Profound Women Adhere to Basics

"When God created man male and female, he made him in the likeness of God and blessed them." [Genesis 5:1-2].

This Bible passage says woman is like God. An old woman too.

The Image of God, Imago Dei, is a concept in Judaism and Christianity etc. The term asserts that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. But what exactly does it mean? Nobody knows for sure. But for the lack of surety: speculation, which is camouflaged as a doctrine of Christianity and Judaism. (Source: WP, "Image of God")

The basic finding: Speculation is not good enough. Besides, aren't there differences between women today? Some may be beaten until then yell, "I'm an evil woman!" Maybe so, maybe "no." It may be one of the most difficult things to tell. Our choices depend on which footing we have, also expressed philosophically. Are we wise if we consider that some women are wise and some women otherwise? And what about devil women - how have they been described from ancient times? They do not have to look like old women, like Disney witches. That should be made plain. It is, rather, what is inside them that is wrong for human beings.

The Bhagavad Gita describes demons in its sixteenth chapter, verses 6-20. Excerpts: They know not what to do and what to refrain from; neither purity nor right conduct nor truth is found in them. They say: "This universe is without a (moral) basis, without a God." These ruined souls are nemies of the world, and filled with insatiable desires, holding evil ideas, given over to lust and anger.

Demons come in several shapes and may not look ugly, a story shows:

The demoness (witch) Putana wanted to kill the baby Krishna. She dressed up and changed herself so that she looked like a beautiful girl, and then entered the house of Krishha. There she found Krishna lying on a bed and took him to her lap. She offered him milk from her breasts, but had smeared poison on them. She pushed her nipple into the baby's mouth, and the baby sucked the life out of her. She fell dying to the ground, but the baby was unharmed.

There is a lot to learn. The legend of Putana and Krishna is found in many Hindu texts. They include the Bhagavata Purana, Harivamsa, Vishnu Purana and other old sources. (WP, "Putana;" "Rakshasa"; Dimmitt and van Buitenen 1978, 103, 111).

Myths are often about us behind various masks - A precious baby may come at a price - Further, in ancient myths some women bring good with them, and others bring nasty things, as Pandora of Greek myths did. She had a box of troubles. Interpreted it suggests that some women bring bad happenings with them later if their box is opened. It happens during coitus, according to Freudian speculation. Old lore's speculation does not have to be all wrong, but may be unverified. It may be so until men gets as subtle as moms. This caution applies to lots of men. There is more to human beings than meets the eye, at any rate.

So are there appropriate lessons to imbibe in ancient myths and later tales? It depends in part on how we choose to interpret them. There are often many angles, and many different lights to see them in - many ways. Mind that Sigmund Freud and Carl G. Jung say yes, there are lessons. Freud has interpreted ancient Greek tales with his own spin on them, and Carl Jung and Jungians have looked into folk tales equipped with concepts to make out of them - more or less, we might add.

Good at bottom?

Then, are we wise enough if we assume with Carl R. Rogers that a woman or man is good at bottom, just because our humanistic orientation has it that all are good at bottom? Carl R. Rogers naively thought so, and by that he misled a lot of Rogerian-oriented persons in his track if demons, witches and many other bad beings exist in human shape. "People are different" and "Different strokes for different folks" apply too. And some are cruel. (WP, "Person-centered therapy")

Can lots of discipline make an ill-natured being become good, perchance? I would not count on it. Dr Tollak B. Sirnes sums up from many years of study and dealing with psychopaths in everyday life. He says (as rendered):

We had better not try to change a psychopath, for it may not be doable. Psychopathy is not an illness; it is a persistent state. A person does not have the disease psychopathy, but is a psychopath.

It may be useful for normal and nervous people to know something about psychopaths so as not to become their victims. Psychopaths are the source of many interpersonal conflicts, and can bring mental healthy people to the brink of nervous breakdowns.

Many psychopaths exploit especially the Christian mentality that one should always be willing to help his fellow man. However, watch on whose terms the help is given. Psychopaths have not learned the need to take into account that other people have their needs and needs of fulfilments also. Further, psychopaths have reduced powers of understanding, but without showing morbid symptoms of morbidity, like distress (they are without conscience).

We expect that psychopathic deviations from a range of "normality" to a substantial part is hereditary.

Psychopaths do not suffer in their condition; they let others suffer. Psychopathy, at least in adulthood, may not be treatable.

Treatment of persons with psychopathic traits yield conflicting data. Some show improvements, and others not.

As for ascertainments of psychopathy, the understanding and definition of the term is not clear-cut. No American psychiatric or psychological organisations have sanctioned a diagnosis titled "psychopathy". Still, assessments of psychopathic characteristics are widely used in criminal justice settings in some nations. The term is also used by the general public The DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) have introduced the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) to replace it. [Link]

Dr Sirnes further:

Psychopaths have little self-restraint when it comes to urges and needs. The psychopathic basic attitude does not seem to change. One of the most characteristic features of a psychopaths life position is that he assumes a constant battle and attack attitude toward fellow human beings, aiming at or struggling for prestige and power.

The psychopath adverse impact on normal and neurotic people can be summarised.

• Psychopaths wear on normal people and neurotics by their continued assault and fighting attitude.

  Psychopaths uses certain ruler techniques. Ingjald Nissen is quoted from his book Psykopatenes diktatur (The Dictatorship of the Psychopaths): "It is especially about the way to get spiritual power over others by taking advantage of their weaknesses as a basis for dominating them."

• Psychopaths steadily circle around their fellowmen's weak points and can make even the strongest fellow lose his composure and react in despair. "It is one of the most demonic aspects of the psychopath" to split others without their being able to prevent it, making them paralysed and despairing.
• Psychopaths often prohibit any mention of delicate interpersonal problems (etc.)

What mental healthy people may put up with from psychopaths over the years can be astounding. One reason is that psychopaths may be so charming, especially good at speaking for themselves, and often has a special ability to influence fellow human beings.

(Sirnes, 1968, 58-62, passim).

The trees of Eden are hard to study

Some garden trees have been linked to paradise - perhaps in imagination only. But which ones? And did man and women fall to taste the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil after the Tree of Life, only to be incestuous for up to centuries, or marry off many sons and daughters to other men and women outside of their family for many years, as the Old Testament says? (Genesis 1:28; 3:20; 4:16-17; 5:3-5).

One of three named sons of the first couple, "went out . . . and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain made love to his wife. (Genesis 4:16-17)" Where did Cain's wife come from? Take a guess or let it be. The latter is the more sensible approach where evidence looks different than a Bible myth. "Pay no attention to Jewish myths," says the apostle Paul (Titus 1:14).

Still, many Christians still do. There may be other mysterious overtones here too:

Like the Genesis flood narrative, the Genesis creation narrative and the account of the Tower of Babel, the story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the Tree of Life. (WP, "Garden of Eden")

It is hard to say where on earth that garden was, and which fruit trees were made by God to grow there, pleasing to see, and good food (Genesis 2:9). The criteria apply to a lot of fruit-bearing trees on many continents. Among contenders to guess at are apple, grape, pomegranate, fig (Genesis 3), carob, etrog (citron), and pear. Yet it is all unsettled.

Maybe we should ask for evidence. There are many sorts of evidence. First-hand report evidence could be fine, statistical evidence may be better, and secondary sources may serve somewhat too. Bible sayings are secondary evidence at best if they are not later inventions.

As it is said, "Seeing is believing. Ask God to create a stone so big and heavy that he cannot lift it. Can he do it? Do you believe it? Your ideas of "almighty" may be in trouble there.

It could be good to be wary of what to believe in and study main evidence first and foremost to be more on the safe side and not fall victim of hollow parades and untenable ideas.

It stands out from Christianity's first, founding decree - the Apostolic Decree in Acts 15:19-29 (and 21:25), that eating blood sausage and blood pudding and wrangled poultry might be just as bad as adultery.

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us . . . You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things." [The Apostolic Decree from c. 50 CE, in Acts 15:19-29, confirmed in Acts 21:25]

And this is what the renowned Jesus scholar Geza Vermes (1924–2013) sums up: Jesus as a Jew among other Jews did not reach out to non-Jews and was much different from the canonised ideas of "Christ of faith" applied to him long after he was executed. Jesus' message was directed towards Jews alone, and was centred on the Law of Moses. He addressed his message to 'the house of Israel' alone and expressly forbade his disciples to approach non-Jews. It is only fit to say it. (Vermes 2010, 37; 41; Matthew 15:24; 10:5-8)

Deification of Jesus came by steps among non-Jews all the same: The Jesus of the first three gospels was a healer and a teacher. In the Acts of the Apostles he was a prophet, Lord and Messiah. . . . Finally, in the Gospel of John written between 100 and 110 CE . . . he had become a supernatural being, the eternal Word of God, a stranger from heaven. (Vermes 2010, 38; 39).

Finally

Playful children can become good guys, they have it in them.

An easy, pleasant life may have its downsides; one had better bulwark against them in appropriate ways.

Adam and Eve lived for many hundreds of years, and many of their offspring lived to a ripe old age too, Genesis 5 tells. None lived to be a thousand years. Metusalah comes closest. However, Babylonian records tell of a king who lived for 36,000 years before the Flood. Maybe the figure is not exact, but rounded off. Anyway, let us hope he was in good health that long. If not he might have been in lots of pain all night and all day long for what we know.

Excellent for health, Transcendental Meditation slows biological aging by many years. How much depends on how long one has been meditating. There is statistics on it. [◦TM slows aging by up to 18 years]

One can also go for healthy libido flows by several other careful measures, for according to psychodynamic theory, your health co-depends on the zest (libido) outlets you have. We could add to our life flow or life work some rejuvenating practices - including artistic outlets like cooking and kind humour, and the odds are we get better off and may keep our health better and live some years longer than what we otherwise might have done. [Life stages and outcomes] There are statistical findings on the health-rewarding and life-lengthening effects of kind humour. (Svebak et al. 2015)