Learn innovation with 3-star Michelin chef Dominique Crenn
Dominique Crenn, the only female chef in America with three Michelin stars, joins Big Think Live.
Having been exposed to mavericks in the French culinary world at a young age, three-star Michelin chef Dominique Crenn made it her mission to cook in a way that is not only delicious and elegant, but also expressive, memorable, and true to her experience.
Fighting racism: This is the biggest mistake people make
Voices of color are necessary for understanding racism, but it should be on their terms.
- Topics of race and racism are often uncomfortable, especially for the people of color being pressured to share sensitive and vulnerable information.
- While some people of color have chosen to educate others on what racism looks like and how to fight it, not all people of color should be expected to. Writer and consultant Robin DiAngelo argues that the onus is on white people to seek the information being offered, not to try and extract it.
- As a white person, DiAngelo acknowledges that her voice "cannot be the only voice" and that voices of color are necessary to reach understanding.
Jordan Peterson: Career vs. motherhood: Are women being lied to?
We as a society need to rethink the way we value careers over everything else.
- Around age 19, women are generally focused on their careers. That changes around the age of 30 when they realize that a career is not the primary purpose of their lives.
- There are a handful of things that are actually fundamental to life, and if one of them is missing it will get in the way of personal fulfillment.
- For the women with ambitions to be mothers, teaching them that careers are more important does them a great disservice.
The pagan origins of three Catholic practices
A few traditions in the Roman Catholic Church can be traced back to pagan cults, rites, and deities.
- The Catholic rite of Holy Communion parallels pre-Christian Greco-Roman and Egyptian rituals that involved eating the body and blood of a god.
- A number of Catholic holidays and myths, such as Christmas, Easter, and Mardi Gras, graph onto the timeline of pre-Christian fertility festivals.
- The Catholic practice of praying to saints has been called "de-facto idolatry" and even a relic of goddess worship.
Transubstantiation
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc4MDMzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTg5MTM2NH0.rpSOYmtmT3s5HJTxX2MHmg9uiq5v_cQsvM4e4JSE6bc/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C445%2C0%2C445&height=700" id="10194" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b4dba99f0925a7867132356f63cfed37" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1245" data-height="700" />Photo by Debby Hudson / Unsplash
<p>One of the more fascinating elements of Catholicism is the ritual cannibalistic consumption of their "demigod" known as Holy Communion or Eucharist. During Catholic mass, <a href="https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201706/where-do-hosts-come-31037" target="_blank">bread</a> and wine are transformed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, who is considered the son of God, in a rite called "transubstantiation." This isn't a symbolic transformation. <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm" target="_blank">A core teaching</a> of the Catholic faith is the belief in literal transubstantiation. Practitioners eat the body and blood of Christ to become one with God.</p><p>Similar rituals were practiced in the underground "mystery religions" of the Greco-Roman world. In a few of those occult religions, celebrants shared a communal meal in which they symbolically feasted on the flesh and got drunk on the blood of their god. For example, <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Mithraic_Mysteries/" target="_blank">the Mithraic Mysteries</a>, or Mithraism, was a mystery cult practiced in the Roman Empire in 300 BC in which followers worshipped the Indo-Iranian deity Mithram, the god of friendship, contract, and order. Mirroring the Catholic Eucharistic rite, the idea of transubstantiation was a characteristic of Mithraic sacraments that included cake and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haoma" target="_blank">Haoma drink</a>. But the ritual probably wasn't original to Mithraism either. In Egypt around 3100 BC, priests would consecrate cakes which were to become the flesh of the god Osiris and eaten.</p>Holy Days and Carnivals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc4MDM0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjIwNDU1N30.wU_6PRocoZKY63msF-07RuVgfAbQmNpJqk9AunwpMs4/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C202%2C0%2C202&height=700" id="d13d6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e82e5ad02156aa156fd726274050fb66" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1245" data-height="700" />Photo by Lívia Chauar / Unsplash
<p>The survival of ancient communities was intimately dependent upon the fertility of the land, so their religious symbolism and festivals reflected this fundamental bond between humans and the cycles of nature. A number of Catholic holidays and myths parallel the timeline and adopt the symbols of pre-Christian fertility festivals. In Catholicism, Jesus Christ is thought to have been born on December 25, Christmas Day. In pre-Christian Roman religions, the Winter Solstice was a core sacred event that took place on December 25 at the time of the Julian calendar. The best known custom was the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated similar to Christmas with drinking, fires, gift-giving, and tree worship. </p><p>Similarly, the Catholic Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras, is rooted in the pre-Christian Roman celebration of Lupercalia. A February holiday honoring the Roman god of fertility, its customs involved feasting, drinking, and "carnal behavior." Today, the same can be said of Mardi Gras, when Catholics (as well as non-Catholics) eat festival foods and party before abstaining for 40 days during Lent. </p><p>When it comes to Easter, celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, the symbolic story of the death of a god (or sun/son) and springtime rebirth is a tale as old as time. The spring equinox was recognized by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism" target="_blank">various pagan cults</a> as a festival marking the resurrection of light triumphing over darkness and the fresh fecundity of the land. One such festival was Eostre, which celebrated a northern goddess of the same name. Her symbol was the prolific hare representing fertility.</p><p>Speaking of goddesses...</p>Goddess Worship: The Virgin Mary and Saint Brigid
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc4MDMzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDAwMzY2OX0.XxCP-VNBsWx9O7sir9wIMJcUVsiFkvaRfa_GgyuIFJA/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C572%2C0%2C572&height=700" id="fccf3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a5969e079ce629e1171f8650ea3346a8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1245" data-height="700" />Photo by Grant Whitty / Unsplash
<p>Though theoretically monotheistic, the Catholic practice of praying to saints has been called "de-facto idolatry" and even a relic of goddess worship. Rebranded pagan goddesses can be found in the Catholic Church today in forms of Saint Brigid and the Virgin Mary. </p><p>Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ, is arguably the most important Catholic icon save for the Holy Trinity. She's likely the amalgamation of pre-Christian mother goddesses from antiquity whose ranks include Artemis, Demeter, Diana, Hera, Isis, and Venus. The cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis may have had a particularly strong influence on Christian myth. While historical records can not substantiate this entirely, there is <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/~sf2220/Thing/web-content/Pages/meg2.html" target="_blank">physical evidence</a> of statues of Isis cradling Horus that were converted and reused as the Virgin Mary holding Jesus. </p><p>Brigid, the beloved Celtic goddess associated with fertility and healing, is perhaps the clearest example of the survival of an early goddess into Catholicism. Practitioners, <a href="https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1223182697142607872" target="_blank">particularly in Ireland</a>, pay tribute to <a href="https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=453" target="_blank">Saint Brigid of Ireland</a> who shares many of the early goddess's attributes. Her feast day on the first of February falls around the same time as the pagan celebration of Imbolc.</p><p>The appropriation of these pagan practices and symbols by the Catholic Church shows how, as social interests change and new institutions are established, religious myths and practices are not so easily exterminated. Today, millions of Catholics eating the body and blood of their god, bowing their heads to feminine idols and celebrating natural cycles on the Liturgical Calendar are still worshiping in the ways of the ancient pagans.</p>These 10 countries are closest to achieving gender equality
Iceland has closed almost 88% of its gender gap and increased its lead over second-ranked Norway.
