Incredibly powerful piece. I read the “two testaments” as a teenager and by the time I was done I honestly thought that there was no way that people could seriously believe in these crazed stories. The cruelty, the violence, the betrayals- and above all, an authoritarian, tyrannical, murderous God who was exactly like all of the vicious, psychotic dictators we were supposed to despise. It made no sense to me then and it makes even less sense to me now. Millions upon millions of people and countless generations conditioned to worship an ancient version of the thing in the White House. It’s mind-boggling to me.
Yes. It made no sense to me either until I realized that the whole worldview, patriarchy, runs on the fear of death. It is practically the fear of death cast in mythological costume. Why did we need the invention of Heaven? Because… death. Why did we need a savior (and Jesus is just one in a long, long line)? Because… death. Why do we need a strong man we all know is corrupt? He’s going to save us, of course, so we ignore with a lot. How do dictators gain power? They create a monster (immigrants/minorities) and use our fear of death to promise salvation. Why do men need to be in charge to protect us from… men? It’s a dog-eat-dog world. It’s a serpent eating its own tail. They just keep it spinning.
I have a nephew who is volunteering to join the Marines. He is leaving this summer for who knows where. My sister is stoic in the face of her technically adult son's decision. This is awful.
That piece was brilliantly written. I am not sure who to be in the face of things anymore.
Oh, Steve. That’s breaks my heart. You know, I was a high school English teacher for 25 years or so. When the Marine recruiter came to our school at lunch, I used to sit at his table the whole time and counteract him. These were my children, too. I tried to make him tell the truth. You know, their brains aren’t fully formed until they are about 28 or so. I’m with your sister. I don’t know what else she can do. Sometimes, I think our kids come in with pre-programming and there’s nothing we can do about it. Thanks for the compliments on the writing. That always matters so much to me. Regarding “who to be,” have you tried being no one? That works best for me. That said, there’s usually some heartbreak between me and getting there. It’s worth it, though, to let your heart break, at least in my experience.
I remember as a teenager having very few experiences with my father, all related to alcohol and one time he took me to the cinema. I was so excited to go. We watched good man hunting. He was not able to watch it and threw up and had to walk out to a local saloon. That is the first time I found out that he had been in World War II. It ruined him as it ruins all men and women.
Wow. That floors me. Your poor dad. Poor all of you who were left to pick up the fragments with no help in a culture that would not recognize that damage had been done. Poor all of us, the harm just ripples and ripples. My role in the family was to be the one that stopped rippling. Perhaps, that’s yours, too?
If there is a draft, for every son saved, someone else’s son will take their place. A son who lacks the privilege and resources, but an equally valuable son nonetheless.
Absolutely! Couldn’t agree more. I was talking about the fierce feelings the whole idea brings up, and and a high school teacher of 25 years in some of the poor sections of Los Angeles, I was never thinking about only saving my personal son. To me, it’s all personal. All of us who fee so fiercely could come together, as one voice, one mother. A grandmother.
Yes. It was pretty tense. The cave adventure was amazing. So good. I didn’t meet the Buddha, and so didn’t have to rise to violence… hahahahah. I met myself though, and that was enough. More to come, but I think it’s too soon to write too much about it yet.
That was my thinking as a kid as well. How come Abraham was so keen? It’s almost like the test was not what he thought it was and he failed it - but it got presented as a good thing.
And no wonder 10 commandments needed to be sent to humans if we couldn’t lead with love but fell straight into obedience as soon as a god requested the unethical of us…
And yet, even with the 10 commandments, it's war after war after war. sigh. Perhaps that's because half of humanity, at the very least, is left out of every decision. But it's more than that if you factor in racism, which we must.
Oh Susan, thank you for writing this (it can't have been easy to revisit that memory and excavate it). What kind of God indeed? It seems to me that you've brilliantly summed up what patriarchy IS--Big Man, demanding shows of loyalty--up to and including our sons. The patriarchy can fuck all the way off. Thank you for writing it. x
Thanks for suggesting it, Dina. It’s funny, as in strange… I’ve had more unsubscribes from this post than any other. Are people offended that I wrote about a myth as if it were… mythology? Several women I love commented also that this story, more that many others makes the patriarchy visible. I didn’t see that as I was writing it, but I do now. Thanks for saying it.
i had a conversation about six years ago with my oldest when he mentioned talking to a guy recruiting for the marines, and let my feelings about it slip (they kinda' came pouring out.)
that i didn't want him spending his blood on some rich asshat's ego.
i felt a little bad about it.. i want him to make his own choices. and i told him that. but i have no tolerance for children being used as pawns in elitists' bloody dick measuring contests. and when the question comes up for my children there is a energy that fills me with rage and i have to be careful how i express that around them.
that story was also, for me, one of the first times my child brain went 'wtf' about the stories i was being told in sunday school. the cognitive dissonance of asking a parent to do that, and the parent being willing to, filled me with dread. the story certainly serves caesar, though.
Wow. That’s so right. The effect on children being told this story in Sunday school, which I’m sure is where I heard it on one of the few occasions my parents dropped me there. I understand you wanting to hold back with your feelings and allow your son to make up his own mind, something I also didn’t do. But my son, now 28 (can you imagine?) has his own strong mind which can handle anything I throw up. But there also comes a moment when to hold back is less than honest, and I think it’s very important to be honest with our children, too. It’s a balance, I guess. We do the best we can. I remember your eldest when he was a little boy. I bet he’s big now.
that’s a good point. i can frame strong feelings as my own and separate them from the child’s autonomy to make their own choices. which i think i did but i'm very protective of my children's autonomy...
we already sell so much of ourselves to capitalism but that was waaaay too much for me.
Susan, I am with you. I was never good at blind faith, and certainly not the patriarchal kind. I knew God was not my guy in 2nd grade. He seemed like a violent, narcissistic, deadbeat dad to me. My own father, a devout Catholic, was a much better role model. So I followed rules and rebelled in secret until I got free. My own son is 22. The government cannot have him. I am not a breeder and he is not a sacrificial lamb. Happy retreat!
I love so much about Jewishness. The devotional members of faith communities who understand a metaphor are fine by me. It’s beautiful. It’s the ones who live in their heads and use the religion to justify horrors that do all the damage.
I always feel sympathetic anger/sadness any time someone describes an early life riven with domestic violence and other symptoms of rotten and/or extremely unhealed adults. Combining that experience with the story of Abraham AND imperial military conscription is making me have all manner of thoughts.
I was born and raised Mormon, and lived that way until very recently. I served a foreign mission, we t to church schools, and was in every way what you'd call a "true believer." "Dyed in the wool, true blue through and through", as the popular story of an early Mormon goes. Me to a T.
The Mormon interpretation of the near-sacrifice of Isaac is facially more nuanced than many others, but only because it rests on a complex theology built on a series of abstractions that, once interrogated, cause one to question how matter even exists in the first place.
Basically, according to Mormon theology, the test of commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son was also a lesson in 11th hour redemption and a prophecy of the coming Messiah. In other words, just as Abraham had willingly offered to kill his son, so would God offer his son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, AND, the sacrifice of God's son in the flesh would be like the appearance of the ram that was given to be sacrificed in Isaac's stead.
So who is this God and why are all these sacrifices required?
Level one Mormon theology holds that God's work and glory is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", but that mortals are prevented from achieving eternal life and immortality by physical and spiritual death (the spiritual kind being sin and separation). Death is a natural consequence of the Fall of Adam (somehow...) and hell is the consequence of sin.
Level 2 Mormon theology holds that, while God loves his children and only desires their welfare and eternal life, mercy cannot rob justice. Long story short, a great and last sacrifice must be made as ransom for all the sins of every mortal of all time, in other words, the pure, perfect, immaculately conceived "word made flesh" would have to suffer pain and death to satisfy the demands of justice and make space for mercy.
So...wait. You're probably thinking (as any reasonable person would) why is God limited by abstract and, arguably, arbitrary concepts of justice? Isn't it God who makes all this up himself? Couldn't he just make better decisions about what is or is not a sin, or at least more logical explanations for his edicts?
You'd lime to think so, wouldn't ya?
Well, see, the next level of abstraction is the real doozy, because Mormon theology level 3 holds that "as man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become". In other words, God is God because of his perfect obedience and commitment to eternal laws. His honor is his power.
This sounds great on paper, and once I understood that level of Mormon theology all of 12 years ago I was super stoked about it. But it raises the question: who keeps God honest?
The answer is "the intelligences". The quantum manifestations of teleonomy that make up all matter in the universe and always function according to natural, eternal law. In other words, the souls of subatomic particles themselves are the ones in charge. If God does a bad thing or makes a mistake, these little quantum bugs go berzerk and rebel in mass. That's why blood sacrifice of God's own son was necessary: to keep those petty little fuckers satisfied lest God cease to be God and all creation come apart at the seams.
Now, the universe is chaotic, but is it reasonable to believe that quarks and neutrinos are THAT concerned with every person's choices, or that every particle is so anxious about perfect justice as to demand blood? If all matter were simultaneously thusly intelligent AND vengefully petty, how is anything organized at all in the first place? How is the universe not constantly self destructing? How does life exist at all if a single error is so egregious as to render the organizing authority incredible to his constituency?
These are the questions that led me to an existential crisis and some form of evolve post-theistic spirituality. The only thing that makes any of it make sense is that petty bloodlust is somehow the base code of the whole thing. Perfection or death. In other words, matter itself is rigidly patriarchal, which is, of course, bullshit.
Insofar as nature is wild and beautiful and dangerous and loving all at once, all of the above has stopped making sense to me, and the reason why the story of Abraham's borderline filicide is just ancient, dusty patriarchal violence in the shape of dutiful humility.
Right. Phew. I’m amazed you could even find your body amid all that intellectualism. Layers upon layers of spin when all people have to do is STOP. Come home to your breath. I’m glad you got away. That’s pure insanity, that. Honor? Obedience? It’s all mental, in every sense of the word. Thanks for explaining it to me though. I’ve never seen such a cogent explanation of the insanity.
Thanks. Sometimes I’m walking around my house singing 🎵 Everything old is new again..🎶 But when I sing it I’m thinking about the ancient and current egalitarian cultures. There are over 160 egalitarian cultures on earth right now. When I say traditional values, that’s what I mean.
I was a college freshman in the fall of 1969. Many of my HS classmates were either drafted or enlisted. Many of those young men never came home. Let's be honest and say those high school grads who went to Vietnam were still kids - emotionally, cognitively, physically. Wise they were not; hood-winked by a very sick culture.
General Eisenhower and later President, warned us of the industrial-military complex back in the 1950's. THAT cultural phenomenon has only grown in strength, since. ARGH.
The collective we must stop the insanity of endless wars.
I remember All in the Family. Norman Lear was a genius...
I protested the war of my youth "back in the day." Still protesting, sadly.
Now though, more of us fiercely oppose. I was a high school teacher for 25 years in a poor inner city school. When the Marine recruiter came and set up his table at lunch I used to sit there the whole time and debate him in real time. I hope he got fewer of my boys, but there’s no way to know that.
I LOVE YOU, Susan. And yes, me too. When I was a kid and heard the Abraham and Isaac story for the first time, I was horrified. This show of supposed faith was just a huge betrayal in my book. And the compromise? The foreskin of that son? WTF? Traumatizing a newborn boy on their 8th day of life became the acceptable substitute? GAH. And the Jews who cleave so steadfastly to this brutal and ignorant practice? I just don't get it.
It feels blind and ignorant and cowardly to me, still. I am a Jew. I'm proud to be a Jew for secular and cultural reasons. I'm proud because we persist, because we've survived. Because theoretically, we welcome the stranger, though that's hardly apparent as evidenced by Israels treatment of Palestinians. But I'm not and will never be a god-fearing Jew. I opted out of Bat Mitzvah when I was a kid because I couldn't bear reading Torah. And because I was a girl, I wouldn't be reading from it, anyway. Because girls weren't allowed. We were allowed to read from and remark on Haftorah, from Prophets, because women in traditional Judaism were not obligated to these religious obligations and because women's voices heard from the bimah (the pulpit) were considered immodest. Hard pass on that, thank you very much.
I attended Friday and Saturday services for a long time in adulthood until I decided to forgo the Torah service on Saturday mornings, instead, opting into Friday night services only, where there is no Torah reading, but instead, songs of prayer and gentleness. A time to welcome rest, to stop, to sleep, to unplug, to meditate. I find that quiet time preferable to stories (lessons?) of murder and betrayal. I want to hear the sad, sweet, songs my grandmother sang instead of following along in a book about war. I want to stop and remember the loved ones I've lost and pray for the sick and still suffering. Not into the other stuff. Nope.
Have a beautiful retreat, my dear friend. I don't know if I could do it, but the idea of it appeals. Maybe I'll start small and begin observing Shabbat again. Unplugging from devices, praying, writing. Stepping away from the craziness of the world for 25 hours a week. Not a bad idea, come to think of it. I will end here as I began. I love you, Susan. You wonderful teacher, human being, thinker, and friend. xo
Agreed. Once you start chopping off foreskins from screaming babies you’ve crossed the metaphor line. And that whole part about the stories of those women? Those stories weren’t metaphorical either. Those were the playbook justifying dominance through misogyny and calling it “What God wants.”
Thank you, Nan. I love you, too. I love your approach to spiritual practice. I love the T-shirt you sent me that reads: IT’S A METAPHOR. All traditions have beauty if you remember this. It’s like a dream where every character is an aspect of yourself. I love the practice of unplugging for 25 hours a week. Sounds like sanity. See ya when I get back.
I know. It's a metaphor, it's a metaphor, it's a metaphor. But is it, really? Ha. Just kidding. I know. But I didn't like the stories, and I didn't like the way women were regarded. Metaphors sometimes feel a little passive-aggressive to me. If you want me to understand something, don't give me a story to decode. Just tell me flat out what you want me to know. And if it's a metaphor, why did it become necessary for people practice their commitment to God by chopping off the foreskins of innocent babies. Why couldn't it be enough, to show your commitment by doing good works in the world? Why should the ritual sacrifice of a body part be necessary at all? I think it stinks. xo See you when you're back! xo
Incredibly powerful piece. I read the “two testaments” as a teenager and by the time I was done I honestly thought that there was no way that people could seriously believe in these crazed stories. The cruelty, the violence, the betrayals- and above all, an authoritarian, tyrannical, murderous God who was exactly like all of the vicious, psychotic dictators we were supposed to despise. It made no sense to me then and it makes even less sense to me now. Millions upon millions of people and countless generations conditioned to worship an ancient version of the thing in the White House. It’s mind-boggling to me.
Yes. It made no sense to me either until I realized that the whole worldview, patriarchy, runs on the fear of death. It is practically the fear of death cast in mythological costume. Why did we need the invention of Heaven? Because… death. Why did we need a savior (and Jesus is just one in a long, long line)? Because… death. Why do we need a strong man we all know is corrupt? He’s going to save us, of course, so we ignore with a lot. How do dictators gain power? They create a monster (immigrants/minorities) and use our fear of death to promise salvation. Why do men need to be in charge to protect us from… men? It’s a dog-eat-dog world. It’s a serpent eating its own tail. They just keep it spinning.
Absolutely. All of this!
I have a nephew who is volunteering to join the Marines. He is leaving this summer for who knows where. My sister is stoic in the face of her technically adult son's decision. This is awful.
That piece was brilliantly written. I am not sure who to be in the face of things anymore.
Ohhh thank you. Not being anyone helps me respond outside of the definition of myself, which usually allows me to be kind. Nice reminder.
Oh, Steve. That’s breaks my heart. You know, I was a high school English teacher for 25 years or so. When the Marine recruiter came to our school at lunch, I used to sit at his table the whole time and counteract him. These were my children, too. I tried to make him tell the truth. You know, their brains aren’t fully formed until they are about 28 or so. I’m with your sister. I don’t know what else she can do. Sometimes, I think our kids come in with pre-programming and there’s nothing we can do about it. Thanks for the compliments on the writing. That always matters so much to me. Regarding “who to be,” have you tried being no one? That works best for me. That said, there’s usually some heartbreak between me and getting there. It’s worth it, though, to let your heart break, at least in my experience.
Susan, this is so well written
Gut wrenching and true.
I remember as a teenager having very few experiences with my father, all related to alcohol and one time he took me to the cinema. I was so excited to go. We watched good man hunting. He was not able to watch it and threw up and had to walk out to a local saloon. That is the first time I found out that he had been in World War II. It ruined him as it ruins all men and women.
Thank you
Wow. That floors me. Your poor dad. Poor all of you who were left to pick up the fragments with no help in a culture that would not recognize that damage had been done. Poor all of us, the harm just ripples and ripples. My role in the family was to be the one that stopped rippling. Perhaps, that’s yours, too?
Yes, Susan I played the adult child peacemaker without needs, although of course I had many. IE safety and sanity. 😘
Me too, middle girl-child.
Susan, thank you for this essay. I hung on every word.
Thanks you Jazmine! I’m so glad you read and commented.
If there is a draft, for every son saved, someone else’s son will take their place. A son who lacks the privilege and resources, but an equally valuable son nonetheless.
I think we need to sit with that truth as well.
Absolutely! Couldn’t agree more. I was talking about the fierce feelings the whole idea brings up, and and a high school teacher of 25 years in some of the poor sections of Los Angeles, I was never thinking about only saving my personal son. To me, it’s all personal. All of us who fee so fiercely could come together, as one voice, one mother. A grandmother.
That's pretty poignant. I had no idea that's how people were drafted in the Vietnam war. Just wow. I'm sorry your family had to go through that.
Hope the cave adventure went well and you said hi to Buddha 😂
Yes. It was pretty tense. The cave adventure was amazing. So good. I didn’t meet the Buddha, and so didn’t have to rise to violence… hahahahah. I met myself though, and that was enough. More to come, but I think it’s too soon to write too much about it yet.
That was my thinking as a kid as well. How come Abraham was so keen? It’s almost like the test was not what he thought it was and he failed it - but it got presented as a good thing.
I love this. LIke a cat who runs into the glass door, shakes it off and looks at you like, "I meant that."
I hope you don’t mind but I ended up writing a little essay about it. You made the cogs in my brain turn. Thank you 🙏🏼
Mind? I loved it. I agree with you, too.
And no wonder 10 commandments needed to be sent to humans if we couldn’t lead with love but fell straight into obedience as soon as a god requested the unethical of us…
And yet, even with the 10 commandments, it's war after war after war. sigh. Perhaps that's because half of humanity, at the very least, is left out of every decision. But it's more than that if you factor in racism, which we must.
Very well said. Thank you.
Oh Susan, thank you for writing this (it can't have been easy to revisit that memory and excavate it). What kind of God indeed? It seems to me that you've brilliantly summed up what patriarchy IS--Big Man, demanding shows of loyalty--up to and including our sons. The patriarchy can fuck all the way off. Thank you for writing it. x
Thanks for suggesting it, Dina. It’s funny, as in strange… I’ve had more unsubscribes from this post than any other. Are people offended that I wrote about a myth as if it were… mythology? Several women I love commented also that this story, more that many others makes the patriarchy visible. I didn’t see that as I was writing it, but I do now. Thanks for saying it.
i had a conversation about six years ago with my oldest when he mentioned talking to a guy recruiting for the marines, and let my feelings about it slip (they kinda' came pouring out.)
that i didn't want him spending his blood on some rich asshat's ego.
i felt a little bad about it.. i want him to make his own choices. and i told him that. but i have no tolerance for children being used as pawns in elitists' bloody dick measuring contests. and when the question comes up for my children there is a energy that fills me with rage and i have to be careful how i express that around them.
that story was also, for me, one of the first times my child brain went 'wtf' about the stories i was being told in sunday school. the cognitive dissonance of asking a parent to do that, and the parent being willing to, filled me with dread. the story certainly serves caesar, though.
Wow. That’s so right. The effect on children being told this story in Sunday school, which I’m sure is where I heard it on one of the few occasions my parents dropped me there. I understand you wanting to hold back with your feelings and allow your son to make up his own mind, something I also didn’t do. But my son, now 28 (can you imagine?) has his own strong mind which can handle anything I throw up. But there also comes a moment when to hold back is less than honest, and I think it’s very important to be honest with our children, too. It’s a balance, I guess. We do the best we can. I remember your eldest when he was a little boy. I bet he’s big now.
that’s a good point. i can frame strong feelings as my own and separate them from the child’s autonomy to make their own choices. which i think i did but i'm very protective of my children's autonomy...
we already sell so much of ourselves to capitalism but that was waaaay too much for me.
Susan, I am with you. I was never good at blind faith, and certainly not the patriarchal kind. I knew God was not my guy in 2nd grade. He seemed like a violent, narcissistic, deadbeat dad to me. My own father, a devout Catholic, was a much better role model. So I followed rules and rebelled in secret until I got free. My own son is 22. The government cannot have him. I am not a breeder and he is not a sacrificial lamb. Happy retreat!
Exactly. My son is 28. All of the above. Thanks for the good wishes for the retreat. I’m feeling pretty good about it. Today, at least.
I grew up to love Jewishness (and married one, too.) But Judaism, let alone Zionism? At least just as bad as the Christians.
I love so much about Jewishness. The devotional members of faith communities who understand a metaphor are fine by me. It’s beautiful. It’s the ones who live in their heads and use the religion to justify horrors that do all the damage.
I always feel sympathetic anger/sadness any time someone describes an early life riven with domestic violence and other symptoms of rotten and/or extremely unhealed adults. Combining that experience with the story of Abraham AND imperial military conscription is making me have all manner of thoughts.
I was born and raised Mormon, and lived that way until very recently. I served a foreign mission, we t to church schools, and was in every way what you'd call a "true believer." "Dyed in the wool, true blue through and through", as the popular story of an early Mormon goes. Me to a T.
The Mormon interpretation of the near-sacrifice of Isaac is facially more nuanced than many others, but only because it rests on a complex theology built on a series of abstractions that, once interrogated, cause one to question how matter even exists in the first place.
Basically, according to Mormon theology, the test of commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son was also a lesson in 11th hour redemption and a prophecy of the coming Messiah. In other words, just as Abraham had willingly offered to kill his son, so would God offer his son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, AND, the sacrifice of God's son in the flesh would be like the appearance of the ram that was given to be sacrificed in Isaac's stead.
So who is this God and why are all these sacrifices required?
Level one Mormon theology holds that God's work and glory is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", but that mortals are prevented from achieving eternal life and immortality by physical and spiritual death (the spiritual kind being sin and separation). Death is a natural consequence of the Fall of Adam (somehow...) and hell is the consequence of sin.
Level 2 Mormon theology holds that, while God loves his children and only desires their welfare and eternal life, mercy cannot rob justice. Long story short, a great and last sacrifice must be made as ransom for all the sins of every mortal of all time, in other words, the pure, perfect, immaculately conceived "word made flesh" would have to suffer pain and death to satisfy the demands of justice and make space for mercy.
So...wait. You're probably thinking (as any reasonable person would) why is God limited by abstract and, arguably, arbitrary concepts of justice? Isn't it God who makes all this up himself? Couldn't he just make better decisions about what is or is not a sin, or at least more logical explanations for his edicts?
You'd lime to think so, wouldn't ya?
Well, see, the next level of abstraction is the real doozy, because Mormon theology level 3 holds that "as man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become". In other words, God is God because of his perfect obedience and commitment to eternal laws. His honor is his power.
This sounds great on paper, and once I understood that level of Mormon theology all of 12 years ago I was super stoked about it. But it raises the question: who keeps God honest?
The answer is "the intelligences". The quantum manifestations of teleonomy that make up all matter in the universe and always function according to natural, eternal law. In other words, the souls of subatomic particles themselves are the ones in charge. If God does a bad thing or makes a mistake, these little quantum bugs go berzerk and rebel in mass. That's why blood sacrifice of God's own son was necessary: to keep those petty little fuckers satisfied lest God cease to be God and all creation come apart at the seams.
Now, the universe is chaotic, but is it reasonable to believe that quarks and neutrinos are THAT concerned with every person's choices, or that every particle is so anxious about perfect justice as to demand blood? If all matter were simultaneously thusly intelligent AND vengefully petty, how is anything organized at all in the first place? How is the universe not constantly self destructing? How does life exist at all if a single error is so egregious as to render the organizing authority incredible to his constituency?
These are the questions that led me to an existential crisis and some form of evolve post-theistic spirituality. The only thing that makes any of it make sense is that petty bloodlust is somehow the base code of the whole thing. Perfection or death. In other words, matter itself is rigidly patriarchal, which is, of course, bullshit.
Insofar as nature is wild and beautiful and dangerous and loving all at once, all of the above has stopped making sense to me, and the reason why the story of Abraham's borderline filicide is just ancient, dusty patriarchal violence in the shape of dutiful humility.
Plus music is so healing. I’m a Threshold singer. Music is a force.
Right. Phew. I’m amazed you could even find your body amid all that intellectualism. Layers upon layers of spin when all people have to do is STOP. Come home to your breath. I’m glad you got away. That’s pure insanity, that. Honor? Obedience? It’s all mental, in every sense of the word. Thanks for explaining it to me though. I’ve never seen such a cogent explanation of the insanity.
Fortunately, I'm a musician. It was inevitable.
So many memories pushed aside by the years, only to return in new but not so different ways. Love your work.
Thanks. Sometimes I’m walking around my house singing 🎵 Everything old is new again..🎶 But when I sing it I’m thinking about the ancient and current egalitarian cultures. There are over 160 egalitarian cultures on earth right now. When I say traditional values, that’s what I mean.
I was a college freshman in the fall of 1969. Many of my HS classmates were either drafted or enlisted. Many of those young men never came home. Let's be honest and say those high school grads who went to Vietnam were still kids - emotionally, cognitively, physically. Wise they were not; hood-winked by a very sick culture.
General Eisenhower and later President, warned us of the industrial-military complex back in the 1950's. THAT cultural phenomenon has only grown in strength, since. ARGH.
The collective we must stop the insanity of endless wars.
I remember All in the Family. Norman Lear was a genius...
I protested the war of my youth "back in the day." Still protesting, sadly.
Now though, more of us fiercely oppose. I was a high school teacher for 25 years in a poor inner city school. When the Marine recruiter came and set up his table at lunch I used to sit there the whole time and debate him in real time. I hope he got fewer of my boys, but there’s no way to know that.
I LOVE YOU, Susan. And yes, me too. When I was a kid and heard the Abraham and Isaac story for the first time, I was horrified. This show of supposed faith was just a huge betrayal in my book. And the compromise? The foreskin of that son? WTF? Traumatizing a newborn boy on their 8th day of life became the acceptable substitute? GAH. And the Jews who cleave so steadfastly to this brutal and ignorant practice? I just don't get it.
It feels blind and ignorant and cowardly to me, still. I am a Jew. I'm proud to be a Jew for secular and cultural reasons. I'm proud because we persist, because we've survived. Because theoretically, we welcome the stranger, though that's hardly apparent as evidenced by Israels treatment of Palestinians. But I'm not and will never be a god-fearing Jew. I opted out of Bat Mitzvah when I was a kid because I couldn't bear reading Torah. And because I was a girl, I wouldn't be reading from it, anyway. Because girls weren't allowed. We were allowed to read from and remark on Haftorah, from Prophets, because women in traditional Judaism were not obligated to these religious obligations and because women's voices heard from the bimah (the pulpit) were considered immodest. Hard pass on that, thank you very much.
I attended Friday and Saturday services for a long time in adulthood until I decided to forgo the Torah service on Saturday mornings, instead, opting into Friday night services only, where there is no Torah reading, but instead, songs of prayer and gentleness. A time to welcome rest, to stop, to sleep, to unplug, to meditate. I find that quiet time preferable to stories (lessons?) of murder and betrayal. I want to hear the sad, sweet, songs my grandmother sang instead of following along in a book about war. I want to stop and remember the loved ones I've lost and pray for the sick and still suffering. Not into the other stuff. Nope.
Have a beautiful retreat, my dear friend. I don't know if I could do it, but the idea of it appeals. Maybe I'll start small and begin observing Shabbat again. Unplugging from devices, praying, writing. Stepping away from the craziness of the world for 25 hours a week. Not a bad idea, come to think of it. I will end here as I began. I love you, Susan. You wonderful teacher, human being, thinker, and friend. xo
Agreed. Once you start chopping off foreskins from screaming babies you’ve crossed the metaphor line. And that whole part about the stories of those women? Those stories weren’t metaphorical either. Those were the playbook justifying dominance through misogyny and calling it “What God wants.”
Calling it what God wants such a cop out or bypass or whatever you wanna call it
And that sort of thing is still happening with the dominionists today.
I’m aware
Thank you, Nan. I love you, too. I love your approach to spiritual practice. I love the T-shirt you sent me that reads: IT’S A METAPHOR. All traditions have beauty if you remember this. It’s like a dream where every character is an aspect of yourself. I love the practice of unplugging for 25 hours a week. Sounds like sanity. See ya when I get back.
I know. It's a metaphor, it's a metaphor, it's a metaphor. But is it, really? Ha. Just kidding. I know. But I didn't like the stories, and I didn't like the way women were regarded. Metaphors sometimes feel a little passive-aggressive to me. If you want me to understand something, don't give me a story to decode. Just tell me flat out what you want me to know. And if it's a metaphor, why did it become necessary for people practice their commitment to God by chopping off the foreskins of innocent babies. Why couldn't it be enough, to show your commitment by doing good works in the world? Why should the ritual sacrifice of a body part be necessary at all? I think it stinks. xo See you when you're back! xo