To
access our right-brain intelligence we need to shake up the fixed assumptions
of our left-brain dominant perspective.
It can be a challenge to get beyond the left-brain perspective we are so
familiar with. We rarely question assumptions
that that provide the foundations upon which we build our personal beliefs and
in turn, our culture.
We have been educated, formally and
informally, that history begins with the written word. The first written law code is the
Mesopotamian Law Code of 2350 B.C.E.
Alphabetic literacy became well established across the ancient world at
around 1700 B.C.E. With alphabetic
literacy came a new left-hemispheric function of the human brain (we rely on
the left hemisphere to read). As
alphabetic literacy took hold, humanity underwent a shift into left-brain
dominance and "masculine, hunter-killer" themes. New "Sky God" creation myths were written at
that time that replaced the prevailing earth-based, Goddess creation
myths. Over the next thousand years, new
creation myths were written in many cultures across the ancient world. Genesis was written later, in 600 B.C.E.
What we don't realize is that new foundations were laid in place at
that time with those written words - foundations that are still with us
today. We believe that the tenets of
human existence are hierarchy, war, dominance, conquering. These tenets are left-brain oriented. Dr. Elinor Gadon outlines these foundational
tenets as follows:
1)
A male
God created the universe.
2)
Humans
have the right to dominate nature.
3)
Man has
the right to dominate woman.
If history begins with the written word, then indeed all history is
left-brain dominant, hierarchal, patriarchal history. But human history is
three million years old; the history of homo sapiens sapiens began over 100,000
years ago - it did not begin with alphabetic literacy. The Beginning is not the Word and yet, we
have virtually ignored our preliterate history - the history we learn in school
tells the story of territories, battles and war. When we look at what we know of Neolithic and
Paleolithic history we see a time when humanity understood the creative
principle to be female. We find no
evidence of organized war.
"Perhaps the most provocative discovery of recent archaeological
research is that nowhere in Neolithic Goddess cultures is there any sign of
warfare. There is no evidence of
fortifications, of violent death, invasion or conquest. We can only conclude that there was some
direct relation between Goddess religion and peaceful coexistence. Neolithic Goddess culture was woman-centered,
peaceful, prosperous, and nonhierarchical."
Elinor Gadon
"Archaeologists ardently seek to find evidence of war in earlier
societies, but there is actually no proof whatsoever of violence or war before
the middle of the fifth millennium B.C.E.
Although people built houses close together and lived in fairly high
population density in the early urban centers, they apparently developed ways
of resolving conflict and living in harmony with their environments that
allowed them to share food and resources, irrigate fields, and participate in
large ritual and artistic endeavors " Goddess scholars believe that content and
form cannot be separated and that the reason for the lack of violence and conflict
in early societies is the presence of the active worship of the Great
Mother." Vicki Noble
There is a correlation between
peaceful coexistence, a Great Mother and right brain values in society. The Great Mother lives on, timelessly in our
psyches. The archetype of the Great
Mother is a part of all men and women.
An archetype is an inward image in the human psyche that exerts a
powerful influence on the nature of an individual personality, and in turn, on
the larger culture. Poet David Whyte
says "An
archetypal image is much bigger than we are -- it has informed human life since
the beginning of time and transcends individual experience."
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