The Slight of Aphrodite.
With love betrayed, all reason to stay
And substance for existence gone.
Now…; falling, falling away..
Without sound nor purpose,
To lay like Autumn leaves forlorn,
On the forest floor…
With our eyes turned
From salvation’s door,
Do we strike out alone, down barren roads?
Under the stern disdain
Of the slight of Aphrodite.
They stole the mythology of the Garden of Eden story..those Abrahamic religions..it wasn’t “God “ who was betrayed and then exiled Adam and Eve from the garden, it was Aphrodite…for she had given those two souls the primary gift of mutual affection and even more..; the gift of love..a sensuality denied to even the gods themselves..for it was their hunger that created the mythology..just to dwell on an ideal of mutual co-existence in an aura of sensual emotion..THAT was the heaven promised…and it was more than enough..But then not enough for the flaw in the human condition that desired an evil dominant even over love..: Power.
It was that perverse hunger that lost us our “Garden of Eden”. For what is the point of wanting power?…like trying to grasp a fist-full of water..it never holds or lasts long , too soon to be lost or taken from ones grasp by another soul greedy for power..Show us a history where example demonstrates any permanence of control. There is none..just some sad lineal descendants of some sad dynastic tyranny of idiots and fools.
And among all the dozens and dozens of varieties of sects and religions engraved on stick and stone, the creation mythology has to be the one universal construct involving man, woman, love and betrayal…sounds all too, too human.
Given that it must be admitted, if we are to admit truth into the discussion, all “Gods” are just an extension of human want and desire to relinquish the burden of responsibility to another without conscience or ethical culpability. And if we now admit that these current Abrahamic “Gods” have not the power even to save the life of one helpless child from drowning..not ONE..then what power do they have? ..Nought but a child’s dream.
We might as well revert to the worship of the Pagan Gods..We have to get back to that original “Garden”. At least those Pagan Gods had a fragility of personality similar to humanity..we were almost back there once.
Those ancient Greeks and Romans had the right idea about gods..you place them in situations where they will best serve the needs of humanity..The Greeks had many gods, but in the depths of their souls, they did but truly revere one only..”Tyche” ..; the god of fate / fortune / luck….and Nemesis was not far behind!
In Rome, Julius Caesar, when warned by the Auger that the gods did not favour his war on the Senate, he replied the : “The gods will make the augers favourable when I require them to”.
From Edward Gibbon : “Decline and fall…”
“The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.
The superstition of the people was not embittered by any mixture of theological rancour; nor was it confined by the chains of any speculative system. The devout polytheist, though fondly attached to his national rites, admitted with implicit faith the different religions of the earth. Fear, gratitude, and curiosity, a dream or an omen, a singular disorder, or a distant journey, perpetually disposed him to multiply the articles of his belief, and to enlarge the list of his protectors. The thin texture of the Pagan mythology was interwoven with various but not discordant materials.”
And again from Gibbon:
“The new converts seemed to renounce their family and country, that they might connect themselves in an indissoluble band of union with a peculiar society, which everywhere assumed a different character from the rest of mankind. Their gloomy and austere aspect, their abhorrence of the common business and pleasures of life, and their frequent predictions of impending calamities, inspired the Pagans with the apprehension of some danger which would arise from the new sect, the more alarming as it was the more obscure.”
” Whatever,” says Pliny, “may be the principle of their conduct, their inflexible obstinacy appeared deserving of punishment.”
Time to reflect on the usefulness of such aggressive and violent doctrines and consider if we need to step back from the brink of intolerance and conflict to pursue a more universal sedentary religious activity complimentary to our indulgent natures. Certainly the capitalist, wealth-gathering activities of the various Abrahamic sects give bad example to the ordinary citizen who struggles with just their weekly family needs..to see the grasping opportunism of those responsible for delivering moral and ethical nuance to our culture has to be noted as how NOT to be charitable and giving…let alone “loving”!
Anyway…I quite like the idea of having a motley collection of gods and deities handy for when you go to the footy or whatever and you can call on one of many depending on the outrage against the umpire god, the left forward flank god or that noisy opposition fan two rows away from you…; May the god of the sacred “ ‘Pies” turn their hollyhocks into emus and kick their dunny-door down!…or something like that.Perhaps like our plebeian ancestors, we have to simply “walk away “ from religion and it’s constant companion: capitalism, forever.
Here’s an oldie but goldie from those more indulgent, sensuous days..:
freef'all852 