Fall
of goddess due to literacy
By Gina Ponce
On-line Forty-Niner
Goddesses,
once the sole recipients of worship, began
losing their powers to the gods with the
invention of literacy, according to an Odyssey
Project lecture Monday titled “The Alphabet
Versus the Goddess.”
Leonard Shlain, chairman of laparoscopic
surgery at the California Pacific Medical
Center in San Francisco and associate professor
of surgery at UC San Francisco, argued how
the human brain contributed to the loss
of power.
Shlain said he believes the invention of
literacy mugged the goddesses of their power
since reading and writing primarily uses
the masculine traits that are centralized
in the left hemisphere of the brain.
The left hemisphere of the brain, which
controls language, is linear and sequential,
processing things one at a time. Conversely,
the right side of the brain processes things
all at once.
“The alphabet transformed the world because
it’s so easy to learn,” Shlain said.
Schlein attributes the loss of literacy
to Rome’s collapse. The collapse created
a sensation of images, including the Virgin
Mary being produced, which Shlain said was
a re-emergence of the Earth goddess. According
to Shlain, the rise and fall of the goddess
counteracts with the rise and fall of the
alphabet.
He said he believes we are witnessing the
end of a patriarchal culture and women are
reclaiming the rights they once had.
“I think this movement will continue,” Shlain
said.
Rachel Albright, a theater arts major, attended
the meeting because one of her classes that
is part of the Odyssey project previously
hosted Shlain as a speaker.
“I’m fascinated,” she said about his presentation.
“I disagree with the fact that with ignorance
of reading comes the rise of women, though.
What I think he’s trying to say is that
we’re becoming more female oriented in relation
to more imagery in our society and less
written.”
Shlain said he thinks it is a mistake that
we are moving towards an emphasis on reading,
writing and math without a balance of art,
music and dance. He said this will turn
us into a warlike culture and we need to
understand that humans are currently undergoing
a profound change of metamorphosis.
Rachel Brophy, student programs coordinator
for the Office of Academic Projects, said
Shlain was chosen to speak because of his
expertise in his field and because his lecture
would bring a lot to the program.
She said his lecture contained religious
and theological aspects which are parts
of the world we live in, and it relates
to the Odyssey Project because it focuses
on every part of the world.
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