“Whitewashing” Patriarchy through “Symbolism” and Supposed “Spirituality”
Written by Christina Margeti
Happy New Year, with health, love, joy, and whatever each woman, each person, may need in their life.
From the outset, I wish to express my deep sorrow as well as my anger over the murder of the poet and activist Renée Nicole Goude. Eternal memory — forever in our hearts. In the end, however, Light and goodness always prevail — let us remember that.
I move directly to my first article of the new year, prompted by certain, in my view, absurdities circulating on some social media platforms which I happened to encounter.
It is clear that certain people — whether unintentionally or, in some cases, deliberately — attempt to embellish shameful behaviours of mythical (or non-mythical) figures by intentionally shifting attention away from the essence: their actions towards other human beings. Instead of addressing these actions, they resort to narratives about “monsters”, otherworldly creatures, “entanglements”, and supposed spiritual trials, with the aim of rendering the perpetrators sympathetic.
A characteristic example is Odysseus. Many choose to speak about the “poor man’s suffering” on his journey back to Ithaca — about the Sirens, Circe, the Cyclopes and all those supposedly “charming” episodes. They carefully omit, however, his deceitful nature, his imperialistic conduct, as well as the fact that his punishment by Poseidon was entirely justified.
The same pattern appears in the case of Heracles. Instead of focusing on his essential character — namely, that he is a mythical (or not entirely mythical) figure who murdered even his own children, consistently shifting the blame onto “Hera” (a pattern well documented in psychological literature), and that he stole a queen’s girdle — they prefer to speak about the “monsters” he confronted. This is not accidental. It is a classic method of whitewashing, designed to divert attention away from his actions in the physical realm and to present him to the masses as a hero cloaked in metaphysics. Thank you very much, but I personally refuse this insidious “drug”.
One might ask why it is so problematic for perspectives and narratives to exist that glorify or whitewash the various Heracles-like figures. It is precisely because such role models are responsible for the degradation of our planet. The Heracles who murdered his children is morally indistinguishable from, for example, the widely reported Glyka Nera case, in which a man confessed to the murder of his wife and their dog, initially shifting the blame onto alleged “robbers” who supposedly broke into the home.
Likewise, a woman who confessed to killing infants because “her mother was to blame” follows the same pattern of responsibility-shifting as Heracles, who persistently blamed Hera for his crimes. There are countless more examples I could mention, but I will limit myself to these. Such behavioural role models poison the subconscious.
What exactly does Odysseus transmit through myth into the collective unconscious? Adventurism, cunning opportunism, dishonesty, imperialism. That is the essence — not his “charming adventures”.
What exactly does the myth of Heracles convey? That it is acceptable to steal, to kill, and to always shift responsibility elsewhere, like a textbook narcissist and Machiavellian. This is the essence, and this is what society should have recognised by now. This does not mean that everyone exposed to such models will necessarily become immoral or criminal, but the poison of thought is insidious, and one never knows if, how, or to what extent it will affect someone personally. What is certain, however, is that it negatively affects societies to a significant degree.
Therefore, I personally choose to look the essence straight in the eye and not where the various launderers and whitewashers of patriarchy — aspiring manipulators of thought within patriarchal ideological frameworks — attempt to lead us.
Furthermore, fighting patriarchy is not a “war between the sexes”. It is self-defence by femininities — and by every thinking human being — against phallocrats, as well as a struggle for rights through continuous collective action. This supposed “war” will only end when patriarchy is dismantled globally, at every level. There can be no peace without justice, equality before the law, and human rights.
Finally, I feel the need to point out another phenomenon: the elevation of certain individuals as “self-illuminated sages”, who utter — excuse the expression — nonsense, skilfully intertwining it with truths articulated centuries ago in ancient sources. I will not reproduce such claims here. These theories, however, are dangerous in a world that has suffered — and continues to suffer — from violence, gender-based violence, and the violence of patriarchy.
They are dangerous for a simple reason: when one entirely devalues the physical realm, matter, and earthly reality, and claims that “everything here is false and nothing truly exists”, one indirectly cultivates — subconsciously and sometimes unintentionally — apathy, fatalism, compromise, and submission in relation to everyday material reality. Such passivity conveniently serves certain interests; it serves regimes and, quite frankly, the system itself.
Authentic spirituality, in my view, never devalues matter, never devalues the body, and never devalues the physical realm — nor, of course, the spiritual or immaterial. On the contrary, it is the harmony, connection, and balance between the spiritual and the physical. It is the harmony of mind and heart.
The Feminine Principle not only exists at all levels and across all dimensions throughout time, but is also always alive within us. The time of its restoration, emergence, and elevation has arrived — something that will become even more evident in the years to come.
Regardless of any supposed soul contracts or conditions we may believe we chose prior to our multiple incarnations in this realm, our lives are not “roles” while we exist and breathe in this physical world. Nor should we treat them irresponsibly, frivolously, passively, or with apathy, as if they were merely a game.
Genuine spirituality does not deny any reality of any plane or dimension, nor does it encourage indifference, submission, or apathy towards what is happening around us in the material world — especially with regard to violence in this world, violence that is tragically real rather than theoretical or philosophical: daily femicides, abuse of children, animals, men, and beings in general.
All those femininities and beings who have lost their lives due to gender-based violence and patriarchy constitute a harsh, indisputable reality — not some imaginary philosophy, contrary to what some claim. It is therefore better to strive to transform our lives on Earth into a paradise — as much as is possible and to the extent that it is possible — rather than remaining inactive and merely hoping for paradises after death. Let us therefore struggle for a better world, in whatever way and to whatever degree we can, alongside any engagement we may have with the spiritual realm.
