2006年4月14日金曜日

A Holy Defloration?

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And then the centurion said that Jesus had been surely the Son of God. (Mark Chapt. 15)

As I did not see a clear logical connection between the torn curtain and the centurion's comment, I wondered why the holy curtain had to be torn in two. Well, it has been explained as the symbol of reconciliation between God and man. Now, there was nothing to separate God and man as Jesus died to redeem the sin of the world. This is the traditional Literalist interpretation. It's not mysterious enough and is very boring...

But I recently read an interesting interpretation. Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy say in their Jesus and Lost Goddess that the curtain was a hymen! No, it is not a typo of hymn but it is hymen.

They say that a curtain is used in a Jewish secret ritual to explain what is like for a man to know God. In that ritual, a priest opened the curtain and revealed a statute of two entangling angels. This statute showed that love of God is similar to the love between men and women. And the curtain represented a hymen. Freke and Gandy say that the curtain in Jesus' Passion was taken from this secret rite.

Then the Crucifixion could mean an act of defloration! Then who was the virgin? I don't think she was Virgin Mary. Mary Magdalene? Probably not, either.

I guess it was Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom... Then the Crucifixion was man's penetration into the Gnosis (the knowledge of God) and makes this hymen theory quite logical.

But I feel defloration is not enough for a man to know a woman very deeply. Even if it is a symbol of marriage, it is just a beginning. Wedding is just an entrance to another level of intimacy between a man and a woman. Maybe it is a rite of transformation of hot romantic love into warm but long-lasting love. Then the Crucifixion may not be the completion of devine plan but just an entrance to a higher consciousness.

1 件のコメント:

Peter Yokoyama さんのコメント...

Thanks for your comment. Yours is an expected reaction. Actually, I have waited for an after-death threat…

It is not really mine but Freke and Gandy’s. I just extended my imagination according to their theory, anyway. But thank you for your comment on Shekhinah (it is indeed female). I will study about it soon.