Merci Beaucoup

As just a quick and final blog, I too, would like to thank each of you for enriching my learning this semester.  This class has been such an eye opening adventure that has delved deeper than just my education. It has truly touched my life an has inspired an entirely different facet of my personality that I wasn't aware existed. So a genuine Thank You to all the glorious blogs. They are insightful, charming, intuitive, hilarious.  Thank You for all the wonderful presentations. I appreciate all the life that was brought to the stories and the interpretations that naturally arose with the differing personalities.  And of course to our dear Professor Sexson. Every class was a gift. I consistently left the classroom awestruck, lost in thought, and always smiling. I cannot express enough the gratitude I feel towards your instruction, so simply, thank you. I can feel the bittersweet nostalgia creeping up already!

Happy holidays and BE SAFE!!

Pursuit of Happiness

I had a small personal debate about the topic I wanted to explore for the final paper and ended up choosing the psychoanalysis of Henderson, however, I loved Henderson's theory of becoming vs. being and thought I would touch on the subject just a bit.

I cannot help but assume that a lot of people, Americans in particular, suffer from Hendersonism.  Yes, that is a clinically classified disorder as per the Psychological DSM-IV, thank you very much! We are always thinking about something that is wanted or even not wanted.  "I want...I  want...I want...", it is so repetitive and has seemed to get consistently more redundant as we have read The Rain King and have gotten to experience the presentations of my classmates.  "What do you want for dinner?", "What do you want for Christmas?", "What do you want to do with a Psychology major??", It seems everything we do is to get some kind of satisfaction later.  It seems everything we do is to satisfy someONE else later.  There are always motivations for our wanting actions, and some of them seem necessary and very relevant.  For example, with the end of the semester coming to a close and all..."I want to stay up for an unruly amount of hours writing papers and cramming for finals because someday I want to have a successful career." Is it worth it? Why do we push ourselves to unhealthy limits because we think, sorry, correction, we know that someday it will all pay off? Someday we will look back on our experience and know the all of the crushing hours of studying and thousands of dollars paid to the university will eventually lead to our success and ultimate happiness.  Yes, I believe we have all experienced a bit of Hendersonism.  We have all experienced becoming. Working towards that goal.  Striving for it. Wanting it. Want want wanting it.
I began writing this as a contemplation just of being and becoming, however, in the process I have been reminded of how I have fallen completely victim of Hendersonism.  I haven't slowed down for even a second this semester to decide what is really important and how to flow with life, breathing, living, accepting, and enjoying.  So in light of the holiday season, a time for friends, family, and festivities, I would like to send out another little reminder to myself and to all of you to slow down.  Take some time out for yourself.  Observe your surroundings. Breathe. Meditate. Write. Read. Create. Cherish your friends. Cherish your family. Quit wanting. Just be.

As a close, I came across this quote I found to be quite applicable: 

for a long time it seemed that life was about to begin but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this has helped me to see there is no way TO happiness. happiness IS the way. treasure every moment. time waits for no one. happiness is a journey, not a destination...

Its all cyclical

Mythologies. Ah. It really is all around us. I actually cannot even imagine how I never before made the connections but am so grateful for the eye opening experience this semester has brought to me. In the beginning, I was quite unsure about how I would tackle the variety of classes I had signed up for. They were all so different and ranged from a 100 level human development class and 200 level technology class to a 400 level field practicum. I was looking forward to the random assortment of courses but was also questioning how I would relate them in a way to stay focused and maintain cohesion throughout the long days. I began by overly taking notes and squeezing little memos into my agenda to help remind me of all the assignments and tasks, thoroughly and quite efficiently becoming overwhelmed as I worked to keep up with my case load. However, the familiarity eventually took over and I was able to pace myself through the day. Throughout the semester, Professor Sexson kept commenting on daily occurances that were undeniably "profoundly mythological" and how every story is within another story.

In my human development class we have cycled through conception to childhood, adolescence to adulthood and are finishing up the semester with old age and death. Interestingly enough, people fear death the most in adulthood because they have overcome their feelings of being invincible while still experiencing a sense that their life is not complete and there is still more to accomplish. However, by the time most people reach an old age and look back on their endeavors, they feel satisfied and are comfortable and almost a relief about leaving the mortal world because they have contributed to their world. It seems as if each semester we endure the same kinds of emotions. I felt invincible in September, like the work and stress load could not weigh me down and I would be able to conquer everything with flying colors. However, as the semester wore on, I lost that sense of complete control and esentially reached "adulthood", with my mortality becoming salient and the realities that this school semester is my life and it in part determines my career and the rest of my life. Thank god, though, the end is near and I am already feeling the sense of relief that accompanies my "old age". We have all put in our time and (hopefully!) feel accomplished. I am ready for the rejuvination of a new beginning: holiday break, whoop whoop! But I am also more aware that when the holidays are over, I will feel relieved again. So onward we must push, towards a new day and a new beginning, ever searching but ever enjoying the simplicities of life and acknowledging the origin, the muddle, the end.

Psychoanalysis of Henderson

He sits in his father’s library counting inheritance money while the resounding “I want…, I want…, I want…” escapes from the protuberant mouth of Henderson.  He is pompous and ever seeking to satiate his enormous appetite.  Throughout the novel of Henderson the Rain King authored by Saul Bellow, there are profound mythological, religious, and ethical references that can be analyzed, criticized, and most significantly, simply acknowledged.  However, the psychological complexities found entangled throughout Henderson’s journey umbrella many of the underlying themes.  Specifically, Henderson can be directly described through a psychoanalytic psychology approach as per the timeless Sigmund Freud. 
    Named the “father of psychology”, Freud developed a series of theories that attempted to describe behaviors as a result of a working and thoughtful mind.  One of the most significant of the theories is the development of the id, ego, and superego.  This categorization of the mind constitutes the pre-conscious, unconscious, and conscious mind and aids in understanding the reasons behind behavior.  The id is the “pleasure seeking” component of the mind.  It is child-like, reacts to impulse, and is often unaware of the reacting consequences.  The superego is the moralistic, logical, and idealistic aspect of the brain that focuses behaviors on what is humanly correct and acceptable.  Finally, the ego acts as a mediator between the id and the superego in which the goal is to balance impulse and control to maintain a healthy and strong individual.  Freud believed and imbalance of these components would result in a highly defiant or restrictively depressed person. 
    It is discovered within the first two chapters of Henderson the Rain King that Henderson relies solely on his id.  He is constantly seeking pleasure and reacting on impulse and self indulgence.  He looks to satiate his wants through money, his wife, and alcohol.  With a flask as his side, Henderson often made snide remarks to his wife, Lily, consciously aware of the damage it caused her but never withholding his tongue.  For example, Henderson is aware of the pain Lily encompasses when suicide is mentioned because of her father’s commitment to suicide.  However, on more than one occasion, he comments “I’m going to blow my brains out! I’m shooting myself. I didn’t forget to pack the pistol. I’ve got it on me now.”  This remark leaves Lily tearful and distraught though Henderson dismisses her and continues with his biography. 
    The relation of the id to Henderson continues throughout the novel as he travels to Africa.  With the Wariri tribe, it appeared Henderson had the best of intentions when he attempted to rid the curse of the frogs that had been bestowed upon them.  However, he impulsively built a bomb and without considering the entire dilemma of the contaminated water and the explosives possible repercussions, he destroyed the water berm and hastily left the tribe to suffer.  Further, during the rain ceremony in the Arnewi tribe, Henderson felt the hot, impulsive sensations of “I want! I want!” again which resulted in his moving of the mountain woman and becoming the Sungo of the tribe despite the fact the king of the tribe warned him with the possible consequences it could bring. 
    Another key relationship that can be found between Henderson and Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to understanding human behavior is the notion of free association.  Freud used free association as a therapeutic tool to help discover the unconscious mind and how it relates to observable behaviors.  Freud used this psychodynamic tool to encourage his clients to speak uncensored and to verbalize any and every thought that reaches the mind.  When used correctly, Freud believed it could lead to a discovery in self-purpose, understanding, and acceptance.  The entire novel captures the tone of free association in which first person Henderson moves freely from thought to thought approached with a triggering situation.  His thoughts are rapid, chaotic, and fragmented as he attempts to explain his past, his history, his family, and most importantly, his journey through Africa.  It is only through these discombobulated thoughts that the reader can understand his personality and how a single man can influence the lives of many. 
    It was the goal of Freud to discover the unconscious and to develop and strong ego that can sustain the battle between the id and the superego.  It was the goal of King Dahfu to speak with and teach Henderson about impulse control and conscious awareness of the body and mind.  He served as an open communication outlet for Henderson to overcome his piggish qualities and establish a conscious and novel life viewpoint.  Henderson the Rain King is a direct and linear account of a psychodynamic therapy session and the struggles of the unconscious and conscious mind and the ever present war between wanting and obtaining awareness for the greater community. 

The Complexities of Anamnesis

"Sometimes the embargo laid on personal names is not permanent; it is conditional on circumstances, and when these change it ceases to operate. Thus when the Nandi men are away on a foray, nobody at home may pronounce the names of the absent warriors; they must be referred to as birds. Should a child so far forget itself as to mention one of the distant ones by name, the mother would rebuke it, saying, “Don’t talk of the birds who are in the heavens.”" -James G. Frazer; The Golden Bough

We have been greatly exposed to the concept of anamnesis this semester and how it would be such a great joy to have complete recollection and remembrance, as we have often discussed through Eliot's Four Quartets.  How wonderful would it be to remember all you have endured. The knowledge, the experiences, the life and rebirth. How would we react to such an event? Would it truly be a joyous one? It makes me curious as to why forgetting is linked with the River Lethe and why to forget is paralleled with a death.  Does the human mind forget as coping mechanism? A way to protect itself from the times of pain and suffering.  It is said that time heals all wounds, but perhaps it it just the act of forgetting that in fact is the true savior. Although I can relate and honor the argument that "which does not kill only makes you stronger", and maybe we are taking the easy way out as to just forget the times pain and suffering, but I cannot help but be as least partially thankful for the lethal water that we are forced to consume.  Even if it is only for self preservation and to find an inner strength to endure. 



We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning

We laughed until we cried

"Another beneficent use of homeopathic magic is to heal or prevent sickness. The ancient Hindus performed an elaborate ceremony, based on homeopathic magic, for the cure of jaundice. Its main drift was to banish the yellow color to yellow creatures and yellow things, such as the sun, to which it properly belongs, and to procure for the patient a healthy red color from a living, vigorous source, namely, a red bull."

In conjunction with the concept of using natural substances to heal like with homeopathy, it has always been said that one of the best "cure-all" remedies has been to release intense emotions with crying or laughter. Often, counselors and therapists will encourage sobbing when clients open up about troubling experiences. Physiologically, laughing and crying both reduce cortisol, a stress hormone, while raising endorphin and serotonin levels, both feel good hormones. Although they seems dichotomous, laughter and sobbing are remarkably similar which has lead to the common behaviors of laughing until crying or crying until it morphs into belly-shaking laughter.

This concept captured me during lecture and how applicable it is to everyday life. Emotions are timeless as we've seen countless times in Ovid and it has reached me through my bad day. 

 I believe my bad day began on a Monday (go figure) over the summer. I was sitting in a coffee shop explaining my upcoming fall class schedule to my brother and was excitedly telling him how I would only need to take 15 credits fall semester and 12 credits in the spring in order to graduate. It was then he gave me a deep, puzzled look and told me there was no way I had taken enough credits over the last 3 years in order to 'slack' senior year. Determined he was wrong about this, I printed off my transcript and showed him I had fulfilled all my requirements. WRONG! He informed me I was about 47 credits shy of my graduating target. Definitely too many to complete over 2 semesters. This also informed me that all my plans post-graduation would also be postponed. Plans like moving across the country and beginning graduate school, doing extensive traveling and having a blast. I'd be stuck in Bozeman another year. Crying commenced. In all of my research of trying to figure out how to counter this bad news I lost track of time and realized I was late for work. I scrambled to pack up my computer and books, ran out of the coffee shop, threw my stuff in my car and proceeded to speed down the road toward work. I made it to the corner of 19th and Main Street when my car died. I panicked and tried to restart it. Nothing. The light turned green and the line up of cars were itching to move, nearing closer and closer to my bumper encouraging me to move. Thankfully, a man next to me saw my car stalled out and helped me to push it out of the way. Crying commenced. I called my work to let them know I wouldn't be able to make it into work. And although my boss understood, she had a new edge to her voice than she did before and I could tell she was frustrated. I hung up then called a tow company to pick me up. Crying commenced. Finally, after 2 hours of sitting alone on a busy corner, I was rescued by the tow company. By the end of the day, I was completely overwhelmed and had exhausted my tears. That was when I began to laugh. Everything went so completely wrong that all I could do was chuckle about the day's events. It was almost a relief after feeling so drained from all the crying to finally laugh.

Its easy to slip into despair when I feels like everything goes pear-shaped, but I think that this idea that crying and laughter can occur simultaneously is important. It helps to realize that the journey to happiness isn't really a journey at all. Getting caught up in 'what needs to be done' and always looking forward to something new and exciting can blind you from the fact that your life isn't going to start sometime down the road. Life is happening now.

October 28 Lecture Notes

October 28 Myth lecture notes

The End

“We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” –T.S. Eliot, the Four Quartets

**Remember that life is cyclical**

James Joyce: Finnigan’s Wake

The weariness of life, you’ve got to deal with the situation

            -Best thing to do is talk to them and begin to understand

            -It is up to the woman to remember everything, and she becomes very sad at the end because she can remember and her lover (men) cannot

-The world is not only going to come to an end, but it’s already the end and it repeats over and over again

            -I.e. The Notebook

-“How do you know what you think until you think what you say?”

Ch. 4-Eliade, pg. 54

Eschatology-doctrine to the end of the world

Ontogeny-life of an individual is the same as the life of a culture; the development or developmental history of an individual organism

The Seven Ages of Man

1. birth-the infant mulling and puking in the nurse’s arms
2. kids
3. fancy young adult
4. soldiers
5. middle aged merchant
6. advanced middle age
7. the end, “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything”

Doesn’t it make you happy to know that you can have such a deep feeling to feel sad?

            -The tear jerker movies!

                        -Why? Because it is so artful, it is the artist who helps us deal with sadness so artfully

                                 -Sublimated sadness into beauty like Adonis and his transformation into a flower

Catharsis-the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.

Freud- “We laugh in order to keep from crying, if we couldn’t laugh, we would be crying all the time”

            Laugh until we cry? Or do we cry until we laugh?

Dacrygelosis- alternating laughing and weeping

                           -Don’t take life so seriously because you’re not going to get out alive anyways!

Apocalypicists:

1.     Literal-there is a time and place for the end of the world

2.     Metaphorical-end of the world has already occurred, we just have not noticed, we aren’t smart enough to see the cyclical ending of the world

-We must wait to see the curtain lifted to see truth

Pythagoras:

A man who says its preferred not to eat meat because you don’t know its source-could be your grandma? Yikes.

Watch: Zed and Two Noughts

            -Movie about decomposition

Children’s death tunes:

“The worms crawl in,                                   “Ring around the rosy

The worms crawl out,                                    a pocket full of posies

The worms play pea-knuckle                          Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!”

On your snout”

Another version of the worm song:

The Worms Crawl In,
The Worms Crawl Out,
Into your stomach,
And out your mouth.
They eat your intestines,
They scramble your heart.
Now you feel like
you’re all apart.
This is how
it is to die
you end up looking
like apple pie!

Ovid explains the transformation from decomposition of death to something graceful and beautiful:

What happens to your spinal cord when you die? It turns into a snake

Pg. 519: Ovid is talking about the vegetarian Pathegoras, “for all things change, but no thing dies, the spirit wanders: here and there, at will, the soul can journey from and animal into a human body”

Overcomes the doctrine of tragedy, a sophisticated version of reincarnation

If what you write down remains, then you shall remain

October 26 Lecture Notes

October 26 Myth lecture notes:

Start reading the Henderson the Rain King this weekend: how does this relate to mythology?

-Killing of the king

-The Golden Bough

-Survival of myth in the contemporary world

Quiz: November 9

Presentations Begin: November 23 (Groups #1, 2, 3)

Ovidian Story Presentation: November 16

Presentation of our term papers--will be posted to the blog, will be due in hard copy on day of presentation: December 7

Sublime=sublimination: divert or modify into culturally higher or socially more acceptable activity; of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe

Cornucopia: a symbol of plenty consisting of a goat’s horn filled with flowers, fruit, and corn

            -Origins from Achelous & Hercules

Nessus & Hercules:

Nessus (the centaur) love Deianera, but was shot with an arrow in his spine by Hercules

            -Had to cross the river, Hercules had to trust Nessus to bring Deianera across safely

            -Nessus takes Deianera and rapes her

            -Hercules shoots Nessus with a Hydra dipped arrow in the spine

Hydra: the animal with a hundred heads, poisoned blood

            -Nessus doesn’t want to die in vain so he gives Deianera his blood soaked shirt, tells her it’s an aphrodisiac, and it will work to make Hercules love her again if it were ever to be softened

           

“She gives Hercules the shirt,

“Who then devised the torment? Love.

Love is the unfamiliar Name,

Behind the hands that wove

The intolerable shirt of flame,

Which human power cannot remove.

We only love, only suspire,

Consumer by either fire or fire.”

            -The Shirt of Flame, T.S. Eliot

           

-If it tries to remove the shirt, chunks of his flesh comes with it, he jumps into a pool, he then asks to be placed on a funeral pyre (A barbeque)

-The gods say he has suffered enough and places him in the sky as a constellation

Pygmalion:

Modern Day Pygmalions:

Pretty Woman

My Fair Lady

The Princess Diaries

An artists sculpts a figure of a beautiful woman, falls in love with it

*The power of the artist that changes simile to metaphor

            -Changes from what something is ‘like’ to what something ‘is’

            -Alters from object to subject

            -The function of the artist is to create reality

-The artist kisses, gives gifts to the ivory girl, dresses it, speaks to it

-Asks the gods, Venus, to have “one like my ivory girl” as his wife

-The statue comes to life!

            -9 months later, the girl gives birth to Paphos

            -In honor, Cyprus was called the Paphian isle

A Happy Ending!! J

The Birth of Adonis:

The story of the girl who is impregnated by her father, tries to flee, transformed into a tree, the tree had the baby, and gives birth to Adonis from the tree

            -Adonis is the figure of the most amazingly beautiful man

-Adoni=worshipped god, horrified patriarchs of the Bible, the women would sob for Adoni to come back to life, which repeats every year

• Adonis is so beautiful, he even attracts the love of Venus
• She warns Adonis against hunting and doing dangerous things to keep him safe so she will never suffer
• Adonis is on a wild boar hunt, lead by his hounds
• The boar tusks spur Adonis in the groin, Gored in the groin: MTV’s Jackass. Ha.
• Venus is devastated and she calls out that his memory will live on for eternity by reenacting his death at a giant feast

-The Gardens of Adonis: ritually every year, the ancient women of Greece would plant seeds in a shallow dish so that they grow and die quickly

-The anemone flower, “born of the wind” what he now represents

-“Live fast, love hard, die young”

Dionysus: comes to town and drives all the ladies crazy

            -Modern day: Sex, lies, and videotapes!

Perceptions

"In every one of these instances the life of the god-man is prolonged on condition of his

showing, in a severe physical contest of fight or flight, that his
bodily strength is not decayed, and that, therefore, the violent
death, which sooner or later is inevitable, may for the present be
postponed." -James G. Frazer

After acknowledging the fact that the artist is the master mind of our known world, I found a quote from 

Talmudic teachings stating: "We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are."

The concept of perception touches our lives every moment of everyday, and it affects each of us differently

in how we will respond to our next stimulus.  For example, I'm currently sitting with my boyfriend while 

he actively engages in Fantasy Football while watching the Oakland Raiders kick the Denver Bronco's ass. I 

believe the score is currently 31-0 and its not even half time yet. My perception: boring game.  His

perception: its Sunday afternoon football, this is the sport of warriors, and its important to me.  Although I 

am still attempting to learn the significance of this, he has had years of participation in the sport. He played

football all throughout high school, him and his best friend were collaborates for MVP, he has made 

countless friends and has had priceless experiences. So while he sees football as a weekly ritual, a hobby,

a passion, what have you, it has contributed to his character and become part of his identity. Football can

be seen as a sport, a waste of time, a way of life, a debate topic, inspiring, devastating, etc, etc. It really 

doesn't matter the description because for each, it will be and mean something different. All that matters

is: previous experience+current information=new perceptions. This is what the artist does. He creates new

perceptions for the eye to interpret. And it probably won't look anything like how the artist intended, but

it will undoubtedly alter your immediate perception of an object, a subject matter, or personal life value.

Welcome to college and prepare to have all previous conceptions peeled apart, altered, and reconstructed!

October 21 Lecture Notes

October 21 lecture notes

How is mythology related to a religious text?

Ovid is a key to all classical mythology and classical literature.

It is the secular scripture connected with the Bible

Holiday=holy-day

            Of course, every day could be a holy day and every moment can be or could become a holy moment

“The man-god must be killed as soon as he shows symptoms that his powers are beginning to fail, and his soul must be transferred to a vigorous successor before it has been seriously impaired by the threatening decay” –James G. Frazer pg. 309

Term Paper: MUST be related to Henderson the Rain King; the mythological importance, creation, separations, etc

1^st State: Conviviality: your on good terms with someone; an atmosphere that’s friendly, lively, or enjoyable

2^nd Stage: Rape: physical and psychic invasion

• The gods appear in very invasive and violent awakening
• Invasion of myth into your own world

3^rd Stage: Indifference

Philomela-turned into a nightingale (makes a jug-jug-jug sound)

Tereas-hoopoe

Procne-swallow

The Stories of the Bulls

Flannery O’Connor:  Green Leaf

            About a farmer who has help that doesn’t do a lot, so she goes out to do the work by herself and she keeps seeing a bull in her yard. She asks for it to be removed and has a man “Green Leaf” to shoot him. Green Leaf scares him into the woods and the bull comes back and charges the woman, he pierces her through the heart

*Literature is a whole-lotta bull

Minos: one of the children of Europa

-Cretan stories

-Was supposed to sacrifice this beautiful, milky-white bull that comes from the sea but he was so beautiful he sacrifices another

-Pasiphae: was taken by the bull and she dressed up as a bull in order to mate with him

            -Passes through the permeable layer between humans and animals that is allowed and permitted in mythology

            -Pasiphae is impregnated by the bull and 9 mos. Later a half human-half bull was born

            -The Minotaur was born

                        -Monstrous child who repeatedly requested virgins to eat

            -Theseus: A hero must come and SAVE THE DAY

Daedalus: an artist, a craftsman, a carpenter

            -Built a labyrinth

            Pg. 253: “constructs this maze. He tricks the eye with many twisting paths that double back-one’s left without a point of reference.”

            -Exactly like Ovid’s twisted stories

                        -Ended up trapping up the Minotaur

*Ovid describes more: The man behind the curtain, the artist, the craftsman rather than the ‘over-the-top’ hero

Nostos: Home; homecoming

            -Wizard of Oz, sending Dorothy home

            -nostalgia

• The artist alters nature so that we can see the world the way it truly is –Ovid
• The artists trains us to see things the way they are

Diadem-a jeweled crown or headband worn as a symbol of sovereignty

It is because I say it is

"The ancient Germans believed there was something holy in women, and accordingly consulted them as oracles.  Their sacred women, we are told, looked on the eddying rivers and listened to the murmur or roar of the water, and from the sight and sound foretold what would come to pass." --James G. Frazer

After yesterday's lecture, I have come to appreciate Ovid from an entirely new perspective than I had previously seen.  I had been reading the stories of the great divinities and how they have affected common people. I had been feeling shock at his uncanny descriptions of sparagmos and the brutality of adultery, rape, crime, and sabotage. I had come to look at the characters he described as something of heroes, taking on monsters, or facing the great gods and challenging them like Arachne or Lycaon.  I was attempting to connect these historic heroes with a modern day hero and describe how an ordinary person or situation can become life-altering and "holy".  However, I'm pretty sure I was trying too hard. Why look for something so prodigious when the connections to the past are "plain as the nose on your face"?


In Ovid's illustration the story of the Minotaur, he only briefly touched on the hero's perspective, and focused more on "the man behind the curtain".  The artist and the craftsman, the puzzle builder, the person who can pick any object or being and manipulate it to make others see it they way he does. The artists trains us to see they way things really are. This is where I found my new appreciation of the stories in the Metamorphosis, he twists the thoughts and the actions of the characters in the stories to make us see it the way he wants us to. He is the artist, the craftsman, and the puzzle builder.  How clever!

I found a quote yesterday that was so relevant to this topic:
"Art is anything we can get away with" --Andy Warhol

I realize this blog is completely discombobulated, my attempt to make it cohesive is beyond my words right now, perhaps I have experienced my lovely epiphany, a sublime moment, indeed.

October 19 lecture notes

LIT285-October 19 lecture notes

Assignment: Become an expert on assigned story and prepare for a 1-min presentation

            Blog: BAD DAY

*Beauty and terror together: go out and have a sublime experience

Call and response of our blogs: inspire, become inspired

Theodicy: the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil

In the Bible, a really really bad day: The Book of Job

            -Within a matter of min, Job loses everything from his family to his wealth and health b/c he is living too righteously

-How do you justify having a bad day?

Bad things happen all the time, but observed in the right light, it can show positive outcomes b/c you may come out stronger on the other side

            -“That which not does not kill me, only makes me stronger” –Nietzshe

                        -“That, that, that, don’t kill me….” –Kanye West

            -“A blessing in disguise”

Conversely, something that good happens originally, can end up having negative consequences

            -i.e. you win the lottery but……______________ fill in the blank!

Why do we suffer?

-“We suffer so that the poets will have something to write about”

            -Country music anyone? Lost my wife, she took the dog, house burned down, and my truck broke down

Add to the Reading List: Haroun, and the Sea of Stories

 The Oresteia: “We suffer, we suffer into truth, and we suffer to find truth”

Book VI: What is the very worst the human mind can imagine?

Tereus, Procne, Philomela:

Tereus and Procne are married, Juno wasn’t present

            -Given a son, Itys

Procne, bored with married life, sends Tereus to fetch her sister; he ends up raping her and cutting out her tongue so she can’t cry out.

            -Sister, Philomela, weaves a tapestry of her rape tale and gives it to her sister

            -Procne, enraged, kills her son and feeds him to Tereus

*Both are beyond words in anger and are morphed into hoopoe birds, “every ready to attack”

**hope these notes are complete enough to get the lecture experience! Let me know if you have any suggestions about how I can make them more detailed or more comprehensive! :)

October 14 Lecture Notes

October 14 lecture notes:

Assignment #1: Go out and have a bad day

            -Only way to experience the muddle of mythology

Searching for clues, go be a detective!

Mythic clue: the autumn leaves

            -Homeric Hymns

            -Ovid: Ceres and Proserpina (Greek Persephone)

Story: Ceres is out looking for her daughter, b/c Proserpina is out looking for a flower (Narcissus) and Pluto comes up and captures her and takes her into the underworld.

-There is an agreement between Jove and Pluto that Pluto can have his daughter, Proserpina

Marriage: a contract between men that agrees that ownership of the girl is passed from one man to another; the act of abduction from the underworld

-Ceres is angry b/c Jove gave her daughter away!

            -She can’t take back her daughter b/c there is already an agreement, but she can make the situation dire. She uses her powers to turn the season to nuclear winter (changing of the leaves, signifies death)

-2 men go to the underworld to rescue Proserpina, run into Pluto and comment that they are coming to take back the beautiful woman

            -Dumb and Dumber Go To Hell: New blockbuster film!

-Pluto glues him to a chair in the underworld—“you must stay here FOREVER!”

            -He is eternally tantalized by crisp, clear, flowing rivers and flourishing fruit trees

            -Other guy rolls a rock up and down mountains, if he can get the rock to the top he is free to go

-However, Hercules comes down to be a hero (Its raining men!), and rips one of the men from the bench (‘tis the reason Greek men have such small bottoms)

*Look for something subtle and relate it back to mythology*

            -From the past or the present

Arachne:

Arachne by Velazquez

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vel%C3%A1zquez_Arachne.jpg

Painters attempt to create a frame story in literature

Frame Story: a story within a story within a story

Moral of the story: Immortality

            -Telling a story that never ends

*Metamorphosis is both punishment and reward

            -If Ovid’s fate will be to always be web spinning, she will forever be immortal through spider’s webs

Homework Assignment: Find the leg of Minerva, or one that is an equivalent!

            Déjà vu: French literal translation= “already seen”

The Saragossa Manuscript

            -Maddening frame story

            -Groundhog Day is the modern adaptation

-Point of Ovid is to become confused by the immense emersion of stories

Inggris: Jupiter and Thetis

http://www.artble.com/imgs/0/b/b/914870/jupiter_and_thetis.jpg

Picasso: Guernica

Gives a pictorial quotation of the Inggris painting

            -Thought Picasso was doing something dramatically new when in fact he is depicting great paintings from before him

            - He was transfixed with mythological symbolism

Satyr: Greek myth one of a class of lustful, drunken woodland gods

            -Roman representation as a man with a goat’s ears, tail, legs, and horns

            -A man with strong sexual desires

Trope:  a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression

            -To turn (tropics, tropical lands)

Polytropos: Ability to turn in many ways; of many shifts

Marsyas: Claimed he could play the flute better than Apollo and his fate led to him being hung upside down, de-skinned and filleted alive

Pelops: founder of the house of Atreus, father was Tantalus

            -Savage Banquet: Tantalus cuts Pelops into pieces to make a stew and served it to the gods, Demeter, still weeping over the abduction of Proserpina, absentmindedly ate some of the stew (his ivory shoulder). The other gods knew what was happening so they rebirthed him with only one piece filled in with the ivory

           

October 12 Lecture Notes

October 12, 2010

Myth Notes

Relationship between reality and the imagination

Foreground Information: general information that gives a general setting for the story (ies) to come

Europa=sister of Cadmus, granddaughter of Io(who had also been turned into a bull while dealing with Jove)

            Painting by Tesha: The rape of Europa

Ekphrasis:: a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art

Minerva (to the Romans)(Athena, to the Greeks)-the daddy’s girl & Arachne

            -“to praise is less rewarding than receiving praise” Minerva—she’s a bitch!

-Arachne claimed she was a more talented weaver than the great goddess Minerva-foreshadowing for awful things to happen to those who claim to be greater than a god

            Hubris: extreme haughtiness or arrogance

Corrine’s parents: Christine & Tom

Mentor: a teacher or helper, an experienced or trusted advisor

Painting: Velazquez’s Spinners

Persian Story Teller: “This was so (logos), and this wasn’t so (mythos), It happened, and it didn’t happen”

            I.e.: Aladdin

Pagan (Secular) Tradition: human beings>gods –Ovid is in this tradition!

Religious Traditions (Christians and Jews): humans should be submissive to the gods

In her contest, Minerva depicts the hill of Mars (pg. 180)

            -1. The glory of the gods, herself in particular. 2. Shows what happens when mortals contest against the gods

            Moral: didactic: designed or intended to teach--  you will respect the gods or else!

Arachne’s depiction: Shows the victims of the gods and how they use their power to be deceitful, they are immoral and they commit awful crimes

            -Her painting was better which ANGERED Minerva: she hung Arachne and turned her into a spider

Mendala: Any of various ritualistic geometric designs symbolic of the universe, used in Hinduism and Buddhism as an aid to meditation.

Perfidy: treachery, duplicity, deceit, infidelity, faithlessness

Assignment for Presentation: The background of a mythological story

            -We will be assigned a story and will become EXPERTS on the story and give a 1 min presentation about the story. Know it forward and backward, research it, make it apart of your being!

A shining gold basket from generations past, given to Europa, if she would have looked in the basket, she would have realized

-Painted in the basket, 2 men were watching a heifer swimming in an ocean with a young virgin girl, Zeus was also in the painting—the story of Io! (Europa’s great-great-great grandmother)

Myth: you discover from which story you come!

The single sentences that change everything...Book V

Book V:

Perseus using Medusa's head to complete his battle

Perseus and Phineas: Here is where blockbuster makes their money. "300" anyone? Its a gory, gruesome battle tale. 'Nuff said.

Polydectes: It would seem by now Medusa has done her work. Believers, and in this case, skeptics, alike will be turned to stone from her 'death stare'. Maybe this is what men today are afraid of when they get "the look" from a disapproving female!

Pegasus: The winged horse was born from Medusa's blood and Minerva is a happy and awe-struck woman when she rests her eyes on the steed. (I made my parents rewind the part of the old Paramount Pictures when the winged horse would come running through the clouds multiple times before we could watch the movie!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVycXOAlfHU

Pyrenus: This fellow is rather interesting in the way that his evil character sets the stage for many fairy tales. He welcomes visitors and once they enter he hopes they will never leave, once they do, he has a breakdown and commits suicide. His character reminds me of the nasty witch from Hansel and Gretal.


Ceres and Proserpina: "To ask is not to rape." Pluto is struck by Cupid's arrow and rushes to take away Propserpina. Ceres, heartbroken, searches high and low for her daughter, she created drought until it is decided that she will have split custody of her father and husband. 

Ovidian Imagery

Io and Jove

Perseus and Andromeda

Phaethon

Pyramus and Thisbe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I wish I had an art gallery full of these original works. What a happy girl you would have!

 

 

 

The single sentences that change everything...Book IV

Book IV:
Pyramus and Thisbe: The star-crossed lovers escaped the grasp of their forbidding parents, but alas, they find their fate at the end of a knife while searching for each other to full fill an elopement.
Mars and Venus: Literally caught in adultery by a thinly woven chain, the Sun is punished to forever burn and be watched as he rises in the East and sets in the West.
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus: The lazy nymph pleasured no one but herself and when she found something she wanted, the handsome Hermaphroditus, he rejected her, no surprise, karma's a bitch.
Cadmus and Harmonia: Both held fast in the city of Thebes, Cadmus wished to be like the snake that he had slain, he morphed, and the devastated Harmonia wished the same fate upon herself. Together they slithered into hiding. 
Perseus and Andromeda: The fair girl is chained to an ocean front rock where the mighty Perseus must battle a great sea monster in order to save her. He does and together they were joined in love :)

The single sentences that change everything...Book III

Book III:

Cadmus: A dragon slayer plucked the little horny teeth from the fallen dragon, plants them, and voila! Thebes is born.
Actaeon: Although it may have been by chance,to give a boy the benefit of the doubt, the goddess Diana is seen naked, his punishment is to become the stag he and his hounds were searching for originally. What fate!
Semele: Oh the dear girl, so naive first to fall for Jove, then his hysteric wife, Juno, she requests to see the great god in his true appearance. Unfortunately for her, it results in over-stimulation of all her senses, and she explodes.
Tiresias: The fool claimed that men have more fun doing the naughty to the all-powerful Juno, and as a result, she blinds him. The End.
Narcissus: If only he did not know himself, another could have loved him as equally. Instead, the vain bastard drowned in his own reflection. 

Blog Master

Hello All,

Because I am a compulsive note-taker, I'm going to start becoming a blog master for all of our class lecture notes to supplement our learning. Plus, I think it will help me to reinforce the ideas and stories if I have to write them out multiple times.  Yay, win-win situation!

SA

The single sentences that change everything...Book II

Book II:
1. Phaethon: The boy indeed seeks adventure by living vicariously through his Sun father, he takes the reins of the gallant and free-spirited steeds, out of control he ignites the world below into deep flames.
2. Cycnus: In response to the fire world, tears came from his eyes and he was repaid by morphing into a white swan, ever searching for clear, cool water to protect himself from the land's ash covered ground.
3. Callisto: Virginity taken by Jove, she unwillingly disrobes in front of her mother nymph, Diana, and she is banned from the tribe where Juno takes her revenge, a bear is born and with it her cub, they retreat to the safe sky above.
4. Ocyrhoe: She becomes an equine, although saddened, isn't there much worse to things to turn to? Imagine a beetle who will surely be squashed, at least she can run hard and free!
5. Europa and Jove: The poor girls are always tricked by the sex-driven Jove.  They then suffer from a jealous Juno, shouldn't the great goddess attack the perpetrator? 

The single sentences that change everything...Book I

Book I:
1. The Creation: A typical reverie where the Earth meets the Heavens and through astronomical thunder, life is birthed.
2. The Four Ages: Gold, silver, bronze, and iron, a declining succession of the world they knew; a flourishing start gives way to savage slaughter.
3. Apollo and Daphne: A hopeless romantic, captured by the beauty of a woman, he cannot live without her and displays the beauty of her by placing a laurel ring upon his head, the crown and jewel of his world. 

Apollo pleading Daphne to return his undying love

4. Io and Jove: A girl's innocence, though stolen, still betrays her in the form of a heifer, and only after much begging and pleading from the great god to his wife does she return to her original beauty.

5. Paethon: An adventurous boy seeks his father, searching for truth and reacting to sheer serendipity, do we see a vivid foreshadow to come within the next book?

My Weekend Trek

"Then answered Ra, “I created the heavens and the earth, I ordered the mountains, I made the great and wide sea, I stretched out the two horizons like a curtain." -James Frazer

Summit of Sphinx Mountain

Today I went on a hike up Sphinx mountain near Cameron, MT.  On my way, I kept hearing "ohhhh, and this is profoundly mythological!" Through 15 miles and 11,000 vertical feet, I noticed the landscape changes were stunning.  Not only through season changes, but through the vegetation that grew in sunny vs. shade areas, the difference in trees from low to high altitude, the dagger like shards of rock that chipped and slid under my every footstep, even the presence of snow on the summit seemed like a scene and a story from Metamorphosis.  There was a beginning: arriving at the base of the daunting mountain, the middle: taking thousands of steps to reach the crest where I could see the series of mountain ranges that emerged from the power of some god, and finally, the end: a delicious bison hamburger from an Ennis cafe. I had to wonder how many trees and rocks were once great worriers, and from which stream a beautiful nymph took a last drink before she morphed into a doe.  I suppose I should remember to be cautious about where my feet fall on the ground. 

Indian Creation Myth of Brahma

In a time before this, there was nothing.  There was no heaven and no earth.  There was only a vast ocean that housed a sleeping serpent.  One day, a resounding "Ohhmmmmmmmm" came rippling across the waves that awoke the giant cobra.  This cobra was Lord Vishnu and after he awoke, he declared that it was a new day and therefore a new world must be created.  He called on his servant, Brahma.  An ornate lotus flower began to grow from the navel of Lord Vishnu and resting inside the flower was Brahma.  Vishnu instructed Brahma of his task and then disappeared beneath the rocking waves.  Brahma split the Lotus flower into three parts creating the heavens, the earth, and the skies.  He used each of his four arms to direct the wind into north, south, east, and west.  Then he set about placing creatures on the earth and gave them the gifts of touch and smell and breathed life and vigor onto all the plants and animals that now inhabited his magical world.

Sari Enters the Galactica

One of my most vivid dreams is also the one I would most wish to experience...

I was sitting in my childhood home(of course) when I felt it begin to shake.  Uneasy, I looked out the window but saw nothing so I walked out to the back porch.  Everything appeared normal so I settled myself on the deck and rested against the siding of the house, relaxing in the sunshine.  All of a sudden, I felt a gush of wind and felt a gravitational pull dragging me towards the railing of the porch.  I remember starting to panic so I frantically grabbed the railing while the pull continued to wrench at my grip.  My feet were lifted into the air and the only thing keeping grounded was my death handle on the railing.  I closed my eyes and tried to think about how to get myself out of the situation I was in.  Then as abruptly as the pull started, it ended.  I opened my eyes and let them adjust to the darkness that now encompassed both me and my house.   I began to see twinkling lights surrounding me and realized my house was floating.  I passed a gigantic mass with even greater rings around it.  I passed Saturn.  I was in space! I remember not knowing what to do but continued to gaze at my new environment.  There were stars, comets, the Asteroid Belt.  It was everything I had always imagined space being.  Except for the fact that I could breathe :)

Memories, Dreams, and Other Embarrassing Moments

"The fear thus entertained of alien visitors is often mutual. Entering a strange land the savage feels that he is treading enchanted ground, and he takes steps to guard against the demons that haunt it and the magical arts of its inhabitants."

I appreciated this quote as something anyone can take of entering a new or foreign situation.  I have experienced that whenever you start a new job, meet a new group of people, travel to a new country, or even take on a challenging project, there is a kind of assimilation that takes place.  Mixed feelings of curiosity, fear, nervousness, excitement, and even sometimes dread rush to your toes and you find your eyes sweeping in the environment. You attempt to soak up all the elements that begin to encompass your presence. Sights, smells, the nervous dry taste in your mouth that creeps up from your belly.  These feelings coincide with one of my earliest memories.  I was about 4 and I was on my way to the first day of gymnastics.  My best friend was already a gymnast so I was excited to have a companion to latch onto, however, the feelings of nervousness overwhelmed me.  I remembered I had to wear my swimsuit because I didn't have a proper leotard and knew the senior gymnasts would know of my impostor outfit. I timidly walked around the corner of the building that lead into the gym.  I felt the scratchy blue carpet on my feet, smelled the lingering sweetness of chalk and sweat, and the sight of a dozen girls bending in half and turning back-flips in the air.  After those first moments, I blocked out the rest of my first session.  However, despite how scared I was, I soon grew accustom to the life of a gymnast and it became a passion of mine for a long time. 

This is a typical pattern seen of someone entering a new environment and I can only relate it back to mythology and all of the transformations and metamorphoses that gods, people, and creatures undergo.  I can't even begin to count the number of men I have now read about that have been unknowingly turned into a bull and go through a state of shock when they see their new reflection in a passing stream.  We are all going through changes throughout our life, and it takes time to adjust and readjust to the muddle that undoubtedly takes place. 

All the World's a Stage

Ok, so definitely NOT happy with Amazon.com. I am still awaiting my hard copy of the Golden Bough! So with that, compliments to the online resource for providing this blog entry's opening statement....

"But if in the most backward state of human society now known to us we find magic thus conspicuously present and religion conspicuously absent, may we not reasonably conjecture that the civilized races of the world have also at some period of their history passed through a similar intellectual phase, that they attempted to force the great powers of nature to do their pleasure before they thought of courting their favor by offerings and prayer—in short that, just as on the material side of human culture there has everywhere been an Age of Stone, so on the intellectual side there has everywhere been an Age of Magic?"

 I appreciated this quote quite a lot because it puts the idea that concrete and material items can be more significant that knowledge and belief.  What would this world be without a little faith in its players? Would we have gotten to where we are today without the storytellers and the passings-on of tradition? I should think not.  The concept that was presented in class yesterday was that 'imitation leads to actualization'.  People go through life watching others, listening to others, behaving like others.  Entire psychological learning theories are based off these ideas.  I'm thinking Social Learning Theory here conceptualized (well, published I guess would be more accurate) by Albert Bandura.  He presented the idea that people learned through modeling others.  We model parents, peers, celebrities, and yes, even the gods.  Bandura conducted a rather famous study about "Bobo" the clown.  Bobo was one of those blow-up life-size dolls with sand in its feet so when it was knocked over, it could pop back up to a standing position. (Ill post a photo).  Anyways, Bandura sent one group of children into a play room filled with all kinds of building blocks, balls, puzzles, stuffed animals, and of course, Bobo.  He observed that the children played with all the toys equally and there was no significant or abnormal behavior occurring.  The second group of children were first briefed with a video that displayed children punching and kicking at Bobo.  He then sent the kids into the playroom.  What he recorded was that the children not only punched and kicked Bobo like the video had displayed, but they even went on to using other toys to attack the clown.  This is a very clear example of how people learn from others and that by modeling others behavior can become inherently your own.  From here, the behaviors only grow and become more elaborate, eventually getting passed on to others who see and choose to follow your behavior.

Sari Albee

I, much like a lot of you, have not yet received my copy of The Golden Bough, however, Amazon has promised it will arrive shortly! Fingers crossed.

That said, I will go directly to my thoughts on Book I and Book II of the Metamorphosis. One of the ideas that had the most profound effect on me was the idea that humans today are unoriginal. We are complete copycats of our ancestors and there are only slight hiccups that truly point out our differences.  It is amazing that we have all been assigned to read the Metamorphosis of Ovid that takes stories from a time most of us cannot even imagine, and yet we can still apply those ideas and stories to our lives today.  They are completely comprehensive and have a way of latching onto a memory or feeling you or I have probably experienced.  There are tales of love, happiness, loneliness, despair, and even adultery.  Although it might seem like a silly adultery reference, a blockbuster film titled Easy A will be opening in theaters next week based on the book The Scarlet Letter, which is further based on ancient mythologies like the one where Jove entices the beautiful virgin nymph, only to be caught by his intimidating wife Juno.  It is a typical story of a cheater: the man who is looking for something more, the angry wife, the other woman, on-and-on...blah blah blah...you get the point.  All of the tales have an origin though, and each generation has experienced these human feelings, only hoping that their tale will be one that is remembered.  If we are so truly unoriginal, I should hope that we can at least learn from past mistakes and triumphs and aim to take the hardships out of the world and (here is my World Peace bit) maybe return to a time similar to the Golden Age.