Unexpected

"The greatest and most ancient of Greek philosophies is that of Crete and Sparta, and it is there that most of the earth's sophists reside..." Calasso pg. 248

This passage from Calasso surprised me when i read it teachers of philosophy in Sparta. It has always been my opinion that Sparta was the manliest of manly places ever in existence. So you can imagine just how surprised i was. This passage directly relates my feelings about literature classes at least my opinion of the before this class. I am a Cell Biology and Neuroscience major and take stock in facts and generally ignore other things. However as i have been told many times before (mostly by my mother) there are other things in life besides facts and proof. Through mythology i feel as though these other things are more accessible. You might be asking why mythology well its because its all one big story and i have been an insatiable reader since grade school. I love stories love the feeling of loosing my self in the lives of the characters. After this class i realize that everyday life is just another story and now i know the outcome of the story its like knowing the ending before you read it and it grants you a sense of power that is awesome. The ancient Spartans must have realized this as well because why else would this warrior society pursue knowledge. The answer is knowledge is power.

Mermaids

"But how did it all begin?" Calasso

While i would never dream of telling someone that they are completely wrong i feel obligated to shed some scientific light on the subject of mermaids in today's society. This rare natural phenomenon is called Sirenomelia and is a disorder that occurs during the gestation of any mammal. This disorder is extremely fatal in fact there is a 50% chance of being stillborn and those that do survive birth usually die within weeks. It is extremely rare for this to occur in fact only 1 out of 100,000 infants have this disorder. There are currently only 6 people alive in the world that have this disease.

I am relatively sure that this was given as a funny example of myth in today's society but just in case some people in class took it seriously thought that i would clear up a few facts.

In regards to my quote from Calasso I am wondering how people came up with some of their topics for this paper and in all actuality i am rather jealous that i did not think of them. For example Jills presentation on the trial that Nicholas goes through as the path to hell. I did not even think about this as i was reading the Magus, and Derril's paper on relating the path of Nicholas to that of multiple hero's wish i would have thought of that one.


 

Perfection

It is the idea of perfection. What is perfect is its own origin and does not wish to dwell on how it came into being. Calasso pg.90

In this passage Calasso is hinting at the Greeks and the gods want/need of perfection. This was interesting because in today's society our Gods are portrayed as the epitome in all of their characteristics. This leads me to wonder when did we as a human race change our criteria of Gods and why? Did the ancient Greeks make their gods into imperfect beings so that they could get away with more. My thoughts are aline with if the gods did it then why can't we do it. was that their reasoning? Or was it their own need of finding perfection that lead them to create gods that were searching for the same thing in other words to put themselves on the same level as the Gods. Unfortunatly we will never know why they created imperfect gods.


 As for why in today's society we made our Gods perfect I think it has to do with our inherent laziness. If our Gods are perfect then we have an excuse to not be perfect. This could be the origin of the classic i am only human excuse. This excuse is the eppitamy of people looking for an excuse of sub standard work.

All in all i think we would have benefited more form the old view of Gods. Personally i would rather have a society striving for perfection than a lazy sub standard society.

Relationships Make the Story

John Fowles’s novel The Magus is an enthralling book that grabs a hold of the reader and will simply not let go. There are several reasons for this books ability to captivate its readers; the main reason is its strong relation to mythology.  Just as in mythology the reason that this novel is so compelling is the complexity of the relationships that the characters have with one another. The Magus would not have been compelling to read if you as a reader could not associate with at least one of the characters. It is the same for mythology if you could not relate with the gods or heroes then the myths would be dull. In this novel Nicholas Urfe has three main relationships that send him through an emotional rollercoaster.

            The first of these relationships is subsequently the most emotionally taxing and ultimately frustrating. This is the relationship with Alison a young women who represents nothing more to Nicholas than a physical attraction at first. This relationship quickly advances as it always inevitably does and Alison rejects Nicholas. If it was not for this rejection this novel could have turned out completely different in fact Nicholas might have simply seen the God Game for what it was. Instead he is sucked into the game and continues this game to try and get Alison out of his mind. Playing the God Game is his way of trying to purge the idea of Alison from his mind. The relationship between Alison and Nicholas continues near the end of the book when she comes to see him on the island. It is during this visit that Nicholas turns down her unconditional love for a chance at a relationship with Julie. This was arguably the worst decision that he makes during the entire novel. This essentially marks the end of the relationship between the two until the end of the book when he realizes his mistake and tries to get Alison back.

            This relationship is almost exactly the same as Cupid and Psyche. In this story Alison would be Cupid and Nicholas would be Psyche. Nicholas does not know what he has until it is gone and then he chases after it with no success until that is Alison decides to see him. The only difference in this myth and the relationship between Nicholas and Alison is the ending in the myth they live happily ever after and in the novel the ending is a mystery to the reader.

            The second relationship that Nicholas has in this novel is with Julie. This relationship was probably the most confusing relationship in the novel due to all of the layers of the relationship. This relationship is noticeable because of the metamorphosis of Julie.  Throughout the novel she changes roles in the God Game multiple times. Even though she changed her role in deceiving Nicholas he seemed to be completely oblivious to her changes. Her first role in their relationship was the innocent mentally deranged young woman. This role appealed to Nicholas because he thought that he could outwit Conchis in his God Game. This shows us what kind of person Nicholas is during the majority of the novel a selfish man who uses people to make him feel better. Then later when Julie changed to the emotionally vulnerable young women. Nicholas uses Julie in this role to make himself feel better about Alison leaving him. Then Julie makes one last transformation and crushes all of Nicholas’s hopes at true love with her. This was supposedly done to teach Nicholas a lesson and to deter him from continuing his womanizing ways.

            This relationship can be related to that of Persephone and Hades. There are multiple references to Persephone in the novel she makes multiple references of running away from the situation in addition to that she is abducted while with Nicholas. The first and the most obvious reference to Persephone is the book that is left open on the beach. The book was open and the poem read, “First must thou go the road to hell And the bower of Ceres’ daughter Persephone” (Fowles 69). Nicholas who just wants Julie for his own selfish purposes represents Hades. Hades only abducts Persephone to feel better about himself not because he loves her. This relationship was set up as part of the God Game and was meant to teach Nicholas a lesson. While this seems a brutal lesson Nicholas is given plenty of warnings the greatest of these was the two clues he was given after Julie was abducted. “One was a doll. The other was a human skull… The doll was Julie, and said that she was evil, she was black, under the white innocence she wore.” (459).

            The third relationship the Nicholas had was with Conchis the master puppeteer behind the God Game. This relationship was one of frustration for both Nicholas and the reader. Conchis is a very subtle character seeming to leave every decision up to Nicholas, however he was so understanding that he could manipulate Nicholas and steer his decisions in the direction he wanted. This was evident when Conchis continuously warns Nicholas about Julie, “She may appear normal tomorrow. You must not let that deceive you.” (312).

            In this novel Conchis represents two different mythological characters Apate and Zeus.  The Greek goddess Apate was the goddess of fraud and deception. Conchis fits this description perfectly as the instigator of the God Game he is the focal point of the deception. He represents Zeus in a more subtle way pulling the puppeteer strings from the shadows. Zeus often in mythology plays other gods and mortals against each, however he rarely gets his hands dirty (unless of course it involves a woman) preferring to use others to reach his goal.  

            While there were other relationships that were portrayed in this novel and each one added depth to the story these were the relationships that most people could relate their own lives to. John Fowles uses relationships to not only captivate his readers but to imbed the story and its lessons into the reader’s minds.

Confounded

The crime of the heroes, perhaps, lay not so much in their treading the earth but their detaching themselves from it. Calasso pg. 358

This passage reminds me of the Magus especially Nicholas. In the novel once Nick notices that he is in a labyrinth he seems to believe that he can out think the game. What he does not realize is he is assembled against the top psychologist of the world, at least in this book. This proves to not be the case as I though that it would however the story took so many turns before Nick realized that he was outmaneuvered.

Most people in this class my self included have expressed their dislike of the ending of the book. I have come to realize after reading Jerrod's blog that the end was not the important part of this novel it was the journey that Nickolas and the other characters experienced. I knew that the end of the story was not the important part before i read his blog but i was so hung up on the ending or the lack of an ending that i could not see the importance the journey. Throughout the story i found myself relating to all of the characters at some point or another. Nickolas was the main character in this story due to his predominance in the story. This does not mean that he is the most important character in the story. In my opinion Alison was the brick that held the whole story together. She is integrated into the whole story and I as the reader did not even guess at her importance. This might have been because i was rooting for Nickolas and Julie or should i say Lily. That was not the case and never could have been under the circumstances. In fact that was one of the biggest twist in the story when i figured out that Lily was just another actress. The next big twist was when Alison turned out to be alive. As soon as I learned that Alison was not dead the overall picture of the story took shape in my head. If she was part of the god-game then there was no limit to what was real and what was simply a veil that the book put over your eyes. In the end i realized why the book ended the way it did and i can appreciate that method of story telling. In fact the ending of this book allows for virtually endless endings allowing the reader to go down any path that their imagination leads them.

Rituals

I my opinion rituals are a necessary evil. In society we judge people on their success and their deeds. This being said there is on surefire way to ensure that in a community everyone is equal. That is to have everyone subjected to the same process usually involving extreme amounts of mental distress and physical pain. Now in today's society the physical pain is not really sanctioned as an acceptable method of initiation unless of course you take into account specific groups such as the military. This is not the case in many small rural communities outside of America. For example the Brazilian Satere-Mawe method of initiation for their young boys to become men is not only painful but arguably the most painful thing that a human can undergo without dieing and they have to do it 20 times. To become a man these young boys must wear gloves inter laced with up to 50 bullet ants for a half an hour.

This is a bullet ant. The sting that this ant can give is literally the most painful sting ever recorded and has been compared to 30000 bee stings at once, and is rated as more painful than the Tarantula Hawk Wasp

Ouch!!!!!!!!!

Initiation

Equality only comes into being through initiation. It does not exist in nature, and society wouldn't be able to conceive of the idea if it weren't structured and articulated by initiation. Calasso pg. 250

When I first read this I thought to myself no way that's not true just think of the equality in today's world that was accomplished through diplomacy and general human kindness. As I continued reading I found myself coming back to this particular section in the book thinking about it and mulling over all of the examples that i had given myself to contradict this statement. Then it hit me it's true. There is no equality in this world without initiation the Spartans knew this and that is why their youth had to undergo Krypteia an initiation that involved killing helots. through this initiation all Spartans were equals allowing them to be open in their society without fear of punishment.This sort of initiation is no longer government sanctioned however there are a few initiations that the government has for example the initiation that a new citizen must go through to become a citizen. In addition to this there are copious examples of initiation to become part of a group in fact every time you join a new group of friends there is an initiation even if its just verbal.


Sorry about the italicized font but i could not change it back to normal for some reason.

For those of you that are done with the Magus i am wondering whether you share my frustration at the ending and the text leading to the ending. I feel as though John Fowels owed us at the very least a little closure at the end of the book. Instead he leaves it up to your imagination which by the end of the book is so skewed that you cannot possibly determine how the story ends. I cannot wait until everyone has read this book so we can discuses it in class. Furthermore for those of you still reading it you might feel as though the book is done around page 450 but you are in for an infinite amount of frustration and confusion. Enjoy

Shedding Light on Helen

When the Greeks needed to appeal to an ultimate authority, it wasn't a sacred text but Homer that they went to. Greece was founded on the Iliad. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony pg. 91. As those of you who have read chapter four know it is probably the longest chapter in the book, and for good reason. This chapter addresses the story of Helen and the god and goddesses that were in the background. Helen was the only daughter of Zeus and had two mothers. Zeus as always raped a women by the name of Nemesis and while Nemesis was sleeping Hermes took the egg and placed it in Leda's womb. Helen was pretty much the most beautiful women on the face of the earth and a bi-product of such beauty was an endless amount of suitors. Helen had five husbands including Achilles. They were however not married while still living but after both were spirits. These two met while the Greeks were attacking Troy to try and get Helen back form Paris. The ironic thing about this whole story that we have all heard before is that Helen was not even there it was only a specter of Helen. The real Helen was with an Egyptian king. This fact is commonly left out of the popular story because Homer thought that this fact would make his epic story not so epic.

Chapter 3 continued

Throughout the bloody night, torch signals were exchanged among the hills.The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, page 66. As i have been reading this book i have been playing with the idea that the gods are not exactly entities but rather a way for humans to explain there feelings. I seem to recall this being discussed in class but i am not positive when. If the gods are indeed merely human feelings given a face then the second half of the third chapter is most definitely the feeling of lust. In fact sex is the main topic of this chapter ranging form rape to sacrificing yourself for a loved one. This feeling is shared by both gods and humans in some cases the gods literally forestall a humans death for love something that is unheard of. In addition to the gods loving humans this chapter tells us that it was the hero's that defined love by resisting the social norms and actually sharing love with their companions both female and male. 
 

Hugging a Mighty Big Tree

This picture was taken this summer in California were i encountered some of the oldest living trees in the world the mighty redwoods. I did huge a tree in Bozeman bu the picture did not really turn out so i grabbed this off my computer. I am on the the far right and the other two people are my sisters. at a combined arm span of roughly 18 feet we did not even come close to giving this ancient being a proper huge but none the less we tried.

Struggling through The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

The twelve gods of Olympus agreed to appear as entirely human. It was the first time a group of divinities had renounced abstraction and animal heads. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, page 54. This quote reminded me of the overall theme of our class the origin of myth and in essence life. It is very rare that you can actually find an origin due to the general tendencies of things to be based on prior events. This quote tells of a monumental event in the role of gods in human life. the gods by taking the form of humans have put themselves on the same level as humans. This transformation to the human form also allows the gods to interact with human kind in a way previously not capable.  


While I struggle to read this book I find that The Magus is substantially easier to read. in fact when our professor told use that we would not be able to put the book down he was not kidding. I found my self reading till 2 this morning totally obliviious to the time. The main pull int the book at this point for me is the old man really physic or is he just crazy? Personally I would like to believe that he is and due to the thickness of the book I have a feeling that he is truly physic. 


In class on the 7th we discussed the different parts of a story beginning middle and end. In addition to this we were asked to find an origin myth and to discuss our reaction to learning that Santa is not real.


Unfortunately my story of learning that santa is not real is rather uneventful. when i was 8 years old i caught my parents putting the presents under the tree and to there surprise i asked if they needed any help. I can not really explain my reaction but I think that i never really believed in Santa. This was not my parents fault i have just always been a very logical thinker even at a young age.    


As an after thought in chapter three of the Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony Hercules is discussed and compared to Theseus. As i read this I realized that i really did not know anything about Hercules besides what Disney told me. I plan on filling this void in knowledge as soon as I can. 

Zachary Mayer First Impression of The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

"The crown was the rim of the goblet, the point at witch fullness becomes excess." - Aristotle. Hopefully as a class we can reach this precipice without reaching the point of excess. Judging from the first class and the experience of our professor i have no doubt that we will be successful in staying right on the edge. speaking of the first day of class we were told to find an origin myth well I googled origin myths and was astonished at the diversity of these myths. Everything from ancient Greek myths to thousands of early civilizations stories of origin.

I started to read The Marriage of Camus and Harmony and was instantly very confused. It took me a couple of pages to figure out that i was essentially reading a history of Europa that was told in reverse chronological order. The reason for this order was to show that every story is connected and attempted to find the origin of this story. this writing style was foreign to me and i am still not sure if i like it but it defiantly proved the point that all stories have an origin and that origin probably has an origin as well.