I think John has been understated. He paved the way for Jesus and was converting people to the Christian faith before Jesus, but John is a little detour in the life of Jesus, while I believe he deserves more because he did help Jesus' cause quite alot.
I find the symbolism of the dove as the holy spirit. A dove is harmless but we attribute to it a mysticism, an intelligence of sorts. We see it as peace and good intentions, but with a certain amount of power. It is white and therefore associated with being clean and pure. But the dove also has a feminine quality to it, which surprises me in Catholic/Christian religion where it is governed by predominantely male figures and women are reduced in power, the few real important roles held by them are: the prostitute (Mary Magdalene) which can be the evil of women but also the ability to gain redemption and be cleaned by God's power and the mother (The Virgin Mary) where she is deprived of sex (Jesus is conceived without sexual relations) and her role is to care for house, husband, and son. I am of course not a psychologist by any means but I would love to consult with a psychologist the gender roles and significance of women in the bible.
miércoles, 19 de diciembre de 2007
Matthew, Chapters 23-28
I found it striking that Jesus would refer with respet to the figure of Moses (Chapter 23, verse 2). First of he was clashing with the traditional Jewish structure and preaching something entirely different to Judaism. However, I realized upon reflecting, that a smart man like Jesus would understand the respect his followers would have for this figure as they were in turn Jews. Not only that but Jesus had been raised Jewish himself and knew the effect he would have on his crowd of converts.
Another exampleof Jesus being very smart (politically in speech giving at least) he in verses 3-6 of chapter 23 calls on the social inequalityof their society and how the rich and powerful exploit them and with this, he gains the support of the poor and unhappy majority. In seeing this thousands of historical examples flooded me, like the French Revolution in which the poor, tired of the oppresive and decadent monarchs who used the national bank as spendign money and held banquets while their people starved. The beginning of Soviet Russia was also made possible by the tired poor taking arms against the tzars, and this appeal to the common people also made possible the election fo Salvador Allende in Chile, which sadly lead to Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
Another exampleof Jesus being very smart (politically in speech giving at least) he in verses 3-6 of chapter 23 calls on the social inequalityof their society and how the rich and powerful exploit them and with this, he gains the support of the poor and unhappy majority. In seeing this thousands of historical examples flooded me, like the French Revolution in which the poor, tired of the oppresive and decadent monarchs who used the national bank as spendign money and held banquets while their people starved. The beginning of Soviet Russia was also made possible by the tired poor taking arms against the tzars, and this appeal to the common people also made possible the election fo Salvador Allende in Chile, which sadly lead to Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
Matthew, Chapters 13-22
I immediately picked up on the fisherman theme that is so commented in the New Testament, as the sea is mentioned in the first verse. Many of his disciples were fishermen, and Jesus was called "A fisher of men" and the fish is a christian symbol. However I wonder whether this was intendend or if his disciples added their own view to it.
If we take away the godly and divine aspect of Jesus, you still see a great man, a very wise man. He was ahead of his time, preaching love and forgiveness. And he spoke in parables, which remind me of so many great texts and thinkers before. Gilgamesh, Greek Myths, the Analects and the latest and most complex the Tao whose metaphors required reading of each chapter to be done twice or thrice. Jesus is easier to read in that way because he preached to a simple people and therefore his metaphors are simple too. It was also sophisticated selection method, like clubs picking better patrons and preschool better applicants, because it made sense to the smarter, the more aware, the ones that were "best" to have in following and these in turn could explain to those who weren't as worldly.
If we take away the godly and divine aspect of Jesus, you still see a great man, a very wise man. He was ahead of his time, preaching love and forgiveness. And he spoke in parables, which remind me of so many great texts and thinkers before. Gilgamesh, Greek Myths, the Analects and the latest and most complex the Tao whose metaphors required reading of each chapter to be done twice or thrice. Jesus is easier to read in that way because he preached to a simple people and therefore his metaphors are simple too. It was also sophisticated selection method, like clubs picking better patrons and preschool better applicants, because it made sense to the smarter, the more aware, the ones that were "best" to have in following and these in turn could explain to those who weren't as worldly.
Matthew, Chapters 1-12
Like all of us, I was reluctant to start bible reading again. And sadly, my fears came true. The first chapter of Matthew is eerily similar to an earlier Genesis chapter, and in both of these, all that happened was a long and boring tale of genealogy, which have the same format: "Person 1 begat Person 2 and Person 2 begat Person 3" and so on so forth. The bible sadly is fond of repeating itself. But, it does pick up when it begins to tell the veyr familiar nativity story, which struck me as we are so close to Christmas.
Today people easily raised the children of others, as stepchildren or adopted children, because the social taboo has lessened, but men are still as intolerant of their woman being pregnant by another, because this still makes them feel less of a man, and less worthy as she has (most likely) cheated on him. And yet today, and in the past, women can forgive infidelity and even accept his children by other women. For example in the Colombian coast, the wives often know the mistresses and the children know each other. And they still have the ancient ranking system of the wife being first and most important to her husband and so on, which makes me think that polygamy is not an archaic and barbaric institution, but a normal process for humans, if the right atmoshpere is provided.
Today people easily raised the children of others, as stepchildren or adopted children, because the social taboo has lessened, but men are still as intolerant of their woman being pregnant by another, because this still makes them feel less of a man, and less worthy as she has (most likely) cheated on him. And yet today, and in the past, women can forgive infidelity and even accept his children by other women. For example in the Colombian coast, the wives often know the mistresses and the children know each other. And they still have the ancient ranking system of the wife being first and most important to her husband and so on, which makes me think that polygamy is not an archaic and barbaric institution, but a normal process for humans, if the right atmoshpere is provided.
martes, 11 de diciembre de 2007
Tao Te Ching, 44-66
Chapter 44 struck me as being to conformist in its attitude, because it talks of being contented and moderation and staying "forever safe", but it sounds so dull and unambitious that I wonder the worth in this lesson which feels like a less than stellar repeat of all the previous things said by the Tao.
Chapter 46 enhances the Tao's antiwar attitudes but I am again struck by the anti individualism of the tao, in that chapter (46) its says:
No greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself.
However I will admit that I am most likely culturally biased, because my culture is huge on individuality, and the enviroment I've been raised in promotes ambition, which immediately clashed with the Tao's simplistic ideas. Another little culture clash when reading the Tao is the idea of wu-wei, not the actual idea but the fact that it means not doing, because my culture never seems to stop moving, which can be often seen in class, where people are always moving some part of their body. The idea of wu-wei, therefore, is hard to assimilate because stillness is not thought of as a real action or non-action.
Chapter 46 enhances the Tao's antiwar attitudes but I am again struck by the anti individualism of the tao, in that chapter (46) its says:
No greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself.
However I will admit that I am most likely culturally biased, because my culture is huge on individuality, and the enviroment I've been raised in promotes ambition, which immediately clashed with the Tao's simplistic ideas. Another little culture clash when reading the Tao is the idea of wu-wei, not the actual idea but the fact that it means not doing, because my culture never seems to stop moving, which can be often seen in class, where people are always moving some part of their body. The idea of wu-wei, therefore, is hard to assimilate because stillness is not thought of as a real action or non-action.
Tao Te Ching, 29-43
The beginning of 29 sent me immediately back to Ishmael. The line:
Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it?
Made me think of taker culture, where everything must be conquered and made btter, made into taker things, so we may live in comfort. 29 talks baout how the universe is out of our control and the way life is inconsistent, as he says:
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily.
Chapter 30 comes back to the Tao ideal of moderation, which is a recurring theme in the Tao, because it is one of the ways of the sage and essential to the Tao's working structure.
Chapter 31 I thought was very interesting because it has the ideals of peace and disgust towards war and weapons, because they mean death. I was struck by this especially as people are still attempting to reach that peace today, making the chapter completely relevant and valid in today's world.
Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it?
Made me think of taker culture, where everything must be conquered and made btter, made into taker things, so we may live in comfort. 29 talks baout how the universe is out of our control and the way life is inconsistent, as he says:
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily.
Chapter 30 comes back to the Tao ideal of moderation, which is a recurring theme in the Tao, because it is one of the ways of the sage and essential to the Tao's working structure.
Chapter 31 I thought was very interesting because it has the ideals of peace and disgust towards war and weapons, because they mean death. I was struck by this especially as people are still attempting to reach that peace today, making the chapter completely relevant and valid in today's world.
martes, 4 de diciembre de 2007
Tao Te Ching, 13-28
Chapter Thirteen has alot of wu-wei because it talks about accepting tragedy easily and without a fight, because in this way one is more compliant with the Tao.
Chapter fourteen talks about the "mystery" I believe and again that the Tao as the beginning truly has no beginning and therefore no end, so those who follow the Tao will themselves have no end. This makes me think about how fear of the death is a universal fear and how most religions are popular because they give hope about life after death, how there is a place people will go, life will not simply end.
The Tao also seems to draw and talk about the past alot, especially when talking of the beginning, which is reminiscent of the Analects where Confucius drew heavily on the past, which is exemplified by his talking of the Odes.
Chapter fourteen talks about the "mystery" I believe and again that the Tao as the beginning truly has no beginning and therefore no end, so those who follow the Tao will themselves have no end. This makes me think about how fear of the death is a universal fear and how most religions are popular because they give hope about life after death, how there is a place people will go, life will not simply end.
The Tao also seems to draw and talk about the past alot, especially when talking of the beginning, which is reminiscent of the Analects where Confucius drew heavily on the past, which is exemplified by his talking of the Odes.
Tao Te Ching, 1-12
I like the Tao, as it is much more lyrical and metaphorical than the Annalects and other works we've read, as it is composed of poem-like chapters. But bad come with good, which in this case means that the Tao is more difficult to undertand and one must strive to find the true meaning.
I really enjoyed chapter one as it does its job spendidly, as it draws in the reader by talking about "the mystery" which seems to mean the story or meaning of all things.
In chapter two, the Tao breaches what I consider to be a very modern idea, which is that with the absence of evil there cannot be good. In other words opposites are necessary.
I believe the "unfathomable source of the ten thousand things" is a reference to the mystery, but I had a hard time with chapter four, because the meaning escapes me.
I like the idea presented in chapter seven that that which is nto born cannot die, which menas that which has no beginning, has no end. This idea also struck me as modern, which really made me think about me notions of the past.
I really enjoyed chapter one as it does its job spendidly, as it draws in the reader by talking about "the mystery" which seems to mean the story or meaning of all things.
In chapter two, the Tao breaches what I consider to be a very modern idea, which is that with the absence of evil there cannot be good. In other words opposites are necessary.
I believe the "unfathomable source of the ten thousand things" is a reference to the mystery, but I had a hard time with chapter four, because the meaning escapes me.
I like the idea presented in chapter seven that that which is nto born cannot die, which menas that which has no beginning, has no end. This idea also struck me as modern, which really made me think about me notions of the past.
lunes, 3 de diciembre de 2007
Go
I really liked Go. The tutorial was well explained and I could always aske my classmates for help. Howver I am not (yet!) a good player and probably don't have a whole lot of natural skill, but that can be overcome with practice.
I also like the fact that the game seems timeless, as I enjoyed the game, and realize that it is hundreds of years old and hundreds of people have enjoyed it before me.
I also like the fact that the game seems timeless, as I enjoyed the game, and realize that it is hundreds of years old and hundreds of people have enjoyed it before me.
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