Luke VS. My Brother

Saint Luke... Sorry I Ignored You In Church A Few Hours Ago

Well here we go again. We’ve circled back to the Bible. It’s beginning to seem like our awful IMP math program. I thought it was finally over *sigh*. It is late and Sunday night. I’ve just come back from church to write and read about what I was probably trying to ignore a few hours ago. So I was assigned the gospel of Saint Luke. Finally were getting to Jesus.

So the Gospels are essentially the story of Jesus told by many different people. Luke by the way of his writing I can tell must have been educated. He knew how to write. The writing is a clear translation. To this Gospel there are essentially two stories one being the story of Jesus and the other being John the Baptist. Basically Veggie Tales explained these scenes to me in a more understanding way. The problem with Veggies Tales is that they left a few things out. So Gabriel goes first to Zachariah saying that his wife Elizabeth is pregnant, and then he goes to Mary, who at the time mind you is betrothed to Joseph, and tells her she is pregnant. I don’t know about you but I would have loved to witness the conversation between Mary and Joseph.

Mary: Hey, um Jo.

Joseph: What happened Mary?

 Mary: I’m pregnant.

Joseph: What in the name of God are you talking about? We haven’t even done things yet! We were waiting until you were ready! Remember?

Mary: See an angel came to me last night and well…

Joseph: What?! Who’s is this guy?! He’s a goner!

Mary: No no no!!! its not like that Jo! He told me I was pregnant!

Joseph: Oh ok then that’s perfectly ok.

Well actually it went a little more like this…, “Mary, rejoicing, utters the prayer now known as the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord” (1:46). Then Veggie Tales pretty much sums up the rest. Jesus is born in a manger and all the kings come bearing gifts. I’ll leave Jesus’s life for the next post.

 

Welcome To My Happy Ending

 

Ending the eternal Tao... Wait wasn’t it eternal? I guess not. Finally the mind stretching is over. It was very fun to interpret and the amount of challenge for me was just right.

Finishing the Tao I came across my all-time favorite quote. I even put it on my face book status, “If I have a little sense. I will walk on the main road and my only fear will be straying from it.” (Fifty three). This is probably one of the best quotes I have found in this book. When I do my gymnastics my worst enemy is my fear. The fear of falling off the beam or having an accident on bar is far greater than my physical incapacities. My fear blocks me from doing what I most want to do. If I had a little sense my only fear would be to fear. Right now my only fear is Mr. Tangen’s grading system if I don’t get this in by Monday.

“Practice non-action. Work without doing.” (Sixty three), why can’t this be our class motto?

“A good soldier is not violent. A good fighter is not angry. A good winner is not vengeful. A good employer is humble.” (sixty eight). I couldn’t agree more with this quote. This is what people need to live by. This whole book I believe is the best advice I have heard. Maybe at church I haven’t interpreted the information as much, but this advice is the best.

I have really enjoyed his book a lot. It is my favorite that we have read in class. All the passages just seem to make sense and fit in to my everyday life.

I will end this with a quote, “Truthful words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not truthful.” (Eighty one). One of the most powerful and directly truthful quotes I’ve heard.

My Only Weapon Is My Fear

A very good start to the next readings, “Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it? I do not believe it can be done. The universe is sacred. You cannot improve it. If you try to change it, you will ruin it. If you try to hold it, you will lose it.” (Twenty nine). This quote is mind candy. Isn’t our whole planet “Go Green!” modo all about changing the world? Don’t get me wrong I’m all for it but the irony here is making me ponder. I don’t completely agree with this quote. I think we need to make changes in the world to eliminate poverty and mass problems like global warming. If not we will just all kill ourselves because the world has survived much worse than global warming. The ones who will die are ourselves not the world. Now I do believe that the world as a whole cannot be improved but preserved in the sense of its natural beauty. I’m guessing this is what the Tao is trying to say because Asian religion is very much tied to piece and nature. I’m thinking the quote means not to try to make things easier and change things for ourselves. It means we should leave things in their natural state and not spray harmful pesticides all over the planets crops (sorry a little to much of my global studies teacher, Mr. O Conner, he really inspires).  Anyways this was a great ponder for me.

“Good weapons are an instrument of fear” (Thirty one). This I completely agree with. I believe most weapons are just to instill fear. Most people don’t have the courage to actually fire one at a living being. If they can get what they want by not actually having to use the weapon they will. Why? Because the human race is made up of one coward after another. Why do you think some of the biggest heads of companies are the biggest jerks? I believe a weapon of fear isn’t always an object. You can instill a wepon of fear by blackmailing but they will never actually do what they say they will because then they have no power to manipulate by. They simply want to instill fear with no action behind it.

Lastly, “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone” (Forty eight),except this blog post that I am doing on a Sunday night that shouldn’t have been left in non action until now. 

Ying Or Yang?

I’m starting to realize the Tao unlike Confucius isn’t a person. It’s like advice to take upon and have a god life. The Tao is beginning to have many similarities to Confucius. I’m guessing it may be from the ancestry. They are very much into respecting the elders although not quite o much as Confucius.

Something that did frustrate me was this, "Give up learning, and put an end to your trouble." (Twenty). Is he trying to say that we shouldn’t learn? I don’t get it, the whole book is about learning

"When wisdom and intelligence are born, The great pretense begins." (Eighteen). Isn’t this achieved by learning? How can you be wise if you don’t learn?

This quote reminds me of the nature parks, “A good walker leaves no tracks…” (Twenty seven). When you go to a nature reserve they tell you, leave nothing but your tracks. To me the irony in this is very interesting because I somewhat picture the tow in a sort of botanical garden.

I began to think about our daily life and our free will while reading this, “The heavy is the root of the light: the still is the master of unrest” (twenty six). When you begin to think of free will and what your life revolves on, your life revolves around the sun, the everlasting light. The sun sets you to sleep at night and wakes you up every morning. It is the master of the unrest.

Lastly, is this actually where the Ying Yang began? “Know the white, but keep the black!” (Twenty eight).

Reading A Book That Is Not The Book

So here I am beginning the Tao Te Ching. As I begin reading it I realize I am reading a book that is actually not the book and the title is actually not the title, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name” (one). Confused? Yeah well me to. So, I’m reading a Tao that isn’t a Tao and isn’t even called Tao. This is going to be fun.

In the second poem I found a lot of resemblance to the Bible. I found this quote to be extremely true, and have a lot of resemblance to the tree of knowledge, “Under heaven all can see beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil.” (two). There are so many arguments to the tree of knowledge. How would we know it was bad to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge if the knowledge of good and bad was hidden in that apple? To be able to know good you must know evil. To be able to know beautiful you must know what ugly looks like. This is what the passage is trying to say. What supposedly released this knowledge was the tree. This also reminds me of ying and yang, a contrast. You must have a contrast to fully understand something.  The contrasts complement each other.

The last passage really stood out to me aswell. It was hard to interpret but I think ive been qable to see through it a bit, “Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.”(twelve). My interpretation actually comes from my own emotions. Sometimes you hear rumors and are lead to belive they are true, but you know deep down the truth of it all. This is why you should let you feelings take control, not what you see or hear.

We All Derive From Practice

"The Master said, 'Human beings can broaden the Way-it is not the Way that broadens human beings.'" (15.29)

I love this quote. I believe it is saying we can all choose our path in life but we have to find it. Our destiny will not find us. It is just like all of my friends complaining over boys. If I had a penny for every time I heard one of my friends say “I’m not pretty enough”, “Boys never come to me” I would be a millionaire. What they don’t understand is that they have to show an interest, or broaden the way, the things will change.

We have to find our own paths and broaden our way. This all starts with decisions. Let’s say you study hard and go to an Ivy League school, businesses will be begging for your services. That gives you an automatic wide open way. Now for the person that went to community college, let’s just say the path is a little narrower. It all starts with us making the decision to be the nerd or the cheerleading captain. We can choose to broaden our path in the future.

All of this leads to my next quote:

"The Master said, 'By nature people are similar, they diverge as the result of practice.'" (17.2)

Everyone is born the same (almost everyone). When you are a baby nothing else matters but to learn to walk and talk. As the days grow shorter we begin to develop talents, such as singing and dancing, sports, and intellectual development. As we begin hitting elementary there is a clear line between the intellectuals and the football players. In middle school the line zig zags a bit and plays survival of the fittest amongst the groups. By the time we hit high school the clicks are solid and once in a blue moon shifted around. Then we choose our professions amongst our talents. This is all a result of practicing our talents and there for diverging into groups because of them.

Another interpretation to this quote is that everyone is unique. Though almost physically the same we have different qualities and therefore hang with the people most similar to ourselves. That interpretation seemed rather flat to me though. I prefer my first one.

SOL's, Our Future Leaders...

"I am not someone who was born with knowledge. I simply love antiquity, and diligently look there for knowledge." (7.20)

This quote was very inspiring. It has to do with looking for knowledge and knowing that it isn’t just given to you. So many people look upon a stereotype for example: All Asians are smart. This is false you aren’t just born with knowledge it’s the will power to work that gets you there. So many people expect it to come easily. What they don’t know is that Asians aren’t just born being geniuses; they are actually under a lot of pressure from society and their family to succeed. They have the will power to work hard, something many people don’t have.

"The Master said, 'The common people can be made to follow it, but they cannot be made to understand it.'"

This leads to the next part of my interpretation. This I have a more modern interpretation to. You see I did my elementary schooling at a public school in northern Virginia. Every year instead of doing fun creative projects to help us learn it was all about the Standards Of Learning tests (SOL’s). We were all to follow the same boring curriculum to ace the test and help the teacher keep her job. But were we really learning? No. We were memorizing key questions on the test. We knew the answer to the founder of the Supreme Court but we hadn’t a clue to what in the world the Supreme Court was. These little gaps create the common people. The can be made to follow the system but in the end they have no clue as to what in the world the Supreme Court is.

This leads me to my last and final argument to my reading today. Book eleven I enjoyed more because they were a bunch of short stories. Something that stood out to me was when he talked about ambition. He says it is bad. I say it is the human race, no matter how saintly someone is they have ambition and greed because we are born into it. We crave it. I think it is rather hypocritical for him to say that because judging from the human race no one is immune to it. 

Kung Fucius

So reading the Confucius Analects brought back my child hood memories. The story is essentially the master teaching the student. This brought me right back to the mats and sweat of my Tae Kwon Do days. Master Chung was nuts. My cousin used to say in Korea he would abuse the kids by hitting them but when he moved to the US he realized it was against the law and converted to verbal abuse. Anyways I learned so much from him. He was my master I was his student. It was all essentially about leading a good life style like in the Analects. Goodness and might for right was what he taught. Now that I think of it my whole Tae Kwon Do days I remember in one big dialogue. Every day was another thing to fix and learn, just like the analects.

I really like the teachings in the Analects. They are confusing and hard to understand but that is what is cool about it. I love it when I can finally make a valid connection with my own life and the text.

"The Master said, 'People are true to type with regard to what sort of mistakes they make. Observe closely the sort of mistakes a person makes-then you will know his character.'"
This quote was the one that stood out the most to me. It’s interesting because my brain is immediately lead you to think it is the quote learn from your mistakes but when you go deeper into the text it has a completely different meaning. The quote is saying to study people based on their actions because their actions will reflect on their previous mistakes. For example if someone has regretted a certain thing thye did, they will refrain from doing it again thus reflecting in their actions. I believe this is what the quote means. It is the same in Tae Kwon Do once Mr. Chung would tell me to correct a stance I would refrain from doing the same mistakes and sometimes commit another one instead. 

Little Bits Of Knowledge

The Psalms are interesting. I don’t exactly know what they are there for but they seem like little pieces of guidance to live by. It says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalms 23:1. I like this quote because it is interesting “The LORD is my shepherd” does this mean we are his sheep? Is this where the term “Lamb of God” comes from?

Psalm 42 reminds me of the book “Night.” He believes God has forgotten him, “I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 42:9. I think it is important to remember that God forgets no one he simply puts their faith to the test.

The Psalms are very interesting and I think sum up what the rest of the Old Testament is trying to engrave in us. It is a somewhat summary or analysis I believe. Their passages picked out to help us live a better life.

Shall We Dance?

Reading on to the second book of Samuel we begin to note David’s morality. I really liked this book more than the other one. I’m confused though, I can’t really tell how they want us to view David, it seems they show him off sometimes in a negative way and other times they put him on a pedestal. David commits adultery (clearly against the Ten Commandments) but God seems to forgive him. Basically this story is to get us to have a point of view on our morals. I really liked it because it shows a true human being making mistakes. This wasn’t the usual man that is all full of joy and obedience and does everything right no matter what. David is a true human being who makes mistakes.

It also shows how David is also willing to forgive. He ends up finally forgiving Absalom for killing his other son Amnion. This to me would be extremely difficult to forgive. So I believe David is nor good nor bad but a human being who knows good and evil from the tree of knowledge. David also becomes king in this book, and I have to say I think he is a good ruler to his people because his expectations of them are fair. If we had a goody two shoes ruler he would expect everything to be peace and unification and everyone to be good, and lets be real that won’t ever happen.

I love how free and human they paint David out to be, “And David danced before the Lord with all his might.” 2 Samuel, 6:14. This quote reminds me of dancing in the rain, free and careless and plain full of joy.

Does Saving A City Justify Killing Goliath?

A king is on the verge of being impeached and a new one about to be discovered. This is the book of Samuel I am talking about. Samuel is in charge of finding the new king due to Saul disobeying God. The king Saul failed to use a priest in his battle and therefore was being punished with impeachment. New enemies were about to be made when Samuel came across David. David was just an ordinary harp player; little did he know he would soon be king. The Philistines called war upon Israel and unleashed their kraken, Goliath was his name. David was able to defeat Goliath and save the people. This was not good news to Saul who would soon be proclaimed ex king. This reminded of the story of King Arthur. An ordinary man could do what no other could and defeat Goliath or pull out a sword from tone.

The thing about this though, wasn’t that David killed the giant, it was how he did it that was interesting to me. He killed the giant with a tiny rock. How a little thing can have such a huge impact amazes me, “And he took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook.”1 Samuel, 17:40. How a little pebble can have such an impact on such a huge thing. It is like the Chinese saying that says water can break through stone. This of course couldn’t have been done without Gods help, so the moral is to keep faithful to God.

David defeating Goliath also brought up the question of our debate last Wednesday. Do the ends justify the means? Does saving a city justify killing Goliath? Is David really a good person if his intentions are to kill? This part of the book really got me to think. I hope the story only gets better. 

Daddy's Boys Are Put To The Test

I have finished the book of Job and I have to say I really enjoyed it. This helped me to realize that all the wealthy aren’t always unappreciative, because God puts them to the test. Job was faithful to God even when God himself took everything away from him. This book is very inspirational to see that there is always a God and he puts you through the hard times so you can appreciate even more, the good times. It also gets me thinking about the quote, “from rags to riches to rags.” These people get lucky and end up swimming in money and giving their kids everything they ever dreamed of. When you get things without working for them it is almost impossible to appreciate them to the fullest. The kids grow a sense of entitlement and think they can live on daddy’s money forever. Daddy’s money is consumed in a negative exponential decrease. The kids think they don’t need to study they will just inherit businesses. They don’t know how wrong their theory is until they realize they don’t have the neurons to run a business. So they go from riches to rags. I believe that this is Gods test. If you are faithful through riches and rags he will give you twice as much to for you to make the world a better place. For daddy’s little boys however, who don’t appreciate anything, they will go to rags economically or emotionally, both equally bad. This book is a lesson, a warning, to teach us that this test will come to us eventually. The innocent as much as the evil are tested. As long as we remain faithful to God and our beliefs and are appreciative to what we have, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Job, 19:25. 

Job vs The Holocaust

Moving on from Exodus we get to the story of Job, an honest, trustworthy, hard working man. Job had everything and he was very faithfull to God. This book is the one where Satan is first mentioned. Satan convinces God that Job only worships him because he has all these luxuries. God lets himself be manipulated by Satan (his son?) and decides to take away everything Job has. Job keeps worshiping God and Satan gets aggravated. God gets manipulated into letting Satan torture Job. Now what is interesting about all of this is that Job an innocent man who is being tortured for no reason and still has faith in God. When this happens to him he strips naked and shaves his head, as a sacrifice to show he is still worshiping God. His friends also turn their backs to him. This to me seems like a preview to the holocaust. Millions of innocent people who got everything taken away, even their closest friends due to religious intolerance turned their backs on them. The Jews were forced to shave their heads and go naked in the freezing temperatures for hours. Now you will rarely find a Jewish person with no money. As God gave Job back twice as much as he had before once he saw that Job is truly faith full to him. The similarities and parallels are fascinating to me. I wonder if there are anymore “previews” I will make connections with.

Through all the torture Job always stayed strong and I believe this quote is to be lived by, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Job, 13. 15.

The Prince of Egypt

Moving on from Genesis I have began reading Exodus. Let’s start with my first impression of Exodus. Just from the name I imagined it a kind of version of angels and demons, powerful and mysterious. The name I think gives off a sort of different impression. Little did I know it was actually the story of “The Prince Of Egypt” a Disney movie from my childhood. So basically it starts off with Moses freeing the slaves and talking to the burning bush (God), “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Exodus 3:3. So he goes back and reports to the people about God the burning bush. I do believe this because I am catholic and believe in the Bible, but I can’t help to wonder what the people must have actually thought when Moses says he just had a conversation with a burning bush.

Dialogue:

Moses: My people I have just talked to a burning bush, so it looks like we’re all saved.

People: What in the world… are you sure we should be letting him save us?

Frankly I would have been a little skeptical about the whole matter. Moses then goes to the pharaoh and asks him to let his people go. The pharaoh is his adoptive brother who he grew up with. The story of Moses actually begins with the previous pharaoh’s wife finding Moses in a basket sailing across the river and adopting him as a son.  So Moses is asking his “brother” to free his people. The pharaoh declines his request of freeing the slaves from Egypt. So Moses asks God for help and he makes a plague killing lots of royalty including the pharaoh’s son. The only ones who survived were the slaves who were told by Moses to paint an x in lamb blood across their front doors.

The story is very long so ill just give a few more essential details. Moses does this wicked awesome open sesame thing and parts the ocean to lead his people to the promis land. At the promis land the ten commandments are born.

Ten Comandmens:

"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God… 

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'  

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' 

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' 

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.' 

SIX: 'You shall not murder.' 

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.' 

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.' 

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' 

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Motherly Instinct?

As I have continued my readings and discoveries of the Bible, many more topics have come in my interest. Continuing the Genesis Sarah and Abraham pass. Sarah first, and Abraham doesn’t fail to find a new companion after the grief of her death. Anyways the main topic of this part of the story is actually their son, Isaac. Isaac now has kids with his wife Rebekah. The part that interested me the most though was actually the story of Isaac and Rebekah.

It all started when Abraham sent his servant out to find a wife for his son, “And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.” Genesis 24:14

The servant knew almost from the first glance at Rebekah that she was the one. Isaac and Rebekah had an arranged marriage but they still fell deep in love.

The next part comes with children. Esau and Jacob were their children. The rivalry between the two began when Isaac would choose Jacob over Esau. And Rebekah would prefer Esau and always give him advantages. This part reminds me very mucho of my relationship with my parents. My father tends to take my side during fights and my mom takes my brothers side. This also has to do with the fact that my mother was the youngest of four, so naturally, she feels for the younger child. This is interesting because here the mother also favors the younger child; I’m beginning to think it isn’t only my mother’s memories but also natural instinct to protect the younger obnoxious one.

Until Now

I have decided this post will be dedicated to chapters 1-21 in the book of Genesis. The main stories I have looked at are Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, and now I am finishing the story of Abraham. At chapter 21 the story of Abraham cuts off when Isaac is about to be born. Abraham has waited very long for his son and may finally have one with his wife. Their first son, Ishmael, was interestingly conceived by Abraham himself and Sarah’s maid. Their second son, Isaac, was a miracle from God on the condition that everyone must be circumcised. From the previous post I think I have clearly explained the story of Abraham and Isaac. The story of Abraham until chapter twenty one leaves you with the birth of Isaac. I wonder how Ishmael must feel when the real son Isaac is born. Sara seems to not like him from the time her maid conceived, “And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.” Geneses 16:4.

Adam and Eve was very interesting because you could get so many perspectives out of one story. This we realized when we read the “Ladies And Gentlemen, The Bible” book. I think each of us was able to catch a different interpretation of the story, which to me was very interesting.

Cain and Abel sort of reminded me of Zeus and Hades. One of the brothers becomes good and the other evil. Except for in Greek mythology Zeus doesn’t get killed. There are so many parallels to other beliefs its really cool to see them after studying them year after year.

For the story of Noah I also made a humorous change in the dialogue. I imagine the story a little more like this:

God: Noah I’m tired of humans all they do is talk to me all ay as if I was their friend, like I have the time for that…

Noah: Ah I see, I am the only perfect one, I know how you feel, you can’t help it if I’m the only gorgeous one

God: I’m going to destroy the human race, I can’t believe I created morons in the first place.

Noah: Can I stay and reproduce a gorgeous race? Or will you just convert me to I higher sort of Godly status?

God: Ok well maybe I should let a couple humans stay, and maybe the animals. I don’t want to have to redo everything.

Noah: how are you going to o it then? We’ll need to make a brainstorm.

God: No, I’ll just flood your asses out.

Noah: Sweet.

God: Ok so Noah get two of every animal an bring your wife and kids with their spouses, build a ship and just don’t bother me for about 40 days, and you should be ok

Noah: Do I really need to build a ship?

God: Look dude I could really care less if your drown, so just take my advice

Noah: Ok ok, I’ ill build one.

20 days later…

Noah: God! God! Come on put the power back on! I need to get onto Facebook! My wife is trying to divorce me on my wall!

God: I should have killed them all…

Really Dad?

Reading into the next chapters of the Genesis the story of Abram, later known as Abraham, continues. These chapters I believe brought out Gods sense of humor. I can just imagine the look on, now Abrahams, face when God told him he had to be circumcised. If when I say it to my friends their faces go pail, and that’s just playing around, I can only imagine how Abraham must have really reacted. In the Bible he actually seems quite calm about it. I wonder why God really wanted him, and his future offspring to do this. This is when I came to the conclusion of: God has a sense of humor.

There is also another part which is pretty interesting to me which is when Abraham tries to kill his son (with Sarai, now Sarah) he waited so long to have. Now Abraham seems kind of calm when God tells him to do this, am I wrong?, “And Abraham rose up early and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him” Genesis 22:3, mind you God has just told him to kill his son. Abraham makes it seem like he’s off for a morning walk. We pretty much all know the rest of the story. Abraham almost kills his son when, voila an angel stops him. Now instead of looking at this from Abraham’s point of view, let’s look at it from the sons. Would you seriously go into the same room with your father again? I mean he tried to kill the kid. He tricked him. I imagine the conversation going a little like this:

Abraham: Hey Isaac do you want to go on a walk?

Isaac: Sure dad! We haven’t spent too much quality time together in a while.

Abraham: Alright then we are going to make a sacrifice.

Isaac: sweet.

*10 hours later*

Isaac: Hey dad are we there yet?

Abraham: No!

Isaac: Hey dad are we there yet?

Abraham: No!

Isaac: Hey dad are we there yet?

Abraham: No!

Isaac: What about now?

Abraham: No! Stop asking!

Isaac: Ok… 99 bottles of beer on the wall 99 bottles of beer, take one down pass it around...

Abraham: Shut up!

Isaac: Ok new song. I know a song that gets on everybody’s nerves, everybody’s nerves, and this is how it goes! Tun tun tun.

Abraham: O Lord it is no use…

*Getting close to the top of the mountain*

Abraham: Almost there.

Isaac: Hey. Wait. Dad. Where is the sheep to sacrifice?

Abraham: You will see it will be a surprise; God will have one waiting for us.

Isaac: Ok…

*10 minutes later Isaac is tied up and Abraham is preparing the knife. *

Isaac: Hey dad this game is actually pretty fun, but do I really need to be tied up and blind folded?

*Just as Abraham is about to kill his son, the angel appears*

Angel: Stop! Stop! You’ve proven yourself!

*Isaac removes blind fold*

Isaac: What?! Are you serious!

Abraham: Isaac! I can explain!

The rest of that conversation I really wouldn’t like to imagine, but I can’t lead myself to believe it went to well. Well to end this humorous story, Sarah dies in tragedy at the age of 127. Somebody ate her spinach.

Surrogate Bible Mothers?

So as I continue reading the one and only King James Version of The Bible I am discovering more and more references I have heard people say. I can see we are now beginning the story of Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah. When my mom would drop me off at the boulevard at the beach I go to in Peru, there were lots of bars and clubs and kids walking around with vodka, every time she would repeat “Sodom and Gomorrah I don’t know why I still let you go”. So basically we have reached the story of Abram.  

At the beginning everyone spoke the same language and was pretty unified as Noah’s family. The generations began to multiply and God scattered them as he says here, “the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” Ch.11 Text.9. This to me was very interesting because I have always had this curiosity about language and its beginnings. I know to take the bible in a more literal point of view and try to kind of find he meaning behind it. For example in this past quote the Lord scattered them may mean that they migrated and spread. This is kind of like the rib of Adam represents the equality of Eve.

There was also another part at the beginning of this that went somewhat like, “And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber:”etc etc, Ch.11 Text.14, for about a whole chapter. I would make another chart but I think we all pretty much got the idea.

Another and my last point for the blog will be the theme of conception. Sarai couldn’t have a child so she told Abram to have a child with the servant. This to me was kind of funny, it’s like the servants a kind of surrogate mother. I can only imagine if my house keeper (Luz Marina, if you read my writing blog) were a surrogate mother, never mind bad thoughts, don’t think them.

I Love You Anyway

Sistine Chapel

Ill give you my hand

If you promise not to through me again in the sand

If what you want is a lad

Then you won’t be mad

But please stop bragging

Or I won’t stop nagging

Ill put on some clothes if that’s what you want

I got some last Christmas from my aunt

I know you don’t like my way of being

It is rather demeaning

But just know that I’m not leaving

With a man like you

Who does kung fu

And looks like Mick Jagger

How could I ever un fagger?

Against the bible it may be

But cant you see?

How could you deny this slagger?

I face my family

that looks at me as if I were unmanly

I just hope that one day

They will say

I love you anyway

The Land Before Time

We have theories, ideas, and faith to how our world began. Some say it started with a bang others say a wand was waved. In my journey through the first published book ever, it begins with its interpretation of the beginning of the world. It begins with god saying, and as he says it is done. The first day come heaven and earth the second seas, land, grass, plants, and trees. On the third day came the moon, sun, and stars. On the fourth the fish and birds, and fifth come land and animals. Lastly, on the fifth day came man. Then came a whole new story of Adam and Eve, two parts written by different people. It is fascinating to me this part of the story, “And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, because she was taken out of man” Ch.2 T.22. This may seem to a lot of women as an insult, they may think it is trying to express the man has more power than the woman, but that isn’t true. You have to look at this literally. The rib represents “side by side”, in other words it is trying to say that Lord God made an equal out of man. This to me was very interesting, it makes me pay more attention to the literal meaning of the text. There was however something that confused me and that was the small letters and numbers at the bottom of every text. I don’t know what they mean.

The next part I read was completely on Adam and Eve. I found a good metaphor or interpretation for this part, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” Ch.3 T.5. Here they are talking about the tree of life and how you will lose your innocence if you eat from it. This reminded me so much of Pandora’s Box. It is the same thing only told in different beliefs. As the story goes on we get to a part that isn’t told in Veggie Tails. It begins with two different stories of the sons of Adam and Eve. The best version I made a chart out of. This is of the sons following the father.

Son Followed by Son	Lived Until (years)	Begotten
Adam	930	800
Seth	912	105
Enos	905	90
Cainan	910	70
Mahalaleel	895	65
Jared	962	62
Enoch	365	65
Methuselan	969	187
Lamech	777	782
Noah	950	500

They also had in this the story of Cain and Able. Cain kills Able, and from then on any one who slew another would have consequences. Now days the consequence if prison or life sentence. Another thing that came to mind was the quote always said at mass, “Begotten not made” does this mean be conceived and not made my God like Adam and Eve?

So the next part to my reading was the story of Noah. Noah dies in the end of chapter ten, not Veggie Tail material. It seemed so different and pleasant in Veggie Tails. In the kids story books they don’t tell you why there was a flood in the first place. The human race was very much out of control and that’s where it all began. God wanted to wipe out the human race and only leave the good part of the human race and animals to reproduce. After the destruction God promised never again to wipe out the human race. I guess this means no 2012, sorry to burst your bubble.  Between the stories in the bible the facts vary since each chapter was written by a different person. So far I am really enjoying the readings and appreciating them. I thought I would have a different experience reading this.

Burning The Sky

Pheaton:


On the sky he sails,
burning in dispair

Forever And Always, As Trees

This last story I loved. Zeus and Hermes dress up as beggars and knock on doors of the whole town. No one has a cent to spare. Finally they get to the last house, a very humble one and those are the only people who show sympathy and generosity towards them (to their surprise). They have dinner with them (Baucis and Philemon). They are extremely over the top generous. When the whine gets poured they realize the bottle doesn’t get unfilled. That’s when they realize who Zeus and Hermes are. The gods turn their house into a mansion and make everything wonderful. They say because of their generosity they can pick one wish. Baucis and Philemon wish only to die at the same time. They both turned into trees to live happily as they wished. This story was very cute. It reminded me of older couples. You can see how much they love each other, and what they have they live so happily with. The only thing they really want is each other. They already know death is near and they want to spend their last years with their loved ones. I thought this had such a good message as well. The humblest people were the ones willing to give the most. The rich are only greedy, selfish, and unhappy.

 

Sorry Dad I Crashed Your Car

The story of Pheaton was probably my favorite one. Pheaton if at a therapists and is complaining about a little accident he had earlier. Apparently his father is the sun god, Apollo, but wasn’t around much when he was a kid. He recently went and confronted him saying he didn’t like that he wasn’t around because nobody believes him and his class mates would tease him. So Apollo says he is right and that he is sorry and tells him he may have whatever he wants. He says “Now, there’s only one thing I want, I mean it’s obvious right? I say, “Give me the keys to your car.” Immediately he starts backpedaling saying it’s his job” Page 65-66. Long story short Apollo gives in and Pheaton doesn’t listen to his instructions and burns Africa with the sun. Now he is complaining to the therapist. This was actually very funny to me because it reminded me of the classic spoiled son situation. Couldn’t you just picture a little rich kid asking his father for the keys to the convertible and ending up crashing it after a party? This all seems pretty familiar to me. And like every little rich boy, he ends up in therapy. I don’t think I need to say much more on my opinion about this story, it’s like it was written for some friends of mine.

The next story was interesting because it was a series of questions and answers in the middle of the play. Basically it was about Love, the son of Aphrodite who fell in love with Pschye. The problem was Love wouldn’t let Phsyche see him because he wanted he love to be pure and transparent and not based on looks. But Phsyche’s jealous sisters told her he was a monster. She decided to go at night and take a look for herself. The wax from the candle woke him up and she had to suffer the consequences for not trusting him. Aphrodite made her do ridiculous things like sort out thousands of seeds until Zeus called it off and made Phsyche immortal. They got married and lived happily ever after. Now I don’t know why but this reminds me of Websites like match.com. These websites practically set you up on blind dates and you have to be able to trust that the person is really who you think they are. This story would be one of the lucky ones. Most of the time the blind dates go horribly wrong, women as much as men are in it for the money or because of a profile picture they put up from ten years ago. This story just kind of reminded me of trust. There was also another connection I made and one that I liked. It said that love had to be transparent, it had to be based on personality. I really liked how she couldn’t see him until she met him and was in love. So many relationships are just based on looks and the results are trophy wives or just plain airheads who have learned to survive only on looks. I really liked that part, the only thing tht bugged me is that he could see her and how beautiful she was. It would have been more fair if neither one had seen the other. I also thought it was interesting how Aphrodite got into the relationship so much. A lot of boys are actually very much spoiled by their mothers which causes problems in their relationships. That’s when the wife gets a phone call about how her husband absolutely needs his dinner cooked. It’s interesting how many connections there are in this play to modern day life. I'm really enjoying this book more than all the others.

Disguised Pickup

The next readings are actually two stories intertwined into one. It begins with the story of Pomona and Vertumnus. Pomona doesn’t accept any suitor and so Vertumnus tries to win her heart. He tries everything possible from dressing up as an old woman to a fisherman but nothing seems to work. He finally gets caught in his foolishness and decides to tell her the story of Myrrha. Myrrha is also a girl who wouldn’t accept any suitor. Aphrodite had had it and told her love would come to her no matter what. It turns out Myrrha had  some kind of sick Oedipus Rex syndrome and was actually waiting for her father because no one else seemed qualified enough to suit her. So the nurse maid arranges everything so that Cinyras gets set in a trap to have sex with his own daughter. She told him that a pretty girl wanted him that was the age of his daughter but he could only have her blindfolded. So Cinyras agreed. On the third night they spent together Cinyras took off the blind fold and gets so angry he tries to drown her. She was terrified and ran away. Like the endings to most of the stories in Metamorphosis it was said she turn into something else a tree or dissolved into tears. Once Vertumnus finishes his story Pomona tells him to take off his idiotic costume. When he did Pomona finally saw the god of springtime and she finally allowed herself to have a suitor. This story to me was very interesting. The story of Myrrha reminded me very much of Oedipus Rex. Both end badly when they find out who they really are. It is interesting to see how many versions of this story have been made. There is even one called “Edipo Alcalde” that takes place in Colombia in the suburbs. It is very interesting to see all the parallels based on one story. The Pomona and Vertumnus story made me laugh because it reminded me of The Big Bang Theory. Howard Wolowitz tries every disguise possibly just to get one girl. One time he puts fake tattoos on his arm to meet Goth girls. Another time he dressed up as Robin Hood at a costume party and everyone mistook him for Peter Pan. He has tried everything from Indian accents to cheesy complements. He reminded me of Vertumnus because Vertumnes also tries everything he can to get Pomona.

Love Cursed And Greed

Erysichthon I really enjoyed. The main message is to not be greedy and selfish. Erysichthon wants to cut down a tree that is protected by the goddess Ceres. When he cuts down the tree Ceres gets mad and orders Oread to get Hunger to live in Erysichthon stomach. This is a curse that will make him forever hungry. Erysichthon gets so hungry that he sells his own mother to buy himself food. Well in the end his mother becomes a child again playing on the shore to live happily ever after. Erysichthon  on the other hand has a different fate, “There can only be one end to such a man”[page 40 line 5], he ends up eating himself. I think this has such a good message because sometimes we don’t realize the harm we do cutting down trees or polluting and this shows how not thinking twice and not listening can lead to serious karma. I like how there are consequences for the actions and that the greedy man won’t ever be satisfied.

In Orpheus and Eurydice they are about to get married when a tragedy happens. Eurydice gets bit by a snake and dies. Orpheus goes down to the underworld to ask for her back. Hades says yes on one condition, he has to take Eurydice back to the light but he can’t look back at Eurydice following behind him until they reach the end of the tunnel or Hades will take her back forever. This part sort of reminded me of the TV series Pushing Daisies. The women in the show cannot touch her husband or she will die. This is sort of the same kind of curse. Being so near to your loved one but not being able to interact with them to the fullest. That must be almost impossible to break.  So of course Orpheus looks behind and sees Eurydice, he sees Hades grab her and take her away forever. He can’t get this sight of loosing her out of his mind. This should be turned into a modern love story with a sad ending. 

The Perfect Resemblence

I really enjoyed this scene of Alcyone and Ceyx mostly because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, The Perfect Storm. Bobby (Mark Walhberg) is like Ceyx, and his wife Christina (Diane Lane). Bobby is a fisherman, and the business nearby for fishing hasn’t been good. His fishing mates decide to go on a dangerous fishing trip where there will be tons of good high priced fish. They are warned not to go for it is very dangerous and life threatening. Christina tells Bobby she doesn’t want the perfect storm and as Bobby dies he says “Christina? Christina, can you hear me? I don't know if you can, but I'm talking to ya, baby. Do you know how much I love you? I loved you the moment I saw you. I love you now, and I'll love you forever. No goodbye. There's only love, Christina. Only love. “. Before Ceyx dies he says “O gods, hear my modest prayer: that my body may wash ashore at her feet where she may with gentle hands prepare it to be buried.” [Page 25 line 1]. The last thought for both of them were of their wives. The story has so many parallels. It seems based on this story in Metamorphosis, only is is actually based on a true story. The only part the movie doesn’t have is the part after he dies. Anyway this is my point of view on pages 20-32 Alcyone and Ceyx from Metamorphosis. 

A Confusing Creation

I listened to the metamorphosis reading three times. What I got from it was that the gods were creating the earth. They were making everything equal. The gods made the earth then the rivers and lakes that would lead into the ocean. The most important details I got from this were that the earth had to be all equal. This is why you have the extremes in climate and land vs. water. They said a lot about who made who. The thing is that it was very hard to understand. There was a translation to another language in between. I had to listen to this about three times and still couldn’t make out most of what was being said.  The man’s tone of voice was also very hard to follow. He might want to consider reading about rhetoric and how he can make his voice a little more enthusiastic. Maybe they could also take out the translation in the middle. That would certainly help a lot.

http://www.archive.org/details/OvidMetamorphoses08-2008

Care For Wisdom?

The Baghavad Gita has been one very interesting book. I have been able to relate to it in so many ways. It was a true inspiration to me. The quotes I have gotten from this book are ones I will remember forever. It was a difficult piece of literature to interpret, but once I got into it I really was able to capture the essence of it. I have never voluntarily ever chosen a similar reading. This was my first of many more to come. I enjoyed this book mainly because I could see the teaching in it mixed with the culture of the time it took place and was written.

The book was basically a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna. Krishna (a God) trying to convince Arjuna to fight in battle. He used so many ways of persuasion with such rhetoric and wisdom; it was truly a work of art. I could see all the connections to other religions besides Hinduism as well.

I finished this book well. I was able to understand it to the fullest. It is a book I can be proud to say I have read. This is going to give me so much knowledge in the future when I can relate back to it. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn from old wisdom. 

Krishna's Brain

Teaching seventeen was all about faith and how there are three different men who have faith in different things. Faith shows the degree of lucidity, “Men of lucidity sacrifice to the gods; men of passion, to spirits and demons; the others, men of dark inertia, sacrifice o corpses and to ghosts” Three Aspects Of Faith Pg. 131 text.4. Basically the teaching is on the different types of faith. Krishna also talks about the three types of relinquishments. There was also a very interesting part at the end of the teaching where they show the symbols and their meanings. OM TAT SAT: symbol of the infinite spirit. OM: Knowers of the infinite spirit. TAT: Men who crave freedom. SAT: Whats real and good, steadfastness in sacrifice. ASAT: charity.

The last teaching basically summed up on the most important things in the book. The drawing below pretty much sums it up. 

Why so Many Men?

Is Arjuna going to cave into fighting? In teaching 11 it seems like Arjuna is becoming more prone to the idea, “To favor me you revealed the deepest mystery of self, and by your words my delusion is dispelled” The Vision Of Krishna’s Totality Pg. 97 text. 1. Arjuna seems to be falling for Krishna’s wise, yet wrong intentional, words. This could go either good or bad. Back then the right thing to do would be to fight, but all morals say not to, especially not against family. Krishna is on society’s side. As well in this teaching a clear good picture of Krishna is described. My artistic intention of drawing it can be exhibited in this post. I am beginning to get a better view on my theory and I believe Arjuna is to, “Tell me- Who are you in this terrible form? Homage to you, Best of Gods! Be gracious! I want to know you as you are in your beginning. I do not comprehend the course of your ways.” The Vision Of Krishna’s Totality Pg. 103 text.3 1. I think Arjuna is telling us he also believes Krishna’s intentions are bad, and he doesn’t understand why since he is so wise. Krishna is also saying he that he killed all these battle heroes. Since when is a God a killer? Any way there is still no clear point in where this will go, at least in this chapter.

Devotion, it’s a pretty powerful word for a title. It’s a powerfull word for anybeing. Krishna wants Arjuna to devote himself completely to him. He says that is the only way to escape rebirth. Krishna says “Focus your mind on me, let your understanding enter me; then you will dwell in me without doubt” Devotion Pg. 110 text. 8. I fail to see how focusing on someone your whole life will not waste your time, but give you eternal happiness and no rebirth. Another of the “men” was also brought up the man of devotion, “He does not rejoice or hate, grieve or feel desire; relinquishing fortune and misfortune, the man of devotion is dear to me” Devotion Pg. 111 text. 17. The man of devotion is also free from attachment. Personally I would like to call all these men of devotion, discipline, self control, etc Krishna freaks (like Jesus freaks). It would be kind of weird to find a person that devoted to Krishna. I mean Krishna’s cool and all but that would be a little much. I say this being raised fully Catholic. It isn’t healthy to be that devoted to one person.

Knowing The Field, this title reminds me of Enkidu.  The first image that comes up is a field with gazelles and a beast grazing in it. A new man is introduced, the field- knower. This man gives me an image of Ishmael and a man living with gorillas. Now I feel stupid, apparently the field isn’t an actual green grassy field, “The field contains the great elements, individuality, understanding, unmanifest nature, the eleven senses, and the five sense realms” Knowing The Field Pg. 113 text. 5. Apparently there is a double meaning to the classic words you’ve known since kindergarten for every word in this book. Despite my sarcasm in this section of the blog, I did find a quote I liked, “Just as one sun illumines this entire world, so the master of the field illumines the entire field” Knowing The Field Pg. 117 text. 33. I really liked this because the way I interpret it is that everyone shines in some aspect. There is always something you can illumine. After all Knowing The Field finished on a good note.

Lucidity, passion, and dark inertia make up the triad of nature. This is of course what this teaching is all about. I’m going to explain them one by one according to Krishna.

1.    Lucidity: Lucidity is not attained yet it is luminous with no decay. It makes you addicted to joy and passion to actions. When it dominates passion and inertia it thrives. When knowledge shines in all of your senses it prevails. The men of lucidity go up.

2.    Passion: It is born of craving and is very emotional. It binds the embodied self with attachment to action. When increased longing, greed, activity, actions, and disquiet arise. When a man dies in passion he is reborn with lovers of action. Passions fruit is suffering. The men of passion stay neutral.

3.    Dark Inertia: Dark inertia is born of ignorance and is the delusion of every embodied self. It binds negligence, sleep, and indolence as it also obscures knowledge. When dark inertia is increased, arise obscurity, inactivity, negligence, and delusion. When a man dies of dark inertia he is reborn into wombs of folly. Its fruit is ignorance. The men of dark inertia go way down.  

Krishna again brings up his main point of wanting Arjuna to devote himself to him. If you devote yourself to Krishna you will get immortality, no rebirth, no death, and no old age. Men devoted to Krishna like light, like activity, and like delusion. When these elements go away though, they don’t desire them. These men are impartial to suffering vs. joy and all material objects. This remind me very much of the enlightened man. The only difference is that the men of Krishna are un moved by natures qualities. The more I read, the more I realize how many similarities there are in Buddhism and Hinduism. I want to end this teaching with Krishna’s last quote, “I am the infinite spirits foundation, immortal and immutable, the basis of eternal sacred duty and of perfect joy” The Triad Of Nature’s Qualities Pg. 121 text. 27.

The biggest thing they have brought up through this book are the different types of men. This teaching is called The True Spirit Of Man. It begins with the quote that I found rther interesting, “Roots in the air, branches below, the tree of life is unchanging, they say; it leaves of hymns, and he who knows it, knows sacred lore” The True Spirit Of Man Pg. 122 text. 1. The tree of life is unchanging, is he talking about immortals and life when you get to him and not rebirth? Is this referring to old age? One thing life with Krishna would guarantee not to happen. This quote was a little hard to interpret but I liked it. I especially liked the comparison of the tree to life. Many times the trees are indeed compared to life. This teaching had very little, but I enjoyed it. It was different. Finally something that wasn’t all about Krishna.

How to successfully draw Krishna (important aspects):

1.    Serpents

2.    Boundless

3.    Many arms, legs, feet, eyes, mouths, noses, bellies, fangs

4.    Fiery

5.    Crown

6.    Mace

7.    Discus

8.    Moon eye and sun eye

9.    Flamed mouth

10. Heaven/ Earth

11. Lots of color!

*If you did it right, it should not look like the picture below.