A bit of left-handed history, of cursed geniuses ... 3

02/05/2018

III HOW WAS THE LEFT BEING TRANSFORMED FROM A SYMPTOM OF MENTAL AND MORAL DEFICIENCY TO A SIGN OF CREATIVITY AND MENTAL STRENGTH?
As Christianity spread, the traits given to the left side would change in correspondence with their own foundational myths. From the Zohar, a fundamental text of Jewish mysticism, the Judeo-Christian religions attributed the left to femininity and inferiority, as Eve appeared and developed from the left side of Adam.
Beyond weakness, Christianity also associated the left with immorality. In trying to explain the genesis of the association of the left with evil, many historians point to a passage in the Gospel of Matthew 25: 31-46. Write that the last Judgment Day:
"It will separate all nations from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left ... Then the king will say to those on his right: Come, blessed of my father, will inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ... Then he will also say to the that are on the left, depart from me, cursed, go to eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. "
Similar norms - right, good; left, bad- appear in Jewish writings. In understanding human nature, the Old Testament writes that human beings have two impulses, called "yetzer". Yetzer tov, an inclination towards good, appears to the right. Yetzer ra, an inclination towards evil, appears on the left.
Given the authoritative "truth" of religion at that time, it should not surprise us so much that these associations produced some very painful consequences for the populations whose affairs governed religion.