How Did We Get Here?
I’ve often wondered how and when we arrived at this place in history in relation to our world. Caveat: I make a HUGE distinction between Religion and Spirituality. I do not believe in or belong to any organised religion. I am familiar (on a purely intellectual level; call it morbid curiosity), with the Big Three; however I have no first hand knowledge of Buddhism or Hinduism or Shinto (though from my limited understanding, Shinto is closer to Animistic spirituality - with which I am deeply acquainted - than an organised religion) or any of the other ‘isms’. I can see that the big three (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) do teach the belief that humans are separate and apart from Nature. That in fact mankind has ‘dominion’ over the Earth and all of her creatures. Judaism teaches that it is the duty of mankind to ‘care’ for the Earth, when in fact she needs no care and is much better off without our interference. That Islam teaches that man should be ‘guardians’ or ‘khalifah’ of the Earth, (she in fact needs guardians FROM man); and that Christianity teaches that God made man in his own image, and that man was given dominion over every living thing on the Earth. I can’t help but consider if this teaching is at the bottom of our current predicament.
*We are currently living on what was once an incredibly beautiful, rich and diverse orb, which is now on a climate tipping point. Many of us believe that we have passed that point.
*We know that the U.S. military is one of, if not THE largest polluter on this orb. CO2 Emissions Military and Climate Change
*We create a ridiculous amount of single use plastic, which is harming not only humans, but the innocent creatures we are supposed to have dominion over. You do know how much water goes into making ONE single use plastic water bottle? Your bottle of water How much oil? Oil for your bottle
*We accept whatever it is that they are spraying into the atmosphere, and do not question or demand explanations for this; to the point where the few of us who DO question, are in fact called insane. Cloud Seeding
*We increasingly overbuild. Instead of renovating older (and usually better built homes), we cut down wooded areas to build McMansions. Then we wonder why and get upset when those creatures whose homes were destroyed, come to visit backyards, trash bins, etc., looking for food that was readily available to them in their previously natural habitat. New homes and wildlife
*We destroy forests in fragile and necessary places because the trees supply Palm Oil which makes our confections and condiments cheaper to produce. Deforestation
*We decide that huge populations of animals must be culled because they are eating our gardens, without taking into consideration that Nature had provided all the ‘balance’ necessary, and that culling is only necessary because of human intervention in their life/hunting/predatory cycles. Culling
*We accept the idea of the necessity for robotic pollination, because we accept the removal and destruction of natural pollinators and the plants needed for their procreation and survival. Robotic Bees
*We treat this planet as if it were a toilet bowl.
Are we past the tipping point? I would have to concur with those who think we are. The effects of Climate Change are palpable everywhere. Even in the great and powerful Western world where we are witnessing extreme weather patterns; but they are especially profound in places like Africa, India, the Philippines, the Himalayas, the polar regions the Great Barrier Reef. We are feeling the effects of extreme heat and cooling in Europe and USA. Droughts and floods; the dueling twins of the apocalypse are visiting us all. Yet strangely, at a time when we should ALL be on board with efforts to halt the decline; the push for oil and gas continues. To the point where all it takes for people to pay attention to yet another ridiculous war, is for gas prices to rise. Cars continue to get bigger. Every new home on a lot where every tree was cut down to build the owners dream house, will require central air and heating because the trees that provided shade in the summer and a windbreak in the winter, are now gone.
Knowing that we are creating an environmental nightmare doesn’t stop people from purchasing products made with palm oil. After all, yes, sorry for the Orangutans, the other animals AND the human communities who have lived in harmony with that environment, who are now displaced; but little Billy simply will NOT eat his breakfast unless it is smothered with Nutella! The Joneses would not be able to function without their two SUV’s in the two car garage; even though they are working from home offices and getting their food via delivery services and every other thing they need or want can be brought to them with guaranteed next day delivery by Amazon. As long as the economic control of oil and gas is maintained; that is the important thing. Even if it is directly connected to the deaths of around 330,000 Yemen people, who never did anything to the Joneses.
Then we have the magnificent U.S. military. They, who make sure that the world is safe for democracy. They accomplish this by creating Superfund sites at their military bases both in the USA and abroad; in countries which are already fragile (in most cases MADE fragile by military actions in those countries). They, who emit more CO2 emissions than most other entire countries.
Then we have the geniuses of science who instead of creating other ways to package our faux food; are coming up with machines which will vacuum the oceans of plastic (though we still don’t know what they will do with it as recycling is kind of a joke). Suck it up and Store it - The Recycling Lie This is a cosmetic ploy to make sure that we don’t have to see photos of sea turtles strangled to death by the plastic rings found on a six pack of beer; or look as we discover that whales and dolphins are dying with stomachs full of plastic supermarket bags, eaten because to them, the bags look like Jellyfish. So yes, sweep the ocean of plastic. Great photo op. Yet, with that psy-op in place, we can continue to make plastic.
We ‘dominant’ humans have taken it upon ourselves to breed cats and dogs to create the perfect companions and work animals. To make them more attractive, or to shed less fur. To fit into ladies handbags or to be prone to viciousness. To fight each other for our amusement and for sport. To die when they do not perform up to our expectations. To be conveniently disposed of when the puppy the children fell in love with, grows too big; when the souvenir baby alligator bought for the kids while vacationing in Florida, can no longer be contained; or when the cute little bunnies or chicks that came as an Easter gift, are no longer amusing.
Speaking of baby animals and therefore about the nature of sex and procreation; let’s take this conversation a step further. Let’s take a look at human gender and sexuality.
I think we are all well aware that homosexuals and transsexuals have been with us for as long as humans have walked this Earth. The fact that societies grounded in religious dogma, have had difficulty dealing with that reality is shameful. In many ‘tribal’ communities, this was NOT any issue at all. Sometimes in many tribes the shaman, the priest, the wise woman, the law-giver, the healer, etc., was NOT a heterosexual. Their place and position in the group was normal. They were not stigmatised, segregated or removed or shamed in any way. Hell, even many of the great Greek philosophers were gay or wrote about the exploration of same sex eroticism - see Plato or Sappho! Many First Nations of the Americas tribes were quite content to include ‘two-spirit’ people amongst their communities. Indigenous Genders True African culture celebrates diversity in all of it’s forms, and on that score, I can attest that homophobia and transphobia are distinctly European imports, brought to us via the Big R = Religion. Pre-colonial gender in Africa In fact finally in June of 2020, Botswana finally overturned it’s colonial era laws which made homosexuality and transsexuality illegal.
My point here, is to show again how that word ‘dominion’ is relevant. Mind, these holy books only speak of men. They were not written with the idea of ‘mankind’ (which would include women) in mind. Women are written about in these holy books as an adjunct. The instrument necessary for procreation. We are told that we should be silent in houses of worship, obedient to fathers, brothers and husbands; and to fulfill our purpose, which is to make babies.
Let’s take this a step further. Today we are dealing with the issue of trans-women. I focus on this for the simple reason that trans-men are NO THREAT to the status quo. They cannot impregnate a woman. No matter how many hormones they ingest, they will never be bigger or stronger than the average man. If they truly identify as male, it matters not to the powers that be, unless in that transformation they also acquire or are able to express misogyny which at the voting polls will only help the political aim of the perceived dominance of men. So let’s talk about the part of this element which DOES matter to everyone.
As a woman born woman, trans-women are no threat to me and I think they have as much right to exist and live their lives in the sunshine as anyone and everyone else. What I do have a problem with is the push to force me, as a biological female; to accept and change my mode of thinking and speaking, to pretty much push forward a lie. A trans woman is a man. A man who maybe has ingested hormones to grow breasts and lose body hair; sometimes going so far as to have his member removed. A man who may in fact rock a pair of stilettos better than I ever could. He is still a man. There is no psy-op, no political brainwashing or shaming, no way I will ever say that a man is a woman.
*We are living in an age where men can have this epiphany of gender realisation while they are in prison for murdering and dismembering his girlfriend - Epiphany or BS
*Where a man can be convicted of committing rape, and then be transferred to a women’s prison post sex-change. Rapist in Women's Prison
*Where trans women commit rape against biological women inside women’s shelters and prisons. This info is readily available on a basic internet search.
I’ve had lesbian friends relate to me that they are sometimes approached by trans women wanting to date them. When they explain that they are biological women and are interested in dating other biological women; they are often attacked either physically or verbally or both. Lesbians pressured into sex with Trans women
Moving on. In the Netherlands, scientists say that they are 10 years away from developing an artificial womb for humans. Ostensibly to save premature babies, but we know how these things turn out. Artificial Womb for humans After all, the inventor of Zyklon B, created a PESTICIDE. It was used commonly world wide. It was even used as a household disinfectant. It became a weapon of mass destruction for the first time, at Auschwitz, because dominion demanded a weapon and Zyklon B was at the ready - It wasn't meant to be a weapon
When an agenda becomes big and important enough, those pushing that agenda will use any tool available to them. In the realm of the dominance of man over every other living thing on this Earth, the artificial womb is the perfect next step. This need to control and manipulate the natural world is a psychological illness. Men have sought to control: Weather. Spirituality. Procreation. Food supply, The way we think and feel using psychological and economical manipulation of the populace to unwittingly support their practices of war and destruction. With the possibility that Roe v. Wade will be overturned; we return to a time when a Zygote has more human rights than the woman who will carry it for the better part of a year, and will probably raise it mostly alone until he/she is grown up and able to leave the nest. Even if she already has too many children; or she is ill; or carrying a child might kill her; or the child is a product of rape; or of incest; or if we know that the child will be developmentally damaged in ways which will effect the quality of life of that child.
Understand this. I am a woman. I like men. I find them funny, sometimes physically attractive, talented, smart and intellectually curious, artistic, and a few times worthy of my love and trust. This essay is not a blanket condemnation of men, and certainly not meant to be a generalisation of the entire sex. I am directly pointing the finger at the male basis of organised religion and it’s resultant effects on our societies, cultures, laws and indeed the very future of life on this orb.
I refuse to use assigned pronouns to further clarify what I am at birth and how I identify as an adult. I will not use words like ‘cis’ or ‘identify as heterosexual’. Nor will I ever change my use of pronouns to make my lips speak the lie that a biological male, is a female. There is also no amount of peer or social pressure that will make me believe that a trans woman is a biological woman. WOMEN have biological functions that trans women do not. For centuries, these functions were the cause of shame and in some RELIGIONS were the basis for the accusation of the woman being ‘unclean’ necessitating the separation from the rest of society during the period of her uncleanliness. We band-aided our nipples because if they showed at school in a chilly classroom, the ‘boys’ would point and giggle. We were careful not to emit any odours during ‘that time of the month’. We had to fight to create women’s sport leagues, colleges, groups and clubs where we could gather and talk and play and learn. Now we are expected to just open the door and share what we battled for, with men. To have to share shelter space, where women who are already damaged due to homelessness or domestic violence or unemployment or being forced to have children that they are not able to care for; are looking for a modicum of short lived safe space. To share prison space where a man who rapes and murders women, can suddenly ‘identify’ as a woman, and be housed in a huge house of women, and basically have his rape condoned because everybody knows that rape is common in prison so it’s no big deal?
How did we get here? I am convinced that the root of this belief, this feeling that humans (read men) are the centre of the world and masters of the Universe, comes from the teachings of the big three organised religions, which are inherently anti-female and create a world that is completely out of balance.
I maintain that this is the result of men believing that ‘god’ (a creation I believe is ALSO man made), has given them the power and the right to dictate how we ALL should live. To give certain rights to themselves while denying them to everyone and every other living thing on this orb. To take what is wanted at any cost. To destroy ecosystems, pollute waters, needlessly kill animals for sport, to enslave or decimate ‘lower’ populations using the reasoning that they are not really human or maybe just 3/5 human. To ignore the living deity that IS this orb; which benevolently gives us everything we need for survival and shelter and sustenance; and the natural beauty to fire our imaginations to create art, literature, music and love.
This ‘dominion’ belief is destructive. In order to have dominion over any creature, is a violent act. Any human, animal or plant, WILL fight for its survival. To insist on having dominion is to provoke a fight or a war. This is the nature of Nature. This is what makes me believe that the ‘god’ who told men that they have dominion MUST be a fiction OF men. No god in his right mind would tell one of ‘his’ creations that he had the right to destroy all of his other creations, yet that is what is happening. Any true god would KNOW that this horror would be the outcome, otherwise he is no god; only a man with no foresight or sensitivity, but with a great lust for power.
So we march obediently down the path, as we watch our beautiful orb being destroyed.
*Pollution and ecological disasters await us.
*The erasure of women via the attempted forced acceptance of trans women AS biological women.
*The creation of artificial wombs. Note, these have been created previously but for use with animals, because… we’ve screwed up THEIR natural cycles and life situations so that they too must become science experiments.
*Perpetual war, because dominion is a never ending process. Having enslaved, exploited and destroyed most of the ‘other’ humans on the planet, we must further the process by ruining the environments of those who remain, by taking their natural resources and in the process poisoning their worlds.
*Force feeding some populations food that’s not really food, but it is filling enough to substitute for food, while in the process killing off the pollinators responsible for creating the real food.
*Over-building to create homes that are worthy of our conquering heroes and displacing wildlife, then blaming that wildlife for trying to get a meal.
Is man a suicidal creature? Is the denial of the feminine killing us all? Why are we turning ourselves inside out to justify what is apparently our tacit agreement and acceptance of the concept of god given dominion?
If there are any organic cherries left, grind the pits and put them in a hot drink. A quick suicide is easier than watching us slowly kill ourselves because of some god dude.