sex and marriage

Chapter 5 Phallus Asceticism and Sin

Sex has been a matter of great significance in religion since the discovery of fatherhood.This is totally expected since religion has always been closely associated with all things mysterious and important.In the early days of agriculture and herding, fertility was the most important thing in the world, whether it was crops, cattle, sheep, or women.Crops didn't always yield good results, and intercourse didn't always lead to pregnancy.Therefore, people use religion or witchcraft to achieve their desired goals.According to the general idea of ​​witchcraft, it is believed that the harvest of crops can be promoted by promoting human fertility; and the human fertility desired by many people in primitive societies is promoted through various forms of religion and witchcraft.In ancient Egypt, before the end of the matrilineal era, they had agriculture, and there, the genital worship in religion was not at first male, but female, and its shape resembled the shell of an agate shell.As a result, this shell was considered magical, and was even used as a kind of currency later.However, the era ended, both in Egypt and in most countries with ancient civilizations, when religiously neutral worship took the form of phallic worship—phallus worship.In "Sex in Civilization" by Robert Brefort we find a brief but brilliant description of the most salient facts about this issue:

The clearest examples of the general permissibility of female promiscuity in all parts of the world in all ages are found in the various festivals connected with agriculture, and especially those connected with sowing and harvesting... The peasants of Algeria objected to any Their reason for prohibiting women's fornication is that any attempt to promote sexual morality will jeopardize the increase in crop yields.The Sowing Festival of the Athenians prominently displays the first characteristics of fertility witchcraft.At this time, women hold symbols of male genitalia and say obscene words from their mouths. "Saturnalia" used to be the planting festival of the Romans, and was later replaced by the "Carnival" in southern Europe.In southern Europe, phallic symbols differed from those popular among the Indians and Dahomeis, and are still a distinctive feature.

In many parts of the world, it is believed that the true father of all children is the Moon (considered masculine).Of course, this concept is closely related to moon worship.There was a curious conflict between the priests of the Luna and the Sun, and between the Lunar and Solar calendars, which, however, has no direct connection with the question we are discussing, but which I must say, because the calendar has always played a very important role in religion. important role.In Britain before the 18th century and in Russia before the revolution of 1917, people used an inaccurate calendar because they thought the Gregorian calendar was invented by the Roman Catholic Church; This extremely inaccurate lunar calendar, so the victory of the solar calendar came very slowly.And it's not complete.In Egypt, this conflict at one point led to civil war. There was a grammatical debate about the nature of the word "moon", which is still masculine in German until now.In Christianity, sun worship and moon worship still have traces, because Christ was born on the winter solstice, and his resurrection was on the full moon of Passover.While we cannot assert that primitive civilization possessed a certain rationality, it is difficult to reject the conclusion that wherever the sun-worshippers were victorious, they owed it to the obvious fact that the sun's influence on the growth of crops , which has more influence than the moon.Therefore, Saturnalia is generally held in spring.

In antiquity, the orthodox church fathers strongly opposed the worship of the male genitals by all pagan religions.Yet, despite their strenuous opposition, traces of phallic worship persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and only Protestantism finally eradicated them.Breefort wrote:

In Flanders and France, adherents of phallic worship abound, for example, St. Giles of Brittany, St. Rene of Anjou, St. Grezot of Bourges, St. Lenotre and St. Arnold.St. Ferdinand, the most prestigious in southern France, is known as the first bishop of Lyon.At Embereni, when the temple of San Ferdinand was destroyed by the Huguenots, the saint's phallic symbol was taken from the ruins.The genitals were stained red with the large amount of wine that his disciples poured over them according to custom.Later, these ignorant believers drank the wine as a very effective medicine to prevent sterility and impotence.

Holy prostitution is another custom that was very popular in ancient times.In many places, women of ordinary status often go to monasteries to have sex with priests or strangers they meet by chance.on the other hand.Those priestesses themselves are holy whores.Probably this custom was gradually formed for the purpose of obtaining a woman's fertility through God's gift, or using witchcraft to obtain a good harvest of crops.

So far we have been speaking of the pro-sexual element in religion, however, the anti-sexual element originally coexisted with the pro-sexual element.Later, due to the popularity of Christianity and Buddhism, these components prevailed over their respective opponents.After citing many examples, Westermark said: "There is a novel saying that sex has unclean and sinful things in marriage and all sexual relations." where there are many priests and priestesses who have sworn oaths of celibacy.Among the Jews there is a sect of Essenites who consider all sexual intercourse sinful.This idea had its place in antiquity, even among the most Christian-haters.In the ancient Roman Empire there was a general ascetic tendency.Epicureanism was nearly extinct, and Stoicism reappeared among the literate Greeks and Romans.In the so-called "Apocrypha" of the Jews, there are many pages that show an attitude that almost regards women as playthings, which is very different from the powerful attitude of men advocated in the ancient books of the "Old Testament".Neoplatonists are almost as abstinent as Christians.Then came another belief, and the Persian teaching that matter is evil was spread throughout the West, that all sexual intercourse is sinful.Although this is not an absolute way, it is the concept of the church.Regarding the church, I will discuss it in the next chapter.

Now it is clear that, in certain circumstances, people have a spontaneous fear of sex, and that when it arises it can be as good as the more general love of sex. , becomes a natural impulse.If we can study and understand this issue from a psychological point of view, we can determine which sexual system can better satisfy human nature.

First, it should be pointed out that it is vain to look for the origin of this attitude in belief.Because, these beliefs are originally produced by personal emotions.It is true that, once such beliefs have arisen, they outlast emotions, or at least outlive actions that depend on them, but cannot be the main cause of opposing attitudes.In my opinion, there are two main reasons for this attitude: the first is jealousy, and the second is sexual fatigue.

When jealousy, even in a slight degree, becomes a nuisance to us, the desire to arouse it is equally distasteful.A man who relies purely on instinct, if he can do whatever he wants, then he will definitely ask all women to love him, and only him; if those women distribute their love to other men, then this kind of Situations can create in him an emotion which can easily turn him against sex, especially if the woman is his wife.We can learn from Shakespeare's books that all men do not want their wives to have passion.According to Shakespeare, the ideal woman should be able to throw herself obligingly into the arms of her husband according to her feelings, but cannot have a lover, because sex itself is unpleasant to her, and she can bear it only because legal morals require her to do so. .A husband acting on instinct, when he finds his wife unfaithful to him, loathes not only her, but her lover as well, and readily draws the conclusion that all sex is Abominable, especially when he is incapacitated by overcoitus or old age.Since in most societies older people have more authority than younger people, it is only reasonable that the opinions of reckless young people on sexual matters should not be considered official and correct.

Sexual fatigue is a culturally brought on phenomenon.Sexual fatigue is absent among animals, and is very rare among savages.In monogamous marriages, sexual fatigue is unlikely to occur, and if it does occur, it is weak, because men's urge to love the new and dislike the old leads them to biologically over-sexualize.Sexual fatigue probably wouldn't have happened if women had the freedom to refuse a man's sexual demands, because in this case, women would, like female animals, demand a period of flirting before each sexual intercourse, and wait until they felt the man's When the sexual desire is very excited, they will meet their requirements.Because of culture, such purely instinctive emotions and behaviors are rare.Economic factors are most effective in regulating this emotion and behavior, because married women and prostitutes make a living from their sexual charms, so they cannot satisfy each other only when they have their own instinctive impulses. Require.Undoubtedly this greatly reduces the element of flirting.And flirting is a means of avoiding sexual fatigue endowed by nature.therefore.Those who are not bound by strict moral codes are bound to indulge in excessive sexual behavior, which will eventually bring a sense of sexual exhaustion and disgust, which will naturally produce a set of ascetic attitudes. psychology.

Those passions against sex are heightened when jealousy and sexual fatigue come together.This, I think, is also the chief reason for the asceticism that arose in those very promiscuous surroundings.

Of course, there are other reasons for the historical phenomenon of celibacy.Priests and priestesses were considered married to God when they consecrated themselves to God, and they had to abstain from sexual intercourse with ordinary people.From the point of view of the common man, they were exceptionally holy, and from then on, holiness and celibacy became one.To this day, it is still considered a sin for Roman Catholic nuns to have sexual intercourse with ordinary people, one of the reasons being that they are believed to be the bride of Christ.

In addition, in addition to the reasons mentioned above, there are probably several other more obscure reasons related to the growing asceticism in the late antiquity.There have been ages when life was joyful, when human beings were full of vigor, and the pleasures of the world were enough to satisfy them.But there are also ages in which the human race is languid, and henceforth the real world and its pleasures cannot satisfy man.Human beings urgently need to fill the emptiness in the world by pursuing spiritual comfort or yearning for a future life.Comparing Solomon in Song of Solomon with Solomon in Old Testament Ecclesiastes: the former represents the ancient society in its heyday; the latter represents the ancient society in its decline.Why there is such a difference, I dare not jump to conclusions.Maybe it's just a very simple and physiological reason, just like the lively wild life replacing the dull city life; maybe those ascetics lived a lazy and decadent life; The author thinks that everything in the world is meaningless because he lacks physical exercise.

In any case, there can be no doubt that a mood such as theirs can easily lead to a radical attitude condemning sex.What we have said above, and others, are probably the causes of the general malaise of late antiquity; and asceticism is only a manifestation of the malaise.Unfortunately, it was in this decadent and sick age that Christian ethics took shape.Why must those future generations who are vigorous in the future have to live according to the concept of a sick, depressed and disillusioned human being?As for those who are sick, despondent and disillusioned, they have long since lost their sense of biological value and the continuation of human life.This is what we will discuss in the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)