We Need the Goddess Back
by the Editor
One of the basic ideas here at EAP, which you probably share or you wouldn’t be reading this, is that the Everyday is where we’re grounded. It’s where we’re born and where we stay. It’s our home, damn it, and as there’s no other home out there, we’d better be careful with it. Give it some respect. Because it’s the foundation of everything we are and everything we have.
4500 years or so of Sky Gods haven’t done much for this idea. Having one of those thundering guys with a beard yammering at us from up above has — you could argue — done a lot to draw us together as a species, and yank us up and out of a Neolithic dream. But it feels like that time’s come to an end, doesn’t it? Just like all times do. There’s no point in thinking about a world beyond this one — even if there is a lovely Paradise on the other side of death (and who are we to say there isn’t?), it’s still obvious that there’s not much to be gained by letting the one this side go to hell.
An everyday life where everyone enjoys every minute that they can…and real enjoyment not that fake fun that gets promoted in the increasingly hysterical mass media, we mean the kind of enjoyment that makes you sleep well and wake up refreshed…that’s what we at EAP want for the world. In short, we want to be partners in gently making it the best place it can be. We’re sick of the tired illusion that we can dominate it. It hasn’t done much for us lately, that idea. And it certainly hasn’t done much for the poor, groaning world. That’s becoming clearer every day.
Our world is changing. Our view of our world is changing, which given who we are as symbol makers comes to pretty much the same way. We change and so does our world. We need different gods for the next change, for the next step forward. This time we need gods of this world, ones who we can work with, not under, to make as much of a Paradise as human beings can manage.
We need the Goddess back. That’s the first step. After that, who knows? It’s exciting when you think about it. At least, it is for us here at EAP.
Have a good winter. And welcome back.
(My personal favorite paean to the Goddess this month is Mike Madrid’s There’s Something About Mary — it’s hilarious, touching, and true all at the same time.)