Human gender never has been and never will be a superficial alliance, subject to the shifting tides of cultural history. Chatter about the relationship breaking down ignores the obvious. The genders male and female have co-managed society since Homo sapiens’ first day.
For thousands of years, the leadership of almost every organized hierarchy in civilization, including government, commerce and religion, has been almost exclusively male. There’s no way to determine precisely how men came to rule the world, but they did and they do. Female divinity was driven from shared eminence in the Western world by around…
Six thousand to 7,000 years ago, the pairing of domesticated oxen and primitive plows triggered an agricultural revolution in the fertile Tigris and Euphrates valley. Before the plow, women using sticks and hoes were the managers of Mesopotamian agriculture. After the physically more challenging plow was adopted, men became the managers of agriculture in Mesopotamia….
On this first anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, let us humbly remember the natural disasters we’ve shared in the past, and rededicate our sacred intention to upgrade human behavior and circumstances in order to avoid future devastation. What does this prayer mean?
The connection between humanity and the nutritional abundance of our sacred planet is as indispensable as the placental connection between a mother and her child. The placenta has been described as the only disposable organ ever made. Civilization is also disposable. If the connection between humanity and civilization fails, our descendants will have no more chance of survival than a fetus disconnected from its placenta.
The flood of election year distortion eventually recedes. When your mind’s made up, and you’re ready to tolerate any distortion as long as your side wins, recall Noah. Strive for truth and righteousness. Resist partisan oversimplification. Shun divisive distortion. Remember that the healthiest patriotism is grounded in facts, not partisan politics.
Cherry-picking refers to people’s practice of selecting information to justify their points of view, even as they ignore perspectives and data from the same or similar legitimate sources that contradict their positions.
For example, the Hippocratic Oath is sometimes quoted to justify a stance against abortion rights by the same people who are certain that faith in female divinity as expressed in this document is heretical. Indeed, this oath, from which anti-abortion advocates draw support, was created by people who worshiped goddesses. It states, “I swear by Apollo the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and judgment, the following oath and agreement.”