-logical states, views things in concrete fashion rather than abstract, and is connected to intuition. It is both creative and nurturing, and is holistic in viewing things in an "all-at-once" fashion.

Thus, the two are very different and both have valid contributions to make. Ideally, a balance of both is required. Yet, throughout history, it has been the masculine left-brain that has dominated, and this can be traced back to the profound change that writing has had upon us.

(more on link)


The hawai'ans never developed writing, and yet had a very hierarchical society.

But that's neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned...

The basic proposition is correct, though.

But not perhaps as one would think. :)

Writing allowed the "piling on" of information, of compiled wisdom, and this phenomenon was hoarded by the male (as presently demonstrated by the "remote control" syndrome), which produced the utilitarian imbalance between males and females.

...

The hawai'ans never developed writing, and yet had a very hierarchical society.

But that's neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned...

The basic proposition is correct, though.

But not perhaps as one would think. :)

Writing allowed the "piling on" of information, of compiled wisdom, and this phenomenon was hoarded by the male (as presently demonstrated by the "remote control" syndrome), which produced the utilitarian imbalance between males and females.

...
I love the idea that men and women are inequal, a useful balance of uniquely differentness.

If my partner were like me, what would I need him for? I have myself for that!
:-)

I love the idea that men and women are inequal, a useful balance of uniquely differentness.

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I value happiness over the academic interestingness of difference.

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I value happiness over the academic interestingness of difference.
Pragmatic more than academic. ;-)

I love the idea that men and women are inequal, a useful balance of uniquely differentness.

If my partner were like me, what would I need him for? I have myself for that!
:-)

wtf? try keeping yourself company... and you know, masturbation can only be so interesting for so long.

honestly, equal does not mean the same when it comes to people, men are better at some things than women, however, women are better than men at others. it balances out.

There's too much of this nonsense about how everyone should be EQUAL. I'm so, so, so sick of it. People are living in a dream world where everything is the same as everything else. A nightmare world, really.

i never said that we're all the same, but on intelligence tests, men and women are equal on average. men are better in some areas and women are better in others.

of course, the range in male iqs is greater, so there tends to be more male super geniuses as well as males who are mentally handicapped while women tend to remain within a smaller range.

wtf? try keeping yourself company... and you know, masturbation can only be so interesting for so long.

honestly, equal does not mean the same when it comes to people, men are better at some things than women, however, women are better than men at others. it balances out.
LOL! I wasn't talking about that! haha

It does balance out, indeed.

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I value happiness over the academic interestingness of difference.

"Ignorance is strength" or "Ignorance is bliss"?

There's too much of this nonsense about how everyone should be EQUAL. I'm so, so, so sick of it. People are living in a dream world where everything is the same as everything else. A nightmare world, really.
Everyone is unique! No two the same!

That's the beauty of humans.

"Equality" was never intended to leave the workplace, nor apply to anything more than 'equal salaries for equal skills', and 'equal treatment for equal job levels'.

Heck, some people LIKE inequality in a relationship.

Subs and doms, anyone? ;)

i never said that we're all the same, but on intelligence tests, men and women are equal on average. men are better in some areas and women are better in others.

of course, the range in male iqs is greater, so there tends to be more male super geniuses as well as males who are mentally handicapped while women tend to remain within a smaller range.

Except that IQ tests only measure how good you are at taking IQ tests. for example, IQ tests are judged to be "accurate" when they produce a reliable bell-curve distribution of scores. Why? Because it is assumed that "intelligence" is distributed in this way among the population -- although there is no reason I can see to make this assumption. There is no objective measurement, or even definition, of "intelligence".

On the whole "writing=God" thing, it seems to rely heavily on the rather outmoded, not to say discredited, "left brain/masculine", "right brain/feminine" idea. And I'm always suspicious of these one-trick wonder theories, like "the invention of the stirrup produced the feudal society" and other similar gumph. They all tend to look good from a distance but when you get up close and examine the evidence in detail the exceptions tend to mount up until the whole theory boils away into nothing. I haven't read the book, though, so this is just a knee-jerk response. Call it "masculine intuition". :)

[Dakini #6]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willamena
I love the idea that men and women are inequal, a useful balance of uniquely differentness.

If my partner were like me, what would I need him for? I have myself for that!
:-)


wtf? try keeping yourself company... and you know, masturbation can only be so interesting for so long.

honestly, equal does not mean the same when it comes to people, men are better at some things than women, however, women are better than men at others. it balances out.

You know what they say,... Even pleasure starts to chafe after a while..!

Sometimes PHYSICALLY..!

Back to the subject...

Thought experiment:

*) Pretend you're a primitive male humanoid.
*) Pretend you knew nothing of writing.
*) You suddenly are faced with having to remember 15 very important things.
*) You work really hard at remembering them.
*) You manage to recall 13 of them, all of the 13 being life saving, while the 2 "unimportant" ones merely got you a bad scar.
*) You now find you need to remember 4 more things.
*) Does panic set in..?
*) Some yahoo woman, of smaller stature, comes along and can "magically" remember 245 things, with the help of her little stick and piece of hide.
*) How long does she live if she doesn't show you how she does that..?
*) How long does she live after she DOES show you..?
*) How many other females are going to be allowed to know this trick..?

Hmmmm..... :D

There's too much of this nonsense about how everyone should be EQUAL. I'm so, so, so sick of it. People are living in a dream world where everything is the same as everything else. A nightmare world, really.

Hear, hear! Hasn't anyone read The Giver/Brave New World/etc.? Total equality = no freedom = BAD! Why is it that the only people who heed the warnings of writers are OTHER WRITERS??? :mad:

BTW, Santa Barbara, do you live in the RL Santa Barbara? That's where I live right now, too. :)

Hear, hear! Hasn't anyone read The Giver/Brave New World/etc.? Total equality = no freedom = BAD! Why is it that the only people who heed the warnings of writers are OTHER WRITERS??? :mad:

BTW, Santa Barbara, do you live in the RL Santa Barbara? That's where I live right now, too. :)

Brave New World isn't about "total equality". It depicts a society with a biologically-enforced caste system: institutionalised inequality.

^Oops! That's right. I've been away from high school for too long. Sorry about that. My point was that I am (more or less) against enforced equality because I have a great amount of respect for literature and the lessons writers have to communicate.

There's too much of this nonsense about how everyone should be EQUAL. I'm so, so, so sick of it. People are living in a dream world where everything is the same as everything else. A nightmare world, really.

You are confusing two definitions of equality. I hold that everyone is unique and can't truly be put into groups like male and female.