"Homosexuality," Plato wrote, "is regarded as shameful by barbarians and by those who live under despotic governments just as philosophy is regarded as shameful by them, because it is apparently not in the interest of such rulers to have great ideas engendered in their subjects, or powerful friendships or passionate love, all of which homosexuality is particularly apt to produce." This attitude of Plato's was characteristic of the ancient world.
Western attitudes toward law, religion, literature and government are dependent upon Roman attitudes. Why then are our attitudes toward homosexuality and sexual tolerance so different from the Romans? Romans were indifferent to questions of gender and gender orientation. Romans did not consider sexuality or sexual preference a matter of much interest, nor did they treat either in an analytical way.
One imperial writer made a comment on the subject in a general way "Zeus came as an eagle to godlike Ganymede and as a swan to the fairhaired mother of Helen. One person prefers one gender, another the other, I like both." Plutarch wrote "No sensible person can imagine that the sexes differ in matters of love as they do in matters of clothing. The intelligent lover of beauty will be attracted to beauty in whichever gender he finds it." Roman law and social strictures made absolutely no restrictions on the basis of gender. Some claim that there were laws against homosexual relations in Rome. This was not the case. But it is also a mistake to say that unbridled hedonism ruled. Romans had a complex set of moral strictures designed to protect children from abuse or any citizen from force or duress in sexual relations. Romans were sensitive to issues of love and caring, but individual sexual choice was completely unlimited. Male prostitution was so common that the taxes on it were a major source of revenue for the imperial treasury. It was so profitable that even in later periods when a certain intolerance crept in, the emperors could not bring themselves to end the practice and its attendant revenue.
Gay marriages were legal and frequent in Rome. Even emperors often married other males. There was total acceptance on the part of the populace of this sort of homosexual attitude and behavior. Popular Roman literature contained many gay love stories. There was absolutely no conscious effort in the Roman world, the world in which Christianity was born, to claim that homosexuality was abnormal or undesirable. No one in the early Roman world seemed to feel that the fact that someone preferred his own gender was any more significant than the fact that someone preferred blue eyes or blond hair. Neither gay nor straight people seemed to associate certain characteristics with sexual preference. Gay men were not thought to be less masculine than straight men. Gay people were not thought to be any better or worse than straight people, an attitude which differed both from that of the society that preceded it, the Greeks thought gay people were inherently better than straight people, and from the society which followed it that gay people were inferior to others.
If this was the social structure from which Western culture was derived, where did the negative ideas regarding homosexuality come from? The most obvious answer to this question, and the one which has most generally been given in the past, is that Christianity is responsible for the change. When Christianity appears on the scene the tolerance spoken of earlier disappears and the general acceptance of homosexuality becomes much less common.
Modern christians falsley believe that the Bible has something to do with their attitudes toward gay people. There is no place in the writings of the Early or High Middle Ages where the Bible seems to be the origin of these prejudices against gay people. Where any reason is given for the new hostility other sources not the Bible are cited. The Bible should be the last place to look for the growing hostility but so many people believe that the Bible is involved that its teachings on the subject matter must be addressed.
Most serious biblical scholars now recognize that the story of Sodom was not intended as any sort of comment on homosexuality. It certainly was not interpreted as a prohibition of homosexuality by early Christian writers. The story refers to the sin of inhospitality rather than to sexual failing. Almost all medieval scholars felt the story of Sodom was a story about hospitality. This is the most obvious interpretation and also the one given to it in most other biblical passages. It is striking that although Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned in about two dozen different places (other than Genesis 19 where the story is first told), none associate homosexuality with the Sodomites.
Passages that could be miscontrued against homosexuality are Deuteronomy 23:17 and Kings 14:24, and doubtless the best known Leviticus 18:20 and 20:13, where "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman" is in reality describing ritual impurity for Jews. None of these was cited by early Christians against homosexual behavior. Early Christians had no desire to impose the levitical law on themselves or anyone else. Most nonJewish Christians were in fact appalled by most of the Jewish laws and were not about to put themselves under what they considered the bondage of the old law. St. Paul says again and again that we must not fall back on the bondage of the old law and in fact goes so far as to claim that if we are circumcised (the cornerstone of the old law), Christ will profit us nothing. The early Christians were not to bind themselves to the strictures of the old law. The Council of Jerusalem, held around 50 A.D. and recorded in Acts 15, in fact took up this issue specifically and decided that Christians would not be bound by any of the strictures of the old law except for which they list - none of which is related to homosexuality!
In the New Testament we find no citations of Old Testament strictures. We do find three places, I Corinthians 6:9, I Timothy 1:10 and Romans 1:2627, which might be relevant. The Greek word malakos in I Cor. 6:9 and I Tim. 1 :10, which Scholars in the 20th century have deemed to refer to some sort of homosexual behavior, was universally used by Christian writers to refer to masturbation until about the 15th or 16th century. Beginning in the 15th century many people were bothered by the idea that masturbators were excluded from the kingdom of heaven. They did not however seem to be too upset by the idea of excluding homosexuals, so malakos was retranslated to refer to homosexuality instead of masturbation. The texts and words remained the same, but translators just changed their ideas about who should be excluded from the kingdom of heaven.
The remaining passage - Romans 1:26-7 - does not suffer by and large from mistranslation, although you can easily be misled by the phrase "against nature." This phrase was also interpreted differently by the early church. St. John Chrysostom says that St. Paul deprives the people he is discussing of any excuse. Observing of their women that "they changed the natural use. No one can claim, Paul points out, that she came to this because she was precluded from lawful intercourse or that because she was unable to satisfy her desire....Only those possessing something can change it. He points the same thing out about men but in a different way? saying they 'left the natural use of women.' Likewise, he casts aside with these words every excuse, charging that they not only had legitimate enjoyment and abandoned it, going after another but that by spurning the natural, they pursued the unnatural." What Chrysostom is getting at, and he expounds on it at great length, is the idea that St. Paul was not writing about gay people but about heterosexual people, probably married who abandoned the pleasure they were entitled to by virtue of their own natures for one to which they were not entitled. This is reflected in the canons imposing penances for homosexual activity, which through the 16th century were chiefly directed toward married persons. That is a married straight man having sex with another man. Little is said of single people.
The most significant element of the passage is it introduced into Christian thought the notion that homosexual relations were "against nature." What Paul seems to have meant was 'unusual' not 'against' natural law as it is so often interpreted. The concept of natural law was not fully developed until almost 1,200 years later. All that Paul meant to say was that it was unusual that people should have this sort of sexual desire. This is made clear by the fact that in the same epistle in the 11th chapter, God Himself is in fact described as acting "against nature" in saving the Gentiles. It is therefore inconceivable that this phrase connotes moral turpitude.
Why doesn't the New Testament indicate something about the attitude of early Christians toward homosexuality? In the New Testament Jesus, St. Paul, and the other writers are responding to questions regarding social and moral problems posed to them by a predominantly heterosexual society. People asked them questions about divorce, widows, property, etc. and they answered these questions. Jesus does not appear to be giving detailed guidelines on all aspects of human life, but rather to be offering general principles. There is almost no comment anywhere in the Bible about loving your children; there are few comments about friendship; and there is not a single comment about what we know as "romantic love," although this is the basis of modern Christian marriage.
Todays primary reasoning for hostility toward homosexuality is the general opposition to non-procreative sexuality. Early Christians were hostile toward any form of sexuality which was not potentially procreative. This cannot, however, be shown to stem from Christian principles. There is not a word within the Old Testament or the New about non-procreative sexuality among married persons, most Jewish commentators have agreed that anything was licit between husband and wife. It is a well established principle that there is a classrelated prejudice against non-procreative sexual acts among lower class Christians as among any lower class group of society. The theologians explicit rejection of all non-procreative sexuality, does not relate directly toward gay people. The theologians of the early church were attempting to impress on all Christians that they had to see every act of heterosexual intercourse as the potential creation of a child. No effective means of birth control was known (except for abstinence), not even the rhythm method. The only way to avoid having children was to kill or abandon them. Theologians therefore wished to persuade Christian parents that they had to be responsible for the creation of a child every time they had sexual pleasure. The only other alternatives in their world were morally unacceptable. Now the original aim of this approach, it appears, was to protect children. It was not to attack homosexuality. It was a very long time before this notion spilled over into homosexuality, but it eventually did.
As late as the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there appears to be no conflict between a Christian life and homosexuality. Gay life is everywhere in the art, poetry, music, history, etc. of the 11th and 12th centuries. The most popular literature of the day is about samesex lovers of one sort or another. Clerics were at the forefront of this revival of the gay culture. St. Aelred, for instance, writes of his youth as a time when he thought of nothing but loving and being loved by men. He became a Cistercian abbot, and incorporated his love for men into his Christian life by encouraging monks to love each other, not just generally, but individually and passionately. He cited the example of Jesus and St. John as guidance for this. 'Jesus himself," he said, "in everything like us, patient and compassionate with others in every matter, Transfigured this sort of love through the expression of his own love. For he allowed only one - not all- to recline on his breast as a sign of his special love; and the closer they were, the more copiously did the secrets of their heavenly marriage impart the sweet smell of their spiritual chrism to their love."
After the twelfth century Christian tolerance and acceptance of gay love seems to disappear quite rapidity. The writings of St. Aelred disappeared because they were locked up and forgotten. Beginning about 1150, for unknown reasons, there was a great upsurge of intolerance towards gay people and violent outbursts against Jews, Muslims, and witches. Women were suddenly excluded from power structures to which they had previously had access. There was suspicion of everyone. In 1180 the Jews were expelled from France.
The change was rapid. In England in the 12th century there were no laws against Jews and they occupied prominent positions, but by the end of the 13th century, sleeping with a Jew was equated with sleeping with an animal or with murder, and in France Jews were to be killed on the spot if they questioned the Christian faith. During this time there were many diatribes against gay people as well, suggesting that they molest children, violate natural law, are bestial and bring harm to nations which tolerate them. Within a single century between the period of 1250 and 1350, almost every European state passed civil laws demanding death for a single homosexual act. This reaction affected Christian theology a great deal. Throughout the 12th century homosexual relations had at worst been comparable to heterosexual fornication by married people and at best not sinful at all. During the 13th century writers like Thomas Aquinas portray homosexuality as one of the very worst sins, second only to murder.
St. Thomas tried to show that homosexuality was opposed to nature in some way, the most familiar objection being that nature created sexuality for procreation and using it for any other purpose would violate nature. Aquinas was much too smart for this argument and tried other reasoning. In the Summa Contra Gentiles he asks, "Is it sinful to walk on your hands when nature intended them for something else?" No, indeed it is not sinful" so he shifted ground. This is obviously not the reason that homosexuality is sinful; he looks for another. First he tried arguing that homosexuality must be sinful because it impedes the reproduction of the human race. But this argument also failed for Aquinas noted in the Summa Theologica, "a duty may be of two sorts: it may be enjoined on the individual as a duty which cannot be ignored without sin, or it may be enjoined upon a group. In the latter cases no one individual is obligated to fulfill the duty. The commandment regarding procreation applies to the human race as a whole! Which is obligated to increase physically. It is therefore sufficient for the race if some people undertake to reproduce physically." Aquinas admitted in the Summa Theologica that homosexuality was absolutely natural to certain individuals and therefore inculpable. In what sense, then, could he argue that it was unnatural? He concedes that the term "natural" in fact has no moral significance, but it is simply a term applied to things which are strongly disapproved of. "Homosexuality," he says, "is called 'the unnatural vice' by the common people, and hence it may be said to be unnatural." This was not an invention of Aquinas'. It was a response to popular prejudices of the time. It did not derive its authority from the Bible or from any previous tradition of Christian morality, but it eventually became part of Catholic theological thought. These attitudes have remained basically unchanged because there has been no popular support for change in the matter. The public has continued to feel hostility to gay people and the church has been under no pressure to reexamine the origins of its teachings on homosexuality.
It is possible to change ecclesiastical attitudes toward gay people and their sexuality because the objections to homosexuality are not biblical, they are not consistent, they are not part of Jesus' teaching; and they are not even fundamentally Christian. It is possible because Christianity was indifferent, if not accepting, of gay people and their feelings for a longer period of time than it had been hostile to them. It is possible because the founders of the religion specifically considered love to transcend accidents of biology and to be the end, not the means. It may not be possible to eradicate intolerance from secular society, for intolerance is, to some extent ineradicable; but the church's attitude can and must be changed. It has been different in the past and it can be again. Plato observed of secular society nearly 2,400 years ago that "wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved in homosexual relationships, this is due to evil on the part of the legislatures, to despotism on the part of the rulers and to cowardism on the part of the governed."
There is an abundance of ecclesiastical precedent to encourage the church to adopt a more positive attitude. As a gay archbishop wrote in the 12th century, "it is not we who teach God how to love, but He who taught us. He made our natures full of love." A contemporary of his wrote, "Love is not a crime. If it were wrong to love, God would not have bound even the divine to love." These statements came from the Christian community, from Christian faith. That community can and must be reminded of its former beliefs, its former acceptance.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
HISTORY OF BEER AND THE CHURCH
Did beer beget bread, or did bread beget beer? They arrived at about the same time but the cultivation of grain stabilized previously nomadic peoples and was essential to the development of civilization. And would one day enrich the Catholic Church in the process. Life was not easy in the 'old days'. Water wasn't always potable, so low-alcohol beers became the drink of choice; the low alcohol content killed any pathogens. It was safer to drink the beer than the water! People worked hard and lived on poor diets. Beer provided calories, B vitamins, and some respite at the end of a hard day of labor.
The two main grains were barley and a kind of wheat known as "emmer". The original first beers made from raw grain were very low in alcohol. A big step ahead came (around 3,000 B.C.) when the brewers in Mesopotamia accidentally learned to turn barley into malt.Raw grain was wetted then left to dry in the sun. The grain would swell in anticipating of sprouting, then it was dried while it still retained its rich sugar and starches. Now the fermented beverages made were much higher in alcohol.
Early brewers knew nothing of yeast; they did know that when they made beer, the deposits from previous brews left in their clay pots would turn the liquid into alcohol. Wild yeasts also contributed. Hops weren't used at this time as the plant was not known. The brewers made "beer bread" by pouring heated water over bread, which was filtered and left to ferment spontaneously.
The Egyptians used all malted grain and produced only dark beers. Brewing in this ancient culture was not a sideline, but a major industry; pharaohs gave their favorite subjects tens of thousands of litres of free beer. The Islamic invasion of the 8th century ended the practices of brewing in Egypt, the Koran forbade the use of alcohol. No wonder they're so crabby.
But word was out. The Phoenicians had taken brewing techniques to other countries, Bohemia, Bavaria, and the land of the Celts. The conquering Romans were still partial to wines but grapes were finicky to cultivate in many parts of Europe. Grains would grow widely, and when Roman troops ran out of wine, they gladly turned to the local beers to quench their thirst.
The skill of brewers came to exceed that of winemakers. Cooperage - making storage casks out of wood - allowed brewers to store their beer in large, air tight containers. In 21 AD Greeks and Romans noted seeing wooden "pithoi" in northern Europe, during a time when they were still putting their wine in clay vessels. "The Celts are fine coopers" it is noted "their casks are as large as houses." In Britain, the Celts made a beer called 'curmi' and also made hard cider and mead from honey.
Brewing was originally in the domain of the woman of the house as was bread-making, which utilized the same ingredients. A good ale wife was held in high esteem. Men often married, not based on a woman's good looks or dowry, but on her ability to brew good ale. Over time, the best ale wives became so celebrated amongst their community that people would go to their houses to drink, and then to buy, their good ale.
Nordic peoples called their beer ol or ealu, from which comes the term "ale". Another Saxon term for beer was woet, which survives today as wort, the sweet malt liquid that is fermented into beer. For centuries, ale meant a fermented barley-water flavored with herbs, spices and other plants--but not hops.Beer, from the German word bier, came much later and was ale used with hops. Utilizing hops in beer was very unpopular with some brewers and countries. Hops have a natural anti-bacterial effect and allow beer to be stored longer and be transported over long distances without spoiling. In the early 1500's Flemish traders brought the hop to England, where some brewers welcomed it, and some condemned it as "causing unhealthy conditions in the body". Eventually brewers realized the benefits to storage and flavor that hops provided and now virtually all commercial beers utilize hops.
In early Europe a small commercial brewing movement started and spread, basically based on inns and taverns where the owners brewed. These brewers soon found a major competitor - the Christian church. The archbishops and clerics being the money mongering beasts they were stepped in to 'cure the excesses' of the Anglo-Saxons and to corner the market in ale. Ale was brewed for the monks and was for a time considered 'liquid bread' - you could fast but not break your fast by drinking ale! Holy men always find a way around the good book. The Benedictines were the largest brewers, but in medieval Germany there were as many as 400 to 500 monastic breweries. And remember these guys were responsible for translating the bible, the reason so much has been misinterpreted, perhaps?
Beer making was big business for the monasteries for centuries. Monastic brewhouses were generally located near moving bodies of water, where grain mills were set up powered by the water. Many old type brewhouses from the 13th and 14th centuries were still intact until destroyed by the bombs of WWII.
In the Middle Ages brewers didn't understand the phenomena of brewing. They mixed the ingredients and somehow it turned into beer. Nobody questioned why or how it happened, they were just thankful that it did. Since they knew so little about the process, there was a great chance that something might go wrong along the way. In Europe during the middle ages, with the influence that the Catholic Church had on life in those days, there could only be two possible explanations for the phenomena of brewing beer, Devine Intervention or Demonic Intervention.
In the Middle ages when people could not explain something it was considered to be the work of the Devil. However people liked beer. Not only was it tasty and intoxicating, it was also much safer to drink than water. Nothing resembling sanitation had been invented yet and most towns and villages had poisonous if not toxic water supplies. People were encouraged to drink beer in lieu of water. St. Arnold actually earned his sainthood because of this. Beer was good. Fermentation was considered a miracle. Beer brought in moola!
Problem was when you don't understand the fermentation process sometimes a batch of beer wouldn't turn out right. The possibility of something going wrong was very high. In the minds of our Mid-Evil progenitors, a bad batch of beer meant the Devil got is dirty hands into the brew kettle and interfered with God's miracle and profits. Hmm, wonder if our word profit comes from prophet.
There were several practices employed to control or avoid the intervention of the devil. The posting of Christian icons in the brew house was a common practice. Even today, in most Belgian brew houses you can find a crucifix or a statue of a Saint. Other symbols used were the six-pointed star or the sign of Solomon. Another common practice was to stick to certain rituals, like reciting ritual phrases at certain specific moments, or to try to do everything exactly the same way.
The most certain way to avoid demonic interference in the brewing process was to have the local priest preside over the brewing. Of course, a priest's time was very valuable in those days. There were lots of demons running around the countryside, towns and villages meddling with the lives of peasants and nobles alike. So the priest had to be paid. Normal compensation for a priest was four pints of beer per blessing. The blessing of the beer was a service known as "The Right of Signage."
Some priests were a bit crooked and began blackmailing breweries, demanding greater payment for their service. To control these excesses, local rulers created laws that defined how much would be paid to priests for their blessing. To keep the clergy happy, they also created rules that required that breweries have this blessing for every batch of beer they produced. This was an early and effective form of taxation. The law created and enforced by the ruler insured that the Church would continue to support that leader's divine right to rule.
Not long after the laws were created requiring payment to the Church, the Church decided that it really wasn't necessary for a priest to be present at the time of brewing. As long as payments were made on time, the church would bless the brewery from afar, so convenient. It was now a tax and not a ritual, a fee and not a rite, a levy and not service. But the money kept pouring in! Greedy bastards.
Monastic brewing thrived until Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries of England in his contempt for the Roman Catholic Church. The beginning of the decline of the monastic breweries was the beginning of the rise of commercial brewers.
When the French Revolution spread through Europe at the end of the 18th century, and Europe finally started to truly revolt against such ancient ways of thinking, this practice of local priests getting paid a compensation for each batch of beer halted. The blessing of the brew kettles was soon replaced by the placing of candles before the statue of a Saint or by the posting of a crucifix in the brew-house.
It is said the Pilgrims landed earlier than scheduled as they needed to brew more beer and so landed at Plymouth Rock instead of further south. In the early Dutch and English colonies beer was very important to the settlers. There were more taverns than churches. Church services were often held in taverns. Records from the early English colonies show that most colonists preferred to go drinking at taverns on Sunday instead of Church. As a result laws had to be enacted to reverse this trend!
In the 19th century, science made such progress that the brewing process and the function of the yeast was fully understood. From then on, the priest had to pay for his beer. Unless, of course he was a monk and was living in a beer-brewing Abbey.
The two main grains were barley and a kind of wheat known as "emmer". The original first beers made from raw grain were very low in alcohol. A big step ahead came (around 3,000 B.C.) when the brewers in Mesopotamia accidentally learned to turn barley into malt.Raw grain was wetted then left to dry in the sun. The grain would swell in anticipating of sprouting, then it was dried while it still retained its rich sugar and starches. Now the fermented beverages made were much higher in alcohol.
Early brewers knew nothing of yeast; they did know that when they made beer, the deposits from previous brews left in their clay pots would turn the liquid into alcohol. Wild yeasts also contributed. Hops weren't used at this time as the plant was not known. The brewers made "beer bread" by pouring heated water over bread, which was filtered and left to ferment spontaneously.
The Egyptians used all malted grain and produced only dark beers. Brewing in this ancient culture was not a sideline, but a major industry; pharaohs gave their favorite subjects tens of thousands of litres of free beer. The Islamic invasion of the 8th century ended the practices of brewing in Egypt, the Koran forbade the use of alcohol. No wonder they're so crabby.
But word was out. The Phoenicians had taken brewing techniques to other countries, Bohemia, Bavaria, and the land of the Celts. The conquering Romans were still partial to wines but grapes were finicky to cultivate in many parts of Europe. Grains would grow widely, and when Roman troops ran out of wine, they gladly turned to the local beers to quench their thirst.
The skill of brewers came to exceed that of winemakers. Cooperage - making storage casks out of wood - allowed brewers to store their beer in large, air tight containers. In 21 AD Greeks and Romans noted seeing wooden "pithoi" in northern Europe, during a time when they were still putting their wine in clay vessels. "The Celts are fine coopers" it is noted "their casks are as large as houses." In Britain, the Celts made a beer called 'curmi' and also made hard cider and mead from honey.
Brewing was originally in the domain of the woman of the house as was bread-making, which utilized the same ingredients. A good ale wife was held in high esteem. Men often married, not based on a woman's good looks or dowry, but on her ability to brew good ale. Over time, the best ale wives became so celebrated amongst their community that people would go to their houses to drink, and then to buy, their good ale.
Nordic peoples called their beer ol or ealu, from which comes the term "ale". Another Saxon term for beer was woet, which survives today as wort, the sweet malt liquid that is fermented into beer. For centuries, ale meant a fermented barley-water flavored with herbs, spices and other plants--but not hops.Beer, from the German word bier, came much later and was ale used with hops. Utilizing hops in beer was very unpopular with some brewers and countries. Hops have a natural anti-bacterial effect and allow beer to be stored longer and be transported over long distances without spoiling. In the early 1500's Flemish traders brought the hop to England, where some brewers welcomed it, and some condemned it as "causing unhealthy conditions in the body". Eventually brewers realized the benefits to storage and flavor that hops provided and now virtually all commercial beers utilize hops.
In early Europe a small commercial brewing movement started and spread, basically based on inns and taverns where the owners brewed. These brewers soon found a major competitor - the Christian church. The archbishops and clerics being the money mongering beasts they were stepped in to 'cure the excesses' of the Anglo-Saxons and to corner the market in ale. Ale was brewed for the monks and was for a time considered 'liquid bread' - you could fast but not break your fast by drinking ale! Holy men always find a way around the good book. The Benedictines were the largest brewers, but in medieval Germany there were as many as 400 to 500 monastic breweries. And remember these guys were responsible for translating the bible, the reason so much has been misinterpreted, perhaps?
Beer making was big business for the monasteries for centuries. Monastic brewhouses were generally located near moving bodies of water, where grain mills were set up powered by the water. Many old type brewhouses from the 13th and 14th centuries were still intact until destroyed by the bombs of WWII.
In the Middle Ages brewers didn't understand the phenomena of brewing. They mixed the ingredients and somehow it turned into beer. Nobody questioned why or how it happened, they were just thankful that it did. Since they knew so little about the process, there was a great chance that something might go wrong along the way. In Europe during the middle ages, with the influence that the Catholic Church had on life in those days, there could only be two possible explanations for the phenomena of brewing beer, Devine Intervention or Demonic Intervention.
In the Middle ages when people could not explain something it was considered to be the work of the Devil. However people liked beer. Not only was it tasty and intoxicating, it was also much safer to drink than water. Nothing resembling sanitation had been invented yet and most towns and villages had poisonous if not toxic water supplies. People were encouraged to drink beer in lieu of water. St. Arnold actually earned his sainthood because of this. Beer was good. Fermentation was considered a miracle. Beer brought in moola!
Problem was when you don't understand the fermentation process sometimes a batch of beer wouldn't turn out right. The possibility of something going wrong was very high. In the minds of our Mid-Evil progenitors, a bad batch of beer meant the Devil got is dirty hands into the brew kettle and interfered with God's miracle and profits. Hmm, wonder if our word profit comes from prophet.
There were several practices employed to control or avoid the intervention of the devil. The posting of Christian icons in the brew house was a common practice. Even today, in most Belgian brew houses you can find a crucifix or a statue of a Saint. Other symbols used were the six-pointed star or the sign of Solomon. Another common practice was to stick to certain rituals, like reciting ritual phrases at certain specific moments, or to try to do everything exactly the same way.
The most certain way to avoid demonic interference in the brewing process was to have the local priest preside over the brewing. Of course, a priest's time was very valuable in those days. There were lots of demons running around the countryside, towns and villages meddling with the lives of peasants and nobles alike. So the priest had to be paid. Normal compensation for a priest was four pints of beer per blessing. The blessing of the beer was a service known as "The Right of Signage."
Some priests were a bit crooked and began blackmailing breweries, demanding greater payment for their service. To control these excesses, local rulers created laws that defined how much would be paid to priests for their blessing. To keep the clergy happy, they also created rules that required that breweries have this blessing for every batch of beer they produced. This was an early and effective form of taxation. The law created and enforced by the ruler insured that the Church would continue to support that leader's divine right to rule.
Not long after the laws were created requiring payment to the Church, the Church decided that it really wasn't necessary for a priest to be present at the time of brewing. As long as payments were made on time, the church would bless the brewery from afar, so convenient. It was now a tax and not a ritual, a fee and not a rite, a levy and not service. But the money kept pouring in! Greedy bastards.
Monastic brewing thrived until Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries of England in his contempt for the Roman Catholic Church. The beginning of the decline of the monastic breweries was the beginning of the rise of commercial brewers.
When the French Revolution spread through Europe at the end of the 18th century, and Europe finally started to truly revolt against such ancient ways of thinking, this practice of local priests getting paid a compensation for each batch of beer halted. The blessing of the brew kettles was soon replaced by the placing of candles before the statue of a Saint or by the posting of a crucifix in the brew-house.
It is said the Pilgrims landed earlier than scheduled as they needed to brew more beer and so landed at Plymouth Rock instead of further south. In the early Dutch and English colonies beer was very important to the settlers. There were more taverns than churches. Church services were often held in taverns. Records from the early English colonies show that most colonists preferred to go drinking at taverns on Sunday instead of Church. As a result laws had to be enacted to reverse this trend!
In the 19th century, science made such progress that the brewing process and the function of the yeast was fully understood. From then on, the priest had to pay for his beer. Unless, of course he was a monk and was living in a beer-brewing Abbey.
Monday, February 19, 2007
TESLA'S FREE ENERGY SUPPRESSION
Free energy suppression is a conspiracy theory claiming that certain special interest groups are suppressing, or have suppressed in the past, technologies that would or could provide energy at reduced costs, reduced pollution output, or would or could reduce the energy consumption of various devices. Groups most often implicated in such activity are the oil industry, petroleum, national governments and, additionally, automakers. The most common perceived motive is preservation of the economic status quo and sustained increase of fuel prices. Dependence upon expensive energy is perpetuated by governments in order to control the populace by means of hydraulic despotism.
The principal belief is that electric companies, gas heating companies and oil companies would lose half or more of their profits with free energy available. Therefore, these companies donate millions to governments (bribing them) to make sure that free energy devices stay out of the public market. Tactics and means of suppression include buying the patent of the free energy device from the inventor or his family, suing the inventor or patent holder and even murdering the inventor in some cases.
Based on the principles of capitalism, free energy cannot be allowed. The traditional economic system contains three aspects: capital, goods and services. Within the aspects of capital are three subcomponents: currency, credit, and natural capital. Natural capital comprises raw material and energy. This differs considerably from the orthodox definition of capital in economics.
By reviewing history it is understandable why some inventions are not commercialized. It is economics, not science, that is the main factor. It will be remembered that alternating current was opposed by powerful financiers in Tesla's time. Westinghouse promoted his DC, Tesla his AC. Thankfully Tesla won that battle. Tesla is the key player in Free Energy Theories. Below is his proposal.
Tesla was fascinated by radiant energy and its free energy possibilities. He called the Crooke's radiometer, a device which has vanes that spin in a vacuum when exposed to radiant energy "a beautiful invention." He believed that it would become possible to harness energy directly by "connecting to the very wheel-work of nature." Tesla announced a plan for a "cosmic-ray motor" when asked if it was more powerful than the Crooke's radiometer, he answered, "thousands of times more powerful."
In 1901 Tesla Tesla believed that neutron particles were responsible for all radioactive reactions. Radiant matter is in tune with these neutron particles. Radiant matter is simply a re-transmitter of energy from one state to another.
Tesla's free-energy concept was patented in 1901 as an "Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy." The patent refers to "the sun, as well as other sources of radiant energy, like cosmic rays," that the device works at night is explained in terms of the night-time availability of cosmic rays. Tesla also refers to the ground as "a vast reservoir of negative electricity."
How his radiant energy receiver worked:
From the electric Potential that exists between the elevated plate (plus) and the ground (minus), energy builds up in the capacitor, and, after "a suitable time interval," the accumulated energy will "manifest itself in a powerful discharge" that can do work. The capacitor, says Tesla, should be "of considerable electrostatic capacity," and its dielectric made of "the best quality mica, for it has to withstand potentials that could rupture a weaker dielectric."
Tesla received two patents for this radiant energy device; U.S. Patent No. 685,957 - Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy and U.S. Patent No. 685,958 - Method of Utilizing Radiant Energy. Both these patents were filed on March 21, 1901 and granted on November 5, 1901. In these patents he explains:
The Earth's Electrostatic Charge
Tesla's intent was to condense the energy trapped between the earth and its upper atmosphere and to transform it into an electric current. He pictured the sun as an immense ball of electricity, positively charged with a potential of some 200 billion volts. The earth, on the other hand, is charged with negative electricity. The tremendous electrical force between these two bodies constituted, at least in part, what he called cosmic energy. It varied from night to day and from season to season but it is always present.
The positive particles are stopped at the ionosphere and between it and the negative charges in the ground, a distance of 60 miles, there is a large difference of voltage - something on the order of 360,000 volts. With the gases of the atmosphere acting as an insulator between these two opposite stores of electrical charges, the region between the ground and the edge of space traps a great deal of energy. Despite the large size of the planet, it is electrically like a capacitor which keeps positive and negative charges apart by using the air as a non-conducting material as an insulator.
The earth has a charge of 96,500 coulombs. With a potential of 360,000 volts, the earth constitutes a capacitor of .25 farads (farads = coulombs/volts). If the formula for calculating the energy stored in a capacitor (E =1/2CV2) is applied to the earth, it turns out that the ambient medium contains 1.6 x 1011 joules or 4.5 megawatt-hours of electrical energy. In order to utilize this high-voltage energy you must do two things -- make an energy sink and then devise a way of making the "sink" oscillate.
"Zero-Point Energy?"
Such a "sink" has to be at a lower energy state than the surrounding medium and, for the energy to continually flow into it, the energy must be continually pumped out. Additionally, this "sink" must maintain a lower energy state while meeting the power requirements of the load attached to it. Electrical energy, watt-seconds, is a product of volts x amps x seconds. Because the period of oscillation does not change, either voltage or current has to be the variable in this system's energy equation. Bifilar wound coils are used in the system because a bifilar wound coil maximizes the voltage difference between its turns, the current is then minimized.
Set into oscillation at its resonant frequency by an external power source. During the "zero-point" cycle the coil will appear as one plate of a capacitor. As voltage across the coil increases, the amount of charge it can siphon will increase. The energy that is taken into the coil through the small energy window (zero-point), appears to be the key to the success of this system. It is at this zero-point where energy is condensed into positive and negative. When energy escapes from the "sink" the magnetic field collapses and a strong magnetic quake is created.
The radiant energy system is a self-oscillating capacitive system. Very little power is expended keeping it going. A small amount of charge moves through the system per cycle, that is, the coulomb per seconds = amps are low. If the charge is used at a low rate, the energy stored in the system will be turned into heat at a slow rate enabling the oscillations to continue for a long period of time.
Tesla's "COIL FOR ELECTRO MAGNETS," patent #512,340 is a very special coil design because, unlike an ordinary coil made by turning wire on a tube form, this one uses two wires laid next to each other on a form but with the end of the first one connected to the beginning of the second one. In this patent Tesla explains that the double coil will store many times the energy of a conventional coil. A bifilar coil is capable of holding more charge than a single wound coil. When operated at resonance, the distributed capacitance of the bifilar coil is able to overcome the counter - electromotive force (e.m.f.) normal to coils, inductive reactance. Because of the electrical activity, a bifilar coil does not work against itself and the potential across the coil quickly builds to a high value. The difference between the turns becomes great enough that the energy is practically all potential, at this point, the system becomes an electrostatic oscillator.
A standard coil of 1000 turns with a potential of 100 volts will have a difference of .1 volt between turns. A similar bifilar coil will have a potential of 50 volts between turns. Stored energy is a function of the square of the voltages the energy. That equates to 502/.12 = 2500/.01 = 250,000 times greater than the standard coil.
1932 Nikola Tesla stated:
I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device...The attractive features of the cosmic rays is their constancy. They shower down on us throughout the whole 24 hours...it will not require devices for storing energy as would be necessary with devices using wind, tide or sunlight...They move with great velocity, exceeding that of light...the cosmic ray ionizes the air, setting free many charges ions and electrons. These charges are captured in a condenser which is made to discharge through the circuit of the motor.
1933 Device to Harness Cosmic Energy:
Tesla's first radiant energy receiver stored static electricity obtained from the air and converted it to a usable form. Tesla's invention is a simple version of T.H. Moray's device. Moray's device used a unique rectifier (RE-valve) to efficiently capture the static electricity from the surrounding air. Moray's oscillator tubes (magnetron transducers) utilized this high-voltage energy to generate an internal secondary "cold" fusion reaction. Stick an antenna up in the air, the higher the better, and wire it to one side of a capacitor, the other going to a good earth ground, and the potential difference will then charge the capacitor. Connect across the capacitor some sort of switching device so that it can be discharged at rhythmic intervals, and you have an oscillating electric output. T.H. Moray simply expanded on Tesla's idea to use high-voltage to create ionic oscillation. He is directly converting ionized particles generated by radiant matter. Radiant Energy is directly converted to electrical power! It is this transfer of energy that could be used for practical purposes.
Tesla was once a household word, sixty or seventy years ago. Why were his acheivements virtually stricken from history almost the day after his death. What did Tesla discover which threatened the powers that be? Since we already know about the many patented inventions, the assumption has always been that the unknown, still classified works were far in advance of the published ones, and were in realization of projects about which Tesla had announced he was working on, or had already tested and developed, but had not yet given to the world.
There have been countless speculations as to what Tesla's most secret discoveries were. At the time of his death, there were in all, the approximate equivalent of a railroad boxcar load of Tesla materials confiscated by the FBI, from around four different storage locations and Tesla's hotel storage and hotel room and safe. Of this, a total of only about 150,000 documents were released to Tesla's Yugoslavian relatives, now held by the Tesla Institute in Belgrade. The remainder of Tesla's papers are still classified, literally tons of notes, documents, drawings, and plans. The government distributed false rumors that "Tesla never kept notes", which was a blatant lie.
Odd behaviour given Tesla's repeatedly unsuccessful efforts to get the attention of the war department, met with ignorance and shoddy treatment. It was not until after it came to their attention in 1942, that the Nazis were building flying saucers and other 'fantasy' weapons based on Tesla's inventions, that the U. S. Government became so concerned. So why hide something from the American public today which the Nazis stole before 1934? In the case of (flying saucer) electro-propulsion, this invention is not only classified, but the very existence of it is categorically denied by the government, while its covert agents in the UFOlogy community attribute it to extraterrestrial, "alien" origins. What better way to deter civilian scientific investigation into the obvious?
The principal belief is that electric companies, gas heating companies and oil companies would lose half or more of their profits with free energy available. Therefore, these companies donate millions to governments (bribing them) to make sure that free energy devices stay out of the public market. Tactics and means of suppression include buying the patent of the free energy device from the inventor or his family, suing the inventor or patent holder and even murdering the inventor in some cases.
Based on the principles of capitalism, free energy cannot be allowed. The traditional economic system contains three aspects: capital, goods and services. Within the aspects of capital are three subcomponents: currency, credit, and natural capital. Natural capital comprises raw material and energy. This differs considerably from the orthodox definition of capital in economics.
By reviewing history it is understandable why some inventions are not commercialized. It is economics, not science, that is the main factor. It will be remembered that alternating current was opposed by powerful financiers in Tesla's time. Westinghouse promoted his DC, Tesla his AC. Thankfully Tesla won that battle. Tesla is the key player in Free Energy Theories. Below is his proposal.
Tesla was fascinated by radiant energy and its free energy possibilities. He called the Crooke's radiometer, a device which has vanes that spin in a vacuum when exposed to radiant energy "a beautiful invention." He believed that it would become possible to harness energy directly by "connecting to the very wheel-work of nature." Tesla announced a plan for a "cosmic-ray motor" when asked if it was more powerful than the Crooke's radiometer, he answered, "thousands of times more powerful."
In 1901 Tesla Tesla believed that neutron particles were responsible for all radioactive reactions. Radiant matter is in tune with these neutron particles. Radiant matter is simply a re-transmitter of energy from one state to another.
Tesla's free-energy concept was patented in 1901 as an "Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy." The patent refers to "the sun, as well as other sources of radiant energy, like cosmic rays," that the device works at night is explained in terms of the night-time availability of cosmic rays. Tesla also refers to the ground as "a vast reservoir of negative electricity."
How his radiant energy receiver worked:
From the electric Potential that exists between the elevated plate (plus) and the ground (minus), energy builds up in the capacitor, and, after "a suitable time interval," the accumulated energy will "manifest itself in a powerful discharge" that can do work. The capacitor, says Tesla, should be "of considerable electrostatic capacity," and its dielectric made of "the best quality mica, for it has to withstand potentials that could rupture a weaker dielectric."
Tesla received two patents for this radiant energy device; U.S. Patent No. 685,957 - Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy and U.S. Patent No. 685,958 - Method of Utilizing Radiant Energy. Both these patents were filed on March 21, 1901 and granted on November 5, 1901. In these patents he explains:
The Earth's Electrostatic Charge
Tesla's intent was to condense the energy trapped between the earth and its upper atmosphere and to transform it into an electric current. He pictured the sun as an immense ball of electricity, positively charged with a potential of some 200 billion volts. The earth, on the other hand, is charged with negative electricity. The tremendous electrical force between these two bodies constituted, at least in part, what he called cosmic energy. It varied from night to day and from season to season but it is always present.
The positive particles are stopped at the ionosphere and between it and the negative charges in the ground, a distance of 60 miles, there is a large difference of voltage - something on the order of 360,000 volts. With the gases of the atmosphere acting as an insulator between these two opposite stores of electrical charges, the region between the ground and the edge of space traps a great deal of energy. Despite the large size of the planet, it is electrically like a capacitor which keeps positive and negative charges apart by using the air as a non-conducting material as an insulator.
The earth has a charge of 96,500 coulombs. With a potential of 360,000 volts, the earth constitutes a capacitor of .25 farads (farads = coulombs/volts). If the formula for calculating the energy stored in a capacitor (E =1/2CV2) is applied to the earth, it turns out that the ambient medium contains 1.6 x 1011 joules or 4.5 megawatt-hours of electrical energy. In order to utilize this high-voltage energy you must do two things -- make an energy sink and then devise a way of making the "sink" oscillate.
"Zero-Point Energy?"
Such a "sink" has to be at a lower energy state than the surrounding medium and, for the energy to continually flow into it, the energy must be continually pumped out. Additionally, this "sink" must maintain a lower energy state while meeting the power requirements of the load attached to it. Electrical energy, watt-seconds, is a product of volts x amps x seconds. Because the period of oscillation does not change, either voltage or current has to be the variable in this system's energy equation. Bifilar wound coils are used in the system because a bifilar wound coil maximizes the voltage difference between its turns, the current is then minimized.
Set into oscillation at its resonant frequency by an external power source. During the "zero-point" cycle the coil will appear as one plate of a capacitor. As voltage across the coil increases, the amount of charge it can siphon will increase. The energy that is taken into the coil through the small energy window (zero-point), appears to be the key to the success of this system. It is at this zero-point where energy is condensed into positive and negative. When energy escapes from the "sink" the magnetic field collapses and a strong magnetic quake is created.
The radiant energy system is a self-oscillating capacitive system. Very little power is expended keeping it going. A small amount of charge moves through the system per cycle, that is, the coulomb per seconds = amps are low. If the charge is used at a low rate, the energy stored in the system will be turned into heat at a slow rate enabling the oscillations to continue for a long period of time.
Tesla's "COIL FOR ELECTRO MAGNETS," patent #512,340 is a very special coil design because, unlike an ordinary coil made by turning wire on a tube form, this one uses two wires laid next to each other on a form but with the end of the first one connected to the beginning of the second one. In this patent Tesla explains that the double coil will store many times the energy of a conventional coil. A bifilar coil is capable of holding more charge than a single wound coil. When operated at resonance, the distributed capacitance of the bifilar coil is able to overcome the counter - electromotive force (e.m.f.) normal to coils, inductive reactance. Because of the electrical activity, a bifilar coil does not work against itself and the potential across the coil quickly builds to a high value. The difference between the turns becomes great enough that the energy is practically all potential, at this point, the system becomes an electrostatic oscillator.
A standard coil of 1000 turns with a potential of 100 volts will have a difference of .1 volt between turns. A similar bifilar coil will have a potential of 50 volts between turns. Stored energy is a function of the square of the voltages the energy. That equates to 502/.12 = 2500/.01 = 250,000 times greater than the standard coil.
1932 Nikola Tesla stated:
I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device...The attractive features of the cosmic rays is their constancy. They shower down on us throughout the whole 24 hours...it will not require devices for storing energy as would be necessary with devices using wind, tide or sunlight...They move with great velocity, exceeding that of light...the cosmic ray ionizes the air, setting free many charges ions and electrons. These charges are captured in a condenser which is made to discharge through the circuit of the motor.
1933 Device to Harness Cosmic Energy:
Tesla's first radiant energy receiver stored static electricity obtained from the air and converted it to a usable form. Tesla's invention is a simple version of T.H. Moray's device. Moray's device used a unique rectifier (RE-valve) to efficiently capture the static electricity from the surrounding air. Moray's oscillator tubes (magnetron transducers) utilized this high-voltage energy to generate an internal secondary "cold" fusion reaction. Stick an antenna up in the air, the higher the better, and wire it to one side of a capacitor, the other going to a good earth ground, and the potential difference will then charge the capacitor. Connect across the capacitor some sort of switching device so that it can be discharged at rhythmic intervals, and you have an oscillating electric output. T.H. Moray simply expanded on Tesla's idea to use high-voltage to create ionic oscillation. He is directly converting ionized particles generated by radiant matter. Radiant Energy is directly converted to electrical power! It is this transfer of energy that could be used for practical purposes.
Tesla was once a household word, sixty or seventy years ago. Why were his acheivements virtually stricken from history almost the day after his death. What did Tesla discover which threatened the powers that be? Since we already know about the many patented inventions, the assumption has always been that the unknown, still classified works were far in advance of the published ones, and were in realization of projects about which Tesla had announced he was working on, or had already tested and developed, but had not yet given to the world.
There have been countless speculations as to what Tesla's most secret discoveries were. At the time of his death, there were in all, the approximate equivalent of a railroad boxcar load of Tesla materials confiscated by the FBI, from around four different storage locations and Tesla's hotel storage and hotel room and safe. Of this, a total of only about 150,000 documents were released to Tesla's Yugoslavian relatives, now held by the Tesla Institute in Belgrade. The remainder of Tesla's papers are still classified, literally tons of notes, documents, drawings, and plans. The government distributed false rumors that "Tesla never kept notes", which was a blatant lie.
Odd behaviour given Tesla's repeatedly unsuccessful efforts to get the attention of the war department, met with ignorance and shoddy treatment. It was not until after it came to their attention in 1942, that the Nazis were building flying saucers and other 'fantasy' weapons based on Tesla's inventions, that the U. S. Government became so concerned. So why hide something from the American public today which the Nazis stole before 1934? In the case of (flying saucer) electro-propulsion, this invention is not only classified, but the very existence of it is categorically denied by the government, while its covert agents in the UFOlogy community attribute it to extraterrestrial, "alien" origins. What better way to deter civilian scientific investigation into the obvious?
Sunday, February 18, 2007
BRUNO - THE FORGOTTEN HERETIC
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)
Before Galileo there was Filippo Bruno, born in 1548. He took the name Giordano upon entering the Dominican order. Bruno was instructed in Aristotelian philosophy. His exceptional expertise in the art of memory brought him to the attention of patrons, and he was brought to Rome to demonstrate his abilities to the Pope. Bruno was also drawn, fatally, to new dangerous streams of thought.
He attracted attention by the originality of his views and by his outspoken criticism of accepted theological doctrines. After his ordination his ideas brought a formal accusation of heresy. He fled to Rome but did not mend his manner on the mysteries of faith; for the accusations were renewed against him. Within a few months of his arrival he fled the city and cast off all allegiance to his order. He was a man without a country and finally without a church.
He wandered from country to country ending up in Geneva, where he adopted the Calvinist faith. But years later, before the ecclesiastical tribunal at Venice, he steadfastly denied that he had ever joined the Reformed Church. He was excommunicated by the Calvinist Council on account of his disrespectful attitude towards the heads of that Church and was obliged to leave the city.
In Paris he published several works on the art of memory-training. Bruno had made a reputation for himself as a magician who could inspire greater memory retention. That reputation reached King Henry III who was curious to find out if Bruno's art was that of magician or sorcerer. Bruno satisfied the king that his system was based upon organized knowledge. Bruno found a real patron in Henry Ill and it had much to do with the success of his short career in Paris. He wrote that Christianity is entirely irrational, that it is contrary to philosophy and that it disagrees with other religions. And that we accept it through faith, that revelation, so called, has no scientific basis.
He crossed over to England and enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth. He objected to Oxford's blind scholastic reverence to the authority of Aristotle. He published his "Ash-Wednesday Supper", in which he attacked the Oxford professors, saying that they knew more about beer than about Greek. The book also spread the Copernican doctrine. A new astronomy that people were laughing at heartily, because it was at variance with the teachings of Aristotle. It was not the methods of Aristotle nor the mind of Aristotle which he questioned, it was the authority granted Aristotle. A thing must be believed because Aristotle said so. He objected to the cramming down one's throat, as statements of fact because Aristotle made them, when they were plainly at odds with the fresh knowledge science was producing. Bruno was carrying on a spirited propaganda war in a fighting mood. There was hardly a teacher in Europe who persistently, openly and actively spread the news about the universe which Copernicus had charted, except Bruno. A little later on, a more famous character was to take up the work: Galileo.
He returned to France and made several attempts to reconcile with the Catholic Church, all of which failed because of his refusal to accept the condition imposed, namely, that he should return to his order. In Germany, he showed the same spirit of insolent self-assertion and was excommunicated by the Lutherans. He wrote of an infinite universe which left no room for that greater infinite conception which is called God. He could not conceive that God and nature could be separate and distinct entities as taught by Genesis, the Church and by Aristotle. He preached a philosophy which made the mysteries of the virginity of Mary, the crucifixion and the mass, meaningless. He was so naive that he didn't think these ideas were heretical. He thought the Bible was a book only the ignorant could take literally. The Church's methods encouraged ignorance from the instinct of self-preservation. "Everything, however men may deem it assured and evident, proves, when it is brought under discussion to be no less doubtful than are extravagant and absurd beliefs." He coined the phrase "Libertes philosophica" The right to think.
He moved to Venice at the invitation of Mocenigo, who professed to be interested in his system of memory-training. Failing to obtain from Bruno the secret of his "natural magic", Mocenigo denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested, and in his trial before the Venetian inquisitors first took refuge in the principle of "two-fold truth", saying that the errors imputed to him were held by him "as a philosopher, and not as an honest Christian"; later, however, he solemnly abjured all his errors and doubts in the matter of Catholic doctrine and practice. At this point the Roman Inquisition intervened and requested his extradition.
Bruno was sent to Rome, and for six years was kept in the prison of the Inquisition. After he had been granted several terms of respite in which to retract his errors, he refused and was finally condemned to death by burning. Bruno answered the sentence of death by fire with the threatening: "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it." He was given eight more days to see whether he would repent. But it was no use. He was handed over to the secular power, and burned at the stake. As he was dying a crucifix was presented to him, but he pushed it away with fierce scorn.
Bruno was not condemned for his defence of the Copernican system of astronomy, nor for his doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds, but for his theological errors, among which were the following: that Christ was not God but merely an unusually skilful magician, that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the world, and that the Devil would one day be saved. Martyred for his enthusiasm.
In the latter part of the 19th Century Italian scholars began to be intrigued with Bruno and for a while "Bruno Mania" reigned. Bruno became a symbol to represent the forward-looking free-thinking type of philosopher and scientist, and a symbol of scientific martyrdom. Bruno was a pioneer who roused Europe from its long intellectual sleep. His life was important because he is in the direct line of modern progress. He has become the Church's most difficult alibi. She can explain away the case of Galileo with suave condescension. Bruno sticks in her throat.
**************
Thanks to blog reader Steve, Hollywood Hills, CA for bringing Bruno to my attention.
Before Galileo there was Filippo Bruno, born in 1548. He took the name Giordano upon entering the Dominican order. Bruno was instructed in Aristotelian philosophy. His exceptional expertise in the art of memory brought him to the attention of patrons, and he was brought to Rome to demonstrate his abilities to the Pope. Bruno was also drawn, fatally, to new dangerous streams of thought.
He attracted attention by the originality of his views and by his outspoken criticism of accepted theological doctrines. After his ordination his ideas brought a formal accusation of heresy. He fled to Rome but did not mend his manner on the mysteries of faith; for the accusations were renewed against him. Within a few months of his arrival he fled the city and cast off all allegiance to his order. He was a man without a country and finally without a church.
He wandered from country to country ending up in Geneva, where he adopted the Calvinist faith. But years later, before the ecclesiastical tribunal at Venice, he steadfastly denied that he had ever joined the Reformed Church. He was excommunicated by the Calvinist Council on account of his disrespectful attitude towards the heads of that Church and was obliged to leave the city.
In Paris he published several works on the art of memory-training. Bruno had made a reputation for himself as a magician who could inspire greater memory retention. That reputation reached King Henry III who was curious to find out if Bruno's art was that of magician or sorcerer. Bruno satisfied the king that his system was based upon organized knowledge. Bruno found a real patron in Henry Ill and it had much to do with the success of his short career in Paris. He wrote that Christianity is entirely irrational, that it is contrary to philosophy and that it disagrees with other religions. And that we accept it through faith, that revelation, so called, has no scientific basis.
He crossed over to England and enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth. He objected to Oxford's blind scholastic reverence to the authority of Aristotle. He published his "Ash-Wednesday Supper", in which he attacked the Oxford professors, saying that they knew more about beer than about Greek. The book also spread the Copernican doctrine. A new astronomy that people were laughing at heartily, because it was at variance with the teachings of Aristotle. It was not the methods of Aristotle nor the mind of Aristotle which he questioned, it was the authority granted Aristotle. A thing must be believed because Aristotle said so. He objected to the cramming down one's throat, as statements of fact because Aristotle made them, when they were plainly at odds with the fresh knowledge science was producing. Bruno was carrying on a spirited propaganda war in a fighting mood. There was hardly a teacher in Europe who persistently, openly and actively spread the news about the universe which Copernicus had charted, except Bruno. A little later on, a more famous character was to take up the work: Galileo.
He returned to France and made several attempts to reconcile with the Catholic Church, all of which failed because of his refusal to accept the condition imposed, namely, that he should return to his order. In Germany, he showed the same spirit of insolent self-assertion and was excommunicated by the Lutherans. He wrote of an infinite universe which left no room for that greater infinite conception which is called God. He could not conceive that God and nature could be separate and distinct entities as taught by Genesis, the Church and by Aristotle. He preached a philosophy which made the mysteries of the virginity of Mary, the crucifixion and the mass, meaningless. He was so naive that he didn't think these ideas were heretical. He thought the Bible was a book only the ignorant could take literally. The Church's methods encouraged ignorance from the instinct of self-preservation. "Everything, however men may deem it assured and evident, proves, when it is brought under discussion to be no less doubtful than are extravagant and absurd beliefs." He coined the phrase "Libertes philosophica" The right to think.
He moved to Venice at the invitation of Mocenigo, who professed to be interested in his system of memory-training. Failing to obtain from Bruno the secret of his "natural magic", Mocenigo denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested, and in his trial before the Venetian inquisitors first took refuge in the principle of "two-fold truth", saying that the errors imputed to him were held by him "as a philosopher, and not as an honest Christian"; later, however, he solemnly abjured all his errors and doubts in the matter of Catholic doctrine and practice. At this point the Roman Inquisition intervened and requested his extradition.
Bruno was sent to Rome, and for six years was kept in the prison of the Inquisition. After he had been granted several terms of respite in which to retract his errors, he refused and was finally condemned to death by burning. Bruno answered the sentence of death by fire with the threatening: "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it." He was given eight more days to see whether he would repent. But it was no use. He was handed over to the secular power, and burned at the stake. As he was dying a crucifix was presented to him, but he pushed it away with fierce scorn.
Bruno was not condemned for his defence of the Copernican system of astronomy, nor for his doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds, but for his theological errors, among which were the following: that Christ was not God but merely an unusually skilful magician, that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the world, and that the Devil would one day be saved. Martyred for his enthusiasm.
In the latter part of the 19th Century Italian scholars began to be intrigued with Bruno and for a while "Bruno Mania" reigned. Bruno became a symbol to represent the forward-looking free-thinking type of philosopher and scientist, and a symbol of scientific martyrdom. Bruno was a pioneer who roused Europe from its long intellectual sleep. His life was important because he is in the direct line of modern progress. He has become the Church's most difficult alibi. She can explain away the case of Galileo with suave condescension. Bruno sticks in her throat.
**************
Thanks to blog reader Steve, Hollywood Hills, CA for bringing Bruno to my attention.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
GALILEO VS URBAN
Galileo's belief in the Copernican System eventually got him into trouble with the Catholic Church. The Inquisition was a permanent institution and charged with the eradication of heresies.
His book The Dialog was not the first to suggest the Earth revolves around the sun, Copernicus' view had been published in 1543. A committee of consultants declared to the Inquisition that the Copernican proposition that the Sun is the center of the universe was a heresy (sort of). The church realized the danger of such teachings and issued a injunction to teaching his theory. In 1624 Galileo is at his height of fame as a mathematician and writer under the patronage of the Medici family. A new pope, Urban is in office and is open to new ideas, seeking to advance church teachings in the sciences. Urban would consult personally with Galileo frequently. Galileo complains to Urban that the catholic Church's edict against Copernicus is holding back scientific advancement. A credibility gap is building between Italy and the rest of Europe. Rome will be left behind. Urban agrees.
Galileo suggests being allowed to write a book on the subject, sharing his insights gained from observations with his recent invention, the telescope. He suggests to Urban that Copernicus may have been right. Urban gets upset, not with the theory per se, but that Galileo is claiming proof, which denies the faith and church teachings. Urban lectures and warns him "There can be no ultimate proof of God's design". He suggests that Galileo could write about it as long as it is hypothetical and offers no suggestion of proof.
Urban gives his blessing and even suggests the book be about the two chief systems of the world. Galileo hears the blessing but misses the veiled warning. His solution is genius, he devises his book around a dialogue between three characters. One supporting the church view, one the Copernican view, the other weighs each equally. But he can't deny the evidence and the book which takes seven years to write is heavily biased towards the Copernican.
In 1632 Urban is in a tight spot. The protestant reformation is encroaching on Catholic dominance. One cardinal, Borgia even suggests that Urban is a failure by not enforcing the church doctrine strongly enough and should be impeached! Meanwhile the book is eventually printed in Florence, far from Rome. He was supposed to provide a copy to Rome before printing but the plague is raging and nothing has been sent anywhere by anyone for a long time. His is given a rubber stamp approval by the local inquisition. The most explosive book in 500 years is about to hit the streets. The book sells out in 5 days. When it finally reaches Rome, there is outrage amongst his advisers, the character that supports the church is named Simplicio and made to look foolish and is obviously modeled after Urban himself. Urban's blood boils! Urban is trying desperately to improve his image and can't be seen as supporting heretical texts. Urban demands the book and its author be held for trial on heresy.
This is where it gets good. Medici sends his top lawyer to Rome to try to get Urban to reconsider and drop the charges. But Urban has been humiliated and wants blood. Urban blames Galileo's problems on Galileo, lambasting the lawyer and asking why would Galileo write about the one subject guaranteed to land him in jail, the one subject he personally warned him about and the one subject that would "stir things up for me!" The lawyer points out that Galileo did get the approval of the inquisition. Urban doesn't care. Now it's personal.
Urban insists Galileo will be tried for heresy. Only one problem. The edict against Copernicus has a major loophole as it doesn't actually contain the word heretical. It almost lets Galileo off the hook. Urban is blinded by revenge, Galileo will be tried for heresy, for something that technically isn't heretical. Politics! This of course being before the papacy declared itself infallible.
Day one of the trial and they have a big problem. As the book is not technically heretical they can't convict him of heresy. It concludes with orders that the book be reexamined. The court is in recess. The prosecutor tries to convince Galileo to give up the fight. Galileo seems to accept his fate.
Day two finds Galileo fighting back. He admits his error. He suggests he accidentally appeared to support Copernicus by being too clever in his arguments. Not that he personally supports Copernicus. He was only guilty of showing off. It's not the confession the court needs. The court is again dismissed with the church at a loss on how to proceed.
Day three and Galileo launches a surprise tactic. He produces the injunction given him 16 years ago that ordered him not to support Copernicus. He points out that is does not contain the phrase "nor teach in any way whatsoever". He says he took that as permission to discuss the idea hypothetically (of course). He feels he has won, but only manages to put the church in a corner. Urban wants the trial over. Galileo is to confess and retract by whatever means, including torture. "We should not be squeamish in such important matters!"
Day four and the churches intentions are clear. Galileo knows the horrors that await if he refuses. So he 'confesses': "I was once undecided but now...persuaded by the wisdom of the authorities...I hold as most true and indisputable, the stability of the earth and the motion of the sun."
The church has won. Galileo is sentenced to be held indefinitely, as the pleasure of the holy office sees fit.
Yet the earth still turns, he knew it, and they knew it.
It would take 359 years for the church under John Paul II to formally rehabilitate Galileo and admit their error.
His book The Dialog was not the first to suggest the Earth revolves around the sun, Copernicus' view had been published in 1543. A committee of consultants declared to the Inquisition that the Copernican proposition that the Sun is the center of the universe was a heresy (sort of). The church realized the danger of such teachings and issued a injunction to teaching his theory. In 1624 Galileo is at his height of fame as a mathematician and writer under the patronage of the Medici family. A new pope, Urban is in office and is open to new ideas, seeking to advance church teachings in the sciences. Urban would consult personally with Galileo frequently. Galileo complains to Urban that the catholic Church's edict against Copernicus is holding back scientific advancement. A credibility gap is building between Italy and the rest of Europe. Rome will be left behind. Urban agrees.
Galileo suggests being allowed to write a book on the subject, sharing his insights gained from observations with his recent invention, the telescope. He suggests to Urban that Copernicus may have been right. Urban gets upset, not with the theory per se, but that Galileo is claiming proof, which denies the faith and church teachings. Urban lectures and warns him "There can be no ultimate proof of God's design". He suggests that Galileo could write about it as long as it is hypothetical and offers no suggestion of proof.
Urban gives his blessing and even suggests the book be about the two chief systems of the world. Galileo hears the blessing but misses the veiled warning. His solution is genius, he devises his book around a dialogue between three characters. One supporting the church view, one the Copernican view, the other weighs each equally. But he can't deny the evidence and the book which takes seven years to write is heavily biased towards the Copernican.
In 1632 Urban is in a tight spot. The protestant reformation is encroaching on Catholic dominance. One cardinal, Borgia even suggests that Urban is a failure by not enforcing the church doctrine strongly enough and should be impeached! Meanwhile the book is eventually printed in Florence, far from Rome. He was supposed to provide a copy to Rome before printing but the plague is raging and nothing has been sent anywhere by anyone for a long time. His is given a rubber stamp approval by the local inquisition. The most explosive book in 500 years is about to hit the streets. The book sells out in 5 days. When it finally reaches Rome, there is outrage amongst his advisers, the character that supports the church is named Simplicio and made to look foolish and is obviously modeled after Urban himself. Urban's blood boils! Urban is trying desperately to improve his image and can't be seen as supporting heretical texts. Urban demands the book and its author be held for trial on heresy.
This is where it gets good. Medici sends his top lawyer to Rome to try to get Urban to reconsider and drop the charges. But Urban has been humiliated and wants blood. Urban blames Galileo's problems on Galileo, lambasting the lawyer and asking why would Galileo write about the one subject guaranteed to land him in jail, the one subject he personally warned him about and the one subject that would "stir things up for me!" The lawyer points out that Galileo did get the approval of the inquisition. Urban doesn't care. Now it's personal.
Urban insists Galileo will be tried for heresy. Only one problem. The edict against Copernicus has a major loophole as it doesn't actually contain the word heretical. It almost lets Galileo off the hook. Urban is blinded by revenge, Galileo will be tried for heresy, for something that technically isn't heretical. Politics! This of course being before the papacy declared itself infallible.
Day one of the trial and they have a big problem. As the book is not technically heretical they can't convict him of heresy. It concludes with orders that the book be reexamined. The court is in recess. The prosecutor tries to convince Galileo to give up the fight. Galileo seems to accept his fate.
Day two finds Galileo fighting back. He admits his error. He suggests he accidentally appeared to support Copernicus by being too clever in his arguments. Not that he personally supports Copernicus. He was only guilty of showing off. It's not the confession the court needs. The court is again dismissed with the church at a loss on how to proceed.
Day three and Galileo launches a surprise tactic. He produces the injunction given him 16 years ago that ordered him not to support Copernicus. He points out that is does not contain the phrase "nor teach in any way whatsoever". He says he took that as permission to discuss the idea hypothetically (of course). He feels he has won, but only manages to put the church in a corner. Urban wants the trial over. Galileo is to confess and retract by whatever means, including torture. "We should not be squeamish in such important matters!"
Day four and the churches intentions are clear. Galileo knows the horrors that await if he refuses. So he 'confesses': "I was once undecided but now...persuaded by the wisdom of the authorities...I hold as most true and indisputable, the stability of the earth and the motion of the sun."
The church has won. Galileo is sentenced to be held indefinitely, as the pleasure of the holy office sees fit.
Yet the earth still turns, he knew it, and they knew it.
It would take 359 years for the church under John Paul II to formally rehabilitate Galileo and admit their error.
Friday, February 16, 2007
ABSURDITIES IN GENESIS & EXODUS
ABSURDITIES IN GENESIS
Just pointing out a few of the many perplexing and absurd things the bible has to say. If this doesn't interest you at least read the last one..Devine Mooning.
God creates light and separates light from darkness, and day from night, on the first day. Yet he didn't make the light producing objects (the sun and the stars) until the fourth day (1:14-19). 1:3-5
God makes the animals and parades them before Adam to see if any would strike his fancy. But none seem to have what it takes to please him. (Although he was tempted to go for the sheep.) After making the animals, God has Adam name them all. The naming of several million species must have kept Adam busy for a while. 2:18-20
Cain is worried after killing Abel and says, "Every one who finds me shall slay me." This is a strange concern since there were only two other humans alive at the time -- his parents! 4:14
"And Cain knew his wife." That's nice, but where the hell did she come from? 4:17
God created a man and a woman, and he "called their name Adam." So the woman's name was Adam, too! 5:2
Noah is called a "just man and perfect," but he didn't seem so perfect when he was drunk and naked in front of his sons (9:20-21). 6:9, 7:1
Noah is told to make an ark that is 450 feet long. 6:14-15 God tells Noah to make one small window (18 inches square) in the 450 foot ark for ventilation. 6:16
Noah sends a dove out to see if there was any dry land. But the dove returns without finding any. Then, just seven days later, the dove goes out again and returns with an olive leaf. But how could an olive tree survive the flood? And if any seeds happened to survive, they certainly wouldn't germinate and grow leaves within a seven day period. 8:8-11
Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their "just and righteous" father drunk, and have sexual intercourse with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn't you know it!). Just another wholesome family values Bible story. 19:30-38
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: 12:8 ....
Jacob names Bethel for the first time, before meeting Rachel. 28:19 Later in 35:15, just before Rachel dies, he names Bethel again. (And it was called Bethel long before it was named Bethel in 12:8 and 13:3.) ....
Jacob names Bethel again. The first time 28:19 the name didn't stick. 35:15
ABSURDITIES IN EXODUS
The Israelite population went from 70 (or 75) to several million in a few hundred years. 1:5,7, 12:37, 38:26
In complaining about his difficulty with public speaking, Moses says, "Behold I am of uncircumcised lips." 6:12, 6:30
God tells Moses and Aaron that when Pharaoh asks for a miracle just throw your rod down and it will become a serpent. So when the time comes, Moses throws down his rod and it becomes a serpent. But the Egyptian magicians duplicate this trick. Luckily, for Aaron, his snake swallows theirs. (Whew!) 7:9-13
If an ox gores someone, "then the ox shall surely be stoned." 21:28 If an ox gores someone due to the negligence of its owner, then "the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be put to death.". 21:29
The Divine Mooning
33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
That's enough bizzare goings on for me. People really buy into this stuff. Hmm...
Just pointing out a few of the many perplexing and absurd things the bible has to say. If this doesn't interest you at least read the last one..Devine Mooning.
God creates light and separates light from darkness, and day from night, on the first day. Yet he didn't make the light producing objects (the sun and the stars) until the fourth day (1:14-19). 1:3-5
God makes the animals and parades them before Adam to see if any would strike his fancy. But none seem to have what it takes to please him. (Although he was tempted to go for the sheep.) After making the animals, God has Adam name them all. The naming of several million species must have kept Adam busy for a while. 2:18-20
Cain is worried after killing Abel and says, "Every one who finds me shall slay me." This is a strange concern since there were only two other humans alive at the time -- his parents! 4:14
"And Cain knew his wife." That's nice, but where the hell did she come from? 4:17
God created a man and a woman, and he "called their name Adam." So the woman's name was Adam, too! 5:2
Noah is called a "just man and perfect," but he didn't seem so perfect when he was drunk and naked in front of his sons (9:20-21). 6:9, 7:1
Noah is told to make an ark that is 450 feet long. 6:14-15 God tells Noah to make one small window (18 inches square) in the 450 foot ark for ventilation. 6:16
Noah sends a dove out to see if there was any dry land. But the dove returns without finding any. Then, just seven days later, the dove goes out again and returns with an olive leaf. But how could an olive tree survive the flood? And if any seeds happened to survive, they certainly wouldn't germinate and grow leaves within a seven day period. 8:8-11
Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their "just and righteous" father drunk, and have sexual intercourse with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn't you know it!). Just another wholesome family values Bible story. 19:30-38
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: 12:8 ....
Jacob names Bethel for the first time, before meeting Rachel. 28:19 Later in 35:15, just before Rachel dies, he names Bethel again. (And it was called Bethel long before it was named Bethel in 12:8 and 13:3.) ....
Jacob names Bethel again. The first time 28:19 the name didn't stick. 35:15
ABSURDITIES IN EXODUS
The Israelite population went from 70 (or 75) to several million in a few hundred years. 1:5,7, 12:37, 38:26
In complaining about his difficulty with public speaking, Moses says, "Behold I am of uncircumcised lips." 6:12, 6:30
God tells Moses and Aaron that when Pharaoh asks for a miracle just throw your rod down and it will become a serpent. So when the time comes, Moses throws down his rod and it becomes a serpent. But the Egyptian magicians duplicate this trick. Luckily, for Aaron, his snake swallows theirs. (Whew!) 7:9-13
If an ox gores someone, "then the ox shall surely be stoned." 21:28 If an ox gores someone due to the negligence of its owner, then "the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be put to death.". 21:29
The Divine Mooning
33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
That's enough bizzare goings on for me. People really buy into this stuff. Hmm...
Saturday, February 10, 2007
HIGH TIMES OF MARIJUANA HISTORY
Primitive man, trying all sorts of plant materials as food, must have known the ecstatic hallucinatory effects of Hemp, an intoxication introducing him to an other-worldly plant leading to religious beliefs. The original use of this plant in China was as a fiber plant, hemp. That usage now is documented back to 10,000 B.C. in Taiwan, where archaeologists have unearthed broken pieces of pottery having hemp fiber patterns and rod-shaped tools for beating the stems to obtain net fiber. The Chinese would take the soft fibers and use them for fishing nets, clothing, shoes, sails, and, eventually, writing materials (oldest known rag paper 180 B.C.). The seeds were eaten, being rich in triglycerides (oils).
Ethnobotanists have suggested that Cannabis grew as a robust weed on rich, nitrogenous dump heaps, where villagers put the remains of fishes. This presumably led to the discovery of hemp as a fiber and a food plant, and to its deliberate cultivation by 4000 B.C. Oldest Chinese reference to hemp (ma) occurs in Shu King (2350 B.C.) and Rh-Ya on oldest shamanistic uses (15th Century B.C.), whereas the oldest fragments of spun and woven hemp fabric are only from burial sites of the Chou dynasty (1122-249 B.C.). Ancient China was labeled "the land of mulberry and hemp" because people wore silk imprinted with mulberry leaves and hemp. However, silk was very expensive and worn only by the wealthy. People in eastern Asia adopted this as a medicinal plant (2737 B.C. in a Chinese herbal reference written by Pen T'sao Ching), cannabis seeds were a major pseudocereal in China. At times during Chinese history, wars were waged between land barons over the crop, fought by warriors with bows strung with hemp string. At least one author called this the "first agricultural war crop," and land barons devoted large parcels to grow hemp, so that each canton could be economically independent. Cannabis was brought into cultivation in southwestern Asia for its intoxicating properties, perhaps independently from its medical uses by the Chinese.
In Japan, hemp (asa) was used to make fishing nets, clothing, and mats. Hemp cloth was worn during religious and formal ceremonies to signify purity, and hemp was give to brides as a symbol of the wife's obedience to her husband.
The narcotic use developed in ancient India, where Cannabis was brought by the god Siva from the Himalayas for use and enjoyment. In India, there are three standards of potency: bhang, mostly the U.S. equivalent of marijuana, which includes leaves, fruits, and stems; ganja, prepared from flowering tips (female flowers and upper leaves); and charas, pure, golden resin. The resin was formerly collected by charas, men wearing leather clothes would run through the hemp fields from which the resin could be easily scraped off with a curved spatula. Siva, Lord of Bhang, drank bhang, a mild, boiled liquid refreshment from leaves of Cannabis mixed with almonds, eight spices, rosebuds, milk, poppy seeds, and sugar. Bhang was used like alcohol. Ganja or hashish is sometimes collected by thrashing flowering tops against smooth rock or concrete walls, where the resin and plant particles will stick and can be scraped into bricks. Both bhang and ganja were used during war.
Especially famous was the use of Cannabis by Gobind Singh, founder of the Sikh religion; his soldiers became intoxicated with bhang and opium, and were so stoned and frenzied that they killed attacking elephants and overpowered a superior enemy. Anniversaries of Singh's victory are commemorated with bhang. In the Hindu texts, the Veda, the mind-altering effects of this plant were discussed.
From Herodotus we learned about the Scythians (7th or 6th Century B.C.) of central Siberia. These were expert horsemen and warriors who practiced cannabis intoxication using vapor baths as well as cures for sickness and burial rituals. Their descendants spread to eastern Europe, and are believed to have taken the plant with them. On Christmas Eve, Lithuanians may serve a hemp fruit soup (semienjatka) "for souls of the death," and in the Ukraine and Latvia similar rituals are observed on Three Kings Day.
Some scholars concluded that the "nepenthe" of Homer was Cannabis, but other feel that this is too early and that ancient Greeks knew nothing about the medicinal or intoxicating properties of Cannabis, although they used hemp cloth (450 B.C.) Dioscorides (d. 90 A.D.), in De materia medica, discussed the use of Cannabis for rope, sexual disorders, and earaches. Even as late as Rome, physicians Galen (130-200 A.D.) wrote that it was sometimes customary to give Hemp to guests to promote hilarity and enjoyment. Pliny the Elder (43-79 A.D.) who died a victim of the eruption of Vesuvius, said little about its medicinal uses.
Legends once stated that hashish was discovered by Haydar, founder of Persian Sufis, in 1155 A.D. when he ventured from the monastery on a hot summer day and returned with a happy, whimsical air. His Sufis monks were sworn to secrecy, and Haydar apparently remained stoned the rest of his life (d. 1221), hence the title "the wine of Haydar." Use of Cannabis as an intoxicant became firmly ingrained in the Near Eastern and Turkish, as well as Indian, cultures. The word sufis comes from suf, or wool. This sect wore clothes made more of wool than cotton and was condemned for imitating Jesus, not Mohammed (cotton).
Sufis were a contrast to orthodox Islam and had a mystical approach, including intoxication by drugs. These believers were a counterculture, like hippies, comprised mostly of lower and middle class disciples, living a bleak existence and physically withdrawn from society into their own communes. Sufis were blamed for the downfall of Islamic society and for spreading drug use. That sect attracted social outcasts and those looking for a cheap high relative to the costly high of alcohol.
Cannabis was also involved in the schisms occurring within Islam, following the death of Mohammed. Mohammed died without designating a religious heir (caliph). Islam split into Sunnis of Semitic origin and who wanted to elect the caliph, and Shiites, who insisted that only legitimate successors came from Ali, the husband of Mohammed's surviving daughter Fatima. Shiite Caliph Jafar-I-Sadiq caught his eldest son Ismail drinking wine, and from anger chose his younger son Musa to become the caliph. A small group of Ismail's loyalists went underground and started a new movement. Disciples of Ismail converted the Persian Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, who ruled a mountain stronghold fighting the Persian sultan. He had 12,000 loyal soldiers. Legend has that this loyalty was obtained by offering recruits drugs and beautiful women "to minister to every need."
One legend states that the word "hashish" has another sinister side; according to this legend, Al-Hasan got his army of robbers to murder Christian crusaders and then rewarded them with hashish, hence, "hashishins," the murderers, became the origin of the word assassin.
Egypt was eventually another site of Cannabis history. Although "hashish user" became a derogatory term throughout Islam, signifying low class, problems developed by the 13th Century. In Cairo (1253), Egyptian Muslims ordered plants of Cannabis to be burned, but farmers simply moved outside the city to grow the crop. In 1324, the Egyptian army was used to destroy the crop in the countryside, but the hashish production survived. In 1378 the farmers fought troops to protect their crop and revenues; marshal law was instituted and traffickers were killed, but by 1393 a business of Cannabis was again thriving there. Hashish was eaten, and leaves were rolled into a ball and swallowed like a pill.
Arab traders were also responsible for spreading marijuana to other parts of Africa, where the plant was used by women during childbirth (an ancient custom) and to feed babies after weaning. Kafirs referred to this plant as dagga, which was used in beverages or chewed, but the colonial Dutch adapted this plant for smoking.
Henry VIII fostered the cultivation of Hemp in England. The maritime supremacy of England during Elizabethan times greatly increased the demand. Hashish was introduced into France by Napoleon's army from Egypt (1800), and was first used for treating the mentally ill before becoming popular with Parisians. Frenchmen, including a psychiatrist named Moreau de Tours and the artists Gautier and Boissard, experimented with hashish and started the Le Club des Haschichins, which lured others (Dumas, Delacroix, and Hugo) to try pot. Many felt that the drug improved artistic creativity.
Marijuana was intentionally introduced to North America in Jamestown (1611) as a fiber plant, used primarily for ropes, canvas sails and for paper to print Bibles, the Gutenberg Bible and many others were published on hemp paper; what would Rev. Falwell say about marijuana Bibles? In many states marijuana occasionally grows as a weed, spread by birds. Many famous documents, including early drafts of the Declaration of Independence and writings of Thomas Paine, were scribed on cannabis paper. Hemp farming was done by Thomas Jefferson and many other famous individuals of colonial times, our domestic hemp industry helped our ancestors become economically independent of Mother England, and hemp was at the center of debate between the North and the South in fights by Webster and Clay over tariffs.
In the United States the first marijuana laws were enacted in 1900, presumably because the liquor lobby did not want competition, even though from 1840-1900 more than 100 papers had been published in Western medical literature for using marijuana to treat various illnesses and discomforts. The League of Nations opposed the drug in 1925. The great blow to U.S. use of marijuana as a medicine came with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which became law following a massive campaign by Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who accused marijuana to be an addictive drug, causing violent crimes, psychosis, and mental deterioration. The film Reefer Madness was part of that campaign. That law levied a tax of $1 per ounce for industrial or medical purposes and $100 per ounce for other uses, and tax evasion was punishable by stiff fines or prison terms. That legislation made marijuana a major financial liability for anyone dealing with the plant, and all legitimate uses of marijuana and hemp were essentially stopped economically.
FACTS & FIGURES
Cannabis is one of the few generic names that has become a common name in our culture, either as a subject of praise or damnation. The principal active compound is 3,4-trans-delta-1-tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or most commonly as THC, but in this plant there are 360 known compounds, of which more than 60 have the 21-carbon cannabinoid structure. Of these the cannabidiols are mildly active and believed to be the metabolic precursors of the tetrahydrocannabinols, and the cannabinols are thought to be deactivated forms of the THCs. The "ol" ending on these compounds tells you that these are alcohols, present on the leaves and in resin when produced mostly from special glandular hairs on the plant surface. The fruits, roots, and stems, have none of the psychoactive compounds.
Aside from its intoxicating human uses, THC was formerly used as a human and cow tranquilizer, and there are several synthetics, including Synhexyl, Nabilone, and Levonatradol. Marinol is the pharmaceutical name for THC. Recent research by neuroscientists has suggested that there are special receptors in the brain cerebral cortex that are stimulated by THC, although neural substrates are still not firmly established. As an hallucinogen, THC produces euphoria and highly modified sensual perceptions. The concentration of THC can range from 1-5%, and plants grown in North America from stock coming from Panama, Mexico, and, especially, Thailand frequently yield the highest values. A one-gram cigarette containing 10 mg of THC (1%) is considered psychoactive. Hashish resin may have up to 60% THC by weight. The fiber type of plants do not have THC concentrations that are effective enough to produce psychoactive responses (greater than 0.25%).
Botanists classify the northern plants, used for fiber and oil, as C. sativa, a plant that can grow very tall. Southern types including C. indica are densely branched plants about one meter tall and have high resin content. And C. ruderalis, a shorter form with few or no branches. Botanists treat it as one unstabilized species that has been under intense artificial selection for many centuries. Hemp, or marijuana, is a wind-pollinated annual or short-lived perennial. The height record for this plant is about 12 meters. Female plants are usually taller and stockier than male plants. The resin is produced around female flowers until the fruit is nearly mature. Marijuana is the form that comes from smoked dried and crushed leaves, whereas hashish, which is smoked or eaten, comes from the resin produced by the female flowers.
Ethnobotanists have suggested that Cannabis grew as a robust weed on rich, nitrogenous dump heaps, where villagers put the remains of fishes. This presumably led to the discovery of hemp as a fiber and a food plant, and to its deliberate cultivation by 4000 B.C. Oldest Chinese reference to hemp (ma) occurs in Shu King (2350 B.C.) and Rh-Ya on oldest shamanistic uses (15th Century B.C.), whereas the oldest fragments of spun and woven hemp fabric are only from burial sites of the Chou dynasty (1122-249 B.C.). Ancient China was labeled "the land of mulberry and hemp" because people wore silk imprinted with mulberry leaves and hemp. However, silk was very expensive and worn only by the wealthy. People in eastern Asia adopted this as a medicinal plant (2737 B.C. in a Chinese herbal reference written by Pen T'sao Ching), cannabis seeds were a major pseudocereal in China. At times during Chinese history, wars were waged between land barons over the crop, fought by warriors with bows strung with hemp string. At least one author called this the "first agricultural war crop," and land barons devoted large parcels to grow hemp, so that each canton could be economically independent. Cannabis was brought into cultivation in southwestern Asia for its intoxicating properties, perhaps independently from its medical uses by the Chinese.
In Japan, hemp (asa) was used to make fishing nets, clothing, and mats. Hemp cloth was worn during religious and formal ceremonies to signify purity, and hemp was give to brides as a symbol of the wife's obedience to her husband.
The narcotic use developed in ancient India, where Cannabis was brought by the god Siva from the Himalayas for use and enjoyment. In India, there are three standards of potency: bhang, mostly the U.S. equivalent of marijuana, which includes leaves, fruits, and stems; ganja, prepared from flowering tips (female flowers and upper leaves); and charas, pure, golden resin. The resin was formerly collected by charas, men wearing leather clothes would run through the hemp fields from which the resin could be easily scraped off with a curved spatula. Siva, Lord of Bhang, drank bhang, a mild, boiled liquid refreshment from leaves of Cannabis mixed with almonds, eight spices, rosebuds, milk, poppy seeds, and sugar. Bhang was used like alcohol. Ganja or hashish is sometimes collected by thrashing flowering tops against smooth rock or concrete walls, where the resin and plant particles will stick and can be scraped into bricks. Both bhang and ganja were used during war.
Especially famous was the use of Cannabis by Gobind Singh, founder of the Sikh religion; his soldiers became intoxicated with bhang and opium, and were so stoned and frenzied that they killed attacking elephants and overpowered a superior enemy. Anniversaries of Singh's victory are commemorated with bhang. In the Hindu texts, the Veda, the mind-altering effects of this plant were discussed.
From Herodotus we learned about the Scythians (7th or 6th Century B.C.) of central Siberia. These were expert horsemen and warriors who practiced cannabis intoxication using vapor baths as well as cures for sickness and burial rituals. Their descendants spread to eastern Europe, and are believed to have taken the plant with them. On Christmas Eve, Lithuanians may serve a hemp fruit soup (semienjatka) "for souls of the death," and in the Ukraine and Latvia similar rituals are observed on Three Kings Day.
Some scholars concluded that the "nepenthe" of Homer was Cannabis, but other feel that this is too early and that ancient Greeks knew nothing about the medicinal or intoxicating properties of Cannabis, although they used hemp cloth (450 B.C.) Dioscorides (d. 90 A.D.), in De materia medica, discussed the use of Cannabis for rope, sexual disorders, and earaches. Even as late as Rome, physicians Galen (130-200 A.D.) wrote that it was sometimes customary to give Hemp to guests to promote hilarity and enjoyment. Pliny the Elder (43-79 A.D.) who died a victim of the eruption of Vesuvius, said little about its medicinal uses.
Legends once stated that hashish was discovered by Haydar, founder of Persian Sufis, in 1155 A.D. when he ventured from the monastery on a hot summer day and returned with a happy, whimsical air. His Sufis monks were sworn to secrecy, and Haydar apparently remained stoned the rest of his life (d. 1221), hence the title "the wine of Haydar." Use of Cannabis as an intoxicant became firmly ingrained in the Near Eastern and Turkish, as well as Indian, cultures. The word sufis comes from suf, or wool. This sect wore clothes made more of wool than cotton and was condemned for imitating Jesus, not Mohammed (cotton).
Sufis were a contrast to orthodox Islam and had a mystical approach, including intoxication by drugs. These believers were a counterculture, like hippies, comprised mostly of lower and middle class disciples, living a bleak existence and physically withdrawn from society into their own communes. Sufis were blamed for the downfall of Islamic society and for spreading drug use. That sect attracted social outcasts and those looking for a cheap high relative to the costly high of alcohol.
Cannabis was also involved in the schisms occurring within Islam, following the death of Mohammed. Mohammed died without designating a religious heir (caliph). Islam split into Sunnis of Semitic origin and who wanted to elect the caliph, and Shiites, who insisted that only legitimate successors came from Ali, the husband of Mohammed's surviving daughter Fatima. Shiite Caliph Jafar-I-Sadiq caught his eldest son Ismail drinking wine, and from anger chose his younger son Musa to become the caliph. A small group of Ismail's loyalists went underground and started a new movement. Disciples of Ismail converted the Persian Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, who ruled a mountain stronghold fighting the Persian sultan. He had 12,000 loyal soldiers. Legend has that this loyalty was obtained by offering recruits drugs and beautiful women "to minister to every need."
One legend states that the word "hashish" has another sinister side; according to this legend, Al-Hasan got his army of robbers to murder Christian crusaders and then rewarded them with hashish, hence, "hashishins," the murderers, became the origin of the word assassin.
Egypt was eventually another site of Cannabis history. Although "hashish user" became a derogatory term throughout Islam, signifying low class, problems developed by the 13th Century. In Cairo (1253), Egyptian Muslims ordered plants of Cannabis to be burned, but farmers simply moved outside the city to grow the crop. In 1324, the Egyptian army was used to destroy the crop in the countryside, but the hashish production survived. In 1378 the farmers fought troops to protect their crop and revenues; marshal law was instituted and traffickers were killed, but by 1393 a business of Cannabis was again thriving there. Hashish was eaten, and leaves were rolled into a ball and swallowed like a pill.
Arab traders were also responsible for spreading marijuana to other parts of Africa, where the plant was used by women during childbirth (an ancient custom) and to feed babies after weaning. Kafirs referred to this plant as dagga, which was used in beverages or chewed, but the colonial Dutch adapted this plant for smoking.
Henry VIII fostered the cultivation of Hemp in England. The maritime supremacy of England during Elizabethan times greatly increased the demand. Hashish was introduced into France by Napoleon's army from Egypt (1800), and was first used for treating the mentally ill before becoming popular with Parisians. Frenchmen, including a psychiatrist named Moreau de Tours and the artists Gautier and Boissard, experimented with hashish and started the Le Club des Haschichins, which lured others (Dumas, Delacroix, and Hugo) to try pot. Many felt that the drug improved artistic creativity.
Marijuana was intentionally introduced to North America in Jamestown (1611) as a fiber plant, used primarily for ropes, canvas sails and for paper to print Bibles, the Gutenberg Bible and many others were published on hemp paper; what would Rev. Falwell say about marijuana Bibles? In many states marijuana occasionally grows as a weed, spread by birds. Many famous documents, including early drafts of the Declaration of Independence and writings of Thomas Paine, were scribed on cannabis paper. Hemp farming was done by Thomas Jefferson and many other famous individuals of colonial times, our domestic hemp industry helped our ancestors become economically independent of Mother England, and hemp was at the center of debate between the North and the South in fights by Webster and Clay over tariffs.
In the United States the first marijuana laws were enacted in 1900, presumably because the liquor lobby did not want competition, even though from 1840-1900 more than 100 papers had been published in Western medical literature for using marijuana to treat various illnesses and discomforts. The League of Nations opposed the drug in 1925. The great blow to U.S. use of marijuana as a medicine came with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which became law following a massive campaign by Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who accused marijuana to be an addictive drug, causing violent crimes, psychosis, and mental deterioration. The film Reefer Madness was part of that campaign. That law levied a tax of $1 per ounce for industrial or medical purposes and $100 per ounce for other uses, and tax evasion was punishable by stiff fines or prison terms. That legislation made marijuana a major financial liability for anyone dealing with the plant, and all legitimate uses of marijuana and hemp were essentially stopped economically.
FACTS & FIGURES
Cannabis is one of the few generic names that has become a common name in our culture, either as a subject of praise or damnation. The principal active compound is 3,4-trans-delta-1-tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or most commonly as THC, but in this plant there are 360 known compounds, of which more than 60 have the 21-carbon cannabinoid structure. Of these the cannabidiols are mildly active and believed to be the metabolic precursors of the tetrahydrocannabinols, and the cannabinols are thought to be deactivated forms of the THCs. The "ol" ending on these compounds tells you that these are alcohols, present on the leaves and in resin when produced mostly from special glandular hairs on the plant surface. The fruits, roots, and stems, have none of the psychoactive compounds.
Aside from its intoxicating human uses, THC was formerly used as a human and cow tranquilizer, and there are several synthetics, including Synhexyl, Nabilone, and Levonatradol. Marinol is the pharmaceutical name for THC. Recent research by neuroscientists has suggested that there are special receptors in the brain cerebral cortex that are stimulated by THC, although neural substrates are still not firmly established. As an hallucinogen, THC produces euphoria and highly modified sensual perceptions. The concentration of THC can range from 1-5%, and plants grown in North America from stock coming from Panama, Mexico, and, especially, Thailand frequently yield the highest values. A one-gram cigarette containing 10 mg of THC (1%) is considered psychoactive. Hashish resin may have up to 60% THC by weight. The fiber type of plants do not have THC concentrations that are effective enough to produce psychoactive responses (greater than 0.25%).
Botanists classify the northern plants, used for fiber and oil, as C. sativa, a plant that can grow very tall. Southern types including C. indica are densely branched plants about one meter tall and have high resin content. And C. ruderalis, a shorter form with few or no branches. Botanists treat it as one unstabilized species that has been under intense artificial selection for many centuries. Hemp, or marijuana, is a wind-pollinated annual or short-lived perennial. The height record for this plant is about 12 meters. Female plants are usually taller and stockier than male plants. The resin is produced around female flowers until the fruit is nearly mature. Marijuana is the form that comes from smoked dried and crushed leaves, whereas hashish, which is smoked or eaten, comes from the resin produced by the female flowers.
Friday, February 9, 2007
EVOLUTION OF GAY 'PERSONALS'
This is one of the few 'personal' blogs I intend to write. I prefer writing about history and hypocrisy. But with this blog on the evolution of gay dating services. I can share with the younger generation the pathetic tools we had to work with before the dawn of computers and how we suffered thru the trials and tribulations of primitive technology. To show that they have it so easy these days compared to what we went thru. From hand-written letters & Polaroids to Instant Messaging we've come along way baby. It's a story better told in person but here goes...
MOVING ON UP...
I moved to Hollywood in 1978 after high school. I was finally on my own. Free of small town bigotry and family ties. I had a job that paid a whopping $4.00/hour. My rent for a large single was $160 a month. It was an exciting time to be gay and young, the gay movement was growing. I voted in my first election and we defeated Prop 6, the Briggs initiative that would have banned gay teachers. I was also too young to go to bars (although I did get a fake ID that I used from 19 to 21), the only place I could meet guys was Venice beach, I didn't have a car and the trip took 3 Buses to get there and was a weekend thing. I also frequented a few coffee shops in West Hollywood hoping someone would talk to me. I'd walk Hollywood Blvd listening to my blue wrist-strap Panasonic radio in knee high socks with stripes, white short shorts and blue Adidas sneakers. I was jamming.
MALE-ORDER BRIDES
One day I was reading the gay rags and saw an ad for a Introduction Service by mail. I quickly wrote out a check and eagerly checked the mail. About 3 weeks later I finally got my first 'package'. It was a regular sized business enveloped stuffed to bursting with about ten typewritten, mimeographed pages of gay male personals! For the younger set reading, mimeographs was the precursor to xerox copies. You typed on a sheet of paper with a special carbon sheet underneath. You attached that to a hand-cranked machine drum, added a clear chemical and turned the crank, pages were then reproduced in a very light blue. I can still remember that smell, it was very sweet smelling. My first experience with it was in middle school when I would go to math class early (teacher's pet) and he would let me run that days math quiz. The pages came out slightly wet and you had to let them dry first. I would fan them and sniff 'em. It didn't get you high or anything like that, just a pleasant smell.
I digress...there was about 25 listings per page, 3 lines per listing. First name, last initial, city, state. Most had phone numbers though some still in the closet used PO Boxes or mailing address. This was my first exposure to the 'coded shorthand' of gay lingo, SGWM (single gay white mail), it was very exciting and I would read them from start to finish over and over. All kinds of weird things I had never heard of, but was curious to explore. So after crossing off the bottoms, or the extremely weird kinky descriptions, I was disappointed that there weren't very many locals. Most were out of state.
PHONE SEX
So I embraced phone sex! I had one phone friend from the service that lasted for close to 15 years, and I'd call at least a couple times a week. Some of my best orgasms were with that man and the way he could role-play a sleazy scenario. A couple years later they rolled out the 976 sex lines. I could never figure out why someone would pay when I had been doing it for years for free, lol. I can remember having guys write to 'occupant'. Soon I got a couple letters in the mail, guys wanting to write dirty letters and such, and they sometimes had Polaroids. Now remember this is before computers, before VHS. The only access to pornography was magazines bought from a sleazy bookstore, 8mm films and the XXX theater. So it was very exciting at the time. I don't think I met more than 1 or 2 guys in person, WARNING: guys may be uglier than their descriptions!
MATCHMAKER MATCHMAKER FIND ME A MAN
The next evolution to hit the single scene were known as Introduction Services or Matchmakers. I signed up and went to some spiffed-up office space off Santa Monica Blvd. There you'd be handed a large binder with a single picture of available men. You would have to sign and leave a form of interest or some such nonsense and if the guy was interested the company would give him your telephone number. Not only was there nobody that thrilled me in those binders but it just felt weird to be sitting there with several other people doing the same thing. I'd hurry up and check the new guys and then hit the bars which were hopping in the late 70's early 80's pre-AIDS days.
VIDEO DATING...NOT!
Then came video dating. I didn't even have a desire to attempt that after the failure of picture books. So that one thankfully passed me by. But from the number of spoofs and jokes about video dating I figure it wasn't very promising. The trouble with picture and video services is you have to leave home, sit around with other strangers, and there's that nosey middleman involved in your personal business and peccadillos.
THE DIGITAL AGE..sort of
Finally around 1984 computers hit like a mack truck. They were way to expensive for me to have one. And besides there was no Internet, no email, no reason to have one, except for PORN! One day my lover at the time brought home an IBM-XT that his company was replacing in 1986. The IBM-XT for you youngens out there was primitive indeed. It had a green screen, no graphics, no sound and ran on DOS 1.0 and used 5.25" floppies, had only 64kB memory and a teenie tiny hard drive, 10 megs at the most. List price new $7,545.00! He also snagged an external phone modem at a super fast speed of 1200 baud.
BBS
I had read about guys meeting up on something called BBS (Bulletin Board Systems). Most of these were run by computer hobbyists and many were free. It allowed users to dial into the system over a phone modem and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. They would publish the number to dial and access codes and general area of interest. I signed up for a local gay BBS. It was completely menu driven. Enter 1 to go to bulletin board, 2 to see profiles, 3 to download software, etc. At first there was no simultaneous "chat" or "instant messages" but you did have a primitive email account with them, sort of...only worked internally, you had to log on and could only send to others on the same BBS. Later limited chatrooms came in and there was a new option, #9, the Internet! I had heard of it but at the time there was nothing really to do on it. Mostly download form FTP sights and you had to know the FTP address before hand in order to download the file. Today we have Web-Masters back then they were Sys-Ops.
JOYS OF DOWNLOADING
But you were able to download pictures from the email account that guys would send you, but at 1200 baud even small picture took a long time, I can remember hitting download, and then taking a shower, shaving, getting dressed, all before the download was complete! With great excitement you'd click open file, and more likely than not be very very disappointed. I'd get angry and scream having wasted 30-45 minutes downloading a non-porn pic! lol. And I couldn't even print out the pictures as all we had was a daisy-wheel printer. Again for the youngsters...a daisywheel was a pritner that had a round disk with the letters imprinted on them, it would spin and strike the appropriate letter on the paper (the paper too, wasn't single 8.5x11 it had to be computer paper, fan-folded and with track holes on the side). So it could only print words not pictures. To print italics, the printer would stop, beep, and tell you to swtich to the italic daisywheel, beep again, change back to normal. Dot-matrix would soon appear but wasn't much better, at least it didn't involve switching wheels, and was still black and white, red if you were lucky.
PRODIGY
It pretty much was like that until a nationwide campaign touted a service called Prodigy in 1990. Prodigy was a joint effort between IBM and Sears. Initially, Prodigy had hoped that its service would be much like today's Internet portals, offering news, weather, sports, shopping, banking, and airline reservations. The service provided many lifestyle features too: an array of popular syndicated columnists, Consumer Reports, games, in-depth original features called "Timely Topics," bulletin boards moderated by subject matter experts, and e-mail. Only catch was it required a graphic card. I went to Radio Shack and bought an expensive graphic card, although it was still only in green, but it did render graphics. After days of tinkering with switches, jumpers, config.sys and not having a clue what I was doing, I managed to somehow get it to work. The first time it booted up and I logged on to Prodigy, (which up till then I had only seen BBS's in text), and saw the cute Prodigy logo I screamed with joy! But again it was early in the game and still before the World Wide Web and no browsers. So I didn't make much use of it.
WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE...
One night I went to a party at a friends. I noticed they had a computer with COLOR graphics. Boy was I envious. I non-chalantly asked if they had upgraded from a previous video card, they had, and they gave me their old color graphic card for free! It was one of the happiest days of my life. I couldn't wait to go home and try it out. First though I had to again go to Radio Shack to by a color monitor. I finally got it all to work and was thrilled to see porn in color.
WINDOWS 3.1
I moved to San Francisco in 1993 and left that IBM behind. I bought a then top of the line 286 computer. More as a hobby to keep me busy. Window's 3.1 left you with plenty to tinker around with, whether by choice or not, lol. It was very temperamental and everything had to be just right or it wouldn't work. I spent a fortune upgrading graphic card after graphic card trying to improve performance. I soon signed up for AOL when they had less than 2 million subscribers. I still wasn't into the chat rooms and there wasn't any gay personal sites that I can remember at that time. So I used it mostly to email and/or IM and for research.
CABLE MODEM
Fast forward to 2000 and I moved to Palm Springs. My partner would spend hours online, we would have to take turns as we only had dialup, downloading porn, I never really got into it that much, but one day I asked him for his access code to a porn site. Now I understood what all the fuss was about, search your interest, your kink and voila, thousands of links to click. Soon I had a library of thousands, all sorted by type, age or kink! Went thru 2 or 3 desktops systems and In 2003 bought my first laptop and signed up for cable. I'll never know how we managed on dial-up. I know I can never go back.
THE PRESENT
A friend kept talking about Gay.com and I soon joined and am now hooked as it were. If nothing else they help to sort the men-from-the-boys (bottoms & tops). When I recognize someone from a site, I have a good memory for faces, so I know whether he's bottom, top or versatile and have saved countless hours cruising the wrong ones. I now belong to dozens of personals sites. Most a waste of time but I have made a few contacts (blush). And I have since bought a new laptop every year for xmas and give my partner my old one. We now have 2 desktops and 3 laptops! Amazing. My current one I specifically bought anticipating Vista and got the free upgrade. It is due to ship in March, I'll keep a detailed log on the installation of Vista, so check back in March to learn how it went.
MOVING ON UP...
I moved to Hollywood in 1978 after high school. I was finally on my own. Free of small town bigotry and family ties. I had a job that paid a whopping $4.00/hour. My rent for a large single was $160 a month. It was an exciting time to be gay and young, the gay movement was growing. I voted in my first election and we defeated Prop 6, the Briggs initiative that would have banned gay teachers. I was also too young to go to bars (although I did get a fake ID that I used from 19 to 21), the only place I could meet guys was Venice beach, I didn't have a car and the trip took 3 Buses to get there and was a weekend thing. I also frequented a few coffee shops in West Hollywood hoping someone would talk to me. I'd walk Hollywood Blvd listening to my blue wrist-strap Panasonic radio in knee high socks with stripes, white short shorts and blue Adidas sneakers. I was jamming.
MALE-ORDER BRIDES
One day I was reading the gay rags and saw an ad for a Introduction Service by mail. I quickly wrote out a check and eagerly checked the mail. About 3 weeks later I finally got my first 'package'. It was a regular sized business enveloped stuffed to bursting with about ten typewritten, mimeographed pages of gay male personals! For the younger set reading, mimeographs was the precursor to xerox copies. You typed on a sheet of paper with a special carbon sheet underneath. You attached that to a hand-cranked machine drum, added a clear chemical and turned the crank, pages were then reproduced in a very light blue. I can still remember that smell, it was very sweet smelling. My first experience with it was in middle school when I would go to math class early (teacher's pet) and he would let me run that days math quiz. The pages came out slightly wet and you had to let them dry first. I would fan them and sniff 'em. It didn't get you high or anything like that, just a pleasant smell.
I digress...there was about 25 listings per page, 3 lines per listing. First name, last initial, city, state. Most had phone numbers though some still in the closet used PO Boxes or mailing address. This was my first exposure to the 'coded shorthand' of gay lingo, SGWM (single gay white mail), it was very exciting and I would read them from start to finish over and over. All kinds of weird things I had never heard of, but was curious to explore. So after crossing off the bottoms, or the extremely weird kinky descriptions, I was disappointed that there weren't very many locals. Most were out of state.
PHONE SEX
So I embraced phone sex! I had one phone friend from the service that lasted for close to 15 years, and I'd call at least a couple times a week. Some of my best orgasms were with that man and the way he could role-play a sleazy scenario. A couple years later they rolled out the 976 sex lines. I could never figure out why someone would pay when I had been doing it for years for free, lol. I can remember having guys write to 'occupant'. Soon I got a couple letters in the mail, guys wanting to write dirty letters and such, and they sometimes had Polaroids. Now remember this is before computers, before VHS. The only access to pornography was magazines bought from a sleazy bookstore, 8mm films and the XXX theater. So it was very exciting at the time. I don't think I met more than 1 or 2 guys in person, WARNING: guys may be uglier than their descriptions!
MATCHMAKER MATCHMAKER FIND ME A MAN
The next evolution to hit the single scene were known as Introduction Services or Matchmakers. I signed up and went to some spiffed-up office space off Santa Monica Blvd. There you'd be handed a large binder with a single picture of available men. You would have to sign and leave a form of interest or some such nonsense and if the guy was interested the company would give him your telephone number. Not only was there nobody that thrilled me in those binders but it just felt weird to be sitting there with several other people doing the same thing. I'd hurry up and check the new guys and then hit the bars which were hopping in the late 70's early 80's pre-AIDS days.
VIDEO DATING...NOT!
Then came video dating. I didn't even have a desire to attempt that after the failure of picture books. So that one thankfully passed me by. But from the number of spoofs and jokes about video dating I figure it wasn't very promising. The trouble with picture and video services is you have to leave home, sit around with other strangers, and there's that nosey middleman involved in your personal business and peccadillos.
THE DIGITAL AGE..sort of
Finally around 1984 computers hit like a mack truck. They were way to expensive for me to have one. And besides there was no Internet, no email, no reason to have one, except for PORN! One day my lover at the time brought home an IBM-XT that his company was replacing in 1986. The IBM-XT for you youngens out there was primitive indeed. It had a green screen, no graphics, no sound and ran on DOS 1.0 and used 5.25" floppies, had only 64kB memory and a teenie tiny hard drive, 10 megs at the most. List price new $7,545.00! He also snagged an external phone modem at a super fast speed of 1200 baud.
BBS
I had read about guys meeting up on something called BBS (Bulletin Board Systems). Most of these were run by computer hobbyists and many were free. It allowed users to dial into the system over a phone modem and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. They would publish the number to dial and access codes and general area of interest. I signed up for a local gay BBS. It was completely menu driven. Enter 1 to go to bulletin board, 2 to see profiles, 3 to download software, etc. At first there was no simultaneous "chat" or "instant messages" but you did have a primitive email account with them, sort of...only worked internally, you had to log on and could only send to others on the same BBS. Later limited chatrooms came in and there was a new option, #9, the Internet! I had heard of it but at the time there was nothing really to do on it. Mostly download form FTP sights and you had to know the FTP address before hand in order to download the file. Today we have Web-Masters back then they were Sys-Ops.
JOYS OF DOWNLOADING
But you were able to download pictures from the email account that guys would send you, but at 1200 baud even small picture took a long time, I can remember hitting download, and then taking a shower, shaving, getting dressed, all before the download was complete! With great excitement you'd click open file, and more likely than not be very very disappointed. I'd get angry and scream having wasted 30-45 minutes downloading a non-porn pic! lol. And I couldn't even print out the pictures as all we had was a daisy-wheel printer. Again for the youngsters...a daisywheel was a pritner that had a round disk with the letters imprinted on them, it would spin and strike the appropriate letter on the paper (the paper too, wasn't single 8.5x11 it had to be computer paper, fan-folded and with track holes on the side). So it could only print words not pictures. To print italics, the printer would stop, beep, and tell you to swtich to the italic daisywheel, beep again, change back to normal. Dot-matrix would soon appear but wasn't much better, at least it didn't involve switching wheels, and was still black and white, red if you were lucky.
PRODIGY
It pretty much was like that until a nationwide campaign touted a service called Prodigy in 1990. Prodigy was a joint effort between IBM and Sears. Initially, Prodigy had hoped that its service would be much like today's Internet portals, offering news, weather, sports, shopping, banking, and airline reservations. The service provided many lifestyle features too: an array of popular syndicated columnists, Consumer Reports, games, in-depth original features called "Timely Topics," bulletin boards moderated by subject matter experts, and e-mail. Only catch was it required a graphic card. I went to Radio Shack and bought an expensive graphic card, although it was still only in green, but it did render graphics. After days of tinkering with switches, jumpers, config.sys and not having a clue what I was doing, I managed to somehow get it to work. The first time it booted up and I logged on to Prodigy, (which up till then I had only seen BBS's in text), and saw the cute Prodigy logo I screamed with joy! But again it was early in the game and still before the World Wide Web and no browsers. So I didn't make much use of it.
WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE...
One night I went to a party at a friends. I noticed they had a computer with COLOR graphics. Boy was I envious. I non-chalantly asked if they had upgraded from a previous video card, they had, and they gave me their old color graphic card for free! It was one of the happiest days of my life. I couldn't wait to go home and try it out. First though I had to again go to Radio Shack to by a color monitor. I finally got it all to work and was thrilled to see porn in color.
WINDOWS 3.1
I moved to San Francisco in 1993 and left that IBM behind. I bought a then top of the line 286 computer. More as a hobby to keep me busy. Window's 3.1 left you with plenty to tinker around with, whether by choice or not, lol. It was very temperamental and everything had to be just right or it wouldn't work. I spent a fortune upgrading graphic card after graphic card trying to improve performance. I soon signed up for AOL when they had less than 2 million subscribers. I still wasn't into the chat rooms and there wasn't any gay personal sites that I can remember at that time. So I used it mostly to email and/or IM and for research.
CABLE MODEM
Fast forward to 2000 and I moved to Palm Springs. My partner would spend hours online, we would have to take turns as we only had dialup, downloading porn, I never really got into it that much, but one day I asked him for his access code to a porn site. Now I understood what all the fuss was about, search your interest, your kink and voila, thousands of links to click. Soon I had a library of thousands, all sorted by type, age or kink! Went thru 2 or 3 desktops systems and In 2003 bought my first laptop and signed up for cable. I'll never know how we managed on dial-up. I know I can never go back.
THE PRESENT
A friend kept talking about Gay.com and I soon joined and am now hooked as it were. If nothing else they help to sort the men-from-the-boys (bottoms & tops). When I recognize someone from a site, I have a good memory for faces, so I know whether he's bottom, top or versatile and have saved countless hours cruising the wrong ones. I now belong to dozens of personals sites. Most a waste of time but I have made a few contacts (blush). And I have since bought a new laptop every year for xmas and give my partner my old one. We now have 2 desktops and 3 laptops! Amazing. My current one I specifically bought anticipating Vista and got the free upgrade. It is due to ship in March, I'll keep a detailed log on the installation of Vista, so check back in March to learn how it went.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
FAITHS' PHALLIC FOUNDATION
This article traces the evolution of pagan phallic worship and how it became the foundation of Judaism & Christianity. It starts out slow but read on, where else will you read how phallus worship, the religions of Egyptians, Greeks, Hebrews & Christians, the Cross, Christmas trees, Yule logs, Phallic Saints and Hebrew names all celebrate the power of the male erection? Skeptical? Read on...
IN THE BEGINNING
In the Neolithic way of life, mother-rights and the clan system were dominant as they had been in the paleolithic period, and land would generally have descended through the female line. From 3.5 million years ago to about l0,000 years ago, was a peaceful period, when "marriage" was informal, casual. They sang to the moon and played and worked together and watched the children grow. For the most part life was good, and we made art and rituals celebrating our participation in the glorious spectacle and process of life within nature. A woman did not need a husband as a means of support; she was herself economically independent as a producing member of the community. This gave women, like men, the freedom to follow their personal inclinations in sex relations. A woman had the option of remaining for life with one husband, but she was not under any legal, moral or economic compulsion to do so.
MAN STRUTS HIS STUFF
This freedom was destroyed with the advent of class society, private property and monogamous marriage. Men took over and it was their belief that the male had an indispensable role in the central mysteries of life, death, and rebirth. No reproduction could take place without the life force that only the male could provide. Indeed, children were considered of the father.
ISHTAR/DUMUZI
The earliest record we have come out of the Middle East, the myth of Ishtar (Inanna) and Tammuz (Dumuzi). Worshipped in the vicinity of Ur. Tammuz was the god of vegetation and fertility, and the underworld. He is called 'the Shepherd' and 'lord of the sheepfolds'. In Sumeria he is the husband of the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian counterpart of Ishtar. According to the Sumerian King-List Gilgamesh was descended from 'Dumuzi a shepherd'. Dumuzi was originally a mortal ruler whose marriage to Inanna ensured the fertility of the land and the fecundity of the womb. This marriage, however, ended in stark tragedy when the goddess, offended by her husband's unfeeling behavior toward her, decreed that he be carried off to the netherworld for six months of each year. Hence the barren, sterile months of the hot summer. At the autumnal equinox, which marked the beginning of the Sumerian new year, Dumuzi returned to the earth. His reunion with his wife caused all animal and plant life to be revitalized and made fertile once again.
HOW THE "WAILING OF TAMMUZ" BECAME LENT
We find him mentioned in the Bible as an example of the pagan worship that the Israelites had fallen into. "Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz." (Ezekiel 8.14-15).
The month of Tammuz wailing was from 20th June till 20th July, when the heat and dryness brought forth the demons of pestilence. The mourners chanted:
"...The shepherd, the wise one, the man of sorrows, why have they slain?...
"...There is wailing for Tammuz "at the sacred cedar, where the mother bore thee",
(a reference which connects the god, like Adonis and Osiris, with tree worship)
The wailing is for the herbs, they are not produced.
The wailing is for the grain, ears are not produced.
The wailing is for the habitations, for the flocks which bring forth no more.
The wailing is for the perishing wedded ones; for the perishing children; the dark-headed people create no more.
The season of LENT, as observed by the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, is actually an adaptation of the mourning for Tammuz. The forty days abstinence was directly borrowed from the worshippers of Astarte/Ishtar. Held in the spring, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, called the month of Tammuz, Egypt in May, Britain in April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, they got Paganism and Christianity, far sunk in idolatry, to shake hands.
MAN BECOMES SPERM DONOR
Inanna’s descent to the underworld is her death and the end of fertility on earth. Her return to the upper world is the return of life on earth. But renewed life can be purchased only at the price of another’s death, in this case of her consort Dumuzi. Herein lies the logic of ritual even human sacrifice. The metaphor in which water is to earth, as semen is to womb, whence new life springs. The Shepard Dumuzi is connected with milk in many descriptions, the milky white stuff is like semen, or like the water that makes the earth fruitful by flowing across it, impregnating the female’s womb. Here is where we first obtain our idea of Man as “sperm donor.” His life-giving seed is essential for all life on earth.
ISIS/OSIRIS
In Egypt the myth becomes Isis and Osiris. A brief summary:
Osiris the king of Egypt and Isis his queen was beloved by all his people. But his brother Seth was jealous and plotted against him to take over the throne. One day Osiris held a big banquet, Seth was also invited. This was the moment he had long waited for. He gave Osiris a coffin made of the finest wood and gilded and painted. When he was persuaded into taking place in it, Seth´s accomplices quickly nailed the lid,it was taken away and thrown into the Nile. Isis was overcome with grief. She searched all over Kemet and beyond finally finding it in Egypt. She brought it back to bury him. One night Seth happened upon the casket, realized his treachery had been found out and feared that Isis would punish him. He broke into it and tore Osiris´ body into several pieces which he spread out all over the land. For many years she searched. Wherever they found a piece of Osiris´ body, they erected an altar. When at last all the parts had been assembled, Isis made Osiris into the first mummy. She then proceeded to use her powerful magic and breathed new life into Osiris and so she was able to conceive the child Horus. She recovered all the pieces except for the penis, which was eaten by three different species of fish, whose eating was ever after taboo. As a substitute, she made a phallus of wood, which was worshiped in many of the temples. After this Osiris became the King of the Land of the Dead, while Horus became the Living King of Egypt.
Please note the moral of this story: OSIRIS BECAME KING OF THE LAND OF THE DEAD, BECAUSE HE NO LONGER HAD HIS PHALLUS, WHICH GIVES LIFE. Because of this fact, the phallus became an object of veneration and WORSHIP. Phallus worship spread to Africa. These ideals of male fertility worship would eventually spread from Egypt, the Middle East and Asia Minor to the Greeks that most influenced our Western Civilization. However, make no mistake: phallus worship was practiced in other places such as:
India: Shiva Linga is a wide spread Indian Phallic figure. It consists of a feminine base ‘Yoni’ or ‘vagina’ and a rising masculine portion ‘the Phallus’ or ‘penis.’ The Linga artifacts, dating from the first century BC to the third century AD, are shaped like realistic ‘Phalli’. Thereafter the shape becomes progressively more abstract. By medieval times, its observable portion, rising from the Yoni, forms a round block with domed apex.
Japan: The Hounen festival at Tagata Jinja shrine is one of the most famous festivals in Japan. It is frequently referred to as the "penis shrine", or "Japanese penis festival", primarily due to the ancient Hounen Matsuri,a festival celebrating fertility and renewal, which is held here every March 15th when a huge two and a half meter wooden phallus is carried a short distance between two shrines.
Europe: Among Celtic peoples, tumuli, dolmens, menhirs, and most megalithic monuments, are the abode of various orders of fairies, of pixies in Cornwall, of corrigans in Brittany. The menhir were regarded both as an abode of a god or as a seat of divine power, and as a phallic symbol. As a phallic symbol, the menhir was related to a sun-cult; because among all ancient peoples where phallic worship has prevailed, the sun has been venerated as the supreme masculine force in external nature from which all life proceeds, while the phallus has been venerated as the corresponding force in human nature.
Now you know that the male energy was held with respect and awe not with contempt and loathing as we see in modern times. It is clear that any notion of the female as being the sole giver of life would be anathema to our forefathers. The modern church that seeks to denigrate the “profane” men of the world never abandoned the principle of phallus worship.
GREEKS TAKE A PAGE FROM EGYPT
The Greeks did not develop their religious and philosophical ideals in a vacuum. They borrowed quite liberally from the Egyptians:
Egypt was clearly divided from the yellow desert by the black Nile-mud, and was called Chemi, the Black Land, when made into a person, Chem, or Ham. He was the father of their race, called in the Bible one of the sons of Noah, and considered by themselves the god of increase, the Priapus of the Greeks.
Isis, or Isitis, the Earth, the mother of all creation. Her name is derived from SAT, to sow seed, like the Latin Ceres. Thoth, a Pillar at the corner of the field, became an important god, often shown writing, or counting the years on the the back of a palm branch, which became hieroglyphical character for the word "year." The Greeks called Hermes, a name which has the same meaning, a pillar.
Osiris was piously lamented by Isis. This story the Greeks copied as Venus and Adonis, a mortal. The boar which killed Adonis the hippopotamus Typhon. Osiris alone had a place of birth and burial. Mount Sinai, to the Egyptians mount Nissa. From which Greeks derived the name Dionysus, the same as the Hebrew Jehovah-Nissi. The name Moses gave to the Almighty when he set up an altar to Him at the foot of the holy mountain, a spot sacred alike with Jews and Egyptians.
The story of Uranus: Three sons were born of Earth (Gaea) and Heaven (Uranus), Cottus and Briareos and Gyes, of all the children that were born of Earth and Heaven, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own father from the first. Uranus hid them away in a secret place. Earth got upset and plotted to castrate Heaven. Cronos (Saturn) accepted the task. While Heaven lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her, Cronos took a sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members and cast them away into the sea, a white foam spread around them and in it there grew a maiden. Named Aphrodite, the foam-born goddess. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire into the assembly of the gods. The lesson here is the fact that through the Blood of Uranus, various gods were born from mother Earth, and that from his genitals sprang the goddess Aphrodite, ruler of love and sexual desire.
PENIS ENVY
Then theres Priapus, mainly known for his huge virile member, and the size of it is so enormous that it has been called "column", "twelve-inch pole, "cypress" "spear"
"pyramid", and many others referring to the dimensions of his penis. And just as Zeus shows his thunderbolt, Poseidon his trident, Athena her spear, Apollo his golden arrows, Hermes his caduceus, Dionysus his thyrsus, Heracles his club, so Priapus cannot but proudly exhibit his penis, which best represents him, and without which he is weaponless. This is the reason why his privy parts are always shameless displayed in erection. His statue was used in the Roman gardens as scarecrow, and his enormous penis as a threat against thieves! The Greeks were very fixated with phallic worship. The interesting thing is we still use our “phalli” as a means of communication, as the Greeks did to express certain religious ideas. The use of the phallus apotropaically to turn away evil, is older than our species; among higher primates aggressive males show their erect penis to warn off intruders. Today we “flip the bird” to those who act abusively, to turn their aggression back on them .
CLEANING UP THE DEVINE PROFANE
We see now that the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks were fascinated by phallus worship. These peoples built huge temples, phallic symbols, and idols which they proceeded to venerate and worship. However, over time One God began to make himself known to Abraham. Humankind had fallen into the error of worshiping the created, instead of the Creator. All of this was going to change...
The male sex drive was embedded and encouraged by God, “Be Fruitful” was not a mere suggestion; it was a direct order that the Hebrews took quite seriously. The Sexual ability of man and Nature was personified, and likewise supplied with a governing Deity, which was elevated to the niche of the Supreme. Being God of the genital power and numberless children were born under his auspicious rule. The names of his dutiful descendants were composite in signification, and in many, ways characterized the honored Deity. Hence, derived therefrom, we meet with the El God in Michael, Raguel, Raphael, Gabrael, Joel, Phaniel, Uriel, Sarakiel, Bethel, Chapel, Eli, Elijah. The children of course were the angels.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Let us look to Biblical names to confirm whether or not the Bible concerns itself with male fertility. The Hebrews believed God was the source of male vitality, and were not ashamed to let it be known. Below are names and their true translations from two different sources.
Aram, "high," "to swell up," "to be uncovered or naked."
Aram: meaning to be high, rise up.
Baal-Peor: "the maiden's hymen opener," "my Lord the opener."
Baal-peor: Master of the opening
Ben-zoheth: "son of firmness," "to set up," "an erection," "a cippus."
BEN-ZOHETH: "son of Zoheth," from a Hebrew root meaning "to be strong"
Elkana: "El the erect One," "the tall reed," "El burning with desire."
Eshek: "he presses, squeezes, penetrates into."
eshek: from an unused root (meaning to bunch together); a testicle (as a lumpGaza: "strong," "the trunk of a tree," "a phallic emblem."
Jakim: "he set up," "standing erect," "raising seed to."
Jakeem: "raised up" variant form: Jakim.
This strongly suggests erections, hardons, the penis were a subject of some fascination to the Hebrews. Male fertility worship did not go away with the revelation of Yahweh to his chosen people. The early Israelites merely abandoned (officially anyway) the crude art of phallus worship. I suppose not all men are created equal ;-)
PHALLIC CHRISTIAN ROOTS
The Cross, adopted by the Christians as a symbol of everlasting life and victory over sin and death, has a very ancient pedigree. In antiquity, it was used as a symbol of the Triad, or Trinity. The cross was a horizontal piece of wood fastened to an upright beam and indicated the height of the Niles flood waters. This formed a cross, the Nileometer. If the Nile failed to rise to a certain height, no crops and no bread was the result. From famine on the one hand to plenty on the other, the cross came to be worshiped as a symbol of life and regeneration, or feared as an image of decay and death.
JUNIOR AND HIS TWO PALS
The Assyrians, Egyptians, Hindus, Canaanites, Israelites, Christians, and many other religious peoples, had and have their Trinity, purely phallic in origin and significance. The phallus was noted to be not alone efficient in the work of procreation; its creative labors were shared by two coefficients, the two testes. Hence these were likewise honored, personified, and deified, with distinctive names: the right one, supposed to be prepotent in the generation of a man-child, was named Anu, or On -- that is, "strength, power"; the left, or female-producing was called Hoa or Hea. When Jacob's son was born, his mother Rachel "called his name Ben-oni [son of strength]: but his father called him Benjamin [son of my right hand] (Gen 35: 18 ). Thus Anu and Hea completed the Trinity, side by side with Asshur.
There is little doubt that the early fathers in the Christian church recognized in the cross the ancient emblem of fertility, but as the idea of a spiritual life had begun to take root, it was deemed proper to conceal its real significance; hence from a symbol representing the continuity of existence on the earth, the cross now prefigured eternal life or existence after death. They now speak of spiritual truths, not of crude phallic ideas. However, we must not forget that in its various forms, the cross began as a symbol of MALE FERTILITY which gives life.
A few phallic symbols that remain embedded within the Christian faith to this day.
SPIRES/OBELISKS
At the top of many church towers, a spire often points to the sky. Linked with the ancient obelisk erected outside pagan temples, the show the influence of our phallus-worshipping ancestors. So why is there an Egyptian obelisk in St. Peters square? The official Vatican story puts it this way: Augustus ordered the obelisk erected in Alexandria, where it stayed until A.D. 37. Caligula moved it to the Vatican Circus in Rome where innumerable Christians, including St. Peter, were put to death. The reason this obelisk was not later overturned as were all the others in Rome was that it was looked upon as the last witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter. The obelisk is 836 feet high, and weighs 360.2 tons. Its apex is adorned with a bronze cross containing a fragment of the True Cross. This represents the triumph of the Church over paganism. It is clear that the early Church took these concepts of manliness and male vitality seriously, and weren’t afraid to “flip the bird” to those pagan types.
CHRISTMAS TREES
Since the earliest of times, trees especially evergreens, were worshipped by the pagans. Since it was EVER green, it always had life. The trees were worshipped as symbols of life, fertility, sexual potency and reproduction. These pagan rituals of worship were then brought into the homes and set up as idols, with the belief that it would give men a heightened potency of sexual virility to procreate new life. The evergreen tree represented a "PHALLIC" symbol set in an upright position. Any wonder why people hang round balls on a tree?
YULE LOG
The Yule log dates back to Scandinavian countries where their pagan sex and fertility god was called Jul, or Yule. He was honored in a twelve day celebration in the month of December. When the season began, a Yule Log was lit and put into the fireplace where the same log was used for 12 days to keep the fire lit. Since Jul was the pagan god of sex and fertility, it does not take much to see what this also represented. The lit Yule Log represents again a "phallic" symbol, and being a log and lit, it represented a good omen for heightened sexuality for the coming year. It was the shadow and type of a burning lust of a man to fuel the fires of sexual potency to reproduce fertility. When one sends "YULETIDE GREETINGS", they are basically saying, "I greet you with this flaming log to fulfill a year of sexual virility.
PHALLIC SAINTS
The phallus of St. Foutin was worshipped; the women poured wine upon the head of the phallus, which was collected in a vessel, in which it was left till it became sour; it was then called the "sainte vinaigre," and the women employed it for a purpose which is only obscurely hinted at. When the Protestants took Embrun in 1585, they found this phallus among the relics, its head red with the wine.
A much larger phallus of wood, covered with leather, was an object of worship in the church of St. Eutropius at Orange, but it was seized by the Protestants and burnt publicly in 1562.
Similar phallic saints were worshipped St. Guerlichon in Bourges, St. Gilles in Britany, of St. Rene in Anjou, of St. Regnaud in Burgundy, of St. Arnaud, and above all of St. Guignolé near Berri. Many of these were still in existence and their worship in full practice in the last century; in some of them, the wooden phallus is described as being much worn down by the continual process of scraping, while in others the loss sustained by scraping was always restored by a miracle. This miracle, however, was a very clumsy one, for the phallus consisted of a long staff of wood passed through a hole in the middle of the Saints body, and as the phallic end in front became shortened, a blow of a mallet from behind thrust it forward, so that it was restored to its original length.
The evidence is clear. The Church did not destroy the ancient ideas of male fertility; it preserved and perpetuated them, directly and indirectly.
IN THE BEGINNING
In the Neolithic way of life, mother-rights and the clan system were dominant as they had been in the paleolithic period, and land would generally have descended through the female line. From 3.5 million years ago to about l0,000 years ago, was a peaceful period, when "marriage" was informal, casual. They sang to the moon and played and worked together and watched the children grow. For the most part life was good, and we made art and rituals celebrating our participation in the glorious spectacle and process of life within nature. A woman did not need a husband as a means of support; she was herself economically independent as a producing member of the community. This gave women, like men, the freedom to follow their personal inclinations in sex relations. A woman had the option of remaining for life with one husband, but she was not under any legal, moral or economic compulsion to do so.
MAN STRUTS HIS STUFF
This freedom was destroyed with the advent of class society, private property and monogamous marriage. Men took over and it was their belief that the male had an indispensable role in the central mysteries of life, death, and rebirth. No reproduction could take place without the life force that only the male could provide. Indeed, children were considered of the father.
ISHTAR/DUMUZI
The earliest record we have come out of the Middle East, the myth of Ishtar (Inanna) and Tammuz (Dumuzi). Worshipped in the vicinity of Ur. Tammuz was the god of vegetation and fertility, and the underworld. He is called 'the Shepherd' and 'lord of the sheepfolds'. In Sumeria he is the husband of the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian counterpart of Ishtar. According to the Sumerian King-List Gilgamesh was descended from 'Dumuzi a shepherd'. Dumuzi was originally a mortal ruler whose marriage to Inanna ensured the fertility of the land and the fecundity of the womb. This marriage, however, ended in stark tragedy when the goddess, offended by her husband's unfeeling behavior toward her, decreed that he be carried off to the netherworld for six months of each year. Hence the barren, sterile months of the hot summer. At the autumnal equinox, which marked the beginning of the Sumerian new year, Dumuzi returned to the earth. His reunion with his wife caused all animal and plant life to be revitalized and made fertile once again.
HOW THE "WAILING OF TAMMUZ" BECAME LENT
We find him mentioned in the Bible as an example of the pagan worship that the Israelites had fallen into. "Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz." (Ezekiel 8.14-15).
The month of Tammuz wailing was from 20th June till 20th July, when the heat and dryness brought forth the demons of pestilence. The mourners chanted:
"...The shepherd, the wise one, the man of sorrows, why have they slain?...
"...There is wailing for Tammuz "at the sacred cedar, where the mother bore thee",
(a reference which connects the god, like Adonis and Osiris, with tree worship)
The wailing is for the herbs, they are not produced.
The wailing is for the grain, ears are not produced.
The wailing is for the habitations, for the flocks which bring forth no more.
The wailing is for the perishing wedded ones; for the perishing children; the dark-headed people create no more.
The season of LENT, as observed by the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, is actually an adaptation of the mourning for Tammuz. The forty days abstinence was directly borrowed from the worshippers of Astarte/Ishtar. Held in the spring, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, called the month of Tammuz, Egypt in May, Britain in April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, they got Paganism and Christianity, far sunk in idolatry, to shake hands.
MAN BECOMES SPERM DONOR
Inanna’s descent to the underworld is her death and the end of fertility on earth. Her return to the upper world is the return of life on earth. But renewed life can be purchased only at the price of another’s death, in this case of her consort Dumuzi. Herein lies the logic of ritual even human sacrifice. The metaphor in which water is to earth, as semen is to womb, whence new life springs. The Shepard Dumuzi is connected with milk in many descriptions, the milky white stuff is like semen, or like the water that makes the earth fruitful by flowing across it, impregnating the female’s womb. Here is where we first obtain our idea of Man as “sperm donor.” His life-giving seed is essential for all life on earth.
ISIS/OSIRIS
In Egypt the myth becomes Isis and Osiris. A brief summary:
Osiris the king of Egypt and Isis his queen was beloved by all his people. But his brother Seth was jealous and plotted against him to take over the throne. One day Osiris held a big banquet, Seth was also invited. This was the moment he had long waited for. He gave Osiris a coffin made of the finest wood and gilded and painted. When he was persuaded into taking place in it, Seth´s accomplices quickly nailed the lid,it was taken away and thrown into the Nile. Isis was overcome with grief. She searched all over Kemet and beyond finally finding it in Egypt. She brought it back to bury him. One night Seth happened upon the casket, realized his treachery had been found out and feared that Isis would punish him. He broke into it and tore Osiris´ body into several pieces which he spread out all over the land. For many years she searched. Wherever they found a piece of Osiris´ body, they erected an altar. When at last all the parts had been assembled, Isis made Osiris into the first mummy. She then proceeded to use her powerful magic and breathed new life into Osiris and so she was able to conceive the child Horus. She recovered all the pieces except for the penis, which was eaten by three different species of fish, whose eating was ever after taboo. As a substitute, she made a phallus of wood, which was worshiped in many of the temples. After this Osiris became the King of the Land of the Dead, while Horus became the Living King of Egypt.
Please note the moral of this story: OSIRIS BECAME KING OF THE LAND OF THE DEAD, BECAUSE HE NO LONGER HAD HIS PHALLUS, WHICH GIVES LIFE. Because of this fact, the phallus became an object of veneration and WORSHIP. Phallus worship spread to Africa. These ideals of male fertility worship would eventually spread from Egypt, the Middle East and Asia Minor to the Greeks that most influenced our Western Civilization. However, make no mistake: phallus worship was practiced in other places such as:
India: Shiva Linga is a wide spread Indian Phallic figure. It consists of a feminine base ‘Yoni’ or ‘vagina’ and a rising masculine portion ‘the Phallus’ or ‘penis.’ The Linga artifacts, dating from the first century BC to the third century AD, are shaped like realistic ‘Phalli’. Thereafter the shape becomes progressively more abstract. By medieval times, its observable portion, rising from the Yoni, forms a round block with domed apex.
Japan: The Hounen festival at Tagata Jinja shrine is one of the most famous festivals in Japan. It is frequently referred to as the "penis shrine", or "Japanese penis festival", primarily due to the ancient Hounen Matsuri,a festival celebrating fertility and renewal, which is held here every March 15th when a huge two and a half meter wooden phallus is carried a short distance between two shrines.
Europe: Among Celtic peoples, tumuli, dolmens, menhirs, and most megalithic monuments, are the abode of various orders of fairies, of pixies in Cornwall, of corrigans in Brittany. The menhir were regarded both as an abode of a god or as a seat of divine power, and as a phallic symbol. As a phallic symbol, the menhir was related to a sun-cult; because among all ancient peoples where phallic worship has prevailed, the sun has been venerated as the supreme masculine force in external nature from which all life proceeds, while the phallus has been venerated as the corresponding force in human nature.
Now you know that the male energy was held with respect and awe not with contempt and loathing as we see in modern times. It is clear that any notion of the female as being the sole giver of life would be anathema to our forefathers. The modern church that seeks to denigrate the “profane” men of the world never abandoned the principle of phallus worship.
GREEKS TAKE A PAGE FROM EGYPT
The Greeks did not develop their religious and philosophical ideals in a vacuum. They borrowed quite liberally from the Egyptians:
Egypt was clearly divided from the yellow desert by the black Nile-mud, and was called Chemi, the Black Land, when made into a person, Chem, or Ham. He was the father of their race, called in the Bible one of the sons of Noah, and considered by themselves the god of increase, the Priapus of the Greeks.
Isis, or Isitis, the Earth, the mother of all creation. Her name is derived from SAT, to sow seed, like the Latin Ceres. Thoth, a Pillar at the corner of the field, became an important god, often shown writing, or counting the years on the the back of a palm branch, which became hieroglyphical character for the word "year." The Greeks called Hermes, a name which has the same meaning, a pillar.
Osiris was piously lamented by Isis. This story the Greeks copied as Venus and Adonis, a mortal. The boar which killed Adonis the hippopotamus Typhon. Osiris alone had a place of birth and burial. Mount Sinai, to the Egyptians mount Nissa. From which Greeks derived the name Dionysus, the same as the Hebrew Jehovah-Nissi. The name Moses gave to the Almighty when he set up an altar to Him at the foot of the holy mountain, a spot sacred alike with Jews and Egyptians.
The story of Uranus: Three sons were born of Earth (Gaea) and Heaven (Uranus), Cottus and Briareos and Gyes, of all the children that were born of Earth and Heaven, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own father from the first. Uranus hid them away in a secret place. Earth got upset and plotted to castrate Heaven. Cronos (Saturn) accepted the task. While Heaven lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her, Cronos took a sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members and cast them away into the sea, a white foam spread around them and in it there grew a maiden. Named Aphrodite, the foam-born goddess. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire into the assembly of the gods. The lesson here is the fact that through the Blood of Uranus, various gods were born from mother Earth, and that from his genitals sprang the goddess Aphrodite, ruler of love and sexual desire.
PENIS ENVY
Then theres Priapus, mainly known for his huge virile member, and the size of it is so enormous that it has been called "column", "twelve-inch pole, "cypress" "spear"
"pyramid", and many others referring to the dimensions of his penis. And just as Zeus shows his thunderbolt, Poseidon his trident, Athena her spear, Apollo his golden arrows, Hermes his caduceus, Dionysus his thyrsus, Heracles his club, so Priapus cannot but proudly exhibit his penis, which best represents him, and without which he is weaponless. This is the reason why his privy parts are always shameless displayed in erection. His statue was used in the Roman gardens as scarecrow, and his enormous penis as a threat against thieves! The Greeks were very fixated with phallic worship. The interesting thing is we still use our “phalli” as a means of communication, as the Greeks did to express certain religious ideas. The use of the phallus apotropaically to turn away evil, is older than our species; among higher primates aggressive males show their erect penis to warn off intruders. Today we “flip the bird” to those who act abusively, to turn their aggression back on them .
CLEANING UP THE DEVINE PROFANE
We see now that the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks were fascinated by phallus worship. These peoples built huge temples, phallic symbols, and idols which they proceeded to venerate and worship. However, over time One God began to make himself known to Abraham. Humankind had fallen into the error of worshiping the created, instead of the Creator. All of this was going to change...
The male sex drive was embedded and encouraged by God, “Be Fruitful” was not a mere suggestion; it was a direct order that the Hebrews took quite seriously. The Sexual ability of man and Nature was personified, and likewise supplied with a governing Deity, which was elevated to the niche of the Supreme. Being God of the genital power and numberless children were born under his auspicious rule. The names of his dutiful descendants were composite in signification, and in many, ways characterized the honored Deity. Hence, derived therefrom, we meet with the El God in Michael, Raguel, Raphael, Gabrael, Joel, Phaniel, Uriel, Sarakiel, Bethel, Chapel, Eli, Elijah. The children of course were the angels.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Let us look to Biblical names to confirm whether or not the Bible concerns itself with male fertility. The Hebrews believed God was the source of male vitality, and were not ashamed to let it be known. Below are names and their true translations from two different sources.
Aram, "high," "to swell up," "to be uncovered or naked."
Aram: meaning to be high, rise up.
Baal-Peor: "the maiden's hymen opener," "my Lord the opener."
Baal-peor: Master of the opening
Ben-zoheth: "son of firmness," "to set up," "an erection," "a cippus."
BEN-ZOHETH: "son of Zoheth," from a Hebrew root meaning "to be strong"
Elkana: "El the erect One," "the tall reed," "El burning with desire."
Eshek: "he presses, squeezes, penetrates into."
eshek: from an unused root (meaning to bunch together); a testicle (as a lumpGaza: "strong," "the trunk of a tree," "a phallic emblem."
Jakim: "he set up," "standing erect," "raising seed to."
Jakeem: "raised up" variant form: Jakim.
This strongly suggests erections, hardons, the penis were a subject of some fascination to the Hebrews. Male fertility worship did not go away with the revelation of Yahweh to his chosen people. The early Israelites merely abandoned (officially anyway) the crude art of phallus worship. I suppose not all men are created equal ;-)
PHALLIC CHRISTIAN ROOTS
The Cross, adopted by the Christians as a symbol of everlasting life and victory over sin and death, has a very ancient pedigree. In antiquity, it was used as a symbol of the Triad, or Trinity. The cross was a horizontal piece of wood fastened to an upright beam and indicated the height of the Niles flood waters. This formed a cross, the Nileometer. If the Nile failed to rise to a certain height, no crops and no bread was the result. From famine on the one hand to plenty on the other, the cross came to be worshiped as a symbol of life and regeneration, or feared as an image of decay and death.
JUNIOR AND HIS TWO PALS
The Assyrians, Egyptians, Hindus, Canaanites, Israelites, Christians, and many other religious peoples, had and have their Trinity, purely phallic in origin and significance. The phallus was noted to be not alone efficient in the work of procreation; its creative labors were shared by two coefficients, the two testes. Hence these were likewise honored, personified, and deified, with distinctive names: the right one, supposed to be prepotent in the generation of a man-child, was named Anu, or On -- that is, "strength, power"; the left, or female-producing was called Hoa or Hea. When Jacob's son was born, his mother Rachel "called his name Ben-oni [son of strength]: but his father called him Benjamin [son of my right hand] (Gen 35: 18 ). Thus Anu and Hea completed the Trinity, side by side with Asshur.
There is little doubt that the early fathers in the Christian church recognized in the cross the ancient emblem of fertility, but as the idea of a spiritual life had begun to take root, it was deemed proper to conceal its real significance; hence from a symbol representing the continuity of existence on the earth, the cross now prefigured eternal life or existence after death. They now speak of spiritual truths, not of crude phallic ideas. However, we must not forget that in its various forms, the cross began as a symbol of MALE FERTILITY which gives life.
A few phallic symbols that remain embedded within the Christian faith to this day.
SPIRES/OBELISKS
At the top of many church towers, a spire often points to the sky. Linked with the ancient obelisk erected outside pagan temples, the show the influence of our phallus-worshipping ancestors. So why is there an Egyptian obelisk in St. Peters square? The official Vatican story puts it this way: Augustus ordered the obelisk erected in Alexandria, where it stayed until A.D. 37. Caligula moved it to the Vatican Circus in Rome where innumerable Christians, including St. Peter, were put to death. The reason this obelisk was not later overturned as were all the others in Rome was that it was looked upon as the last witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter. The obelisk is 836 feet high, and weighs 360.2 tons. Its apex is adorned with a bronze cross containing a fragment of the True Cross. This represents the triumph of the Church over paganism. It is clear that the early Church took these concepts of manliness and male vitality seriously, and weren’t afraid to “flip the bird” to those pagan types.
CHRISTMAS TREES
Since the earliest of times, trees especially evergreens, were worshipped by the pagans. Since it was EVER green, it always had life. The trees were worshipped as symbols of life, fertility, sexual potency and reproduction. These pagan rituals of worship were then brought into the homes and set up as idols, with the belief that it would give men a heightened potency of sexual virility to procreate new life. The evergreen tree represented a "PHALLIC" symbol set in an upright position. Any wonder why people hang round balls on a tree?
YULE LOG
The Yule log dates back to Scandinavian countries where their pagan sex and fertility god was called Jul, or Yule. He was honored in a twelve day celebration in the month of December. When the season began, a Yule Log was lit and put into the fireplace where the same log was used for 12 days to keep the fire lit. Since Jul was the pagan god of sex and fertility, it does not take much to see what this also represented. The lit Yule Log represents again a "phallic" symbol, and being a log and lit, it represented a good omen for heightened sexuality for the coming year. It was the shadow and type of a burning lust of a man to fuel the fires of sexual potency to reproduce fertility. When one sends "YULETIDE GREETINGS", they are basically saying, "I greet you with this flaming log to fulfill a year of sexual virility.
PHALLIC SAINTS
The phallus of St. Foutin was worshipped; the women poured wine upon the head of the phallus, which was collected in a vessel, in which it was left till it became sour; it was then called the "sainte vinaigre," and the women employed it for a purpose which is only obscurely hinted at. When the Protestants took Embrun in 1585, they found this phallus among the relics, its head red with the wine.
A much larger phallus of wood, covered with leather, was an object of worship in the church of St. Eutropius at Orange, but it was seized by the Protestants and burnt publicly in 1562.
Similar phallic saints were worshipped St. Guerlichon in Bourges, St. Gilles in Britany, of St. Rene in Anjou, of St. Regnaud in Burgundy, of St. Arnaud, and above all of St. Guignolé near Berri. Many of these were still in existence and their worship in full practice in the last century; in some of them, the wooden phallus is described as being much worn down by the continual process of scraping, while in others the loss sustained by scraping was always restored by a miracle. This miracle, however, was a very clumsy one, for the phallus consisted of a long staff of wood passed through a hole in the middle of the Saints body, and as the phallic end in front became shortened, a blow of a mallet from behind thrust it forward, so that it was restored to its original length.
The evidence is clear. The Church did not destroy the ancient ideas of male fertility; it preserved and perpetuated them, directly and indirectly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Feel Free to Search on What I've Blogged
