A Reflection on Page 209

Page 209 can be summed up with the following statement:

Kore was looking at a narcissus.

What is a Narcissus? Calasso describes it as a flower named after a man of intense beauty. He was so beautiful that he fell in love with his reflection in a pond. Unable to lose sight of his own beauty, he died of starvation. The flower represents this story.

Kore was looking at a reflection of a reflection of a man who lost himself by looking at a reflection

Who is Kore? She is the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of springtime. And, as Calosso points out, Kore means "pupil".

The Pupil was looking at a reflection of a reflection of a man who lost himself by looking at a reflection

Kore is a girl whom Hades was intent on abducting (same old story).

The Pupil lost herself while looking at a reflection of a reflection of a man who lost himself by looking at a reflection

Kore lost herself by looking into the eyes of Hades.

The Pupil lost herself when her pupil saw its own reflection in the pupil that reflected her looking at a reflection of a reflection of a man who lost himself by looking at a reflection

This page emanates mythological poetry. It brings ideas around full circle and displays mythology within mythology. It goes to a higher philosophical level than other pages (if only by the mention of Socrates). But the question remains: what did Kore see in the pupil of Hades?

I believe she saw two things.

For one, she observed a dizzying picture of infinity. Much like the repeating image on the Land O’Lakes butter packaging, Kore found herself in an infinite zoom loop. A deer in the headlights, she was rendered helpless and immobile—easily snatched up by her abductor.

But another thing she saw may put a different spin on the “kidnapping”. Perhaps, and just a perhaps, she looked and saw herself in the eyes of Hades—reflected to render the perspective of the one filled with desire—and she realized she wanted to be carried off to feel the gaze of passionate covet again. The craving of Hades seduced her so that she went with him willingly—an attempted abduction becoming an eloping.

A reflection gives the exact opposite perspective. 

It's All How You Look At It

In thinking about what I do as a ritual, I've realized the task that I most enjoy is something that really is considered pointless by much of the human population. On days that I don't spend time reading my Bible, I feel like I've missed out on a great opportunity.

So what makes a task that is, at best by some, a required task by religion an essential, joy-filled event for me? It's about why I do it. The myth has taken over my life.

As a "believer", I hold onto Jesus Christ's teachings as truths. These truths are meant to transcend into all parts of life. They are meant to give us true joy and purpose. They are meant to reveal the true nature of God. They are meant to give us the ticket to eternal life. 

If there is something that is designed to do that, why wouldn't I want to seek it out with everything I have? It sounds like a recipe for success.

One parable that Jesus tells of involves a man who stumbles upon a field and finds a valuable treasure. Upon finding the treasure, he goes home and sells all he has in order to buy that field. Jesus is comparing the treasure to the Kingdom of Heaven, which can be equated to the Bible.

That's what reading the Bible is for me. It's like a treasure meant to be sought after because it gives life and purpose. And that's how I make a seemingly pointless task a true delight.

A Need for God

Common to nearly all stories we heard today and last time is some kind of deity. Why?

People all over the world have realized (with no influence from other cultures) that they are clearly imperfect beings, so they must be inferior to something. This idea seems to be programmed into our minds.

Toward the end of the 18th century, the scientific minds hypothesized that religion would soon perish from the earth. As higher criticism and scientific method became more prevalent means to evaluate the world, the “scientific elite” believed that any idea that could not be proven by naturalistic means (such as religion) would become irrelevant. However, more than 200 years later, religion is still well established in modern culture and has not shown signs of disappearing from the earth.

In his book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, sociologist Emile Durkheim said, “A society has all that is necessary to arouse the sensation of the divine in minds, merely by the power that it has over them”. Thus, society defines what kind of religion it will promote. Because the people of that society will be nurtured into having the needs of the society, they will be drawn to the religion that is promoted to fit those needs. Therefore, many religions are dynamic: changing in order to continue to satisfy the needs of the culture. This means that a mind will be programed to rely on religion.

Dr. Andrew Newberg, Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College, has been on the leading edge of exploring the neurophysiological correlate of religious experiences. In 1998, Dr. Newberg and Dr. Eugene G. d’Aquili published their research on mental activity during such experiences.

Newberg and d’Aquili propose, in a paper published in 2000, that a key part of religious experience is self-transcendence. This often occurs in the form of what they call a state of Absolute Unitary Being (AUB). In this state, “people lose all sense of discrete being, and even the difference between self and other is obliterated”. In Christian traditions, this is often referred to as a “union with God”, while in Hindu traditions it is described as a “manifestation of God”. This state of transcendence is a part of every major religion in the modern world. 

Newberg and d’Aquili postulate that the state of AUB comes from the holistic operator which produces the perception of mystical states, often accompanied with the feeling of an ultimate transcendent “other”. This holistic operator can be simulated by a model proposed by Newberg and d’Aquili. They propose that if either the ergotrophic system (“extended upward to include dominant hemisphere”) or the trophotropic system (“extended upward to include the nondominant hemisphere”) were saturated, it would stimulate the other system, giving a feeling of wholeness. This state is described by the experience of “beauty”, “religious awe”, or “religious exaltation in the perception of unity”. Thus, the AUB state is a state of intense consciousness.

Religion has been shown to have social benefits to aid in its survival. A paper, written by Ara Norenzayan and Azim Shariff, discussed the benefit of religious prosociality. They showed that major religions that are centered on a moralistic god facilitate altruist tendencies. Those who claimed religious affiliation were shown to be more likely to engage in behaviors that were not beneficial for the individual but beneficial to the group. However, they quote empirical evidence to show that religious individuals are selective in their prosociality. “Religion’s association with prosociality is most evident when the situation calls for maintaining a favorable social reputation within the ingroup”. The authors also state that religion is not the only prompt that will induce prosociality. Secular institutions such as courts and policing forces have also been shown to induce the same effects (such as donating to charity) as religious associations.

Religion is still present in the modern world because it offers benefit to society and to many individuals of that society. It appeals to basic needs that many humans have. It has also been shown to be one method to promote prosociality (among other secular methods). Studies in spiritual neuroscience have also shown religious traditions to have benefits for many individuals.

The future of religion and belief in deities lies in the hands of what culture determines to be its needs. As long as aculture defines needs that are met by neurological and social benefits offered by religion, I predict that religion will continue to manifest itself in that culture.

So is there a divine design to our desire to need a god, or did it arise spontaneously? And so the debate rages on...

Zuni Creation Myth

Awonawilona is the god and creator of everything. In the beginning, the earth was covered with hills and streams, but no one to offer prayer sticks to Awonawilona. So he sent his two sons down to the fourth world deep in the depths of the earth where the creatures were crowded. 

Once there, they planted four seeds and four trees quickly grew. The brothers made four prayer sticks out of these trees. They drove the first into the ground and a tree ladder grew up into the third world. The creatures were led up there and stayed there four days. The brothers then drove the second prayer sticks into the ground and another tree ladder grows up into the second world. The creatures stayed in the second world for four days. Again, the brothers drive a prayer stick into the ground and another tree ladder grew up into the first world. A dim light could be observed in the first world and the people were recognized as having horns, tails, webbed hands and feet, no mouths, and no anuses. After another four days, the final prayer stick is driven into the ground and another tree ladder grows up into the daylight world.

Now that they had led the people into the daylight world, the brothers decided to show the the people how to grow corn. So the men would harvest the corn and bring it back to their families. But the brothers were sad because the people could only smell the corn because they had no mouths. To fix this, the brothers took sharp knives during the night and gave the people mouths. The next day, the people were able to enjoy the taste of the corn, but quickly became uncomfortable because they could not defecate. So the brothers took knives again during the night and gave all the people anuses. The next day,the people were made comfortable and prepared the corn in many ways, but were unable to wash the corn because of their webbed hands. So again, the brothers took their knives and carved digits into the people's hands and feet. The next day, the people were able to wash the corn. The following night, the brothers decided now to make one more change. So they took their knives once more and cut off the horns and tails of the people. 

And that's how people became how they are today.

I Began Now

Reflection reveals the essence of who we are: layers and layers of mythological levels. These levels are formed by our past experiences. But as add more experiences to our lives, we metamorphosize into someone different. 

"The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it. But we will escape it only by adding something better to it." - Wendell Berry

Adding "better" (or worse) things to our lives make us new.

So where did it all begin?

By this logic, it all begins right now. As I am having the experience of writing this blog, I am metamorphosizing into a new Ben. I'm building muscle mass in my forearms, learning how to write and articulate better, and getting hungrier--and I'll never be the same. I'm beginning right now, with a fresh start and limitless possibilities. I got to this chair because of my past, but I want to embrace the responsibilites of tomorrow, not the regrets of yesterday. The beginning becomes irrelevent; we escape it by looking to the future. Perhaps Christian author Rick Warren says it best:

"We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it." 

Small Trees Don't Get Enough Love

Behold, the Awesome Power

Greek mythology and Christianity share the element concerning the imperceptible nature of the divine. In each case the God or gods are unable to show themselves in full glory.

As we talked about in class today, Semele couldn't take the breathtaking power of Zeus in all his glory when he revealed himself to her. And so she exploded.

In the Bible,  Moses was physically affected by being in the presence of God. His face would glow so much that it would frighten the people of Israel to the point where he had put a veil over his face.

In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah tells us of a vision of the throne room of God. The seraphim (interesting looking creatures with six wings) flew around the throne with a pair of their wings covering their face for they were humbled before the glory of God, even as perfect beings. In the same vision, Isaiah is terrified at seeing the glory of God.

The prophet Ezekiel had a similar reaction in that he fell on his face when he saw the glory of God in a field.

Moral of the story, being in the presence of God is a pretty awe-inspiring event.

Unconscious Arguments

In class today, we spoke of the collective unconsciousness. It encompasses the idea that, in addition to our personal consciousness and personal unconsciousness, we all share an unconsciousness that links all individuals of a species together. The link is in the form of a seemingly inherited "shape" of the human mind that is similar to a species. I can see this definition being explained as in two different ways: genetic or spiritual.

From a physical standpoint, the thesis checks out. It is true that members of a species have very similar genes and these genes have been proven to dictate many social norms. As humans, we all have a natural propensity to have friends, procreate, gain knowledge, and so on. These are dictated by genetic factors. Our genetics predispose us to what sets apart as our species and what sets us apart is common to all (collective unconsciousness). Thus, we share an unconsciousness because of genetics. The assumption that must be made, however, is that because we share things as humans, that makes our minds connected. Because of this, we must separate the physical from the non-physical, which weakens the argument somewhat. 

Another explanation would be a metaphysical one. In order for this to be explained, certain assumptions need to be made. For one, our conscious unconscious minds must both be connected to the soul because our soul is the essence of ourselves. Thus, it encompasses all parts of us. Now, in order for there to be an unconscious that is collective to all of us, we must have our souls connected to something common--i.e. a god, an energy, etc.. If we are all connected to this common "entity", it would follow that we would share in many of the same experiences. The main problem that people have with this idea is that it is largely unverifiable from  a physical standpoint--it takes faith.

Is one of these explanations true and the other a myth? Are they both true or both a myth? And so the debate rages on...

Order of Operations

An apparent chronological order to the story in chapter 1 is absent, so the following is my attempt to make sense of what happens before what:

- Io is a priestess and begins having tormenting dreams telling her of Zeus’s love for her

- Io goes crazy with torment and turns into a cow, until Zeus touches her and she is turned back into a girl

- Io gives birth to Epaphus (son of Zeus?)

- Io is abducted from Argos (Greece?)

- Zeus abducts Europa

- Pasiphae (daughter of Europa) has Asterius (half-man, half-bull)

- Pasiphae has a daughter with Minos, Ariadne

- Theseus becomes friends with Peirithous. They abduct Helen. They plot to abduct the queen of Hades. They get glued to a couch. Hercules rescues Theseus

- Ariadne notices that Theseus seems to be good at handling bulls

- Ariadne helps Theseus kill Asterius

- Ariadne falls in love with Theseus, but ends up getting dumped on an island

- Dionysus seduces her, courts her, kills her, then turns her into a constellation

This is by no means a complete or exhaustive outline, but it gives some of the key points to be expounded upon as the story is further cultivated.