Sacred & Profane

I am a scientist and used to defining the range of reality by “boundary conditions” or the “extremes” of reality. Thus on Planet Earth we have water-based Life based on mostly water-soluble metabolites and evolutionarily mutable macromolecules (big molecules) such as DNA, RNA and proteins. The “boundary conditions” for Life on Earth are 0 degrees Centigrade and 100 degrees Centigrade. Thus at  normal atmospheric pressure, at and below 0 degrees Centigrade water molecules are linked in a rigid, motionless  crystalline array (ice) by “hydrogen bonds” and Life is at best simply dormant. At and above 100 degrees Centigrade the weak hydrogen bonds are broken and water exists as a gas (steam) and water-based Life is impossible. Between these boundaries dynamic Life is possible.  Some organisms can maintain dynamic life at temperatures near the freezing point of water  through anti-freezing proteins; at the other end of the scale, thermophilic bacteria exist in volcanic hot springs at temperatures approaching the boiling point of water through the evolution of thermostable proteins that can resist “denaturation” (or irreversible, destructive unfolding) at such high temperatures. In between we have organisms with a range of “boundary conditions” for survival e.g. Man survives within very narrow temperature limits around 37 degrees Centigrade.

In our perceptions of Woman we have a range of views between the “boundary conditions” of the utterly pure and Sacred Virgin Mary and Immaculate Conception on the one hand (as portrayed in numerous iconic paintings surviving from about the 4th century AD onwards) and at the other extreme the profoundly offensive objectification of Woman as in “sex dolls” (allegedly first invented by the Nazis) and to varying degrees in much contemporary culture from Hollywood and Madison Avenue to hardcore pornography. In between we have the reality of the Woman who is always Sacred as a unique Human Being and because she bears, loves, nurtures and raises Children – but who is necessarily Profane (i.e. not Sacred) because She must be sexually interested and interesting (i.e. alluring) for conception to take place outside the laboratory.

This Sacred and Profane duality of Woman is associated with male and female behaviours that have evolved genetically (through the evolution of genes) and socially (through the passing on of acquired cultural behaviours or “memes” in the language of Richard Dawkins in his book “The Selfish Gene”). Thus the evolution of intelligence in Homo sapiens has meant the birth of infants when their developing head is small and the subsequent long-term commitment of the Mother to her enlarging, helpless Infant (see Timothy Taylor “The Prehistory of Sex”). The Female (through genes and memes) is intrinsically Monogamous because she needs the Father to help feed, protect and nurture the Infant. However from a “selfish gene” perspective, the Male has a more ambiguous position that tends to Polygamy – thus Polygamy spreads his genes more widely in terms of conception although Monogamy clearly promotes the survival of his offspring.