Only One More Thing

Finally God is near fulfilling his promise, but guess what? There is one more condition, and a pretty painful one, I`d say, “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17-11). Ouch! Poor Abraham, being circumcised at that age, o well, it’s worth it, isn`t it?
I understand that the bible, as many other creations of man regarding inducing beliefs into the people, explains why things are meant to be that way. Circumcision is a hygiene measure, and I think it was established by the people themselves to avoid infection and at the same time increase reproduction. As it is described in the bible, not having practicing it was an obstacle for men (Abraham) to reproduce. I think the pig thing, about the Jewish not being able to eat it, is for the same reason. The pigs of that time must have been by far the dirtiest animal. One would want to avoid eating it to stay well.

Consternation and Abraham

Many things happened from Genesis 10 to 16. Starting with a large confusing list of sons and generations and founders of places.There where so many things that my mind simple wasn`t able to organize them. I understood the following: Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and they had children, and those children had more children, and so on. They all formed different clans, if you can call them so, and established in many different places around.

And then came the story of the Babel tower. I had seen a movie about it before. One I found quite hard to understand, it was all about confusing languages and misunderstandings. Well I finally got it right. Everybody talked in the same language and everything seemed to be much easier. So, they where building a city and a tower, and God came by to look at what was going on. He decided he would mix up everything by making different languages and all of a sudden the people where not able to do it with such ease. Why would he do that and complicate life so much? Well I have a theory based on the following lines, “Got to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven” (Genesis 11- 4). I think god was afraid they wanted to be like him and reach him, so, to avoid it, he made things more difficult to the people. I wonder what life would be like today if we all spoke the same language. We would probably have technology that is beyond our imagination, or maybe we would have finished screwing this world up. I was reminded of the pyramids because they where as well built to reach the gods.

Then followed many generations and then the story of the journey of Abraham which I am familiar with, followed. Many wars have been happening because of this story over the ‘promised land’. I don`t find a reason why, but God made a covenant with him and promised he would give him a land and multiply his seed, as to he would reproduce and leave his mark in greater scale, I think. He left Ur and went with his wife Sarai, Lot, and some of his people following God’s commands. He traveled and got to Egypt in the middle of a famine. He let his wife pass as his sister and let her go to the pharaoh, I don’t understand well why he had to do that, why the Egyptians would kill him if he didn’t, and where the Egyptians come from. Are the Egyptians descendants of Noah too, or what? Then they where sent away when the Pharaoh realized that Sarai wasn’t exactly Abraham’s sister. Lot’s and Abraham’s people fight so Abraham asks him to separate; “And Abraham said unto Lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren” (Genesis 13-8). Later on Lot is kidnapped in a confusing war and Abraham has to go and save him. In the journey Abraham comes to doubt, but God always repeats his words and assures him that his future is bright.
Since Sarai is not able to have children, she sends her handmaid with her own husband to give him a child for her. How could she bare her husband being with her maid? It is insane. Full of resentment towards her mistress, Hagar escapes pregnant and is asked to return by god’s angel. He tells her that her child will be named Ishmael and a threat to men, or something like that. Poor Hagar, can something like what happened to her be approved by God?

This part of the genesis, I considered to be a little heavy.

Many Generations to Follow and a New Beginning

Eve and Adam have their first child, Cain and then they have Abel. They are not described so much; Abel is a sheep keeper that gives the biggest sheep to God as sacrifice and Cain a farmer that also gives sacrifice to God. The reason he killed Abel I think is pure jealousy for God respects his brother and does not appreciate him as proven in the following verse: “And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect” (Genesis 4-4, 4-5) I was also surprised as I found the word sin that hadn’t been mentioned before, on Genesis 4-7.

After this came many generations that where listed. If I probably wrote about it the most accurate thing that I could do is a family tree. While reading the names of the sons in the generation I realized that they where all that, sons, there where no women mentioned as if they were not significant or they didn´t have relevance. I was especially interested when the total years of the ones who had children where said, I was reminded about the theory I had wrote about before when reading Gilgamesh. In the theory of Zecharia Sitchin, there where semi gods and men that actually lived for a long time, like the ones mentioned in Genesis 5: “And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: And all the days of Mahalaleel where eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died” (15, 16). “That the sons of god saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Genesis 6-2), this verse also reminded me of this theory for, children of daughters of men with sons of God are also included in many other religions and cultural believes like in the Greek culture, Zeus had Perseus with the daughter of the king of Argos, Danae. This part of the genesis is full of things that remind me of this man´s book and ideas as it also mentions giant men. I found myself interested when Enoch was said to walk with God and stop being, “And Enoch walked with god: and he was not; for god took him” (Genesis 5-24), this thing about walking with God is very familiar. I think it means following the right path. When it says ‘he was not’ I think it means he died, as, was comes from the verb to be and he was not, he does not exist, I suppose.

When it comes to the story of Noah, son of Lemoch, I also related it to Zecharia´s theory. The flood has been present in the records of many different parts of the world as in Gilgamesh there was a record of it when traveled to avoid death and found who seemed to be Noah. I believe there was a flood, that it actually happened, but not because God wanted it to be that way, I see it more like it was a natural disaster. Here god talked personally with Noah and I recall it to be the first time GOD speaks to man. Yes, Lord God talked to Adam and Eve and he also spoke to Cain questioning Abel’s death, but this time it was God who spoke to Noah and even talked in first person when describing his feelings about corruption and what he was to do about it: “And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die”(Genesis 6-17). It is mentioned that God makes the decision because he sees that all he created became corrupt, He sacrificed every creature and everything that had life for the mistakes of men and female. The way the time that passed is described is very easy to follow only that it is related it to the years of Noah instead of a general record of time. Noah, his family and all the creatures are blessed by God that finds compassion and regrets having to sacrifice all of his creation. He promises it won´t ever happen again, “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9-11). I was confused at the end when Canaan son of Ham was cursed by Noah, I don´t understand well what he did. I read something about him being naked, which was seen badly after Adam and Eve tasted the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden. After rereading it many times I understand that he got him naked while drunk and so he was condemned to be a servant.

The Tree of Knowledge and The Ruin of Man

Ok so, today in class we where discussing who is guilty for the ruin of men. Yeah, Adam tasted the fruit of the tree forbidden by God, Eve seduced him into doing it, and the serpent manipulated her into tasting it too; all of them share a small part of the fault but, who is really culpable for the ruin of men is Lord God. If you where to blame Adam, God created him imperfect, if you where to blame Eve, he also created her and gave her seducing abilities as well as he created the serpent, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the fields which the Lord God had made”(Genesis 3-1). I mean, why did he create the tree, the source of the whole dilemma, in the first place. As we can see in this verse he was even aware of what the tree meant to the future of men and what the fruit caused to who eats it, “ For God doth know in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3-5)

O, and he didn´t only create it, he made it as tempting as possible and placed it in the middle of the garden, “And when the women saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant for the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise…”(Genesis 3-6). Yes he told the not to eat of the tree, however, when I am told not to do something inside me turns all the attention to that. And he wouldn’t have to tell them anyway if he didn´t create the tree. Everything comes back onto god and the mistakes of his creation, the tree the serpent, Adams weakness in denial and Eve´s seduction.

I declare Lord God guilty for the ruin of mankind.
It was very interesting how the hurt involved for the woman when giving birth is explained in the bible as Lord God´s punishment to the woman aside of expulsing her from the garden.

Creation in the Bible

In the first chapter of the Genesis, God creates everything that was known to exist at the time it was written. At the beginning everything was dark and so God creates light and with it he creates dawn and evening, he creates the day. From there on god continues to form earth In a process of seven days. He divided the water from the heaven and created land to separate the waters, then the herbs and trees, the beasts of world and so on. It is on the sixth day that man Is created. I have already noticed that humans are described hereaxc as the final and major purpose of the creation, they are created to subdue the world and make it theirs; “And God blessed them, and god said unto them, Be fruity and multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue it.” ( Genesis 1-29) I also noted, that as in Gilgamesh, the humans are meant to reproduce snd it is seen as a good thing and a part fulfilling the duty with God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him…”(Genesis 1-27), I was specially interested about how god created man like him, maybe that is where the stereotypical idea of god being a beard man comes form and the writer of the bible probably also thought we where the closest thing on earth to god.

The second chapter is more like another version of the creation. Men is created first and then the creatures and herbs and trees for him. Here man was created form soil of the ground and God bring the beasts to accompany him, but he was still lonely so them he creates woman from one of his ribs: “And the rib, which Lord God had taken form man, made he a women , and brought her unto man” ( Genesis 2-22). Already there are sexist principles and I haven´t even started, how is it that woman is made from a part of men and brought to him. We are not made for men or them for us, we are our own property.

Ok anyway, in my journey through the fist beginning of the first book printed ever, I have been attracted by many versions and explanations of how things happen and what things are. I now remember that what religions attempt is to explain the doubts of the people. There are many versions of creation and this one I find very interesting.

Blind Love

I personally loved the story of Pomona and Vertumnus. I found it to be really cute for Vertumnus to do all that disguising to get Pomona´s love. He changed many times unto many things, he pretended to be a fisher man, a fruit collector and many other things but Pomona did not pay attention to him. Finally he decided to tell the story of Myrrha, a girl who does not find a suitor. The goddess Aphrodite is over with it and tells her she will fall in love no matter what. Surprisingly she chose her father, for, he seemed to be the only one suit for her. I don´t understand how someone´s mind have to be so twisted and sick to want to lay with her own father but anyway; the nurse maid set up a plan for Cinyas the king and father of Myrrha to sleep with his daughter. She tempts him by saying that a young woman wants to be with him but with the condition of being blind folded. When he discovers the truth and faces the shocking and quite disgusting reality he intends to drown her. This quite unique story Vertumnus told Pomona reminds me of a book we read for Spanish class, "Edipo Rey", where Edipo and his mom fall in love and get married and have kids without knowing that they are other and son. When they finally discover who they really are, one commits suicide and the other one takes his eyes out.

After hearing the story, Pomona tells Vertumnus to take of his disguise and as soon as she sees the god of spring she falls in love.

A Self Consuming Cycle

The story of Erysichthon is probably my favorite of all the stories of metamorphoses. Aside of it being very absurd and causing me a great doubt about whether you can eat yourself to death, I saw it as a perfect representation of human kind and our future. He is a man, which like humans in society, looks for the use in everything regardless of their meaning to the world and the effect taking them can cause. We have taken the resources of the earth as if they where of our property and even if we say we are aware of the problem, the majority of us, continue with the cycle knowing that our consumption is leading to the ruin of earth and its natural structure. We or I, if this does not include you, which I am really sure, does, hear the alert by all to stop abusing but we pretend we understand and don´t follow anyway.

The story begins when he wants to cut down a tree beloved by the god Ceres and he does it without listening to the wise advice of the narrator. In this exact moment I am wasting unnecessary energy and am making part of the destructive cycle by having this computer, this clothes, this house, the lights, everything. As many of us receive the information and warnings with one ear and dispose it with the other, Erysichthon disobeys and stubborn does what he wanted to do in the first place saying: “ It’s only a tree the goddess likes, but say it was the goddess herself, I´d cut it down just the same” (33). As Ceres hears the news he punishes him sending hunger to hunt him until his death. He gradually eats everything existing and even gets to a point in which he sells his mother for food. This represents how many humans do whatever is necessary, and loose all compassion, to achieve what they want. I also relate Eryschthon’s situation to the problems of hunger in the world today. The population is increasing by the second and a whole lot of people suffer of hunger. More food is produced to abolish it but then since there is more food the population increases once again. It is a cycle in which if a sacrifice is not made, the hunger of the world will remain forever until slowly we have finished up all the resources of food and chaos prevails, or we finish converting the earth into a place where no living thing can survive. This quote by the narrator explains quite well how we are always striving for more and more and never have enough, “The godless are always hungry”(40).

At the end of the story the character, full of emptiness, consumes himself as leading to his own death. The ending I loved, for, Ceres hands a plate, fork and knife, and concludes the story by saying “Bon Appétit”. Will we ever be able to stop this eternal symbiotic nightmare that will take human kind, and all the living things of the world with it, to self destruction? “There can be only one end to such a man… he will destroy himself” (40).

Not even pure love is free from danger.

I found Alycone and Ceyx's story beautiful and very touching as well. It is about a king and his wife, two who love each other and live happily together. Ceyx, the husband, has to undergo a journey through water and risks his life to complete his mission. The idea of risking to loose her all, hunted Alycone, and so she begged him to travel by land. Her love towards him was so big, and the bond between them so strong, that she was willing to risk her life and accompany him, for, without him nothing made sense. However he won`t let her come to the journey to keep her safe from the dangers of the sea. "If you die my life is over and shall be cursed with every reluctant breath I draw."(PG 20); here Alycone proves how in the story love is portrayed as a feeling of dependence: without one`s lover, life is not worth continuing and every second is more painfull than the one before. Love has been reflected everywhere in stories throughout history, but...Does this kind of love really exist? It is admirable how love endures until death and is loyal and transforms people.It is similar to the story of Odiseus and Penelope, she refused to get married and waited for her husband for years until he returned ^from war disgized as a begger. There are not a lot of relationships like this one these days. I relate this situation to the one of the wives that see their man go away to war without the serenity of knowing they will return home. Is there no compassion, like the gods didn't have it with Alycone?

In his mission a storm caused his death and he prayed for his dearly and poor wife. Morpheus(Note that Morpheus comes from morphos that means shape)acquires his shape and warns Alycone in sleep. She looks and looks along the shores seeking the body without life of her lover, when she finds him, she becomes a bird. I don`t understand this transformation very well or it’s meaning. I interpret it as she becoming the one who is watching over everything. The fact that she had a premonition of his death and since many times the repeated visit of a bird is interpreted by many as a premonition that someone you lost is accompanying you, or that something is to happen or just happened, makes me think that is what it means.

I was interested about how sleep is a character and talks and acts.

Wait, what did he say?

I listened to this version of creation more than four times and the only thing I am sure about is that I did not understand it very well. Today we may find many versions of creation including the big bang and evolution, the creation by god and many others. Within the little information I was able to understand was that the earth was created to be equal and something about the creation of oceans, rivers, and lakes. In a part of the explanation the narrator used what I assumed was another language and I had a hard time following.

A Long Process and Arjuna's Final Decision

Throughout the different teachings Krishna convinces Arjuna to fight for different purposes and to stand for various principles. All of them funded on discipline and basically following his directions and his advice. “I will teach you the totality\ of knowledge and judgment;\ this known, Nothing else in the world need to be known.”(2, T7), he knows it all and the one who really understands him and his knowledge will triumph. “Vile, deluded sinners are the men\ who fail to take refuge in me;\ their knowledge ruined by magic,\ they fail prey to demonic power.”(15), Krishna throughout the book is basically telling him to follow him.

He also mentions that concentrating in him and mentioning the divine syllable OM results in infinite spirit, “At the time of death ,\ with the mind immovable,\ armed with devotion\ and strength of discipline,\ focusing vital breathe\ between the brows one attains the supreme\ divine spirit of men”(10, T8), men have always looked for a consolation to accept death, it is comforting to think that there is something beyond death, that it won´t all end forever, it is a pattern that is repeated in many believes around the world. “These bright and dark pathways\ are deemed constant for the universe; by one, a man escapes rebirth; by the other, he is born again”(26), I also recall this thing about choosing paths, in the catholic religion, there are also different paths, the one that follows the path of god is redeemed and lives in his refuge but the other does not, in this case is born once again and remains trapped in the continuous cycle.
As the book continues, Arjuna is taught about the mystery in faith and its magic as well as divine power. I specially liked the eleventh teaching as I was finally able to have an idea of what Krishna looked like. It is a very distortional image in my head as it is described as many things in one, with many bellies, and many eyes, and many arms, it is quite confusing; “Arjuna see my forms\ in hundreds and thousands;\ diverse, divine,\ of many colors and shapes”(5, T11).

The rest of the teachings basically described how to achieve your true spirit through faith in god and how there is good and demonic in man. Finally in teaching eighteen Arjuna fights.
I personally thought he was right since the beginning.

Comparing Religion

I was surprised when I found many familiar trends in the ideas, goals, and prices of sacrifice and fulfilling duty very similar to the ones of the Christian religion. In the third teaching I got started with a phrase that resembles how god is the creator and we are meant to procreate, as in Gilgamesh where the ones that reproduce have a better “after life”, “ When creating living beings and sacrifice, Prajapati, the primordial creator, said: ‘By the sacrifice will you procreate! Let it be your wish-granting cow!’”(10, T3). “Enriched by sacrifice, the gods\ will give you the delights you desire; \he is a thief who enjoys their gifts\ without giving to them in return.”(12), as it is shown in this phrase, in this teaching it is also mentioned that sacrifice is an obligation and it shall be done to pay back all that the gods granted men. This also leads to what we call sin. God shows himself as a complete authority, the one who does not follow what he commands and thinks and the one who does not defend them with their live in sin and is not free. We can also see this in teaching: “Surrender all your actions to me,\ and fix your reason on your inner self;…”(30), “Men who always follow my thought,\ trusting it without finding fault, \are freed, \even by their actions” (31). This, I found particularly interesting for, I recall many wars that still are found today for religious reasons, since by following their god they are freed from their actions or they are justified this wars are very accepted among people and happen easily and confidently.

“He who really knows my divine\ birth and my action, escapes rebirth\ when he abandons the body\ and he comes to me, Arjuna” (9, T4), here I was also able to notice that as in the catholic religion and as in many others, the ones who followed god completely and fulfilled their duty in earth end up in its presence to find complete peace and satisfaction. I was particularly intrigued when Krishna said that he created himself when there was chaos and that he had also lived many lives as humans but remembered them all. How would he create himself? I was interested in the fifth teaching as well when a lord was mentioned.

Discipline in Action

After reading teachings three, four, and five, my perception of what detachment, discipline in action and inaction are in the book has changed big time.

Action and discipline are almost all about taking control of your senses and learning to act in order to give to the gods and pay your dept with them to eventually elude evil “When his senses are controlled\ but he keeps recalling\ sense objects with his mind,\ he is a self-deluded hypocrite” (6, T3), “Enriched by sacrifice, the gods\ will give you delights you desire;\ he is a thief who enjoys their gifts\ without giving to them in return” (12, T3). In teaching three he describes how the ones who perform action detached are the ones with knowledge and that they must guide through inspiration the ones who are attached. Krishna says passion is the enemy of knowledge and all that stands for what is good, It is Desire and anger, arising\ from nature´s quality of passion;\ know it here as the enemy voracious and very evil” (37, T3)I had heard before about OM in that culture but I had never understood what it meant when it is mentioned, “Action comes from the spirit of prayer,\ who´s source is OM, sound of the imperishable; so the pervading infinite spirit\ is ever presented in rites of sacrifice” (15, T3).

In teaching four Krishna emphasized in the evil and the bad result of ambition and individuality. I was surprised by how he rejects one to follow his desire and deny his word and thought. Content with whatever comes in chance, \ beyond dualities, free from envy,\ impartial to failure and success,\ he is not bound even when he acts” (22, T4) this quote was hard to understand for me, this means one can not feel almost anything that is biased not even in suffering, it reminds me of the saying that everything happens because god wanted it that way and that it happens for a reason, it is a very conformist idea. Knowledge is also called a purifier in this teaching, knowledge justifies whatever action.

Teaching five repeats all the principles of the previous ones and reinforces the importance of knowledge. When someone understands he acts well and thought, I believe that as well. I say to be happy you should learn to accept defeats and be impartial of things; I wish I could apply that some day. A new thing is mentioned bonding renunciation and discipline, “Renunciation is difficult to attain\ without discipline;\ a sage armed with discipline\ soon reaches the infinite spirit” (6, T5).

Reincarnation and Honor by Spiritual Discipline

I was able to identify principles of reincarnation that called my attention. Krishna told Arjuna that everybody is somehow eternal and that nothing ever ends or begins. It is a very complex ideology. “He who thinks this self a killer\ and he who thinks it killed, \ both fails to understand; it does not kill, nor is it killed.”(19) He justifies the killing of all the ones in the battle by saying that they will die someday anyway and that even if they died there inner body would remain. This all makes me wonder if this principle of reincarnation is really true, and relating it to all the other culture that believe there is a life after death and that the soul is eternal it makes a lot of sense. Do we really go somewhere else or is it just a consolation to all humans? Why do we assume that only humans have an after life? What about animals? We all make part of the natural cycle of death. But this teaching, I think, is more about honor and the glory of the ones who fulfill their duty as great warriors.

Krishna talks about the importance of duty and how discipline is so important in life and brings peace and joy. He also says that detachment in action is also important and makes the discipline. “When like a tortoise retracting\ its limbs, he withdraws his senses\ completely from sensuous objects, \ his insight is sure.”(58), here and in the previous phrases the god is saying that living without feeling any preference, without having feelings towards anything, and abandoning individuality you are a man who´s thought is sure. I, on the other hand, think that one should experience different things and be themselves; sometimes a moment of happiness and attachment is worth a life time of suffering.

Why Fight?

We have begun to read The Bhagavad-Gita, one of, or if not the most influencial books representing the indu beleives. At the beginning of the first teaching of I was confused about what was happening, many different supreme characters where mentioned, and they where described as son´s or grandson´s of others. I found this very interesting as I noticed the role of the past generations and who the ancestors of a person where determined a great part of one´s identity. Then I realized what is happening is a war between the son´s of two different god´s (a religious war).

“Honor forbids us to kill\ our cousins, Dhritarashtra´s sons; \ how can we know happiness\ if we kill our own kinsmen?”(37) Arjuna argues how kingship and self pleasure is not worth the death of his people, people who have a life and an important role in society. I have to say I agree with his point of view regarding fighting or not. Many families suffer for their member´s death and for what, for anything; people all throughout history have died fighting for one´s they don´t even know and principals they don´t follow. He also brings into consideration the importance and spiritual value of the family and how the war will cause disorder, “The sins of men who violate\ the family create disorder in society\ that undermines the constant laws\ of caste and family duties.”(44) Family as in the roman culture is a quite serious institution that has to be respected to its maximum.

I was intrigued by a specific thing Arjuna said about three worlds, “I do not want to kill them\ even if I am killed Krishna; \not for kingship of all three worlds, \ much less for the earth! (35). I wonder what three worlds he is talking about are, and what they represent.