From: pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey)
Subject: Re: The Serpent
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 01:46:48 GMT

In article <-1367554605snx@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au> 
gil@Gilsys.DIALix.oz.au (Gil Hardwick) writes:
>Just to comment on Chinese dragons, they are not always friendly at
>all. I do not think the friendly/dangerous frame of reference works
>very well. Chinese dragons are simply powerful, like the Aboriginal
>Waugal, the great rainbow serpent which so disturbs the waters and
>brings changes to the face of the land.

Serpents/Dragons/Snakes are powerful because of their ability to shed
their skin. Many moderns think this is stupid, but it is actually very
metaphoric, but thinking is required. The MAJOR cultural difference is
that in the West, one slays one's dragons, in the East, one worships
one's dragons. And that is a MAJOR cultural difference.

>This has some relevance to our
>other thread under "Witches and Death", and leads to some wondering
>about why the Western tradition sought to kill serpents.

Western culture is a warrior culture. Power is gained by having the
"balls" to kill one's opponents. If you are not part of the solution,
then you are part of the problem. Get it? You are either for or against
my tribe. If you are for, you'd better do what I say and respect my
killing instinct. If you are against, then I shall have to kill you or
at the least convert you to my cause. For a comparison, read about the
Japanese Shogun period, which was also a warrior period, but quite
different from Western history. Japanese culture is interesting because
it is an Eastern culture that has confronted the West and appears to be
"winning" or surviving would be a better word. It is no minor
achievement to preserve cultural face against the superior war
technology of the West. Most Westerners aren't aware that it was the
West that "started it". Admiral Perry sailed into Yokohama harbor in a
warship with a "treaty" for the locals to sign. And just to help them
with their decision, he had a display of the firepower of his warship.
Needless to say, the locals signed. What did they sign? They agreed that
the US could establish a port on Japan where US laws would apply and the
US would have access to free trade, (meaning local goods for below cost
or free) and the locals would pay to have the US run the port for them.
Such a deal eh?

>Why are Westerners so terrified of snakes still today, while Chinese
>use them for their medicinal and healing properties? Fundamentalist
>Christians here in Western Australia also quite openly discuss the
>need to enter China and there battle "The Serpent", while local people
>here have been holding bitter public demonstrations against building
>development on ancient sites sacred to the Waugal.
>The killing of snakes and dragons also parallels the oppression of
>pagan and indigenous societies throughout all the Western lands, and
>this symbolism I find utterly compelling . . .

Couldn't agree more. War makes a very poor metaphor for life. As
Nietzsche put it, don't cast out the devil in you for fear of losing your
best part. Make love with your self, not war. Turn the energy around. Do
the right thing.
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