I had coffee this morning with a young colleague; a woman who is truly brilliant; an “out-of-the-box” genius-level thinker, and who is also the mother of a very active son. I showed her the proof copy of Unveiling.
“Weren’t you scared to write this?” she asked. “After all, you’re saying everything in this book.”
“Yes,” I told her. I was scared, and I still am. I wrote and rewrote, figuring that I was going to be ostracized by the scientific community forever. “The only solution,” I told her, “was that I had to go big and bold. I couldn’t hold back.”
I came home, and after a bit, went down to the “Diva Den” to watch a movie and stretch out. It turns out that Agora, the story of Hypatia of Alexandria, was on. I nearly wept as I watched it, already knowing Hypatia’s story.
She was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer. And she was murdered by a mob of Christian monks, who stripped her naked, skinned her alive with potshards, dragged her body through the streets, and finally burned her. (Accounts vary as to whether or not she was burned alive.)
Hypatia was brutally murdered not just because she was an intellectual leader and an abstract philosopher, and not just because she didn’t convert to Christianity, but because she was a woman.
Yes, it is very scary for all of us women to reclaim our inherent wholeness, and with this, our intrinsic power.
From Unveiling: The Inner Journey, Chapter 9, “A Real Woman’s Path – Really Does Exist” (p. 128):
It is not that we expect to be burned at the stake for taking time for our inner selves. However, history is replete with examples of women who have been burned at the stake, for crimes ranging from knowing their own sexuality, to spending time with animals, to having healing wisdom and knowledge of herbs.
The famous Venetian “honored courtesan” Veronica Franco was persecuted by the Inquisition. Although she survived, the experience broke her spirit (and ruined her financially), and she left Venetian society. She died in poverty some ten years later.
The Miletan philosopher Aspasia was renowned for her intellectual leadership as well. She influenced Socrates and other leading thinkers of her time. She was put on trial for “impiety.”
One crucial thesis of Unveiling is that Oriental dance is a women’s body/mind/psyche/energy integration pathway. And since our dance form is intrinsically sensual, we are denigrated for practicing it. If we were doing karate, we’d be respected. That is, if we did a martial art, we would get respect; if we do a “Venusian art,” we are trivialized.
And yes, I’m coming out with a book that puts all of who I am on the line. My scientific identity and my “dance” persona; my research into esoteric practices and my latest “discoveries.” All in one big (544, but easy-to-read) volume.
And yes, I’m scared.
Your thoughts? Your comments?