THE SEVEN SUBTLE SEDUCTIONS OF THE PATRIARCHY

Talk by Rel Davis, minister, August 8th, 1993.


1- Life is a game and the goal is to win.

2- Everyone has at least one person who is inferior to them.

3- Society is based on a pyramid and it's always better at the top.

4- Possession of things is a value in and of itself.
 
5- Only humans have feelings.

6- Women are objects to be used by men and men need these objects (women) in 
order to survive the hierarchy.
 
7- Force is the legitimate determinant of the truth, justice and human rights.

The Judeo-Christian Bible is historically useless.
 
Take the story of creation ๑ the very first part of the very first book. There 
are really two versions given. Mutually exclusive. If one is correct, the other 
must be wrong.
 
In the first version, the Creators (the word used for "God", elohim, is a plural 
word: "Let us make a human in our image", is a proper translation) create the 
entire world in seven days. (Actually, the word used for God entails a feminine 
root meaning "goddess" and a masculine plural ending. What the original meaning 
was is unknown. It probably was wither "the Goddess" or "all the gods, male and 
female." Later, revisionists impled it was plural to indicate the trinity!)

According to this first version, humans were created on the sixth day (as a 
culmination of the creative process) after all the animals and fish and birds 
had already been created. Then on the seventh day the gods rested.

In the second version ๑ the Eden story ๑ only one male god is involved and this 
one starts off by creating Adam the first male. He takes clay down by a river 
(actually, the Bible says "dust of the ground" and molds the form of Adam. Then 
he breathes in the breath of life.
 
Soon, Adam is lonely, so Jehovah or Yahweh (a proto-Hebraic word meaning "he 
was") creates all the animals and birds to keep Adam company. (Remember in the 
first story, the birds were created on the fifth day and the animals on the 
sixth, both before the first human.)  But Adam is still "lonely" (read that 
horney) so Yahweh now decides to make him an "helpmeet". He puts Adam to sleep 
and takes out a rib and from the rib he creates the first woman (Eve). The Bible 
then says that Eve was called "woman" (ishah) because she came from "man" (ish).
 
Now which version is right? The first one says all the animals were created 
BEFORE male and female humans were created. The second one says the male human 
came first, then the animals, and last the female human.
 
They can't both be right.
 
It was this discrepancy in the Holy Writ that prompted early Jewish scholars to 
postulate the existence of another woman, one who wasn't a "helpmeet" to Adam. 
The woman (Lilith ๑ "night person") was presumed to have been the female created 
on the sixth day, but she refused to abbey Adam, being his equal, so Yahweh 
created a second woman (Eve) from Adam's rib, one who would be subservient to 
Adam.

This discrepancy also would explain the "daughters of men" who populated the 
world along with the "first family".
 
These "daughters of men" come up after the third story in the Bible (after the 
expulsion from Eden), that of Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a 
gardener. When they brought gifts to Yahweh, Abel brought a slaughtered animal 
and Cain brought salad vegetables. Yahweh, being a macho creature, appreciated 
the raw steak and rejected the salad. So Cain got angry and killed Abel. And 
Cain was cursed by Yahweh and went off to live with the "daughters of men".
 
Two problems here. First, where did the "daughters of men" come from? The Bible 
says Cain wandered into the Land of Nod and raised a large family. And that at 
this time "men began to call upon the name of Jehovah". If Adam and Eve were the 
only humans around, where did all these other people come from? Later in the 
Bible, it says that the "sons of god" began to marry the "children of men". Who 
were the "sons of god"? Maybe it was just the Holy Spirit getting warmed up for 
a later Christmas?
 
And second, the story is turned around. In reality, the peaceful farming peoples 
were attacked and killed by the blood-thirsty sheep-herders. Abel really 
murdered Cain. But the nomadic invaders, being the victors, wrote the histories 
(and the Bible) so they changed the story around a bit, making the farmer the 
villain to justify their slaughter of innocents!
 
The record of historical accuracy for the Judeo-Christian Bible is so low that a 
fairly complete compendium of biblical errors takes up a major research tome. 
Hundreds of such collections of errors have been published, including a famous 
one by Mark Twain.

So if the Bible isn't historically accurate, what is it good for? Essentially it 
is nothing but a massive propaganda piece for the patriarchy. The Bible is a 
compilation of various works ๑ scrupulously re-written when necessary ๑ 
collected for the sole purpose of making the existing order seem sacred and all 
prior civilizations seem evil.

We now know that for many thousands of years, human beings lived upon this 
planet in relative harmony. Human history goes back more then 32 thousand years. 
Civilization as we know it goes back nearly ten thousand years, when the 
cultivation of wheat made the formation of villages and cities possible.

These early civilized communities developed metallurgy, invented the wheel, 
invented writing, and developed literature and poetry. They perfected 
irrigation, modern farming techniques and efficient storage of food.
 
For six thousand years, humans existed in villages and cities around the world 
without slavery, without war, without oppression of any kind. The archeological 
records fails to find any evidence of inequality between peoples or any evidence 
of military weaponry until nearly 2000 years before the current era.

In that long period of human history (which the Greeks referred to as the Golden 
Age), religion was a day-to-day process rather then a system of beliefs. The 
people lived close to the earth and the Earth was honored. Rituals were purely 
local and usually cyclical in nature. Each locality would honor the aspects of 
nature important to them.

Along the Mediterranean more then six thousand years ago, a civilized peoples 
honored the sea, for their food came largely from fishing. The local Goddess was 
a sea-deity, probably a precursor of Aphrodite ("sea foam"). Further inland, 
along the fertile crescent, the farming communities later know as the Canaanites 
worshipped a tree-goddess, Astarte or Ashoreth, who lived in groves and who 
provided the olive and its oil.

Travelers, we know from the record, would honor the local deities instead of 
carrying their own with them. It was understood to all humans for thousands of 
years that all deities were the same ๑ that the Goddess in Crete was the same as 
the Goddess in Palestine.

In was indeed, a Golden Age of human endeavors.

Then something happened. Probably overpopulation was the culprit, though it 
might have been changing weather patterns. But some groups of humans became 
nomadic, traveling about and carrying their gods with them. These nomads were 
herdsmen, keepers of flocks, and they developed a warlike way, emphasizing the 
male personality type and denigrating the female.

Having put down the female, they lost the ancient knowledge of birth control, 
and their populations jumped enormously. Over a thousand years, these nomads 
wandered the earth, fighting each other, expanding dangerously, and eventually 
over-running the peaceful farming communities which had developed civilization. 
They absorbed the civilization of the cities and then claimed that civilization 
for their own.

They re-wrote history. Re-wrote religion. And began the process of enslavement 
of the human spirit which continues up to this day.
 
In the last century, the evidence of the early civilizations of human being was 
brought to light, but the patriarchy (for that is the term used to describe the 
nomadic barbarians who overthrew ancient civilization, because it required that 
the "fathers" ruled all others) refused to admit the evidence.

When I was in college we were taught that ancient "fertility cults" had existed, 
but that these had had no impact on the creation of modern civilization. We were 
taught that civilization began with the Mycenean Greeks and that before that was 
only savagery. We were taught that the Golden Age described by the Greeks was 
only a myth.

But the archeological evidence is plain. Evidence of wars, of slavery, of 
genocide, of oppression by rulers suddenly appears around four thousand years 
ago, and did not exist before that time. In those few places where matrifocal 
societies resisted the invasions of the nomads (as in Crete, which thanks to its 
island position held off the patriarchy until about 1500 B.C.E.), evidence of 
war and oppression does not appear until after the success of the warlike 
invaders.

Can you imagine a world without war? Can you imagine a world without inequality 
of any kind between human being? Can you imagine a world where police are not 
necessary? Where no one bows before anyone else? And where murder and rape and 
oppression are virtually unknown occurrences? You probably cannot even imagine 
such a thing, because we have been taught for so long that the world is a place 
of violence, of oppression, of inequality.

The teaching that keeps us enslaved is the creation of a set of paradigms 
(unconscious assumptions about the nature of reality) which have been given us 
by the patriarchy. We don't even challenge their "truth" because we have been 
led to believe that they are unchallengeable.

These paradigms, which I call the Seven Subtle Seductions of the Patriarchy, are 
appealing to the alienated selves which we as humans have become, because they 
seem to explain in insanity in which we live. Let's look at them a moment.
 
1- Life is a game and the goal is to win.

2- Everyone has at least one person who is inferior to them.
 
3- Society is based on a pyramid and it's always better at the top.
 
4- Possession of things is a value in and of itself.

5- Only humans have feelings.

6- Women are objects to be used by men and men need these objects (women) in 
   order to survive the hierarchy.

7- Force is the legitimate determinant of truth, justice and human rights.
 
Think about the last several movies you've seen and you'll realize that 
practically every movie (and most novels and TV programs as well) will 
demonstrate the "validity" of these paradigms:
 
The good guy has to win. (#1)
A fight always decides who is right. (#7)
The good guy "gets" the girl ๑ and usually money as well. (#6 & #4)
Destruction of material things and of nature is taken for granted. (#5)
Comic relief usually involves some pitiable (obviously inferior) person to be 
laughed at. (#2)
The plot resembles a game more then it does life. (#1)
The good guy always comes out on top. (#3)

Let's look at each of these in turn.

SEDUCTION #1: LIFE IS A GAME AND THE GOAL IS TO WIN.

This is a trivialization of life and is a typical paradigm of the patriarchy. 
"It's all a game anyway," the paradigm says, "so why bother?"
 
Our "games" are reflections of this attitude toward life. Football and baseball 
and boxing and all the rest emphasize the "game" attitude. Competition is defied 
in our culture and the mystique of competition is overbearing. "Success" is 
touted as the direct result of competition. Winning is the way you get ahead in 
the world.
 
The problem is that it simply isn't so. Research into successful businesses 
reveals that those businesses operate with cooperation instead of competition as 
a model are far more successful then competitive businesses. And while 
competitive individuals tend to rise to the top in organizations, they do so 
only to the detriment of the organization as a whole. That is, if organizations 
would reward cooperation instead of competition they would be more productive 
and more efficient.

The game aspect of life is, however, a particularly seductive concept, seeming 
to take away a great need for responsibility. If my actions are only part of a 
vast cosmic game, I don't really need to be responsible for them at all.

Breaking away from this paradigm requires a renunciation of the competitive 
mode. Back in the 1970's we played non-competitive sports called "New Games". 
New vollyball, for example, involved constantly rotating members of the two 
sides. Once you served the ball, you moved to the back of the opposite team and 
worked your way to the front again.
 
SEDUCTION #2: EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE PERSON WHO IS INFERIOR TO THEM.

This concept is the way we as members of society are made to accept inequality. 
We aren't told that we are inferior to the "masters" of society, the patriarchs. 
No, we are instead told that we are superior to someone else. Men are superior 
to women. Adults are superior to children. Whites are superior to blacks. 
Professionals are superior to blue-collar workers. Americans are superior to 
foreigners. Teachers are inferior to students.
 
Regardless who you are, you are told that SOMEONE is inferior to you. The 
lowest, scummiest redneck ๑ guilty of incest, murder and wife-beating ๑ will 
tell you that all women, children and blacks are inferior to him.

Thinking someone else is inferior to you sets you up to accept the superiority 
of others OVER you. This is the ground upon which fascism is built. If it's okay 
for me to oppress another human being then it must also be okay for someone else 
to oppress me.
 
So we sit meekly by while we are brutalized as a society by every police 
officer, by every school teacher, by every corporation that wants to rape the 
earth, by every politician, by every criminal mind on Wall Street or Main Street 
who wants to lord it over us. We are a nation of sheep. Millions of people each 
year vote the Party of Millionaires, the G.O.P., and against their own best 
interests.

Don't accept the lie. There is no one who is any better or any worse then any 
other person. Stop thinking of anyone as being inferior to you and you'll find 
yourself refusing to accept the thought that you are inferior to anyone else.

SEDUCTION #3: SOCIETY IS BASED ON A PYRAMID AND IT'S ALWAYS BETTER AT THE TOP.

This simple little paradigm is reflected in every organization chart, in every 
corporation or club by-laws, in every institutional structure within our 
society. It's mandated by Roberts Rules of Order and by the Constitution of the 
United States.

There is always someone at the top: president, chairperson, mayor, priest, 
father, governor, chief, etc. Below that person are the next in importance: the 
board, the cabinet, the city council, the board of deacons, etc. Below that is 
another layer and yet another one below that. At the bottom are the bulk of the 
members of the population.

A pyramid says that power is always concentrated at the top. And that as you get 
higher in the organization, there are always fewer people to deal with. And the 
higher you get, the more power you get and the more "perks" you get as well.

Again, this seductive paradigm keeps us enslaved by holding out the constant 
hope that we'll "reach the top". Some day. But the process of reaching the top 
inevitable involves stepping over the bodies of all the people down below. The 
pyramid structure of society is dehumanizing.

The structure of ancient society was circular. No leaders. No individual more 
important then any other individual. WE all need to resign from the rat race.

SEDUCTION #4: POSSESSION OF THINGS IS A VALUE IN AND OF ITSELF.

It's an interesting concept, the possession of things. To the ancients, all 
things had consciousness, from the trees to the animals that roamed the earth, 
so the rocks and even to the stars in the sky. Ownership of another object, 
whether it be a person or creature or an inanimate thing, was not considered 
possible.
 
The early granaries were considered to be owned by the Goddess, by the Earth 
herself, and fool was distributed to each person equally. Only when a concept of 
scarcity was created did the ownership of anything become a possibility.

Today, we talk about "owning" land ๑ which is a portion of the Goddess herself. 
We talk about "owning" our children and our spouses. A little over a hundred 
years ago, white Americans "owned" black Americans and this was considered 
normal.

Possession of things is an abomination against nature. We may have stewardship 
of objects which we requite for life and for culture, but we must always 
remember that all of nature is responsible ultimately for itself. Even when we 
partake of food, we must remember to ask permission of the elements consumed, 
and thank them for their sustenance.

We need to stop trying to amass wealth and increase our possessions. Sartre 
pointed out that trying to possess another thing or person (or even idea) leads 
to being possessed by that object.

Which leads us to our next item.
 
SEDUCTION #5: ONLY HUMANS HAVE FEELINGS.

We have so alienated ourselves from nature that we have forgotten that all of 
nature possesses consciousness. Humans are not fundamentally different from the 
world in which they exist. We are not the end-all and be-all of existence.
 
All creatures have feelings, at some level. The great whales which are being 
hunted to extinction can communicate across thousands of miles with haunting 
melodies in codes as yet unbroken by scientists. Elephants will surround a slain 
comrade and visibly mourn the death for days.

I believe even the great trees, and the tiniest insects, have some measure of 
consciousness.

But in our hubris, our pride, we have presumed feelings only for other humans. 
And we are in process of destroying countless species of living beings in the 
name of progress. Remember: extinction is forever.

SEDUCTION #6: WOMEN ARE OBJECTS TO BE USED BY MEN AND MEN NEED THESE OBJECTS 
(WOMEN) IN ORDER TO SURVIVE THE HIERARCHY.

This paradigm is particularly destructive. It postulates that more then half the 
human race, the female half, is less then human. And it gives men the right to 
abuse, to use, to play with, and to "own" these other humans. It dehumanizes 
women and justifies the slavery of most forms of marriage.

This paradigm is supported in many ways. Our language denies the humanity of 
women. All humans are called "men" or "mankind".
 
The second half of this paradigm ๑ that men "need" women to survive ๑ also 
dehumanizes men, for it imples that men can't be "whole" or complete without 
possessing a woman. Both men and women are diminished by the assumption that 
women are objects to be used and that men need these objects to survive.

We need to stop looking at each other as "possessing Males" and "objectified 
women" and begin seeing each other as human beings, as equals. We can no more 
"own" another human being then we can "own" the land upon which we walk.
 
And the last oneึ

SEDUCTION #7: FORCE IS THE LEGITIMATE DETERMINANT OF TRUTH, JUSTICE AND HUMAN 
RIGHTS.

This is the Superman paradigm. As long as Superman is stronger then anyone else, 
then his concepts are the right ones.
 
That we accept this premise is evidence of the strength of the patriarchy for it 
is logically indefensible. If the good guy could not beat up the bad guy, it 
wouldn't make any difference in what was "just" and what was "unjust". Yet 
practically every movie involves just that, the hero always is able to defeat 
the villain with force.
 
Think about how many of the winners of the past were nothing but villainous 
bullies. And how many of them are today seen as heroes. William the Conqueror 
was nothing but a marauding pirate. The Spanish Conquistadors were brutal 
bandits. George Washington and his band were heroes because they won. Had they 
lost they'd have been hanged as traitors.
 
Force proves nothing but physical strength. We need to return to an attitude 
that strength is less important then unity with each other and with nature.
 
We need to substitute our own paradigms ๑ ancient truths ๑ for the Seven Subtle 
Seductions of the Patriarchy. These need to be created, and re-created, by all 
of us on a daily basis.
 
I'd like to close with these suggested paradigms for living:
 
THE SEVEN ANCIENT TRUTHS:

1- Life is a process of learning and we all can learn more when we cooperate 
with each other.

2- No one is any better or any worse then anyone else.

3- Society should be based on the circle, with no leaders and everyone equal.

4- Things that we use are ours only as trustees for the Earth and use should be 
the only measure of possession.
 
5- All creatures ๑ living and inanimate ๑ share in the consciousness of the 
universe.

6- Women represent the life-force of the Earth and as such are to be honored, 
but no person ๑ male or female ๑ should ever own or control another human being.

7- Oneness with each other and with nature is the sole legitimate determinant of 
truth, justice and rights.

Don't accept the lies of the patriarchy. Don't continue buying into the 
propaganda of society.
 
Take responsibility for yourself and for all of the universe by learning to live 
as one will all other humans, with all life forms, and with all things that 
share this vase cosmos with us.

Blessed Be!