The 'Temptress' Rejected ( A repost )

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devi_bhakta

 

Around 600 BCE there was another noticeable shift in human belief

systems -- this time, from world affirmation to world negation. The

shift took place both in the East and West. It was the age that saw

the rise of Buddhism in India and Orphism in Europe.

 

To grossly oversimplify, worldly life came to be perceived as a mire

of desire and delusions. No longer was this human existence seen as

exciting or worth exploring -- instead, the mortal, aging, disease-

prone body was seen as the prison of the blissful soul. Man sought

moksha -- an escape from the vagaries of Nature, from the cycle of

birth and death.

 

As a part of this shift, he began to reject woman as the temptress.

She represented worldly life -- children, family, and

responsibilities. She was the force that "trapped" the soul on Earth.

Such beliefs led to further deterioration of the social status of

human women and the divine status of the Mother Goddess.

 

The procreative abilities of women were now perceived as profane.

Menstruation was associated with pollution and sickness, something

to be ashamed of. Communities that once publicly celebrated the

emergence of a child from the mother's womb now shunned the birthing

rite. Sexual symbols were no longer used to rouse the fertility of

Nature; now they aroused disgust.

 

In the monasteries, monks -- who were mostly men -- turned away from

the two principles thatsustain Nature: sex and violence. Celibacy and

non-violence became the means to break free from earthly bondage and

to acquire powers that gave mankind power over Nature itself.

Violence was only celebrated when it helped impose the religion of

the male gods.