Cassiopaea Forum Reading Workshops - Public

(CRW Am-EU) What temporary schedule is best for you?

  • Sunday 17:00-19:00 UTC (18:00-20:00 French time)

    Votes: 34 66.7%

  • Saturdays 17:00-19:00 UTC (18:00-20:00 French time)

    Votes: 17 33.3%
  • Total voters
    51
Hi everyone,

Here are the links for the recent Aus-Asia-Am group discussions on Laura's Substack article:
The Quest for Truth: The Tangled Web of Epistemology

Here's the video of the last meeting
The audio
And the folder

We will read this Substack article by Laura for our next workshop at 7pm Sydney ADEST time (GMT+11).

See you all then!

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Below are the links for the workshop discussion points:

Origin of the word 'hysterical', which comes from the Greek word 'hystera' meaning uterus or womb:
Google said:
Hysteria originates from the Greek word hystera, meaning "uterus" or "womb". Rooted in ancient Greek medicine and earlier Egyptian beliefs (circa 1900 BCE), it was defined as a "wandering womb"—a physical ailment where the uterus moved throughout the body, causing erratic behavior and physical symptoms.

Key Historical & Linguistic Aspects:
  • Wandering Womb Theory: Ancient physicians (e.g., Hippocrates) believed the uterus was a living creature that could travel through the body, causing various ailments, which led to the term hysterikos ("suffering in the womb").
  • Treatment:Early treatments for this "wandering" involved strong-smelling substances applied to the vulva to entice the uterus back into place, or marrying and becoming pregnant'
  • Evolution of Meaning: The term shifted from a physical, gynecological diagnosis to a psychological one, often used to describe emotional or irrational behavior, particularly in women.
  • Removal from Medical Lexicon: The term was used to label women as "hysterical" or "erratic" for centuries until it was finally removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980.
The word reflects a long history of medicalizing women's behaviors and attributing their distress to a malfunctioning reproductive organ.
Click to expand...

Hysterectomy and the origins of it as a form of treatment for hysteria
Google said:
Does the word "hysterical" come from hysterectomy?

Because the uterus was blamed for hysteria, the treatment was to remove it. This procedure was called a hysterectomy. Sadly, many women had their healthy uterus unnecessarily removed and most died. The word “hysteria” did originally came from the ancient Greek word for uterus, “hystera”.
Click to expand...


Cs Session 28 March 2010 on raising children and the womb:
Q: (L) Okay, this next question is weird. It's written in a really weird way. “Is co-sleeping recommended?”

A: In some cases for limited periods. Keep in mind that if you lay down the pattern early in a secure and loving way, the child is not overly traumatized when faced with reality. If the child is born and then lives in an external "womb", he has not really been born now has he?

Q: (L) Next question: What are the negative consequences of co-sleeping?

A: That should be obvious from the previous responses.

Q: (L) But certainly co-sleeping on occasion, like if the child is upset or sick, is okay?

A: Of course!!! [...]
(L) Next question is: Is it really the case that "all is sealed" (our view of the Universe), so to speak, during the first weeks, months, or years of life?

A: More or less. Recall the discussion on imprinting. The infant needs to know that the universe is a place of creativity and abundance. That impression is formed in the first six months. For six months, the parent must respond instantly, or even anticipate the infant's needs; even the need for not being alone.
Click to expand...

John Money and his role in Gender transition and gender ideology

Candace Owens on John Money and his abusing children involved in his gender studies:

Using AI to map the Greek philosophers to McGilchrist's hemisphere theory (take this with a grain of salt):
ChatGPT} In McGilchrist’s framework: [LIST said:
[*]Right hemisphere (RH): holistic, contextual, embodied, tolerant of ambiguity, open to experience, attentive to lived reality and relationship.
[*]Left hemisphere (LH): analytic, abstracting, categorizing, decontextualizing, focused on certainty, system-building, explicit logic and manipulation of representations.
[/LIST]
McGilchrist repeatedly argues that Western intellectual history shows a progressive shift toward LH dominance, especially in modern analytic philosophy and scientism. Below is a comparative classification of the philosophers in your excerpt, based on how their epistemology aligns with McGilchrist’s hemispheric tendencies. This is interpretive rather than absolute (McGilchrist stresses that both hemispheres are always involved).

1. Pre-Socratic Foundations​

Heraclitus​

  • Emphasized flux, becoming, paradox, and unity of opposites.
  • RH resonance: reality is dynamic, relational, and processual, resisting fixed conceptual capture.
  • McGilchrist often treats such perspectives as closer to lived experience than abstract metaphysical systems.

Parmenides​

  • Argued reason overrides sensory experience; reality is unchanging and logically necessary.
  • Represents the LH impulse toward logical certainty and abstract metaphysical deduction.

2. Classical Greek Philosophy​

Socrates​

  • Dialogical method, awareness of ignorance.
  • RH elements: humility toward knowledge, relational inquiry, embodied conversation.
  • LH elements: logical questioning.

Plato​

  • Eternal Forms accessible through pure reason.
  • Distrust of sensory world (Allegory of the Cave).
  • McGilchrist often identifies Platonism as an early shift toward abstraction over lived reality.

Aristotle​

  • Empirical observation + logical classification.
  • RH: engagement with natural phenomena and embodied observation.
  • LH: systematic categorization and logic.
  • McGilchrist often treats Aristotle as less abstractly dualistic than Plato.

3. Ancient Skepticism​

Pyrrho​

Sextus Empiricus​

  • Suspension of judgment (epoché).
  • Acceptance of uncertainty and perspectival limits.
  • RH aligns with epistemic humility and tolerance of ambiguity.

4. Late Antiquity and Medieval Thought​

Augustine of Hippo​

  • Emphasized inner experience and illumination.
  • RH: inwardness, experiential faith.
  • LH: theological system building.

Al-Farabi​

  • Strong Aristotelian rational system.

Avicenna​

  • Highly structured metaphysical rationalism.

Averroes​

  • Rational demonstration as highest knowledge.

Thomas Aquinas​

  • Empirical experience + theological reasoning.
  • McGilchrist sometimes views medieval synthesis as less reductively analytic than modernity.

William of Ockham​

  • Nominalism and reduction of universals.
  • Conceptual economy (“Ockham’s razor”).
  • Moves philosophy toward analytic reductionism.

5. Early Modern Epistemology​

René Descartes​

  • Radical doubt + certainty via abstract reason.
  • Mind–body dualism.
  • McGilchrist often treats Cartesianism as a defining LH turn in Western thought.

John Locke​

  • Empiricism but still analytical and mechanistic model of mind.

David Hume​

  • LH: analytic skepticism.
  • RH: recognition that reason cannot ground lived reality (habit, experience).

Immanuel Kant​

  • Mind structures reality via categories.
  • RH insight: knowledge involves interaction between mind and world.
  • LH tendency: rigid conceptual architecture.

6. German Idealism​

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel​

  • Historical and dynamic view of knowledge.
  • Dialectical unfolding of consciousness.
  • RH: process, development, relational totality.

7. 19th-Century Empiricism and Pragmatism​

John Stuart Mill​

  • Inductive logic and scientific method.

Charles Sanders Peirce​

  • Fallibilism and inquiry as communal process.

William James​

  • Truth as lived and experiential.
  • Radical empiricism emphasizes direct experience and pluralism.

8. Analytic Philosophy​

Bertrand Russell​

  • Logical atomism, analytic clarity.

G. E. Moore​

  • Conceptual analysis.

Ludwig Wittgenstein​

  • Early work: logical structure of language (LH).
  • Later work: meaning in forms of life and context (RH).

9. Logical Positivism and Philosophy of Science​

Moritz Schlick​

Rudolf Carnap​

  • Verificationism and elimination of metaphysics.
  • Language reduced to logical structure.

Karl Popper​

  • Logical structure of scientific method (falsifiability).
  • But recognizes open-ended inquiry, which adds some RH elements.

10. Contemporary Epistemology​

Edmund Gettier​

  • Analytical thought experiments targeting definitions.

Timothy Williamson​

  • Highly formal analytic epistemology.

11. Post-Structural and Social Epistemology​

Michel Foucault​

  • Knowledge embedded in power relations and historical context.

Thomas Kuhn​

  • Paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions emphasize historical and social context.

Sandra Harding​

  • Knowledge situated in social position.

12. Overall Pattern (McGilchrist’s Interpretation)​

Right-hemisphere traditions
  • Heraclitus
  • Socrates
  • Pyrrho / Sextus Empiricus
  • Augustine (partly)
  • Hegel
  • William James
  • Peirce (partly)
  • Kuhn
  • Foucault
  • Harding
Balanced traditions
  • Aristotle
  • Aquinas
  • Hume
  • Kant
  • Peirce
Left-hemisphere dominant traditions
  • Parmenides
  • Plato
  • Avicenna / Averroes
  • Ockham
  • Descartes
  • Locke
  • Mill
  • Russell / Moore
  • Vienna Circle
  • Popper (methodological)
  • Gettier / Williamson
  • most modern analytic epistemology
Key McGilchrist insight

Western philosophy progressively shifted from RH-balanced perspectives toward LH abstraction, culminating in:
  • analytic philosophy
  • logical positivism
  • technocratic epistemology
This mirrors his broader thesis that modern culture increasingly privileges the left hemisphere’s model of reality over the right hemisphere’s richer experiential understanding.
Click to expand...
ChatGPT said:

Key Pattern McGilchrist Argues​

According to Iain McGilchrist:
  1. Early philosophy balanced lived experience and reason.
  2. Platonism and rationalism strengthened abstract thinking.
  3. Descartes triggered a major epistemological shift toward disembodied certainty.
  4. Analytic philosophy and logical positivism represent the peak of left-hemisphere abstraction, focusing on:
    • formal logic
    • linguistic analysis
    • reduction of meaning to verifiability
Meanwhile, countercurrents (James, Kuhn, phenomenology, hermeneutics, etc.) periodically restore right-hemisphere awareness of context, history, and lived experience.
One of McGilchrist’s most important observations:
The hemispheres are not about intelligence but about style of attention.
Philosophical traditions reflect different ways of attending to reality:
  • RH → reality encountered
  • LH → reality represented
Modern epistemology increasingly studies representations rather than the world itself.
Click to expand...

Two different words for knowledge in other languages such as German and Spanish for example;
Chat GPT said:
Iain McGilchrist argues that different European languages encode two fundamentally different senses of “knowledge.” He connects this linguistic distinction to his broader thesis about the different styles of attention of the brain’s hemispheres, especially in his book The Master and His Emissary.

Below is the core idea, focusing on German and Spanish.

1. Two kinds of knowing​

McGilchrist emphasizes that English often collapses multiple meanings into the single word “knowledge.”
But some languages keep them distinct, revealing two different cognitive attitudes toward the world:
  1. Propositional / factual knowledge
    • Knowledge about something
    • Abstract, explicit, conceptual
    • Often expressible in statements
  2. Experiential / participatory knowledge
    • Knowledge through familiarity or experience
    • Practical, embodied, relational
    • Often gained through living or doing
He links these roughly to different attentional styles:
  • The left hemisphere tends toward explicit, conceptual knowledge.
  • The right hemisphere tends toward lived, contextual understanding.

German distinctions​

German separates these meanings very clearly.

1. Wissen - Means factual or propositional knowledge​

  • Knowing that something is true. Examples:
    Ich weiß, dass Paris in Frankreich liegt. (“I know that Paris is in France.”)
    Characteristics: Information, Facts, Learnable from books or instruction

2. Kennen- Means knowing through acquaintance or familiarity​

  • Knowing a person, place, or practice. Examples: Ich kenne Maria. (“I know Maria.”)// Ich kenne diese Stadt gut. (“I know this city well.”)
Characteristics: Relationship or familiarity, Direct experience, Not reducible to facts

Why McGilchrist finds this important​

For him, the distinction shows that knowledge is not purely informational.
Example:
  • You can wissen about a city (population, history).
  • But you only kennen it after living there.
He argues modern culture often overvalues Wissen while neglecting Kennen, mirroring an overemphasis on analytic abstraction.

Spanish distinctions​

Spanish also preserves a similar split.

1. Saber- Used for facts, skills, knowing how or knowing that​

Examples:
  • Sé que viene mañana.
    (“I know that he comes tomorrow.”)
  • Sé nadar.
    (“I know how to swim.”)
It includes both propositional knowledge and learned skills.

2. Conocer- Used for Familiarity with people, places, or things, direct encounter​

Examples:
  • Conozco a María.
    (“I know María.”)
  • Conozco Madrid.
    (“I know Madrid.”)
Like German kennen, it implies lived acquaintance.

McGilchrist’s broader philosophical point​

He uses these linguistic examples to illustrate a deeper claim:

The modern West treats knowledge mainly as information.​

But historically and cross-culturally, knowledge also includes:
  • familiarity
  • participation
  • embodied experience
  • relationship
Languages like German and Spanish preserve this distinction structurally, whereas English tends to blur it.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you all for another great discussion and for your participation! 😊

Today we´ve covered chapters 8, 9 and 10 of the book The Tao of Love And Sex by Jolan Chang.

We´ll continue next Sunday, 22th Mar 2026, and will finish the book.

Have a nice week and see you next Sunday!


The presentation to what was discussed today:


Summary:

Chapter 8 - The Conquest of Impotence

Impotence (or Erectile Dysfunction or ED) official data:
  • estimated 152 million men worldwide affected in 1995, rising to 322 million by 2025
  • causes: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes (~66% of diabetic men affected), obesity, high cholesterol, smoking, and neurological issues, age (strongest predictor), depression/anxiety, medications, alcohol/tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, prostate conditions, and hormonal imbalances.
  • drugs market (primarily PDE5 inhibitors like sildenafil/Viagra, and tadalafil/Cialis):
    • Valued at ~USD 2.9-3.9 billion in 2024 (estimates vary slightly by source); projected to grow to USD 4.9-9.3 billion by 2030-2034
    • North America (US/Canada) holds the largest share (~41% in some reports), followed by Europe; Asia growing rapidly
    • This excludes devices (e.g., vacuum pumps, penile implants, shockwave therapy systems, constriction rings etc - valued to ~$2B+ market), surgeries, counseling, or indirect costs (lost productivity, comorbidities).
Chang frames the impotence as largely conquerable, not inevitable, and often rooted in psychological factors rather than purely physical ones.
All scientific evidence to the contrary, most men refuse to believe that temporary impotence is a natural and widespread occurrence.
The chapter continues on prior discussions of ejaculation control and stamina, viewing impotence as a barrier to harmonious, prolonged Yin-Yang union, and it can be overcome with patience, technique, and mindset shifts.

Chapter 9 - Longevity and The Tao of Loving

All the ancient texts emphasize that practising the Tao of Loving is the single most important factor in prolonging a man´s life.
If one can make love and knows how to control and regulate one's emissions, one can benefit greatly - this is called the return of the ching and this return of ching is beneficial to man's health.
When a couple practise the Tao of Loving correctly the male will remain healthy and youthful and the female will avoid a hundred diseases. But if they do not know how to practise it correctly then love-making can be harmful to their health.

The "Longevity" industry - or in other words, an anti-aging biotech sector - today includes biotech therapies, supplements, wellness services, diagnostics, AI-driven tools, and broader age-tech/preventive healthcare. Official data:
  • ~$23–31 billion industry in 2026 and growing at 6–11%.
  • Anti-senescence and longevity therapy is worth around $30 billion.
  • Longevity Market in Therapy, Wellness, and Preventive - ~$740 billion USD industry; estimates place "longevity therapy" near $800 billion in the mid-2020s, projecting strong growth to $1.8+ trillion by 2034.

Chapter 10 - May-September Relationships

The author of the book is probably clouded by his preferences, and not familiar in trauma psychology and predators.
Importance of dealing with our own issues that cloud our choice in partners.


Chat:
RedFox shared: Lactobacillus reuteri: Key to youthfulness? - Dr. William Davis
Increased blood testosterone levels in males dramatically (by up to 800% over the negligible levels seen in aged mice), as well as increasing testicular size and Leydig cell volume. (Leydig cells produce testosterone.) A reduction of Leydig cells and testicular size, along with a reduction in testosterone, are among the changes that occur in aging human males, effects associated with reduced libido, sexual interest/performance, increased visceral fat accumulation/weight gain, decreased muscle and bone density, and cognitive impairment.

Caused thicker, more luxuriant fur to develop in aged mice that was associated with increased sebum production, increased number of sebocytes that produce sebum, and (markedly) increased dermal thickness. Thicker hair and smoother skin, of course, are hallmarks of youth. Incredibly, these changes began as early as one week after probiotic supplementation, likely due to the increased sebum and sebocyte density.

Was associated with anti-inflammatory effects (increased levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 and decreased interleukin-17) that may account for the increase in testicular volume (since hypogonadism or testicular atrophy can result, in part, from inflammation) and normalizes intestinal immune responses.

Was associated with marked acceleration of wound healing. (Note how quickly children recover from an injury compared to older adults.)
Was associated with slenderness, in comparison to overweight/obese unsupplemented mice.
Was associated with greater physical activity and increased muscle mass.
(Notably, the L. reuteri strain ATCC PTA 6475 was used.)
Click to expand...
Dr. William Davis's "L. reuteri" super yogurt is designed to boost oxytocin—the "love hormone"—by providing high counts (hundreds of billions) of Lactobacillus reuteri bacteria.
 
Hi everyone,

Here are the links for the recent Aus-Asia-Am group discussions on Laura's Substack article:
Religions as Soul Traps: Why Charlie Kirk's Assassination is Driving Us Straight into the Hyperdimensional Corral


Here's the video of the last meeting
The audio
And the folder

We will read this Substack article by Laura for our next workshop at 7pm Sydney ADEST time (GMT+11).

See you all then!

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Below are the links for the workshop discussion points:

Excerpts from the Foreword of From Paul to Mark from our Reading workshop slideshow:
Humanity interfaces with reality through religion. Gerd Theissen writes about how “religion is a cultural sign language which promises a gain in life by corresponding to an ultimate reality.”

“But often religions promise something more sublime in addition: a life in truth and love, a gain of identity in the crises and changes of life- even the promise of eternal life. Cognitively, religions have always offered a comprehensive interpretation of the world: they assign human beings their place in the universe of things..” ~Theissen.

Theissen notes that a religious sign system consists of:
1) Myths that explain in narrative form what fundamentally determines the world and life;
2) Rites, which people perform to depict the other reality indicated in myths; and
3) Ethics, where behavior acquires a symbolic meaning by being related to the reality described in the myths.

Believing the myths, performing the rites that bring one into contact with the ultimate reality, and conforming one’s behavior to the demands of that reality constitute religion.

Of utmost importance is the implication that knowing or inferring something about ultimate reality can help an individual to live a better life, in harmony with the way things actually are.

Christianity most certainly promised this ‘gain in life’ at its inception. But what was once seen to be a path to a better life has changed into a way of life that seems delusional. Today, scientific materialism reigns supreme. Secular humanist atheism and its totally materialist view of reality is at war with the idea that consciousness is something real and that nonmaterial realities exist. Even religious groups haven’t escaped the effects.

While scientific materialism is a modern phenomenon, the seeds of this conflict of worldviews were present even at the origins of Christianity. Very early in Christianity’s history, Christians began to misunderstand its original message and distort it. The main reason for the distortion of that message was the very thing that the message was intended to defeat: an earthly, ‘materialistic’ interpretation of the gospel.

The Roman Empire is very similar to our present civilization. The Romans were certainly rational and scientific in many respects. Our technological progress has no moral compass, and our scientific worldview is founded on irrational ideas like Darwinism.

The Apostle Paul, living in the Roman Empire described above, indeed had visions of other realities. Our reality is only one of many, and it is embedded in, or extruded from, a higher and different reality where consciousness and information play the guiding roles. And even that higher reality is only part of a cosmic informational structure that bears some anecdotal resemblance to scenes and experiences described throughout the ages by mystics and seers.
The Apostle Paul was a mystic and seer, and he was the true bringer of the gospel of Christ, as Laura will argue in this book.

However, what we know of this gospel today is distorted and hidden by two thousand years of materialism, the very thing that Paul’s gospel was intended to refute. (p xv-xix)
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Session 23 November 2024 regarding gross abridging of Free Will would degauss 4D STS:
(Alejo) Does that mean that the resistance they were after was somewhat already accomplished?

(L) The resistance, who was after? 'They' who?

(Joe) The resistance that the quorum wanted. In the last session, they said that there was going to be a program change and that it turned out it was going to be the assassination of Trump and that program change needed to happen. This needed to happen because there wasn't enough resistance from the people to achieve balance.

(L) In other words, did it galvanize people?

A: Close.

Q: (Joe) So can resistance mean...

(L) Like resistance to a disease?

(Joe) Well, yeah, in a certain sense. We think of resistance as people on the streets shouting, "Down with this sort of thing!"

(L) Down with your side, down with my side.

(Joe) Is resistance also even more so like you said, awake people being aware, and resistance like an internal resistance?

A: The imbalance was so severe that the STS side risked a severe violation of free will at a level that would have resulted in necessary degaussing from natural factors of balance.

Q: (L) So they were too dirty and devious.

A: Yes.

Q: (L) They did too much for too long and they really violated the free will of the people on this planet.

A: Yes.
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Faith as defined by Wikipedia. Of note is what is says about the Romans & faith (paradox and reciprocity as relates to the right hemisphere according to McGilchrist's thesis; also the themes of hospitality from The Odyssey):
In the Roman world, 'faith' (Latin: fides) was understood without particular association with gods or beliefs. Instead, it was understood as a paradoxical set of reciprocal ideas: voluntary will and voluntary restraint in the sense of father over family or host over guest, whereby one party willfully surrenders to a party who could harm but chooses not to, thereby entrusting or confiding in them.
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CassWiki on the difference between Belief and Faith:
Belief vs. faith
In FOTCM discourse, the term belief means a concept which is accepted as a given truth, without necessarily being critically evaluated. ’Belief’ often connotates emotional attachment of the believer to the belief. At an extreme, such attachment turns the belief into a ’sacred cow’, defended through emotional thinking. By contrast, the term faith may be used to connote the opposite – an openminded attitude and trust in the process of inquiry. Understood in this way, ’belief’ means having firmly decided that the world is a certain way and holding fast to this view even in the face of evidence to the contrary. In essence, one is attempting to force one’s model on the world. Since there is then no regard for truth, this involves a form of subjectivity and internal considering regardless of whether what is believed happens to be corrector not. ’Faith’, being an attitude of openness towards the truth and whatever the investigative process reveals, involves the opposite: an open and receptive attitude to the Universe. There is trust and the absence of any inflexible judgement on how things ’must be’. Faith, then, is conducive to the striving towards objectivity. Belief is in a sense controlling and scared of being wrong, while faith is adventurous and flexible. The distinction between the two is also related to the question of anticipation and non-anticipation. Even though the dictionary definitions of faith and belief are similar, the Cassiopaean material tends to make the above distinction between ’belief’ and ’faith’.
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Zoroastrianism- major tenet is being the source of good in the world through good thoughts, good deeds and good words.
Google summary said:
Zoroastrianism is fundamentally guided by the trio of Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta—Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds. This active moral code, established by Zarathustra, teaches that individuals can create heaven on earth and contribute to the triumph of righteousness (Asha) over evil through positive choices, actions, and maintaining a good mind.

Key Aspects of the Zoroastrian Path
  • The Triad Philosophy: This threefold path is considered the core maxim of the religion. It suggests that good thoughts, words, and actions are all interconnected to create a positive, productive life.
  • The Power of Thought: Everything begins with a thought. Zoroastrians believe that by controlling our minds and staying optimistic, we can directly influence and shape the world around us, ensuring light prevails.
  • Individual Responsibility: Zoroastrianism emphasizes that every individual has the free will to choose between good and evil, and therefore, every person is responsible for their own actions and the overall betterment of the world.
  • Practical Application: This involves not just137 spiritual reflection, but practical kindness, such as charity to the poor, maintaining good mental health, being environmentally conscious, and helping animals.
  • Goal of Life: The ultimate goal of following this path is to live a life in harmony with divine wisdom, ultimately bringing about the final renovation of the universe (frashokereti), where good prevails.
Zoroastrians believe in achieving this through active participation in life, rather than asceticism, ensuring one makes the world better than they found it.
Click to expand...

The Wave- Ch 23 on monotheism and dogma:
What they are doing is developing mental boundaries. They are creating an image of the world in the left hemisphere mode of thinking. It is fixed, limited, and most of all, prevents discovery, change and spiritual evolution. Worse than that, it blocks creativity in a cosmic sense; it is the desire to possess knowledge in a limited form; to own what cannot be owned and place limits on something that is in reality infinite.

The Christian church is the triumph of monotheism/left-brain domination. At that point in time, there were still adherents of the true mystical tradition, and it is very likely that Jesus was an initiate of the Grail and the only hints we can find to his true work are in the Gnostic writings and sects that continued to exist. At the very heart of Gnosticism lies an essentially feminine right brain view of the cosmos and this was the inspiration of the Cathars and alchemists.

The patriarchal priests of Rome, probably as agents of the Control System at fourth density, unleashed a horrendous persecution of the Gnostics and Cathars and any others that did not adhere to their dogma. It has been estimated that the cost of bringing Europe under the domination of Christianity was about ten million innocent lives.
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The Wave- Ch 24 on ancient religions and Bacchic rites to elevate consciousness and use the body as part of the circuitry of the megaliths, with the left & right hemispheres in balance (as well as the relations between men & women):
The divinity in the old religion was not a female or a male figure, but was both male and female. This does not mean that the ancient peoples were hermaphrodites, but rather it symbolized the balanced right- and left-brain function state prior to the Fall.

The fact that women were on an equal footing with men, in terms of honor and respect, makes it seem to the modern patriarchal mind that it was a female dominated society. But these were not peoples who were ruled by women. They were cultures in which men and women were in harmony and in which the brain functions were balanced so that they were enabled to “transduce” the cosmic energies into their reality for the purpose of active creation.

Unfortunately, the symbols and their meanings as well as the knowledge of their activation were degenerated into self-serving figments of the prurient imaginations of later redactors. The Matriarchal agriculture oriented societies alongside the Patriarchal Shepherd King societies were the results of the split.

The principles of Nature and the Cosmos that were studied and honored by these ancient peoples were later embodied as Bacchus/Dionysus, which concealed the true meaning and protected the tradition for a time. The Bacchic culture embraced three general principles that were, in modern terms, celebration, creativity and chivalry. Throughout history, whenever the mystic traditions have been revived, these three themes become dominant in the society.

The celebration of the Bacchants has been redacted to drunken revelry. Nothing could be further from the truth of the original meaning, though it is entirely likely that later, ignorant perversions occurred among the followers.

The original principle was that the celebrants achieved elevated states of consciousness by music, singing and dancing, often in processions or highly stylized spiral movements. The original purpose was to use their bodies as circuitry, or part of the machinery of the megaliths. [...]

Many modern historians have ignorantly interpreted the accoutrements and later accounts of these rites as fertility rituals. They were supposed to have been performed with the intent of eliciting magical reproductive favoritism from nature. The ideas of gaining personal advantages, success, protection or anything else by practicing rites or rituals, spells, prayers, sacrifices and so forth are characteristic of left-brain function, not mystical union. (Yes, many meditators and “stupid saints” as well as practitioners of the Black Arts have in fact managed to access the gateway by “raping the maiden of the well”, but the price is high and very few who do it that way survive long in this world.)

In short, the Bacchanalian celebration was to directly experience an altered state of consciousness, which brought about unification with the Cosmos and Nature, and even had the potential for transcending time and space in a direct, material and experiential manner. In the sensual, physical unification with the Cosmos, we see the profound activation of the right hemisphere of the brain in direct experience of the world via the sensory perceptions as distinct from imagining the world according to supposedly authoritative measurement and description.


In a Bacchic culture, the mutual need and inseparability of the sexes was exemplified by the principles of androgyny and the hermaphrodite, or Apollo and Artemis, the twins. The Androgyne represented the idea that every woman and man have both a male and female aspect and the hermaphrodite represented the idea that each man or woman was merely half of a functioning unit in terms of polarity, or circuitry that could somehow be unified to accomplish creative functions. The hermaphrodite was a macrocosmic symbol of the male/female unified Cosmos, and the androgyne is a microcosmic symbol of the male/female unity that can occur within each individual.

The goal of Bacchic culture and the secret teachings of the mystical traditions were harmony, balance, and unity between men and women and between the male and female aspects within each person.

The mystical literature tells us that the feminine principle corresponds to the intuitive, creative, intimate, immediate, unitive, nourishing, sensuous, spontaneous aspects of our consciousness. The masculine principle reflects logic, labeling, theoretical, legal, boundary consciousness, rule-following, mission-oriented, competitive characteristics. In this categorization, we can easily see that we are not referring to biophysical maleness or femaleness, but rather to the left and right modes of consciousness within all peoples.

So, when it was said that the female energy consorted with the wrong side and lost knowledge and power thereby, we can now see that it was a rewiring of the thinking, by giving dominance to the part of the brain that literally inhibits creativity and access to universal energies that can be accessed by anyone.
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Dr Iain McGilchrist on how faith can re-enchant a left-brained world:

 
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Hi everyone, yesterday we finished Jolan Chang's book The Tao of Love and Sex by covering Chapters 11 and 12, Chang's Personal experiences and the Postscript consisting of the beautiful 1976 address by renowned sinologist, biochemist and historian of Chinese science, Joseph Needham. Here is the summary of what we discussed;

Chapter 11: Breathing, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, and The Tao of Loving
Ancient Taoists viewed love, food, and exercise (especially breathing) as the three pillars of health and longevity. Proper breathing draws in vital chi (cosmic energy), far beyond mere oxygen intake; most people breathe shallowly, using only ~1/3 of lung capacity, which harms energy, organ function, emotions, and overall harmony. Dennis Lewis's book The Tao of Natural Breathing was referenced for its insights on restoring natural diaphragmatic breathing, its benefits, and cautions against premature advanced techniques (e.g., pranayama), which can cause harm without proper self-awareness and relaxation. It seems that to obtain full relaxation presents quite a challenge for Westerners as opposed to people from India or China.

Key practice: Daily diaphragmatic belly breathing through the nose, with full exhalation and gentle inhalation.
Exercise complements this: General activity prevents issues like back pain that impair sex; targeted Taoist exercises support organs.
T'ai Chi Ch'uan is highlighted as a graceful, flowing practice for total fitness, joint health, deep breathing, youth preservation, and Yin-Yang harmony—non-strenuous, suitable for all ages, originally inspired by animal movements and refined as "soft" martial art using minimal force.Diet is the third pillar: Food as primary medicine; prioritize nutrition over drugs, avoid overeating, and observe personal food effects for vitality and better loving.

Chapter 12: Learning The Tao
Adopting the Tao of Loving requires skill, sensory awareness, communication, and mutual effort for both partners. Lovemaking is an art of total sensory harmony (Yin-Yang), not mechanical. Develop senses like smell (avoid deodorants; embrace natural scents) and touch (focus on non-genital contact first, target sensitive areas, vary pressure by age/sensitivity). Use soothing voice, praise, and communication.

Women benefit from non-ejaculatory sessions: prolonged pleasure, reduced contraception needs, harmony, and slower aging. The Tao emphasizes frequent, flowing lovemaking over rare intense sessions; controlled ejaculation harmonizes male energy, reduces post-ejaculation detachment, and sustains affection (countering "post-coital tristesse").

Chang addresses FAQs: Philosophical (not religious) Taoism; practical, cultivated love vs. Western romantic ideals; benefits for women despite male-focused ancient texts; medical alignment with modern research (e.g., non-ejaculatory orgasm, hormonal balance); and key advantage—eliminating male post-ejaculation indifference for deeper bonds.Personal Experiences

Chang's Personal Experiences: Chang contrasts following Western advice (always ejaculate) for 12 years—leading to exhaustion and partner dissatisfaction—with returning to Taoist ejaculation control. Now nearly 60, he enjoys multiple daily sessions without fatigue, excellent health, and tranquility, validating ancient advice like Sun S'su-Mo's for longevity.Postscript by Joseph Needham

Postscript: A 1976 address blending Christian theology with Taoist principles: Rejects body-spirit dualism (influenced by Gnostic/Manichaean views); affirms passionate, embodied love (eros, philia, agape) as life-affirming and divine. Love is ecstatic, playful, yet involves suffering/impermanence. Directs libido outward and aggression inward for harmony (Yin-Yang-like). Extends love cosmically as creative force in evolution/universe, complementing the book's celebration of harmonious, prolonged union for health, peace, and spiritual alignment.
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We chose Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image and the Capacity for Relationship by Laurence Heller and Aline LaPierre as our next book. For next week we will cover the Introduction to the NeuroAffective Relational Model, pages 1 to 28. Don't miss the forum thread dedicated to this book, which you can find here. Hope to see you all next week :flowers:
 
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