004

The word heretic has its etymology in Ancient Greek, hairetikos, which is to be “able to choose” and haireo “I choose”.  The Christian heretics saw Eve not as an evil sinner but a liberator from paradise and the illusion of perfection.  It is only outside of Eden that humans need to wrestle with morality, ethics, and society and realise our own humanity in the struggle of an imperfect world.  In our homogenised, globalised world that loves to remove complexity, to speak of care, diversity, and being our spontaneous, true selves is a form of heresy.  As Jane Ellen Harrison says—a classical scholar during Virgina Woolf’s time—‘To be a heretic today is almost a human obligation’.

Previous
Previous

005

Next
Next

003