Men and Death
Ancient Intelligence Weekly: 4/17
Hey Everyone,
I discovered Leonard Shlain this week. He was an American surgeon, writer, and inventor known for his refusal to ‘stay in his lane.’ He blended science, history, anthropology, and art in his books. He was known for some big hypotheses about culture and while he was beloved by many, he was also criticized. His most common critique was that his ideas were fascinating, but poorly supported. He made sweeping generalizations with low to no evidence.
But I think the questions he asked were great conversation starters and worth continuing to explore. One such question is why did male Gods replace female Goddesses?
Shlain talks about how our species of human can be traced back 150,000 years and how for the first 110,000 years not much changed about our lives, but around 40,000 years ago we experienced a creative explosion. This was the first time humans began building burial sites and burying the dead, acting out rituals, and creating art and self-adornment. What happened?
He claims that the creative explosion began when humans discovered mortality - the abstract pervasive awareness that one day I will die (separate from how animals witness death in the moment). Drawing on the key sex difference in that males fear death more than females do, men started racking their brains on what to do about this newfound realization.
*Fun fact when you ask women to draw a metaphor for time, they typically draw a circle. When you ask men to do the same thing, they draw a line with an arrow. I imagine it is true that women are more in touch with seasons and cycles. A soul is literally brought down to earth to enter a human experience through the womb of a woman. It’s quite beautiful.
Due to this fear of death, Shlain claims that men decided that they can ‘stay alive’ by having an heir that would continue their legacy. This is their discovery of paternity. At the time of Goddess worship, sex was a much more free and open experience where paternity was not tracked.
So in order to track paternity and ensure lineage certainty, female sexuality needed to be controlled. He then claims that the entire basis for any religion was to come up with an afterlife story in order to sooth existential despair. So Goddesses and free love before paternity mattered, then Gods and controlled love after paternity mattered.
Always interesting to hear more animistic takes on things. I think the part about men being more preoccupied with death is true as well as women being more comfortable with change and seasonality.
On the Ancient Intelligence Pod This Week: A solo episode exploring the flirting and courtship rituals of some select ancient societies including the Vikings and Romans. Enjoy (Spotify). Watch the episode on YouTube here.
Have a great weekend,
-Anya