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