Biblical Reality Hacking
Posted by Matt M. on January 20, 2008 at 10:11 AM
I really enjoy reading Grant Morrison. I can think of few writers who really grok the power of storytelling to change our reality like he does. I've learned a lot about the power of the written word from reading his comic books. What surprises me is when I come across those ideas in much older works, like the Bible.
Numbers 5:12-31 is about how husbands can force their wives to submit to an abortion if they merely suspect their wife has cheated on them. They go before a priest goes who has God curse some water before the wife drinks it. The cursed water causes her to miscarry and renders her barren if she cheated on him.
What fascinates me about this is the manner in which the priest creates the magic abortion potion.
The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering.
The priest is literally writing out what he wants to happen. Then the ink from those words is mixed with water that the wife is to drink. The written word has magical properties here. The priest is able to alter reality by writing a new story.
To further my point about the power of perception imagine a different story with the same facts. A woman is pregnant, but not by her husband. However, in this story she tells it as immaculate conception.
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"The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering."
Interesting find. I'm not that familiar with the Bible, but I am interested in the overlaps between practices of early Judaism and those of the Egyptian priest-class. This method of spell-making was cribbed from the latter, who used it not only for curses but for other types of magic.
So I happen to find your blog today and will happily add it to my google reader!
Now Matt, you know I can't let you get away with that. I actually was unfamiliar with the passage and happen to have a Bible at work with me.
While I do not understand the entire passage because I am unfamiliar with the customs - there is NO reference to the woman being pregant. It is speaks of if the husband suspects she is cheating. She is then brought to the priest who administers this drink as you outlined and if she is guilt her belly will swell, her thigh will rot and she will be barren. If not, then the husband owes her an apology. :)
Hey there! So I was looking for you on LinkedIn today and found you but due to some aggressive network building of my own in the past, I can't send you an email. Oh well. So, look for me if you want!
Meanwhile, this is an interesting verse to think about because of the parrallel in the New Testament where Jesus offers living water to a woman of questionable morality when he comes across her at the well. So you can quote if you like from the Old Testament but be aware that a lot of those sorts of indictments of human nature and sin have already been asked and answered!
Dude, I like what you're thinking until the last leap—it's a little too general to work in an exciting way. But try this, to go with the first part, about words being magic: "In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him."
That's how the New Testament book of John begins. Word. Word = Jesus. But he's called Word.
Your pal, Word-not-Jesus
excuse my ignorance but it reads like the ink could have been made from ingredients that could cause a menstrual cycle?
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