The Roman Catholic Church Has Had 1800 Years

[JHan]

58. Perhaps there are lots of moving parts..

I think both Patriarchy and Religion orbit Dualism.

Dualism being "the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided" Two types are notable: the spirit vs the flesh, then the mind vs body, and a subcategory of the latter is reason vs emotion. In Patriarchal structures, you have Man over Woman and Nature etc. and fused with religion God dominates all - a perfect marriage of concepts.

Since our brains gave rise to our consciousness, the mind is its creation. Dualism, by separating reason from emotion, splits the bond between consciousness and self-awareness when we are actually one with our brain and our ideas are the result of physiological processes which influence thoughts including emotions /hormones. It is all interconnected. Dualism stands in sharp contrast to this.

It's understandable how Dualism emerged. Through the heuristic process of evolution, our brains evolved to compartmentalize and distill information we receive from external stimuli in the environment. It's already known our ancestors needed explanations for phenomenon they could not understand. In flight or fight scenarios, they not only assessed threats but also processed their reactions to threat- how they felt unsettled in a space, hearing unfamiliar noises, making sense of the adrenaline rush, *sensing* things around them they couldn't readily explain so they projected these experiences externally - where they took a spiritual form, when actually their experiences were internal processes of the brain. Epistemologies were then forged out of the unknowable.

Dualistic explanations developed to explain the biological process in women. The idea of purity vs uncleanliness, where women's menses were seen as unclean. A core part of the female identity was seen as weakness justifying the domination and control of women.

But dualism also opened the door to there being "other ways of knowing" and forms the foundation of argument without evidence ( like Sagan's dragons and Russell's teapot.) Its footprints are also there in conspiracy theories and it informs a desire to look for patterns where they don't exist. It feeds confirmation bias. And because we are invested in our beliefs, we defend them like soldiers, holding on to untenable positions. Worse yet if it is buttressed by a thousand-year-old tradition where those beliefs were ingrained since childhood.

Religion exploits these cognitive flaws which are evident even among those who aren't necessarily religious however the Church is still a special case. The appeal to a higher power whose ways and methods are unknowable becomes a ruse to abuse power and this abuse can become viral, permeating every level of the institution. For those who look on and do nothing, turning a blind eye to abuse for a "Greater cause" is how they sanctify themselves of their wrongdoing and apathy - even in the face of abuse of children, women, subordinates. A toxic feedback loop fed by dualistic beliefs.