by Abdel-Masih Wazir 
(Note: This is discussion and lecture material from 1996… in Swedish, English and Arabic.)
(Alternative link: http://abboudiwazir.lege.net/From_Mesopotamia_to_tomorrow__and_the_day_after.html)
A précis. The Inanna principle: From the goddess Inanna To the Internet and beyond
1. Inanna. (The enlightened pre Old Testament age in Mesopotamia where love and free knowledge were hailed) see the (Me) concept. 2. Tiamat. the counter myth, the downfall.
3. The “Inanna principle” (IP) A positive ratio of time to development, mental etc. the missing developmental link?! How far behind are we medically, technically, civilization-wise?
4. Genesis! A step backwards? Similarity between the New Testament and pre Old Testament Mesopotamia… Seeking. Love. Don’t judge. Equality. People are it?!…
5. the Greeks, an obstacle for human thinking. Socrates argumentation, Plato’s absolutism, Aristotle’s definitions. 6. In hoc signo vincis. Kaiser Konstantinus (In this sign shall ye conquer).
7. From cuneiform to cyberspace- an egalitarian meeting place…
8. Not to repeat the historical mistake of choking off information flow for people, but to allow the understanding of the old Mesopotamian myths to guide us (in) to the future.
9. Is the Inanna Principle, concept and history, beyond nowadays Mesopotamians? And if so, why? Ps. I am a Mesopotamian. Have we lost our ancestors capacity to think big?!
10. Are Europeans/westerners better suited to understand and develop IP?! Or…?
11. The cardinal faults staying power & its ensuing loop.
12. What stands in the way of understanding? 1- Old habits. 2- Commitment through oath to Old testament like thinking. 3- Beneficiares of the statuesque. 4- Cultural racism, envy. etc…
13. They say that one of modern humanity’s greatest losses is the late start of archaeology in Mesopotamia. And what Iraq’s “Tells” revealed of pre biblical treasures of knowledge. The Ottomans were not concerned with archaeology. Considering “holes” were to be dug for reasons of necessity i.e. water etc. The “Turkmen” were/are not from Mesopotamia…
14. IP=Inanna Principle, Intelligence Prerequisite, Intelligence Promoter? ingenuity advertiser?
15. Are we a civilization manqué? To be what we could have been?! Were we want to be more that what we are?! How many more medical mysteries could have been solved by now?! How many diseases cured?! Are we in a hurry to evolve? need we evolve?!
INANNA and the god of wisdom
The myth of the goddess Inanna is about 5,500 years old. The name and symbol are connected to the Sumerians but probably originated from a pre-Sumerian people, Ubaid. Ubaid settled southern Mesopotamia (now called Iraq) before the Sumerians. The basic theme of the myth is that the goddess Inanna, after affirming her sexuality, visited and tricked her grandfather, the god of knowledge Enki, into giving her the essence of civilization called me (pronounced may). These me, of which godship is one, she gives to the common people to steward and explore. The effect of giving man these me meant that he could become god if he desired but he had to take the good with the bad, the me of the joy of life as well as the me of war [c.f the Standard of Ur, now at the British Museum].
This idea of releasing secrets and knowledge was probably the fundament for the development of Mesopotamian society and its creation of the tools of civilization; the wheel, writing, mathematics, Law etc. When the goddess’ power declined, so did the idea of the free sharing of knowledge; the de-mystification of knowledge was reversed.
The Inanna Principle (IP), (a term I coined) is a concept that will lead from neuroses to realism in dealing with the uncertainty of the future. Technology now allows us to realize the ancient dream of achieving a universal information matrix which will embrace all.
Enuma Elish-TIAMAT; the primordial mother, “she who gave birth to all”. She is the essence of salt water, of Primeval Chaos. Her husband, the god Apsu (of fresh water), wanted to silence the younger gods who were disturbing the older gods with their racket. She would not lend her support to forcefully quiet these creative younger gods who were disturbing the sleep of the older ones. She was not against the tide of change in the world of the gods. Reacting as a protective mother to her husband she complains: “What, should we destroy what we have given birth to? Their ways indeed are most troublesome but let us be patient” (A-M Wazir: more than tolerant of their chaos, saw good in it, creativity?!)
- The first?! negative milestone in development/thinking?!: Enuma Elish, which means `When in high’, known as the Babylonian Myth of Creation. At the same time a step backwards for free thought took place about a thousand years later. The myth introduces the god Mardokh as the representative of the male gods. The young gods were full of enthusiasm and life and noisy. The goddess Tiamat understood the young gods and thoght that they should be tolerated and left alone. Tiamat is then accused by Mardokh of illegally exercising her authority, which led to Tiamat becoming angry. This was used by Mardokh as `casus belli’, and the ensuing fight led to the slaughter of Tiamat and of her body which was used to create Heaven and the Earth. Her eyes became the sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers (The Arabic word Ein, meaning the source of a river, a spring or an eye). Thus a patriarchal hierarchy of the gods was introduced and the control of chaos and the power over creation, was once again in the domain of the Gods.
- Genesis, and the tree of knowledge - The loss of two thousand years of human intellectual development?! – The other milestone, (millstone). The curse that befell woman and man because of their curiosity and their seeking of knowledge which the God of the Old Testament forbade. Here God is the opposite of Inanna, he limits access to knowledge and curses Adam and Eve for eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. [Footnote: The Sumerian fruit of knowledge was the date fruit. Incidentally, the word `apple´does not appear in Genesis.] Thrown out of Eden, Woman shall give birth in pain, enmity between the offspring of women and serpents… and upon us the original sin. This idea was then carried on into Christianity And Islam. This milestone together with Tiamat have led to us being a civilization manqué?!
- *Note! At the age of fifteen, as a member of a protestant family I was expected to be confirmed, just like both my brothers, but I refused, to the dismay of my mother, when my father the then ret. Br. gen. Annis Wazir, a conservative protestant explained genesis for me. Humans punished for an act of seeking knowledge and sharing/love?! The new testament message was all right by me. Since my father died I became almost like an orphan in my family, one loses rights cause of ones differing stance on accepted and expected religious traditions… *(My name means the worshiper of the Messiah.)…
- Do we need a new Mesopotamia? What was it my ancestors had which we lack? Creation of the tools of civilization! and science? Ca 10,000 BC Agriculture the Wheel. Sail. Writing. Mathematic. Geometry, IM. 55357 c. 18000 B.C. while Euclid about 325-265 BC) Abstraction. Law and its effect on freedom of thought! (Eshnuna 2200 BC, i.e. even before Hammurabi’s code) and the advance Mythology etc no ceiling on/for creativity or thinking, however after the introduction of the monotheistic biblical religions there has been a roof/a cap put on top of the movement of intellect, and hey presto lysenkoism is true, possible! See Mesopotamian mythology; the goddess Inanna offering humanity even God ship as one of about a hundred different Me, (…essence of life) i.e. no intellectual/spiritual limitation. Versus the Egyptian/pharaoh Maat and the biblical Ma’al (God’s realm), are beyond man!… Note! – Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash) Chapter 56, page 395: “The me were little programs for humans.” (A-M Wazir) And Gods!
- The actualisation of the messiah?! through a goddess, a “woman God” myth and human thinking?! man is the salvation of man as is humanity to humanity?!
- Can we take the Responsibility? Man > knowledge > evolution > ? God?!
Genesis: Ideology of censorship? you humans may not have knowledge, while, unfortunately, late archaeology in Iraq/Mesopotamia show that the creation of civilization had a different mythology. A free striving for knowledge and a love and sexuality based one. Recognition and acceptance of man’s and life’s both sides. See the two-sided Standard of Ur at the British Museum.
- Book recommendation. INANNA, queen of heaven and earth By Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer.
From homo sapiens to homo cyberius to Homo Cyberius Nomadus… – (in case of cyberius interruptus) Freedom a must or a demand?! Have we reached the stage in our development where our intellectual capacity could exceed our evolution?!
Abdel-Masih Wazir
Stockholm
1996
