Vicki Noble at the Conference

  Back from the Goddess Spirit Rising Conference in Los Angeles, inspired, and with so much to think about.  I was able to find a speech, from the 2009 Motherworld Conference in Toronto,  very similar to the speech Vicki Noble gave this weekend  on UTube, and take the liberty of sharing it here. Listening once more to Vicki,  Mirrium Dexter and Joan Marler, all former students and colleagues of Marija Gimbutas and teachers at the Institute of Archaeomythology, I was renewed in my understanding of the importance of the radical paradigm shift their work represents.  I was especially fascinated with the way Vicki wove the work of Dr. Shelly E. Taylor into her talk.  Dr. Taylor wrote   The Tending Instinct:  Women, Men and the Biology of Our Relationships  which skillfully re-examines the biological basis of human relational identity:

For generations, scientists have taught us about the fight or flight response to stress. But is this instinct universal? Renowned psychologist Shelley E. Taylor points out that fight or flight may only be part of the story. Humans - particularly females - are hardwired to respond to stress differently. As Taylor deftly notes in this eye opening work, the tend-and-befriend response is among the most vital ingredients of human social life.
Drawing from biology, evolutionary psychology, physiology, and neuroscience, Taylor examines the biological imperative that drives women to seek each others company, and to tend to the young and inform, bestowing great benefits to the group, but often at great cost to themselves. This tending process begins virtually at the moment of conception, and crafts the biology of offspring through genes that rely on caregiving for their expression.

 http://youtu.be/-EisR17foaQ

http://youtu.be/S3Oc77ZTqXI

 

 http://youtu.be/jW_Vlse2HJw