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Chapter 10. Epilogue.

Jung, Wolfgang Pauli and Erwin Schröedinger saw common ground between depth psychology and particle physics, again spirit and matter being twin aspects of nature. We are now challenged by the fact that neuro-physiologists are coming to terms with manifestations of function of the highest neural centres; not located in them but reflected by their organisation of all other neural functions. Their name for this is 'biological intelligence' - nature as wisdom for survival, not nature subservient to ego-consciousness with its demands based on that post hoc rationalisation known as human reason, which at last is being removed from its self-appointed position at the pinnacle of evolution. Now at last we realise we must live in an intimate, even erotic relationship with nature within as well as around us. Nature is no longer our mother: our technology is too powerful for that. Can we match our culture with biological maturity, and have a true heiros gamos with this extraordinary and beautiful partner?

For five thousand years, an immensely powerful archetypal force of love and war has been sahiratu, wandering about with little recent recognition. Do we ignore her because we are too mother-bound, or do we finally accept that she, Nature, is part of our most immanent selves? She is not just nature in simplicito: she is nature transformed into culture. She represents the reality that we are.

"Eternal truth needs a human language that alters with the spirit of the times. The primordial images undergo ceaseless transformation, yet remain ever the same, but only in a new form can they be understood anew. Always they require a new interpretation if, as each formulation becomes obsolete, they are not to lose their spellbinding power over that fugax Mercurius and allow that useful though dangerous enemy to escape."92

Our Inanna-Ishtar is experienced in our way, in our own historical setting, and, provided we heed Neumann's warning, as a more internal entity. By virtue (?) of effective contraception, we are the first people to enjoy a true separation of sexuality and reproduction. One wonders what Inanna's priestesses and Gula-Ninisina's asu (medical practitioners) may have discovered and used for this purpose. Perhaps as more tablets are translated, we will be told.

War under the nuclear shadow is a totally different matter from battles where the heaviest weapon was a chariot. But perhaps war should not be avoided at all costs. Should wisdom prevail, and strict delineation of objectives is practised, threat of armed conflict will often elicit compliance from otherwise stubborn autocrats. Should the West have given in to Hitler or Hussein?

One thing has not changed. Boundaries still remain, both between and within us. And the most important boundary, by which all others can be crossed, is that between our ego-consciousness and the objective psyche, whether seen as within us or around us: for nature is both. She was a fully-fledged friend and mediatrix for our cultural forebears in the third millennium BCE. We still need her playfulness, inspiration, her power and integrity, but above all we still need the guidance of her wisdom as we enter our own third millennium.

"Shining light of heaven,
light of the world,
enlightener of all places where men dwell,
who gatherest together the hosts of the nations.
Goddess of men, divinity of women,
thy counsel passeth understanding."93

Istadevata is a Sanskrit word for the Patron Goddess of the Self, a name for the spiritual Shakti or individual guardian angel of the enlightened sage (and, as we now know, sagesse.)94

She has challenged, guided, guarded and stood by those who invoked her now for five thousand years. She is still our bridge to the Self, because she is part of that Self, who says in Splendor Solis,

"Attend and see me, if any shall find one like unto me,
I will give into his hand the morning star."95

NISABA BE PRAISED

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