Why do we not apply "A Rock, A Tree, A Cloud" to our lives? It seems like such a simple concept. Love the small things, understand love, that is to be love, and to love something in return, before moving to the complicated.
As humans we do not function this way. From the time that we are born we are constantly told that we are loved by our parents and our relatives. So we naturally try to be at that level of loving right at the beginning of our creation. And it is no wonder that we are confused by love for the rest of our existence.
We search to find something that completes us, but we do not understand the complete selflessness of love. If we were able to understand how simple love truly is perhaps we would be better off, because we would finally not worry about all the bumps along the way that occur when you love someone.
Now if we try to love a rock for example it may be harder than we first though because we have to work backwards. We overlook the rock, because it isn't "living" and if we treat it this way then we treat it as inconsequential.
However, how often do we say, "I love that song" "I love lamp" (for you Will Feral people) these things are all simple, but they are just turns of phrase and mean little to us in the end. Perhaps when we really do begin to love what someone else has created rather than what we our selves have created, then we can grow as human beings.
Friday, February 27, 2009
February 25 Class Notes
Sorry how late these are!
Story Tellers in Symposium:
Story Tellers in Symposium:
- Apollodorus/Aristodenus
- Pheadrus
- pansanius
- Eryximadus
- Arisophanes
- Agathon
- Socrates (Says his story is really Diotima's who is really a woman)
- Alcibiedes
This was the mother of all bull sessions, and happens to be a secular version of "The Last Supper" where Jesus and his Disiples had supper before Jesus was killed
Socrates claims that Diotima said he was stupid and she wanted to educate him, and that is the story that he tells, the story that she told him.
Plato is more of an artist rather than a philosopher, because the story is five times removed, and makes us wonder about the stories factuality.
"A Rock, A Tree, A Cloud" is about the beauty withing, Soul vs. Surface. , which helps to explain why Acibiedes loves Socrates, because even though he is a gross looking old man, his mind, and his soul, are beautiful and and attractive. such as the Elephant Man
Anamnesis-
- Plato's theory that you right now know everything there is to know, however you just forgot it
- literally translated means "recollection"
- to greek's the worst flaw was to be ignorant
Stadial
- done in stages, like your education, and an example is the ladder
"The Man Who Fell to Earth"
- Was supposed to get water for his sick family
- Is distracted by the television, and forgets his purpose
- cautionary
- Link to Movie
Nosticism
- knowledge or religion
- world is a distraction
- it temptes us towards the vulgar
- we have a spark of knowledge and it glows everytime we find and follow our lifes purpose
"A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud,"
- Must love something small before you canmove up
- We start at the wrong end of love, with the climax
- Always say "Remeber This" ex Dido's Lament
Everything you do in life should be in remembrance of something
Our Birth is a Rmembering and Forgetting
Whenever we see something beautiful our shoulder blades itch, this is because we are remembering when we were able to fly around on wings of desire
Two loves:
- Phil, so a philosopher is a lover of wisdom
- Eros
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
the Symposium's interest
As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs about the Symposium, I said my favorite passage was the one describing why we fall in love with someone else; we were once connected to them. To me this is so beautiful, and it answers the question of our need for love. Love is a part of who we are and we need it to feel complete.
Needing someone is not being week, instead it is just being who we were meant to be. We were supposed to be paired with another individual. Someone out there someone is our other half, our better half even. The love we hold in our hearts for that other person is an amazing. Perhaps that burning sensation we feel in the region of our heart when we think of that significant other is nothing more that our body remembering what it was like to be joined together as we were intended to be.
Maybe that is why we are so facinated with sex. It is like that is our only real way of knowing of our partner is our other half. It is the closest way we can get to being physically sealed together with another person. Sex is used as a tool, a recognization tool, in the hopes that if the sex is good enough we will have found our other half. Granted not everyone uses sex this way, some abstain from sex, and others are completly promiscueous and don't feel the need for anything more that a physical connection. However, are these same people hoping to fill the void that they have for someone who is their other half?
Perhaps this is also why we fall in love with our friends so often. We are compatable with them, thats why they are our friends. But maybe we also secretly hope that we can form a romantic relationship with some of our friends, because possible, hopefully even, they could be the one person on this earth that was meant for us and for us alone.
Needing someone is not being week, instead it is just being who we were meant to be. We were supposed to be paired with another individual. Someone out there someone is our other half, our better half even. The love we hold in our hearts for that other person is an amazing. Perhaps that burning sensation we feel in the region of our heart when we think of that significant other is nothing more that our body remembering what it was like to be joined together as we were intended to be.
Maybe that is why we are so facinated with sex. It is like that is our only real way of knowing of our partner is our other half. It is the closest way we can get to being physically sealed together with another person. Sex is used as a tool, a recognization tool, in the hopes that if the sex is good enough we will have found our other half. Granted not everyone uses sex this way, some abstain from sex, and others are completly promiscueous and don't feel the need for anything more that a physical connection. However, are these same people hoping to fill the void that they have for someone who is their other half?
Perhaps this is also why we fall in love with our friends so often. We are compatable with them, thats why they are our friends. But maybe we also secretly hope that we can form a romantic relationship with some of our friends, because possible, hopefully even, they could be the one person on this earth that was meant for us and for us alone.
February 23 Class Notes
Read Deborah's Blog, Find information on symposium
Find something interesting about the symposium
Read two short stories:
Find something interesting about the symposium
Read two short stories:
- Carson McCuller's " A Tree, Rock Cloud"
- Raymond Carver "What do we talk about, when we talk about love"
Polis:
- The city where you live,
- political attachments were very important in the ancient world
Depending on how the class does as a whole, on the test, he will either give extra credit or take away points on the essay questions.
Where are you going, Where have you been
- Joyce Carol Loyse
- guy @ Mall comes up to a young girls gazing at herself in the mirror, and says he knows she has been waiting for him. He later shows up at her house
- an example of Persephone's abduction
Symposium
- drinking party
- conversations, popular topic: LOVE
- imitating Plato's symposium
- a 2nd or 3rd hand story
- they take homosexual love for granted, considering it to be more divine than the common love between men and women
Love?
The Symposium, tries to explain just exactly what love is, and why we love. In our everyday lives it is difficult to figure out, and put an exact definition to what love adds up to. Is it friends, is it family, is that one person that you burn for? Personally It is D) all of the above.
The love for ones family is like a warm blanket, one that will always be there for you. When you truly know you are loved by your family you know that nothing is strong enough to break the bond that you share with them, nothing and no one can come between you. Even when you are terrified to call home because something has gone wrong in your life, you know that they will still help you anyway that they can.
The love of a friend is completely different. Friends seem to understand you as no one else can. They see into who you are and can help you through the toughest of times. But at the same time a friends love can feel fleeting. How often do best friends fight and quit speaking to one another. Most times one spends their time wondering if they made the wrong step, and sometimes are afraid to be honest with their friends because they are afraid to lose them. The love of a friend is so diverse it is almost impossible to put an exact lable on it. It is ever changing.
Oh the love of another person, someone who is your other half who completes your makes you feel passion like none other is the best love of all. The slow consuming burn for another individual is perfectly explained in the Symposium. The need to find your other half is because we were once two people together. This idea shows our need for completion and the need that we feel to find it in another human being. The love of another in a sexual connotation, is shown by the blush of our cheeks, and the stutter on our lips, it makes us feel awkward, and helpless. At the same time empowered and driven because we are consumed with the love of another.
All of these combined explain love to me. Fore love cannot be just one entity, it must be all three. They all exist together, and help to make us human. Without love of anykind we would be cold, without feeling, and empty as a race. The love we have and how we care for it define who we are and in the end make us better people.
The love for ones family is like a warm blanket, one that will always be there for you. When you truly know you are loved by your family you know that nothing is strong enough to break the bond that you share with them, nothing and no one can come between you. Even when you are terrified to call home because something has gone wrong in your life, you know that they will still help you anyway that they can.
The love of a friend is completely different. Friends seem to understand you as no one else can. They see into who you are and can help you through the toughest of times. But at the same time a friends love can feel fleeting. How often do best friends fight and quit speaking to one another. Most times one spends their time wondering if they made the wrong step, and sometimes are afraid to be honest with their friends because they are afraid to lose them. The love of a friend is so diverse it is almost impossible to put an exact lable on it. It is ever changing.
Oh the love of another person, someone who is your other half who completes your makes you feel passion like none other is the best love of all. The slow consuming burn for another individual is perfectly explained in the Symposium. The need to find your other half is because we were once two people together. This idea shows our need for completion and the need that we feel to find it in another human being. The love of another in a sexual connotation, is shown by the blush of our cheeks, and the stutter on our lips, it makes us feel awkward, and helpless. At the same time empowered and driven because we are consumed with the love of another.
All of these combined explain love to me. Fore love cannot be just one entity, it must be all three. They all exist together, and help to make us human. Without love of anykind we would be cold, without feeling, and empty as a race. The love we have and how we care for it define who we are and in the end make us better people.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Our parents
What if we all had parents or a relative like Creon? He seems to be an over bearing individual, more concerned with what everyone else needs rather than his family. The Kingdom comes first no if, ands, or buts. As a member of his family how would you feel? Knowing that he would help out a stranger before he would you. Granted the man has to look out for the kingdom, since hes kind of running it, but as a member of his family wouldn't you feel abandoned?
I do not believe that it would be wrong to assume that few if any of our parents are in a position like Creon and his family. We are not placed in a position where we feel exactly as the individuals in Antigone felt, however I believe it is also okay to assume that at times we have felt like our parents do not care about us, even if it is for a small amount of time. Whether it is there job or it is during a sport or anything else that comes to your mind, I'm sure there have been times when you have doubted your place in your parent's life, much like Antigone and Haemon must have felt.
Antigone's father leaves after blinding himself, and her mother hung herself. This makes one wonder how important she was to her parents. For a parent to be so far gone that they would think of themselves before their children, is a sad thing indeed.
Fortunately for myself, I have never been in such a situation. I have always known my parents love me(even if my dad is quite stoic :)) and in this regard I count myself to be lucky. I know not what I would do if things were to the contrary. However, it is almost cerain I would have been much more rebelious, just as Antigone was.
It seems Antigone is doing this in part for attention, as though she feels the need to be noticed by her parents even though they are no longer there. Maybe she is saying, look at me, care for me, as I care for my brother, who is now dead. She hold true to her familly in the face of doubt as her parents never could.
I do not believe that it would be wrong to assume that few if any of our parents are in a position like Creon and his family. We are not placed in a position where we feel exactly as the individuals in Antigone felt, however I believe it is also okay to assume that at times we have felt like our parents do not care about us, even if it is for a small amount of time. Whether it is there job or it is during a sport or anything else that comes to your mind, I'm sure there have been times when you have doubted your place in your parent's life, much like Antigone and Haemon must have felt.
Antigone's father leaves after blinding himself, and her mother hung herself. This makes one wonder how important she was to her parents. For a parent to be so far gone that they would think of themselves before their children, is a sad thing indeed.
Fortunately for myself, I have never been in such a situation. I have always known my parents love me(even if my dad is quite stoic :)) and in this regard I count myself to be lucky. I know not what I would do if things were to the contrary. However, it is almost cerain I would have been much more rebelious, just as Antigone was.
It seems Antigone is doing this in part for attention, as though she feels the need to be noticed by her parents even though they are no longer there. Maybe she is saying, look at me, care for me, as I care for my brother, who is now dead. She hold true to her familly in the face of doubt as her parents never could.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
February 18 Test!! Notes
Antigone dies a virgin, and according to Greek tragedy, she dies in the prime of her life without fulfilling that which has the potential to make her happy, that being a wife and a mother. This also continues with the marriage and death relationship. However her fiance dies with her in his arms, of course this after she hangs herself and he stabs himself. In the end though Creon takes full responsibility for the deaths in his family.
65% of the test will be these questions or based on them.
65% of the test will be these questions or based on them.
- What does hubris mean?
- Pride or arrogance
2. What happened at the Elucinian Mysteries?
- Done: Reenactment of the abduction of Persephone
- Seen: Stalk of wheat or grain of corn
- Said: Rain Conceive
3. What are Steiner's Five Conflicts (in order)!
- Men vs. Women
- Age vs. Youth
- Individual vs. State
- Living vs. Dead
- Gods vs. Humans
4. What is an epithet?
- a sort of nick name; a handle; give example: trim ankled Persephone, Wily Odysseus
5. Which two characters exemplify the five conflicts?
- Antigone and Creon
6. What is Stichonmithia?
- rapid exchange of one liners
7. What is sparagmous
- the tearing or rendering of living flesh
8. Define Anthropocentric view
- in the Greek tradition, the view that is based on humans
9. Define miasma
- The pollution, specifically in relation to Creon, when the dead are not treated properly
10. Know Antigone's view of politics....The Notion of a Moving target, and the Origin of Creon's Name
- she favors the gods rule rather than the king's decree, and politics in general do not interest her. She stands for her values: family, ceremony and especially the duty of the living to bury their family.
- The play warns against moral complacency. Antigone drives Creon crazy, who drives his Son crazy in consequence, and eventually because they do not do what is right everyone close to Creon dies.
- Creon's name means ruler, and he works to keep the kingdom happy, and order, yet he is not overly ambitious
11. The Myth of the Eternal Return
- Endless repetition of things
- In relationship to Demeter and Persephone, from Winter to Spring etc.
12. Who is Hermes like with relation to the show "Family Guy"
- Stewie
13. Thorough said we should read the __________ rather than the __________.
- eternities, times
14. Who is guilty of taking one from above and tossing them below?
- Creon tossing Antigone
- Zeus tossing Persephone to Hades
15. Define In illo Tempore
- In the great time, ex. we do this because in the beginning they did this...etc.
16. Which 2 mythological figures are poly tropic?
- Hermes
- Odesis
17. Who are the three great tragedians?
- Sophocles
- Euripides
- Aeschylus
18. Who was the God of Crossroads?
- Hermes
19. Define Agon
- Conflict that leads to agony
20. All that is _________ possesses the ______.
- past, present
21. According to the chorus what are the two best things that can happen to you?
- The second best is to die
- The first is to have never been born
22. Define Sarvan Darum, Sarvam Anitium
- All is suffering, all is fleeting
23. What injury did Oedipus have as a babe?
- He had holes drilled into his ankles
24. What does Antigone's name mean?
- Against Birth
25. What is Hermes excuse for his innocence?
- He was just born yesterday.
26. What did Robert Johnson do at the crossroads?
- He sold his soul to the devil so he could play the guitar
27. why do we laugh according to Freud?
- to keep from crying
28. what does it mean to make something Anigogic?
- going in to the heavenly realm, try to use heavenly interpretation
29. What does senex mean?
- Senator
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Antigones Passage
One powerful passage that I found in George Steiner's work was the first paragraph on page 273. About midway through Steiner talks about how gods and mortals are drawn together even if the outcome is detrimental. This made me think of Antigone's need to follow the god's laws. It did not matter that the laws may ultimately lead to her death, indeed she embraces it. She believes that no man has power over her, she only listens to the Gods. I wonder if perhaps she has a different outlook on life because she was raised as royalty. As royalty she is given many more privlages and has more rights than most women of her time. Maybe this is why she feels more comfortable defying human laws and following the god's instead. But mortals being drawn to gods is not just one sided. For many many years Zeus dallied with many different women and begot women by them. Through this his "married" life was hell. His father had followed this and dallied with the wrong woman who had a child that killed him. Zeus almost made the same mistake.
It seems that mortals and immortals are drawn to each other in a very erotic sense for the most part. Most especially Zeus, but just about every other god or goddess also had a child with a mortal. Even if you do not have a child with a mortal then it seems inevitable that you would seek them out for something still related to the erotic nature. Such as when Hera and Zeus asked Tyressius whether men or women enjoyed sex more. All this led to was him being blinded, after he got to spend time as both a man and a woman.
Even in Christianity we find sexuality between mortals and immortals fascination. The impregnation of the Virgin Mary has fascinated the christian community for years and is a key part of the christian tradition. It seems inevitable that morals will be drawn to god(s) and vice versa.
It seems that mortals and immortals are drawn to each other in a very erotic sense for the most part. Most especially Zeus, but just about every other god or goddess also had a child with a mortal. Even if you do not have a child with a mortal then it seems inevitable that you would seek them out for something still related to the erotic nature. Such as when Hera and Zeus asked Tyressius whether men or women enjoyed sex more. All this led to was him being blinded, after he got to spend time as both a man and a woman.
Even in Christianity we find sexuality between mortals and immortals fascination. The impregnation of the Virgin Mary has fascinated the christian community for years and is a key part of the christian tradition. It seems inevitable that morals will be drawn to god(s) and vice versa.
February 13 Class Notes
Read Deborah's Blog
Symposium
about love, basically guys sitting around drinking are telling love stories.
Blog about:
Assaulting an Old Person
What you think about love
Stealing and Lying
A Dead Pet
A Bad Day
by writing about something that hold pain, it takes away its power to hurt
Find a passage that is powerful from Steiner's work on Rio's blog and write about it
The Chorus
Symposium
about love, basically guys sitting around drinking are telling love stories.
Blog about:
Assaulting an Old Person
What you think about love
Stealing and Lying
A Dead Pet
A Bad Day
by writing about something that hold pain, it takes away its power to hurt
Find a passage that is powerful from Steiner's work on Rio's blog and write about it
The Chorus
- is usually old people
- offering "old men" views (conservative, traditional)
- their main theme is "Do not Presume" which means don't step over the line and remember the consequences
Creon
Steadies the rocking waves of the state. Everything is in turmoil from the civil war and everything Antigone has done, and he works to right all the wrongs and do what is best for the people he rules over.
Agon= conflict and agony
Which is what Creon is trying to fix.
Stichomythia- In Greek writing, is a rapid succession of one liners, They are what is found in Antigone, that George Steiner believes is so important.
Antigone
Beholds unwritten laws, that being the laws of the Gods rather than the laws of the state. She understands that the Gods below (Hades) must be honored as well as Zeus. She knows that Hades has laws as well and those laws apply to her brother, and in order to make all Gods happy as well as prove her point, she must give her brother a burial.
Which is similar to the case of Baby M in unwritten laws vs. written laws arose in the decision to honor the surrogate mother or the adoptive mother.
Death of Pet...
When growing up on a ranch one becomes accustomed to death. It is a part of "the circle of life" if you will. Yes, it is devastating to lose your animals, no one can love the cattle that you raise the way that you do. You are there with them when they are born, through their entire life, including first pregnancies and every "cold" right up until death. Early in the spring, when there are still occasionally snow storms, it is not uncommon to find a calf in the doorway of your house because it is warmer inside and will have a better chance of surviving that way. Sometimes a mother will die giving birth and the orphan will need to be bottle fed for several months. Sometimes calves are born too early, and are just not able to live.
Just last year we had a similar happening. We had a calf that was born way too early. It's little legs were not long enough for the rest of his body, and he was one of the tiniest calves I had ever seen. We had to bottle feed this little baby to help it keep its strength up. It had the softest black coat, curling just slightly at the ends. Its nose was wet, and despite its deformed limbs was an adorable animal. My dad did not believe he would last the night, but he lasted through the night and was doing well during the week. I became attached to this little creature, would volunteer to go down to the calving barn to feed it even. When it was first born it made the most pitiful crying sound, bawling for his mother. As time went by he grew stronger and he began to recognize people as they would come in to feed and check on him. With each day you could see improvements in his condition. He even got to the point where he could stand up even though his front feet were so much smaller than his back feet. Just when everything seemed to be smooth sailing, nature turned against him. He got sick, and over the course of an hour his condition turned completely around. It became apparent very early on that he would not make it through the week. He continued to fade, until you could only hear a few whisper breathes that seemed to rattle his chest. Finally he closed his eyes and died. He was buried outside our barn the next day. What seemed most tragic about this whole situation was that he had improved so much and seemed to be on the fast track, but unbeknowenst to us, his life was meant to be short.
Just last year we had a similar happening. We had a calf that was born way too early. It's little legs were not long enough for the rest of his body, and he was one of the tiniest calves I had ever seen. We had to bottle feed this little baby to help it keep its strength up. It had the softest black coat, curling just slightly at the ends. Its nose was wet, and despite its deformed limbs was an adorable animal. My dad did not believe he would last the night, but he lasted through the night and was doing well during the week. I became attached to this little creature, would volunteer to go down to the calving barn to feed it even. When it was first born it made the most pitiful crying sound, bawling for his mother. As time went by he grew stronger and he began to recognize people as they would come in to feed and check on him. With each day you could see improvements in his condition. He even got to the point where he could stand up even though his front feet were so much smaller than his back feet. Just when everything seemed to be smooth sailing, nature turned against him. He got sick, and over the course of an hour his condition turned completely around. It became apparent very early on that he would not make it through the week. He continued to fade, until you could only hear a few whisper breathes that seemed to rattle his chest. Finally he closed his eyes and died. He was buried outside our barn the next day. What seemed most tragic about this whole situation was that he had improved so much and seemed to be on the fast track, but unbeknowenst to us, his life was meant to be short.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The sisters
Professor Sexton mentioned the difference between Antigone and Ismene. One being the strong sister and the other being the weak sister. Antigone is the one that everyone wants to be with. When he mentioned this I immediately started comparing my sister and myself.
I always want to make everyone happy, and I constantly worry. I think through every situation, so as to predict the outcome. I study constantly to make sure I get good grades. I was in 4-H for 11 years, and was president of SADD and my class for several years. I participated in basketball, volleyball, golf, and drama. I strove to be the goodie girl that everyone makes fun of.
My younger sister, is a bad ass, she puts her finger to her world, and dawns her devil may care attitude. True she gets good grades, but they don't mean anything. She gets in trouble, and she is not afraid to start a fight, especially with the parents.
If I had to put us in as certain characters my sister would be Antigone, and I would be Ismene. But there is an extreme difference. My sister and I stand by each other through the thick and thin. We will work with each other to make sure we have the best outcome.
There are so many things everyday sister's have in common with Antigone and Ismene but the essential difference i feel that exists now is that sisters now will stand by each other through whatever may come. Nothing can separate them and some are even the true and as close to ideal as possible. I would like to think that my sister and I have a good relationship, and if it isn't perfect, at least it will stand the test of our time.
I always want to make everyone happy, and I constantly worry. I think through every situation, so as to predict the outcome. I study constantly to make sure I get good grades. I was in 4-H for 11 years, and was president of SADD and my class for several years. I participated in basketball, volleyball, golf, and drama. I strove to be the goodie girl that everyone makes fun of.
My younger sister, is a bad ass, she puts her finger to her world, and dawns her devil may care attitude. True she gets good grades, but they don't mean anything. She gets in trouble, and she is not afraid to start a fight, especially with the parents.
If I had to put us in as certain characters my sister would be Antigone, and I would be Ismene. But there is an extreme difference. My sister and I stand by each other through the thick and thin. We will work with each other to make sure we have the best outcome.
There are so many things everyday sister's have in common with Antigone and Ismene but the essential difference i feel that exists now is that sisters now will stand by each other through whatever may come. Nothing can separate them and some are even the true and as close to ideal as possible. I would like to think that my sister and I have a good relationship, and if it isn't perfect, at least it will stand the test of our time.
What would you do?
Antigone defies the state to do what she feels is right and buries her brother. This made me wonder what I would do in her situation. I have a younger and an older brother, both are very important to me, would I really do what is necessary so they could make it to heaven.
If my brother's fought it out and one of them were to die and our government said one of them was declared a traitor, it would be a devastating blow to my family. We have always been a patriotic family, and my family loves both of them. I naturally want to please as many people as possible, and I very rarely break the rules.
If my brother were to die, I would want to save him, but first I would try to reason with the government show all that he had done for the country and what a wonderful person he was. During the time while I was trying to defend him I would have guards making sure nothing happened to his body.
If my first plan didn't work I would then take his body home and manipulate everything in a James Bond type of way so that he could have a proper burial. No one would search Broadus, there are too many loyalties in my hometown and in the middle of no where it would be difficult to find a body.
In short, I would do whatever it took to make sure my brother got a proper burial, but i would want it to be a burial that the country acknowledged first, because since my brother is so patriotic it would mean something to him.
If my brother's fought it out and one of them were to die and our government said one of them was declared a traitor, it would be a devastating blow to my family. We have always been a patriotic family, and my family loves both of them. I naturally want to please as many people as possible, and I very rarely break the rules.
If my brother were to die, I would want to save him, but first I would try to reason with the government show all that he had done for the country and what a wonderful person he was. During the time while I was trying to defend him I would have guards making sure nothing happened to his body.
If my first plan didn't work I would then take his body home and manipulate everything in a James Bond type of way so that he could have a proper burial. No one would search Broadus, there are too many loyalties in my hometown and in the middle of no where it would be difficult to find a body.
In short, I would do whatever it took to make sure my brother got a proper burial, but i would want it to be a burial that the country acknowledged first, because since my brother is so patriotic it would mean something to him.
February 11 Class Notes
Don't forget to engage material in blogs, especially with your imagination. Check Christina's for examples.
Of all the different translations by:
Shamus Hanie
Yelt Walty
Robert Fagles
Woodrolfe
Woodrolfe's translation best describes the first sentence of Antigone:
"Ismene, dear heart, my true sister"
Of all the different translations by:
Shamus Hanie
Yelt Walty
Robert Fagles
Woodrolfe
Woodrolfe's translation best describes the first sentence of Antigone:
"Ismene, dear heart, my true sister"
- committing the importance of sisterhood
- mystical association of sisterhood
- shows they are the only ones left of the house of Thebes
- They are the most dysfunctional family...easily...
Oedipus blames Jocasta for the problems in his life, because if she had not given birth to him then none of this would happen.
Curses that which gave him life. The Book of Job (from the Bible) "I wish I had never been born" 3:1-26
The second best thing is to die, the first...to never have been born. believed by Hamlet, Oedipus and Antigone.
Gon= birth,
He blames the source of the birth, but it turns out he cannot blame anyone but himself. And it begs the question Who Am I? Anagnorisis: means discovery....His Discover of his plight is his fault.
Samuel Beckett womb to tomb
When Antigone and Oedipus first came out there was very little gore, the servants were the Messengers, the ones who brought bad news. The first real gore in theatre was in Shakespeare's King Leare.
Both Creon and Antigone have valid points, however most people side with Antigone because she is defying the state, and seems more heroic.
Most people love to be in love with Antigone, she is the stronger female, the bad ass, the forbidden woman, the woman your parents couldn't believe you took to prom.
Creon is very practical, he does what he believes is necessary to take care of his people and his country.
"zed to knots" all about decomposition, education for all, religious desecration as well.
The Greater your suffering the greater your salvation....
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bad Day
I did not have a bad day so much as a bad night. I was babysitting my younger cousin, and we decided to go to the movies. I went there and we had a great time until we got back to the car and I realized I couldnt find my phone. So we search the entire mall parking lot, the movie theatre and even my car...no luck. I call my mother freaking out...lets face it im a poor college student with little to no money...and tell her what my problems are. About three minutes later I find my phone under my cousin's seat in the car (for the record he had searched it previously).
We head back to the house and we need to get sleep because we are going skiing the next day. I get my cousin to bed pretty early, but I stay up to do some homework. I head to bed about 11:30 and am in bed for about an hour or so when I receive a phone call from one of my friends. She is hysterical because one of her best friends has lied to her about sleeping with some guy(real nail bitter i know). So I stay up talking with her and helping her work through it for about an hour or so. She hangs up and I try to get back to sleep but just when I'm starting to fall asleep I hear this faint beeping noise. It becomes so annoying that I have to get out of bed and find the noise. Turns out it was the dying battery of a book that makes noise when you open it. I head back to bed and try to get some more sleep, however, there is a cat that feels my head is the perfect place to sleep. I have to fight this cat off continually through out the night. At 5:38am my younger cousin comes in to tell me that he is awake and is ready to go skiing. The best I can reply is "go read a book".
About seven it is blatantly obvious I can get no more sleep so I get up and make breakfast for him and get ready to head out, however the suburban has almost no gas so I have to use my own money to fill up the vehicle.
That's about where it ends, but ironically this happened the Friday that Professor Sexton told us to have a bad day....coincidence, i think not.
We head back to the house and we need to get sleep because we are going skiing the next day. I get my cousin to bed pretty early, but I stay up to do some homework. I head to bed about 11:30 and am in bed for about an hour or so when I receive a phone call from one of my friends. She is hysterical because one of her best friends has lied to her about sleeping with some guy(real nail bitter i know). So I stay up talking with her and helping her work through it for about an hour or so. She hangs up and I try to get back to sleep but just when I'm starting to fall asleep I hear this faint beeping noise. It becomes so annoying that I have to get out of bed and find the noise. Turns out it was the dying battery of a book that makes noise when you open it. I head back to bed and try to get some more sleep, however, there is a cat that feels my head is the perfect place to sleep. I have to fight this cat off continually through out the night. At 5:38am my younger cousin comes in to tell me that he is awake and is ready to go skiing. The best I can reply is "go read a book".
About seven it is blatantly obvious I can get no more sleep so I get up and make breakfast for him and get ready to head out, however the suburban has almost no gas so I have to use my own money to fill up the vehicle.
That's about where it ends, but ironically this happened the Friday that Professor Sexton told us to have a bad day....coincidence, i think not.
February 9 Class Notes
When people say they wish we could go back to the days when entertainment did not have farting jokes, they have no idea what they are talking about. Hermes farts in Apollos face and something similar also happens in The Miller's Tale by Chaucer.
Nothing is original new or fresh, this inclues our language, ideas and politics.
Antigone
Father Killed his father and married his mother and had relations with her. He also solved the sythinx's rhyme and consequently became king. While trying to find the killer of the old king (his father, whom he killed) he finds out the truth and claws his eyes out. He himself does not realize that he is harboring a murderer. He is like Nixon "I will find the one who is responsible for the Watergate" and outs himself.
It is inevitable that something bad will happen, in the book, and in our lives. You cannot blame others and at times you cannot blame yourself. We must move on and continue laughing "we laugh to keep ourselves from crying" Freud. This is a great site for all things Freudian.
Enthusiastic- entheos- theo= possessed by God,
Like Cassandra, whom the god Apollo wanted to be with, in payment she wanted to be able to tell the future. She runs away but not before she gets her gift as well as the added bonus of not having anyone believe her. She predicts that Agamemnon will die and noone listens.
This is related to Antigone because she says that noone can judge her but the gods....just think about it....
Nothing is original new or fresh, this inclues our language, ideas and politics.
Antigone
Father Killed his father and married his mother and had relations with her. He also solved the sythinx's rhyme and consequently became king. While trying to find the killer of the old king (his father, whom he killed) he finds out the truth and claws his eyes out. He himself does not realize that he is harboring a murderer. He is like Nixon "I will find the one who is responsible for the Watergate" and outs himself.
It is inevitable that something bad will happen, in the book, and in our lives. You cannot blame others and at times you cannot blame yourself. We must move on and continue laughing "we laugh to keep ourselves from crying" Freud. This is a great site for all things Freudian.
Enthusiastic- entheos- theo= possessed by God,
Like Cassandra, whom the god Apollo wanted to be with, in payment she wanted to be able to tell the future. She runs away but not before she gets her gift as well as the added bonus of not having anyone believe her. She predicts that Agamemnon will die and noone listens.
This is related to Antigone because she says that noone can judge her but the gods....just think about it....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
February 6 Class Notes
Hermes has always been associated with Eros (Cupid, son of Aphrodite) because both are mischevious and have the power of manipulation.
With Valentine's Day fast approaching Eros is on most everyones mind. He has "the power to bring mere mortals to there knees" so how are we humans supposed to stand up against him?
Lewis Hyde
states that Apollos bands could not hold Hermes. Now we associate the snake wrapped around the staff with Hermes. Called Caduceus. Here is a really neat web site with all things Hermes and Caduceus.
Once Apollo heard the music created by Hermes he was seized with longing for the music. He was so infatuated with it that he eventually became the god of music. It was that type of music that reordered his being, the song was about the Gods and their immortality, he dedicated the the song to the mother of the muses(memory).
Idea of Order at Key West
Wallace Stevens
She sang beyond the genius of the sea.The water never formed to mind or voice,Like a body wholly body, flutteringIts empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motionMade constant cry, caused constantly a cry,That was not ours although we understood,Inhuman, of the veritable ocean.
The sea was not a mask. No more was she.The song and water were not medleyed soundEven if what she sang was what she heard,Since what she sang was uttered word by word.It may be that in all her phrases stirredThe grinding water and the gasping wind;But it was she and not the sea we heard.
For she was the maker of the song she sang.The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured seaWas merely a place by which she walked to sing.Whose spirit is this? we said, because we knewIt was the spirit that we sought and knewThat we should ask this often as she sang.If it was only the dark voice of the seaThat rose, or even colored by many waves;If it was only the outer voice of skyAnd cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled,However clear, it would have been deep air,The heaving speech of air, a summer soundRepeated in a summer without endAnd sound alone. But it was more than that,More even than her voice, and ours, amongThe meaningless plungings of water and the wind,Theatrical distances, bronze shadows heapedOn high horizons, mountainous atmospheresOf sky and sea.
It was her voice that madeThe sky acutest at its vanishing.She measured to the hour its solitude.She was the single artificer of the worldIn which she sang. And when she sang, the sea,Whatever self it had, became the selfThat was her song, for she was the maker. Then we,As we beheld her striding there alone,Knew that there never was a world for herExcept the one she sang and, singing, made.
Ramon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,Why, when the singing ended and we turnedToward the town, tell why the glassy lights,The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there,As the night descended, tilting in the air,Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.
Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,The maker's rage to order words of the sea,Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,And of ourselves and of our origins,In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.
It also inspired THIS painting.
Hermes gets everything he wants, and this is because he understands the concept of gift giving. He makes a shell into a lyre and gives it to Apollo etc.
He is also the guide to the underworld.
"Guide of Souls" and Interfaces
The Three Bee Maidens
In the Greek Homeric Hymn to Hermes written down in the eighth century BC, the god Apollo speaks of three female seers as three bees or bee-maidens, who like himself, practiced divination:
There are some Fates sisters born,
maidens hree of them, adorned with swift wings.
Their heads are sprinkled over ith white barley meal,
wind they make their homes under the cliffs of Parnassus.
They taught divination far off from me, the art I used to practise
round my cattle while still a boy.
These sacred bee-maidens with their gift of prophecy, were to be Apollo’s gift to Hermes, the god who alone could lead the souls of the dead out of life and sometimes back again. The etymology of the word ‘fate’ in Greek offers a fascinating example of how the genius of the Minoan vision entered the Greek language, often visibly, as well as informing its stories of goddesses and gods. The Greek word for ‘fate’, ‘death’ and ‘goddess of death’ is e ker (feminine); the word for’heart’ and ‘breast’ is to ker (neuter); while the word for ‘honeycomb’ is to kerion (neuter). The common root ker links the ideas fo the honeycomb, goddess, death, fate and the human heart, a nexus of meanings that is illumined if we know that the goddess was once imagined as a bee. (thebeegoddesses.com)
Antigone:
The Three Tragedians:
With Valentine's Day fast approaching Eros is on most everyones mind. He has "the power to bring mere mortals to there knees" so how are we humans supposed to stand up against him?
Lewis Hyde
states that Apollos bands could not hold Hermes. Now we associate the snake wrapped around the staff with Hermes. Called Caduceus. Here is a really neat web site with all things Hermes and Caduceus.
Once Apollo heard the music created by Hermes he was seized with longing for the music. He was so infatuated with it that he eventually became the god of music. It was that type of music that reordered his being, the song was about the Gods and their immortality, he dedicated the the song to the mother of the muses(memory).
Idea of Order at Key West
Wallace Stevens
She sang beyond the genius of the sea.The water never formed to mind or voice,Like a body wholly body, flutteringIts empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motionMade constant cry, caused constantly a cry,That was not ours although we understood,Inhuman, of the veritable ocean.
The sea was not a mask. No more was she.The song and water were not medleyed soundEven if what she sang was what she heard,Since what she sang was uttered word by word.It may be that in all her phrases stirredThe grinding water and the gasping wind;But it was she and not the sea we heard.
For she was the maker of the song she sang.The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured seaWas merely a place by which she walked to sing.Whose spirit is this? we said, because we knewIt was the spirit that we sought and knewThat we should ask this often as she sang.If it was only the dark voice of the seaThat rose, or even colored by many waves;If it was only the outer voice of skyAnd cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled,However clear, it would have been deep air,The heaving speech of air, a summer soundRepeated in a summer without endAnd sound alone. But it was more than that,More even than her voice, and ours, amongThe meaningless plungings of water and the wind,Theatrical distances, bronze shadows heapedOn high horizons, mountainous atmospheresOf sky and sea.
It was her voice that madeThe sky acutest at its vanishing.She measured to the hour its solitude.She was the single artificer of the worldIn which she sang. And when she sang, the sea,Whatever self it had, became the selfThat was her song, for she was the maker. Then we,As we beheld her striding there alone,Knew that there never was a world for herExcept the one she sang and, singing, made.
Ramon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,Why, when the singing ended and we turnedToward the town, tell why the glassy lights,The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there,As the night descended, tilting in the air,Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.
Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,The maker's rage to order words of the sea,Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,And of ourselves and of our origins,In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.
It also inspired THIS painting.
Hermes gets everything he wants, and this is because he understands the concept of gift giving. He makes a shell into a lyre and gives it to Apollo etc.
He is also the guide to the underworld.
"Guide of Souls" and Interfaces
The Three Bee Maidens
In the Greek Homeric Hymn to Hermes written down in the eighth century BC, the god Apollo speaks of three female seers as three bees or bee-maidens, who like himself, practiced divination:
There are some Fates sisters born,
maidens hree of them, adorned with swift wings.
Their heads are sprinkled over ith white barley meal,
wind they make their homes under the cliffs of Parnassus.
They taught divination far off from me, the art I used to practise
round my cattle while still a boy.
These sacred bee-maidens with their gift of prophecy, were to be Apollo’s gift to Hermes, the god who alone could lead the souls of the dead out of life and sometimes back again. The etymology of the word ‘fate’ in Greek offers a fascinating example of how the genius of the Minoan vision entered the Greek language, often visibly, as well as informing its stories of goddesses and gods. The Greek word for ‘fate’, ‘death’ and ‘goddess of death’ is e ker (feminine); the word for’heart’ and ‘breast’ is to ker (neuter); while the word for ‘honeycomb’ is to kerion (neuter). The common root ker links the ideas fo the honeycomb, goddess, death, fate and the human heart, a nexus of meanings that is illumined if we know that the goddess was once imagined as a bee. (thebeegoddesses.com)
Antigone:
The Three Tragedians:
- Aeschyleus
- Sophocles
- Euripides
Aeschyleus
- cosmic
- positive
- wrote the trilogy about Orestes
- wrote Prometius bound and unbound
Sophocles
- formal
- precise
- has been studeis for 2000 yrs
- wrote the Theban plays: Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus
Euripides
- chrolicle
- horrifying notion with complete decimation of humans
- at the end of these play writes eras
Thursday, February 5, 2009
February 4 Class Notes
Answer the Question:
Have you ever stolen something and then lied about it?
Just think of Hermes in this type of situation. He does what he needs to in order to get away Scot free.
The Myth of The Eternal Return
The diary entry by David Boyer
secular modern humanity
the modern idea lof time: time is linear : more complex than an unrepeatable event
Imagination
Like a Geography, one that is meant to be explored. Take advantage of every opportunity to do so once we know our imagination there are no bounds.
Plutocracy: ruling on the basis of death aka Hades Rules!!!
Groundhog's day and Hermes and Demeter and Persephone are all the same and each is related however the exist on different worlds. Which is why there are so many paralells between them. Hermes and Bill Murray pushing the limits to see what they can get away with. Demeter and Persephone and the observation of rituals just like the oberservation of the theme of Groundhogs day.
Time:
It is linear,
You already know things, but you just forgot, and therefore must recolect what you forgot
Lewis Hyde:
Tricksters make this world go around.
Best architype for Hermes(Mercurial is his Roman name)
been there forever and we are the latest versions
Polytropic- one of many turns...two faced
Odysseus
Hermes
Alcibiades
Epithet- a nick name or a handle
"slim-ankled" Persephone
"swift-footed" Achilles
"wily" Odysseus
Hermes in modern times is Stewie
both are:
Coniving
Cynical
Enjoy Song and Dance
and enjoy being the baby with the blanket(innocent)
Have you ever stolen something and then lied about it?
Just think of Hermes in this type of situation. He does what he needs to in order to get away Scot free.
The Myth of The Eternal Return
The diary entry by David Boyer
secular modern humanity
the modern idea lof time: time is linear : more complex than an unrepeatable event
Imagination
Like a Geography, one that is meant to be explored. Take advantage of every opportunity to do so once we know our imagination there are no bounds.
Plutocracy: ruling on the basis of death aka Hades Rules!!!
Groundhog's day and Hermes and Demeter and Persephone are all the same and each is related however the exist on different worlds. Which is why there are so many paralells between them. Hermes and Bill Murray pushing the limits to see what they can get away with. Demeter and Persephone and the observation of rituals just like the oberservation of the theme of Groundhogs day.
Time:
It is linear,
You already know things, but you just forgot, and therefore must recolect what you forgot
Lewis Hyde:
Tricksters make this world go around.
Best architype for Hermes(Mercurial is his Roman name)
been there forever and we are the latest versions
Polytropic- one of many turns...two faced
Odysseus
Hermes
Alcibiades
Epithet- a nick name or a handle
"slim-ankled" Persephone
"swift-footed" Achilles
"wily" Odysseus
Hermes in modern times is Stewie
both are:
Coniving
Cynical
Enjoy Song and Dance
and enjoy being the baby with the blanket(innocent)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Music is Divine
I am addicted to music. Anyway you want it that's the way I need it. I have been involved in music for what seems like my entire life. I take every opportunity to sing (but not in class) and enjoy what I do very much. When Professor Sexton mentioned that music was divine in class the other day, I was extremely excited. Music is the way in which we express ourselves, sometimes music says and explains things in ways that we ourselves do not even understand.
Music for me is a balm, it cures any sickness and can right any wrong. The power it holds over me is hypnotic. Just like Hermes lyre's power holds Apollo. Apollo is seduced by its power and makes everything that Hermes has done seem inconsequential. This music is a type of healing.
When music exists on this level for someone it holds a power that is indescribable. By just existing the music makes you feel better. It will never desert you, it will never stab you in the back, it will be your true friend always.
Perhaps this is what Apollo gains from the music. He gains the peace the serenity and the indescribable something that completes us within music. For music is truly divine, for it is what completes us and makes us last beyond death, because music never dies.
Music for me is a balm, it cures any sickness and can right any wrong. The power it holds over me is hypnotic. Just like Hermes lyre's power holds Apollo. Apollo is seduced by its power and makes everything that Hermes has done seem inconsequential. This music is a type of healing.
When music exists on this level for someone it holds a power that is indescribable. By just existing the music makes you feel better. It will never desert you, it will never stab you in the back, it will be your true friend always.
Perhaps this is what Apollo gains from the music. He gains the peace the serenity and the indescribable something that completes us within music. For music is truly divine, for it is what completes us and makes us last beyond death, because music never dies.
February 2 Class Notes
The Power of Groundhogs Day
It is believed to be one of the top 10 movies in existence.
It helps us to reach an understanding that there are no consequences for your actions. Everything is permitted and you will never be in trouble.
The present is all Bill Murray has, each day becomes part of his past and he understands patterns and rituals, now understands it and the quality of consciousness.
Shows the theories of Fredrick Niche.
will the eternal living of the same day...
with this belief there is an understanding that there are sacred rituals and it is a type of religious experience.
Willing your self to treat everyday as sacred makes you treat your life with the reverence due to the E. Mysteries. In a sense we must all become Bill Murray and as such we must know that the power of the imagination is important.
We must bring to one ordinary day the quality of imagination that we are truly capable of.
The ordinary is the extroirdinary if you have the eyes to see it and the ears to hear it.
Hermes
It is believed to be one of the top 10 movies in existence.
It helps us to reach an understanding that there are no consequences for your actions. Everything is permitted and you will never be in trouble.
The present is all Bill Murray has, each day becomes part of his past and he understands patterns and rituals, now understands it and the quality of consciousness.
Shows the theories of Fredrick Niche.
will the eternal living of the same day...
with this belief there is an understanding that there are sacred rituals and it is a type of religious experience.
Willing your self to treat everyday as sacred makes you treat your life with the reverence due to the E. Mysteries. In a sense we must all become Bill Murray and as such we must know that the power of the imagination is important.
We must bring to one ordinary day the quality of imagination that we are truly capable of.
The ordinary is the extroirdinary if you have the eyes to see it and the ears to hear it.
Hermes
- is a badass
- exhibits the place in our lfie for mischief and mischief makers
- live fast, love hard, and have a good looking corpse is his motto
- brings humans messages from the Gods
- coined the phrase "I was just born yesterday"
Sunday, February 1, 2009
January 30 Class Notes
Metis was a woman who it was said would bear a child stronger than its father so Zeus ate Metis (which means wisdom) and nine months later had a horrendous headache. He had the foraging god open his head and out came Athena. This girl was a daddy's girl.
The difference between Zeus and his predicessors is his ability to think through problems and he uses his brain to solve problems.
Prometis was an immortal who was able to see into the future. Zeus did not want to be overthrown by his offspring so he went to Prometis to ask him what woman he needed to avoid (because he couldnt remain faithful to Hera obviously) Prometis refused to tell him so Zeus chained him to a rock and everyday an eagle would come and peck at his skin and eat out his liver, and every night he would regenerate. Finally he broke down and told him that he had to stay away from Thesis. Zeus then married her off to Peleous and so Achilles was conceived....
You Just Had to Be There
Eleucinian Mysteries. The inducties were awestruck by what the had seen done, heard, shown. It was one of those life changing experiences. One that cannot be explained one that....you just had to be there. The cutting of the grain...a symbol of Demeter....is something that would be considered crazy to them.
Finally on Persephone and Demeter
the level of anagog or the "woo-woo" which means beyond the earthly into the heavenly realm which describes their mother/daughter relationship.
Life and Death and the interdependency on life and death. which is like Persephone's story. For Persephone to live her life
she must face death.
Read Mark 14 and
John 12:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
So though crops die when they are cut they still give life to us in return.
Music Anywhere
The first musical concert was Hermes and basically was the birth of music.
Music is a divine thing one that is the essence of our being.
Music almost makes us immortal.
Hermes wanted to be a God gives lyre all music is sacred. which transitions to all music is sacred.
touches chords of divinity in you.
Homework:
find the song that you sang when you were little and drove your family crazy
The difference between Zeus and his predicessors is his ability to think through problems and he uses his brain to solve problems.
Prometis was an immortal who was able to see into the future. Zeus did not want to be overthrown by his offspring so he went to Prometis to ask him what woman he needed to avoid (because he couldnt remain faithful to Hera obviously) Prometis refused to tell him so Zeus chained him to a rock and everyday an eagle would come and peck at his skin and eat out his liver, and every night he would regenerate. Finally he broke down and told him that he had to stay away from Thesis. Zeus then married her off to Peleous and so Achilles was conceived....
You Just Had to Be There
Eleucinian Mysteries. The inducties were awestruck by what the had seen done, heard, shown. It was one of those life changing experiences. One that cannot be explained one that....you just had to be there. The cutting of the grain...a symbol of Demeter....is something that would be considered crazy to them.
Finally on Persephone and Demeter
the level of anagog or the "woo-woo" which means beyond the earthly into the heavenly realm which describes their mother/daughter relationship.
Life and Death and the interdependency on life and death. which is like Persephone's story. For Persephone to live her life
she must face death.
Read Mark 14 and
John 12:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
So though crops die when they are cut they still give life to us in return.
Music Anywhere
The first musical concert was Hermes and basically was the birth of music.
Music is a divine thing one that is the essence of our being.
Music almost makes us immortal.
Hermes wanted to be a God gives lyre all music is sacred. which transitions to all music is sacred.
touches chords of divinity in you.
Homework:
find the song that you sang when you were little and drove your family crazy
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