[Don’t be a] Ding Dong - I have bats in my belfry
In another post, I wrote about some dissonance. I made some mention about this weird paradox Milligan inserts into his writing about the use of animals as symbols for dream interpretation. Yes, I am a harpie - I’m harping on this turd of a rationalization. If we’re going to rationalize, I think we should create a better prize turkey in fantasy-land.
Basically, on one side of the environmental coin, Milligan admonishes that God’s pronouncement over creation made it good [130]. BUT, and it’s a gigantic “butt” in all its cheekiness, Milligan also states that God also MADE that gOoD creation to represent evil. I’m twitching again. It’s right there in my right eye. Do you see it? To make matters more interesting, Milligan reports, in God’s activity on this representative slide, that it’s the animal’s characteristics that are involved. You know, INHERENT to the animal.[1] TwIsTeD sErPeNt.
I feel so batty. That is why we’re going to chat about - BATS. Because while he speaks out of both sides of his deity [there is a pun here][2], I feel the need to point out that it blurs into his own language, assumptions, understandings, and yes, judgements about said creation - you know - that it is “good.” Nature deficit. If you don’t start from an intrinsic center that creation is good - which means dealing with cultural water, little fishy, you will end up finding where you’re rationalizations don’t line up like ducks in a row paddling along quacking.
After talking about birds in his animal chapter, he moves on to bats. He writes [emphasis mine]:
“Bats are different from birds in many respects [no kidding], yet they are similar in that they have only two legs and can fly. Like owls, they are creatures of the night. They’re also on Moses’ list of forbidden foods.
One species is called vampire bats because they drink blood. This, along with all their other faults, makes them a perfect symbol for witchcraft, and that is usually what they signify. There are a few more things they can represent, like near blindness, giving rise to the expression, ‘Blind as a bat.’ Bats usually portray something negative. In fact, it’s hard to imagine them being used any other way. But they have one redeeming trait — they invented radar (well almost, anyway). A bat uses sound as a type of radar to fly in complete darkness. This is comparable to discerning of spirits, one of the nine spiritual gifts given to the Church” [135].
Discernment, briefly, isn’t about flying in complete darkness but in a lot of light. It really is - discernment is an enlightenment capacity - it’s revelatory. It’s simply an assumption on the part of the New Testament that the entire world is dark. Those texts don’t speak of the entire world, only their entire world. If they knew history and anthropology a little better, not to mention possibly having an awareness of the entire continent of the America’s, maybe it wouldn’t be so dark. But let’s face it, these writers where living as a subjugated people. That can get pretty dark. That’s normal. Light and dark only work for humans because that’s the way our world experience works. It’s just projection on the part of Milligan who clearly has no real decent respect or understanding of the natural world.
Milligan starts with vampire bats because they drink blood. I’m sure the cultural association in the US with humanoid creatures that drink the blood of their victims is at work here. The witchcraft assumption is entirely cultural and fear based. He carries it forward to the dictionary definition. It looks like this in his book:
BAT - Witchcraft: (Note: A bat is a creature of the night.) Flighty; unstable; fear (as in “She’s deathly afraid of bats”) [188].
I guess, a bat represents witchcraft because it’s a creature of the night. Right. Witchcraft is never done during daytime hours, it’s that nefarious and spooky spooky. Milligan needs to talk to some practicing witches. They practice witchcraft during daylight hours. I mean, how medieval paranoid can you get? He then describes bats representing being “flighty” or unstable. Both those words, by the way, are like synonyms of each other. Unstable is embedded in the very life breath of “flighty.” None of these are based on inherent character but given the absolute lameness of this entry, it’s easy to see why Milligan made no effort creating the symbol meaning. All their faults, nightness, and such are simply witchcraft. And the fear entry, oy vey! And that bible citation! Leviticus 11.13a, 19b? Where are my Rolaids!
No where does the bible actually speak about vampire bats. Like I’ve said repeatedly, when you’re grabbing the bible for dream interpretation - because Milligan has made it clear it’s a source [while he doesn’t use it real well] - is you need to understand the flora and fauna of the geographic region. So, while he’s yammering about the Law of Moses, we need to talk about bats in the bible first. And the Law of Moses bible citation is completely useless here unless you want to point out they are inedible. News flash, Milligan doesn’t in the actual entry. Let’s be biblical after all! [I am now rolling my eyes!].
Geographically speaking, bats in the region are insect and fruit consumers. Vampire bats are 3 species native to Latin America.[3] An ancient Israelite would be fantastically clueless about blood drinking bats. In fact, so would most Americans unless one traveled there or read it some place. Treating God’s creation with disdain should be considered a sin in my book, even if it isn’t holy. Once again, Milligan dances around his own bible approach. In fact, deriving a biblical concept from the bible would be pretty hard. He’s forced to go elsewhere, and that “elsewhere” is his fevered imagination.
It’s incredibly convenient Milligan runs around being batty [you know, flighty] and associating this precious creature with witchcraft. Bats, black cats, and lurid women all go together in this culture both in the present, and even more extremely so in the historical past. It’s really sexism deeply embedded in a system of symbols. Water, little fishy, is something fishiy’s don’t see until they learn to see it. Individualism blinds people in the USA to structural and systemic realities they don’t want to acknowledge or face. It’s cherry-picked of course as they gripe about moral decline at the collective level. Since Milligan slides into all bats and clearly demonstrates that the reason why bats usually portray something negative, is because he’s literally an ignorant idiot that didn’t bother to honor his God’s creation from the first type on that white screen of authorship. Really, if you’re going to do this, can’t you even follow your own theology and do your own homework about that creation? I wonder if Milligan actually knows that to take God’s name in vain isn’t just saying the sacred name, but is also living against that name - you know - what he calls WITCHCRAFT? If he believed creation was actually good, it would outweigh the evil representations that are literally littered through the entire animal section.
Remember - according to Milligan - Bats are good in and of themselves, like owls, they are good [130] but now - NOW - they have “faults.” What? Inherently bats are good - in and of themselves is INHERENT - but yet they have inherent faults he dislikes? Yeah. See why I have Rolaids yet? Is there any connection to the reality that humans are forbidden to drink blood and thus might find that well - awful and fault-like in another species over there that is granted that permission? Bats are not the only being that has a startling relationship to blood as way of life. Just sayin. And this fear of vampire bats gets generalized by fearful humans.
Milligan doesn’t bother to really share what the “other faults” are when it comes to bats. I could surmise a few, namely they are not edible under the laws in the bible [scandalous! Is that even their fault?] and they are “creatures of the night” [oh my gawd!]. What about being nocturnal makes one evil is beyond me, other than persistent human fears of being afraid of the dark. Since the dark is evil, nighttime creatures are literally associated with the metaphor of night. What wicked things come under the cover of darkness? People hurt each other in broad daylight. This is childish. Why perpetuate it?
Dark, night time, and spooky are all about bats and witchcraft. Women, brooms, black cats, sex with Satan, and bats are all about this bullshit. It’s culture. These associations by the way, tend to get people and bats alike killed - historically. Once again, why perpetuate such things under the disguise that humans have a two-way deity that thinks humans separate this shit out? For the record, human’s historically do not. We tend to kill what we fear at this point of our evolutionary reality. And Milligan here, with his double speak is a perfect illustration.
So, since this human can’t imagine bats representing anything other than something negative, let me help this ding bat out. Do you have some mosquito repellent [another blood sucker]? Good. Cause you’re gonna thank me in a minute.
In today’s more connected world, we can find out about outrageous animals that offend our senses. Believe me, they’re out there. Nature is quite the diverse specter of some eating and surviving. Hence, we can find out about vampire bats. And, it’s here I’m going to start because this dissonance that Milligan invents for his dream book is literally dangerous to the animals involved. Humans have to work harder to keep things straight and given the fact that feared animals are more likely to show up in fearful ways in dream interpretation as the root of culture and not the divine, this could be an environmental disaster….did I mention it is kinda already?
BATS in Nature
First, only three species out of something like 1400 species of bats lap blood. Like I said already, all of these bat blood lapers are found in Latin America. That means, when the bible talks about “flying things” [they are not like birds - they are the only mammal that flies in the truest since of sustained flight!] it isn’t talking about vampire bats. It’s talking about bats that are native to the region. The vast majority of bats eat either fruit or insects. Sigh. Back to our regularly schedule bat station.
According to websites like Bats International, vampire bats don’t drink or suck blood. They lap it. In fact, their saliva has a powerful anti-coagulant that keeps the blood flowing. Medical curiosity has used that enzyme to create medicine to prevent strokes in humans because their inherent trait is so bat-ass. SURPRISE Mr. Milligan you purveyor of utter fucking nonsense and fear! There are more amazing things about these bats that I won’t go into here [but later] to help Milligan suck eggs on his ignorance.
Perhaps the most troubling assessment for the species is Milligan’s need for sensationalism. Of course vampire bats are perfect for spooky spooky witchcraft. Here is the thing, even his basic understanding of bats is horribly limited, outdated, and lacking in any nuance. My thing is, if you’re going to try and help people, don’t you want to at least have some understanding of the four sections you talk about with symbol meaning enough to demonstrate them in your entries? Apparently not.
The one, ONE, redeemable trait of echolocation fits with his dystopian world of discerning of spirits in the Church as a spiritual gift. I get it. Bats for me have represented intuition because of their ability to navigate so mysteriously.[4] There are still problems when nature is used through an existence of nature deficit syndrome.
Bats navigate differently which makes them very versatile. They experience the world differently. If you need to see, little fishy, the androcentric nonsense here, humans are visually based in a particular way. We see with our eye balls and we’re pretty good about it. It’s a big feature of being human so when we run into another creature that operates differently, we oft poo-poo it as inferior. Well, that is until we find some use for it like Milligan does - radar. By the way, sonar was invented in 1490 by a human. There are plenty of creatures that use echolocation to find their way around. In many a bat’s case - they scream and it bounces back at them - we can’t hear it since our ears are not geared for that kind of frequency. If you want to get a feel for it - here is a video from Youtube by the Smithson Channel just for you little fishy. Obviously, they are not the only beings that operate in like manner in this world of sensory options.
This comparing of sensory world differences is like comparing apples to oranges. They are both round, grow on trees, but they are not identical. Their navigation is simply different. Also, Milligan speaks in a general but ignorant sense. While bats have eyes, the way they operate varies from species to species [Bat’s International]. It’s a myth they are blind [Bats International and the US Geological Survey]. It has nothing to do with inherent character - once again - but with how humans see and understand bats. The Indian Flying Fox, for instance, doesn’t use echolocation at all. Yeah, right there. They hunt by sight [Wikipedia here or here from Bats International].
As far as being a night creature - I wonder if it every occurred to Milligan that what bats eat may be out at night? I mean really. it isn’t something nefarious. There is a whole world of night out there that we don’t operate in as basically a typically day species that sleeps at night. And for the record, there is some evidence showing up that bats may be more diurnal than previously believed [Quartz Mountain].
As far as the worthiness of the species that Milligan can’t fathom preferring to associate bats in general with evil and witchcraft, let me enlighten you and him little fishy. Let’s not be ding bats anymore!
Where I live it is literally a $50,000 fine to kill a bat! WHY? Because bats are insect eaters, pollinators, and seed spreaders. It’s reported that bats are more efficient than birds for reforesting projects because of the distances they fly. Additionally, the US Geological Survey points out the work of bats as pollinators and insect eaters is in the billions for the agricultural sector. But noooo, all their faults and uselessness! Good grief, get informed! There would be no tequila without bats. Some species like the Baobab tree grow fruit for BATS! Yes - don’t be a bat hat! Oh what - be a bat hat because it’s AWESOME! Bats are uber important for many ecological systems, many of which directly benefit humans. This is what happens when you take what you think is a fearful and sensational species of bat and than generalize it into oblivion. This is not good! This is defamation and slander of creation! That creation brings Yahweh glory! Let the bells ring and the bats fly!
Lastly, it is beliefs like Milligan’s, who end up promoting and reinforcing both fear and ignorance in meaning making, that harms the environment. Bats international reports that bats, in general, are persecuted in Latin America because people think all bats are vampire bats. But wait, we can just tell them God said creation is good but just represents evil - because really, that makes it all better? It’s the stories and meaning we make. We have a lot of implicit assumptions that guide our behavior. Is it a coincidence that people fear bats, the night, and the devil and then subsequently make bats part of the devil and the fear of witchcraft? I mean really. Fairy tales are for children - not adults. Didn’t Paul tell his readers to put away “childish things”? YES! Let’s be biblical! [hysterical laughter]
What I’m trying to say is the source of animals representing evil is often more associated with human fear and repulsion that is then projected on to animal behavior and then associated with human morality. It isn’t the divine running around in cognitive dissonance. It’s humans. This comes from, for me, an exploitative cultural use of animals in terms of meaning making and is rooted in anthropomorphic and androcentric thinking. It’s nature deficit syndrome on a lot of levels. It’s the tWiStEd sErPeNt in aCtIoN. We take from nature what we admire and are repulsed by and use that to glorify or condemn others and ourselves. We share traits with species - obviously - but too many humans think they are not animals but something else entirely. SO, when we start calling humans beasts or animals, it’s a nature association linked to what many humans believe is a inferior reality - primitive, barbaric, and uncivilized. My gawd, they drink blood after all! And there ARE some VERY disturbing animals relationships out there!
When Milligan runs around equating animals with representational evil and that the divine created parts of his creation to represent that evil through their inherent character - he’s double speaking. Their inherent character can’t be good if at the same time it represents evil. That only works in the abstract and up against what I said about animals acquiring meaning in certain ways that suit humans. It says something about ourselves, not about the divine or the flora and fauna involved.
Lastly, bats or species like them that fly around the world with these ways of being, do not represent spiritual discernment. While spiritual discernment certainly exists with sensory capacity, it’s a type of multi-faceted revelation and communication that has absolutely nothing to do with echolocation or “radar” unless you want to run around claiming humans are screaming into the environment and getting a ping back. Once again, this is human projection and metaphor equivalency. We take what we know about a species and run with it. But if Milligan is going to do that with bats, why not certain types of shrews, dolphins, and any other animal that sees the world in this manner? Why not animals that trace the earth’s electromagnetic fields for navigation? That’s guidance which fits more with discernment [a form of guidance]. There is nothing about bats to link them to witchcraft other than the literal childishness of human beings.
This is how Milligan perceives bats. Seeing them as inedible is one thing, seeing them as having faults while claiming they are good is a whole other level of duplicity that impacts an entire species that leads to their extermination. In fact, it’s our fear that becomes our symbol meaning. We just make our fear sacred through the use of symbols and shove it down the throat of the creator.
And this, ladies and bats, is why I feel batty whenever I read this book. Please, if an animal shows up in your dreams, give it some space as a living being. Go find out about its inherent character and life and pray about it in the context of your dream. You might just find out something beautiful about the world and something wondrous about your dream. And best of all, you don’t have to despoil the natural world doing it.
Notations
[1] I have to be honest here, Yahweh uses a lot of violent and belligerent imagery. It not only destroys its own creation, he also appears to mock what he made. So much for it being “good” if you ask me. It truly is a sort of ambivalence. That ambivalence certainly allows for ideas like Milligan’s that for other people would probably cause some dissonance.
[2] His deity - yeah interpretation is wonderful. On the literal side - I mean Yahweh - his deity in Jesus form. In the pun land, I mean his own godness…you know, his ego that is his own god construct. Or, in more polite company, his knowledge of good and evil and given Christians admit to their own depravity, it’s pretty batty out there.
[3] Okay, okay, they have been seen in the extreme southwest Texas and it was literally one vampire bat.
[4] I’m moving away from this by the way, in favor of symbol meaning that is honoring of the species. This is why I’m tossing Milligan into the trash can. I too, am a ding bat, flighty, and batty. I am interested in water fishy - those pesky constructs. Deconstruction what’s your function! Reconstruction it said!
Bibliography
“Are Bats Blind? .” Are Bats Blind? | U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, www.usgs.gov/faqs/are-bats-blind. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
Attenborough , David. “Here’s What Bat Echolocation Sounds Like, Slowed Down.” YouTube, The Smithsonian Channel, 8 Apr. 2016, youtu.be/qJOloliWvB8?si=Fm01s16gEDFBmauy.
Brokaw, Alyson. “Blind as a Bat? No Such Thing.” Bat Conservation International, 14 June 2024, www.batcon.org/blind-as-a-bat-no-such-thing/.
“Do Vampire Bats Really Exist?” Do Vampire Bats Really Exist? | U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, www.usgs.gov/faqs/do-vampire-bats-really-exist. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
“Indian Flying Fox.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Dec. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_flying_fox.
“Sonar.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_flying_fox
Velez, Guilia. “Understanding the Daytime Habits of Bats.” Quartz Mountain, 11 June 2024, https://quartzmountain.org/article/does-bat-travels-during-the-day. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
“Why Are Bats Important?” Why Are Bats Important? | U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, www.usgs.gov/faqs/why-are-bats-important. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.