Incest!

The story of Pomona and Vertumnus was totally unpredictable to me. Actually, I think it was the story of Myrrha and her father, Cinyras, which surprised me. Again we find ourselves in the circumstance of there being a main story and a story within that one. The big story was about a god called Vertumnus who was desperately in love with Pomona, a wood nymph whose only care was that of the plants and trees and who ‘kept aloof from any suitor’. He dressed up as anything he could think up in an attempt of getting her to fall in love with him, but he failed each time. Once, while dressed up as an old lady, he sat her down and proceeded to say how foolish she was to ignore Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and to tell her the story of Myrrha:

Myrrha was a young girl who, like Pomona, had many suitors but ignored every one of them. One day Aphrodite, tired of being disregarded, cursed Myrrha with an undying passion for none other than her father, Cinyras. The girl suffers from this, thinking that just thinking about it is an unholy crime. Finally, she can resist it no more and with the help of a nursemaid convinces her father to be blindfolded and do it with a ‘pretty girl [who] adores’ him, without knowing that it really is his daughter. After repeating this three times, Cinyras grows curious and takes of his blindfold. When he sees who it is, he looks at Myrrha for a long time, as if refusing to believe it, and then tries to drown her. She escapes and suffers an unbelievable amount, she prays to the gods to ‘change [her]; make [her] something else; transform [her] entirely’. Some say that she turned into a tree, others that she gave birth to a boy named Adonis, others say that she dissolved into tears and into the river.

When he finishes the story, Pomona seems unmoved, but she tells Vertumnus to ‘take off that idiotic dress’ and ‘that ridiculous wig’. Then she goes of with him in his natural form, no disguises needed.

From the mini-story of Myrrha and her father all I can say is how unfair it was for Myrrha. The only reason she was cursed with this was because she didn’t respond to any of her suitors or to Aphrodite’s offers. I think this only reflects on today’s society, where being single or not having a boyfriend is so frowned upon. I find this totally ridiculous, and I find even sadder that you hear so many beautiful, young girls lying or feeling ashamed about not having someone, even though it doesn’t make you a better person, a worse one, or has any difference in you whatsoever. It is perfectly okay to decide for yourself if you want to love somebody or if you don’t, and you shouldn’t let yourself be affected by what other people think or what they say is right. In the story, Myrrha believes that what she wants is so wrong because ‘we have laws’, I find this totally wrong even though, in this case, I agree that incest love is not so normal.

The main story I think has one lesson: be yourself no matter what (and no matter how cliché and self-help book-y it sounds). Pomona paid no attention to Vertumnus when he was wearing all those disguises and acting like all those different people, but in the end she gives him a chance when he is just being himself. No disguises needed.

Back to the Basics

The story of Erysichthon (what a weird name, by the way) is about a guy who didn't believe in the gods, or respected anything that was sacred or related to them. One day he cuts down a tree sacred to the goddess Ceres and she, for revenge, sends Hunger upon him. He starts to eat, and eat, and eat but his hunger doesn't end. He ends up selling his own mother in exchange for some food, but he remains starving. Finally, he destroys himself, his hunger being so urgent that he starts to eat himself.

If you think about it, Erysichthon brings this punishment of eternal hunger upon himself. He disrespects the gods and makes fun of their sacredness and their rituals. I mean, it's okay not to believe in something, which is very common in religion, but what need does he have of mocking the gods, of undermining the system? He thinks he is almighty, and that nothing can affect him, we see this after the tree says 'you will never get away with this' and he sarcastically responds 'Oh, now I'm really frightened' . He speaks to everyone as if they were inferior and he thinks the world of himself, this we can see when the narrator warns him that the tree was sacred to Ceres and he rudely shoves him away and calls his a 'pious son of a bitch'.

I think that in this story, the huger that Erysichthon has is a creative punishment, and a great way of torture, I would say, after seeing what it leads him to do. The hunger could also be a form of greed, it never ends and no matter how much he has he always wants more, 'I need more! I must have more!' 'I WANT MORE!' Erysichthon exclaims. In fact, this undying hunger, or greed, leads him to sell his own mother and to eat his own foot! The saddest part is, I don't think that Erysichthon even realizes what he did to earn this, he is too blinded by his needs to think of anyone else, which is how he always was.

Inside this story there is the story of his mother, which shows a totally different morale than Erysichthon's story. She is sold by her son to a boat man, just so that her son could have more to eat. While she is being forced to row in the man's boat at her old age, she prays to Poseidon the god of the seas, 'Poseidon, if you remember me, come and save me now'. He hears her prayers and brings her into the sea, turning her into the little girl she was before and setting her free to play at his shores. I think that Poseidon helped her because of her good spirit, when she was a girl and she 'gave him praise... shouting as she ran among the waves'. She must have done good deeds in her life because it says that 'that is the kind of sweet, unbidden praise the gods adore and do not forget'.

I think it is really interesting how two stories so controversial as these can take place in one same story and between such, supposedly, close characters.

♪ I’m Like a Bird, I’ll Only Fly Away ♪

The story of Alcyone and Ceyx tells us about a king called Ceyx who has to go to sea and leaves his grieving wife, Alcyone, waiting for him back home. When he is out at sea, Poseidon, or Aeolus, hits him with his winds and his water, leaving ‘one enormous green catastrophe’ behind and leaving Ceyx to repeat his beloved wife’s name over and over again: ‘Alcyone, Alcyone, my treasure, Alcyone.’ Then his body reaches his wife and she, grieving, prays to the gods that they can be together again. This is how, at the end, Alcyone and Ceyx, turned seabirds, fly away together to live the rest of their lives in love.

I think this story describes how strong the bond of love is. Ceyx, on one part, knows how dangerous his journey is and even though his wife begs him to ‘take [her] with [him] at least’ he declines, not wanting to expose her to these dangers for fear of losing her. Alcyone, on the other hand, also knows that he will die on this journey, but because she knows her father, Aeolus, will be very harsh on Ceyx, if only because he is his son-in-law. She offers to go with Ceyx because she thinks maybe the storms will be better and her father will be more careful because she is onboard with them, and fighting the storms she ‘fear[s] much less than to be left a widow’.

Down deep, Alcyone knows that her husband will die, but still she refuses to believe him when he appears to her in a dream and tells her that he is dead. Even though she knows what his fate will be, she prays to the gods to keep him safe and to bring him back to her, and she grieves like no one has when she realizes that he is dead. I think it is all these little signs of true love for each other that both Alcyone and Ceyx show that make the gods have pity for them and let them live the rest of their formerly unfulfilled lives together as sea birds.

I find the fact that the gods turned them into birds at the end, rather meaningful. For one, the pet name that Ceyx has for Alcyone is ‘my bird’, we see this when he appears to her in a dream and tells her he is dead. I think that is very cute, and is another reference to their love for each other. Also, I think that the bird represents freedom, peace of mind, and unity, which I think is perfect for Alcyone. She seems trapped in this same life as always, only now she has lost her husband, her soul mate, and her main reason to be here. This is a perfect ending for this story and these circumstances, which by the way are very common in a modern day setting.

Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman- Creation Out of Another Blob

I finally got to starting Mary Zimmerman's interpretation of Metamorphoses, and I came to realize that it was very much alike to the other version of the Creation we have seen. I guess this is normal, since it is just an interpretation of the same story, but I found it really interesting how noticeable the times in which they are written are. In Ovid's version we have a much older, more poetic language, however, in Mary Zimmerman's version a much more descriptive and common language is used, very modern-like. It a lot more understandable, but in spite of the very different descriptions they give of the events, I found that both versions were very similar.
Again, that is only to be expected.

Metamorphoses by Ovid- Creation Out of a Blob

As the title says, I understood that the interpretation of Metamorphoses by Ovid describes the world before creation as a blob. It says that everything was blended together, the sea, the sky, rocks, mountains, animals, even oceans and continents, was one. That was until a god began to separate each little thing and to set them in their place. It says that god 'fastened each thing to its place', maybe meaning that he locked things down so that they never changed, but the thing is that they do change, for good or for bad. Life would be pretty monotonous if things never changed, no matter how bad, don't you think?
I find what is said that a god did, form the earth and bring balance, peace, and salvation to the world, to be very common to Catholic and Christian beliefs. They say that God decided one day to make a man out of sacred clay and send him down to a perfect world that He had created. This is however a very common belief through religions.
I think it will be interesting to see ancient Greek and Roman mythology and beliefs, since they are the basis of our cultures today.

THE BHAGAVAD-GITA The. End.

After having read all of the Bhagavad-Gita, I have not finished understanding it yet. I feel there is a lot of spiritualism to this book, and I find it really similar to Buddhism, in many aspects. I think I have learned some things from it, but it was too extremist and I think we could use some of the lessons while less intensely. It is not my favorite book we have read in class so far, it required a very open mind and deep thinking, which is good, because that s what we are trying to achive in this course.
What I didn't like about the book, is that it chooses a very ackward way of delivering the messsage to us, which confuses me alot. He could just have said the message straight forward or told Arjuna wether to fight or not to, and it would have all been simpler.

THE BHAGAVAD-GITA -- THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH TEACHINGS To fight, or not to fight?

This is how I understood Krishna views the universe. He is above the earth and everything related to it because he is dettached from emotions and he is with the gods now, that is what he is trying to teach to Arjuna. He really emphasizes 'renunciation and relinquishment' in the last teachings, and I think thatis how he feels about everything.

BHAGAVAD-GITA -- THE ELEVENTH AND FIFTEENTH TEACHINGS Vantage point

In the Eleventh Teaching of the BHAGAVAD-GITA Arjuna is shown the true form of Krishna, his charioteer. Lord Krishna is really a god in disguise, he is 'the gog of gods', he has 'countless arms, bellies, mouths, and eyes'. I both liked and disliked this teaching.
It shows us how hipocritical a person can be when they feel threatend or intimidated, here we can see that when Krishna is just his charioteer, Arjuna treated him like any other, maybe he trusted him enoungh to tak ehis advice, but as soon as Krichna reveals himself as a powerful god, Arjuna starts acting very respectful, and devoted, he even says 'I failed to know you greatness. If in jest I offended you, alone or publicly, at sport, rest, sitting, or at meals, I beg your patience,unfathomable Krishna'. He himself accepts that he is being biased only to Krishna's power, and he begs him to 'show [him] the form [he] know[s]', to 'assume the four-armed form embodied in [his] totality'. I think that Krishna realizes this but he still respects Arjuna and lets him see him as he is, that can show us that Arjuna really is a good man, even if he has flaws like the rest of us.

I don't understand why Lord Krishna is so intent on Arjuna striving and understanding, but he even teahces him 'this most secret tradition', that Krishna is everything and only the man who strives has a god within him. I think that Krishna's point is, once again, that you must understand, dettach, and have alot of discipline to succeed, to go places in the future.

BHAGAVAD-GITA -- THE SEVENTH, EIGHT, AND NINTH TEACHINGS Krishna Almighty

I chose this video because in these teachings we are told more about who Lord Krishna is, the god that, he believes, he is. He says that nothing is a part of him but that he is part of everything, and that a lot of people try to reach him but that only some, the 'men who understand', can. I think this movie, Bruce Almighty, represents this perfectly.We see that even though God does everything, and he created everything, not anyone cand be Him. When Bruce is given God's powers he doesn't know what to do with them or what to do about all the people who are trying to communicate with him, by prayer. It all ends in chaos but it shows us that we all have a little bit of a god in us, which I think is Krishna's message. He says that everyone tries to reach him and be him, and you could interpret that as everyone depending on a higher power to take care of things, God, destiny, or the Universe, however you would like to call it.

One thing that caught my attention was that Krishna says that 'a man who reaches me suffers no rebirth'. This makes me think that even if he was saying that rebirth was a good and inevitable thing before, maybe as a method of persuasion, he now refers to it as a nuisance and implies that it is a result of a life badly led. This shows us how Krishna changes throught his 'lecture', and I realize that that which started as advice on wether to go on or not go on with the war, has now turned into a lesson.

He talks about two 'bright and dark pathways', one is light and one is shadows, one leads to heaven and one leads to rebirth. He describes himself as the light passage, th eonly right way to live, and he tells Arjuna to follow his passage, 'devote yourself to me!'.

BHAVAGAD-GITA -- THE THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH TEACHINGS Life Lessons from a Charioteer

What I want to understand is why someone who seems to be so powerful and so wise as Arjuna takes advice given by his charioteer, Krishna, so seriously. How do we even know if Krishna knows about this subject, how did he become the one with all the answers all of a sudden?
I also want to know what Krishna's point is. He has gone over so many, coming back to them and moving on, that I don't understand what he is telling Arjuna to do. First he tells him about reincarnation, that ' the embodied self is enduring' and killing won't make a difference. Then he talks about the detachment from all his emotion, to be in control. He also says that he should do actions 'freed from attachment'. The next idea he speaks of is sacrifice, 'freed from attachment,... preform[ing] action as sacrifice', he says that to do this we need 'understanding' and 'discipline'. He then goes back to the detachment of feelings and especially of desire. I think he is finally telling Arjuna that he should go on with the battle, 'perfom action[s]' but without feeling anything towards it.

We now find that Krishna is, or at least, describes himself as a kind of god. He 'protect[s] men of virtue and destroy[s] men who do evil', he is the one ho teaches what is right and what is wrong, and everybody comes to seek his advice. He says that he remembers his past lives and that he has advised even the sun itself, although this gives him a lot more credential, I think it is very pretentious of him. Lord Krishna is still saying how Arjuna must need to have discipline and to do actions without any emotions, but at the same time he is contradicting himself by saying that disciplined men, and men who understand, must make sacrifices by knowledge and not by actions. I still cannot see what Krishna's point is, and I doubt Arjuna sees it either.

In fact, Arjuna is kind of confused about what Krishna is saying, and he says 'you praise renunciation of actions and then discipline; tell me with certainty which is the better of these two'. I think Krishna is saying that one must first dettach from one's emotions, although I find implied that we must only dettach from our evil emotions and not the peaceful ones, then one will obtain discipline and then one must renuonce from actions. From this will come knowledge, and we will 'ha[ve] joy, delight, and light within... the pure calm of infinity'. I find this very similar to what many religions, for example, Catholisism, tells you today. They tell you to clean yourself of evil emotions, evil thoughts, and sins and then the peace and heaven will come. This is yet another link I find from this book to ancient religions.