"Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins.
I'm in the process of reading this book, recommended by my darling husband. I found this passage delightful:
"The day of the full moon, when the moon is neither increasing nor decreasing, the Babylonians called Sa-bat, meaning "heart-rest." It was believed that on this day, the woman in the moon, Ishtar, as the moon goddess was known in Babylon, was menstruating, for in Babylon, as in virtually every ancient and primitive society, there has been since the earliest times, a taboo against a woman working, preparing food, or traveling when she was passing her monthly blood. On Sa-bat, from which comes our Sabbath, men as well as women were commanded to rest, for when the moon menstruated, the taboo was on everyone. Originally (and naturally) observed once a month, the Sabbath was later to be incorporated by the Christians into their Creation myth and made conveniently weekly. So nowadays... we... are relieved from jobs on Sundays because of an archetypal psychological response to menstruation."
Pagans are the new age religion my ass.
I'm in the process of reading this book, recommended by my darling husband. I found this passage delightful:
"The day of the full moon, when the moon is neither increasing nor decreasing, the Babylonians called Sa-bat, meaning "heart-rest." It was believed that on this day, the woman in the moon, Ishtar, as the moon goddess was known in Babylon, was menstruating, for in Babylon, as in virtually every ancient and primitive society, there has been since the earliest times, a taboo against a woman working, preparing food, or traveling when she was passing her monthly blood. On Sa-bat, from which comes our Sabbath, men as well as women were commanded to rest, for when the moon menstruated, the taboo was on everyone. Originally (and naturally) observed once a month, the Sabbath was later to be incorporated by the Christians into their Creation myth and made conveniently weekly. So nowadays... we... are relieved from jobs on Sundays because of an archetypal psychological response to menstruation."
Pagans are the new age religion my ass.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
I guess it would be kind of satisfying to have a career if you really were passionate about somehing, like climbing mountains or writing books or breeding cows for that matter. But if you aren't, there's really nothing to do about that and it's nothing to be ashamed of either. I believed once that you could choose your life. But you can't really choose to have a good life and be surrounded by loving and interesting people. And you won't find what you want if you don't know what it is.
I get ashamed when I do stupid things while intoxicated, but I try to fight that. Because the idea that we should behave is so stupid. It's liberating to drop the facade, to let go of the lies and show your real face. It's only healthy to "make a fool of yourself".
Sometimes I love everybody when I drink. But I wonder if there's any truth in that. I think it's kind of scary the way I have a good time with people, and the day after I've transformed to a different person and nothing is easy anymore. I wonder who is the real me. Maybe that doesn't matter, because if you really want to get close to someone, you have to spend time with them when you're sober too... So I guess you'll just have to put up with the one you are when you're sober...