Great Friends and the End of Luke

Ok so, I finally finished Luke and although I know that almost everyone knows about the crucifixion I decided to write about it.

In the gospel, Jesus, is accused for saying that he is Christ a King and is taken to Pilate, so that he judges him. Pilate doesn’t find any reason to kill him, but the people start manipulating him by screaming and asking for Jesus’ death. Then, Jesus is not only humiliated, but in the cross they mocked him by writing in the cross THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. I thought this was very cruel since they are not only pleased with the fact that they are going to kill him, but as well want to embarrass and make fun of him. Then, Jesus says his final words.

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” ( 23:46)

These final words meant a lot to me since here Jesus is seen so loyal to his father and it is interesting how the Holy Ghost is mentioned. What I understand from this is that your soul goes to heaven and your body stays in earth. I think that Jesus here seems like a God and not like a human.

Mmm so, changing the topic,

You know how people are always saying that you should keep your friends close and you enemies closer, well Jesus certainly did this. I mean if he was so powerful and wise why did he make Judas one of his disciples? If he was the son of God he obviously knew that Judas was not loyal, but although he knew he didn’t do anything about it. He just waited for him to betray him. Judas was such a hypocrite that he gave Jesus for money and at the end when he kissed him he announced that they could go ahead and kill Jesus,

“And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” (22:47-22:48)

The kiss was a signal of betrayal.

Another example of a great friend is Peter. Peter denies the Lord three times and then regrets this,
“And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.” (22:61-22:62)

I understand the fact that Peter did this in order to save himself, but here he just proved that he is a bad friend. If he truly loved Jesus and believed in him he wouldn’t have denied him.

Oh well, Jesus had great friends.

He was Lost, and was Found

The Gospel of Luke has a lot of teachings in it which Jesus taught his followers. One of these stories is the one about the father who divides his goods and gives them to both of his cons. He younger son takes a journey in which he spends all of the money. In effect, he is forced to return home and very embarrassed goes and asks his father to forgive him and to offer him a job as a servant. Instead, his father receives him and says,

“…Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” (15:22-15:24)

According to me this is kind of ironic since this son has sinned and his father instead of making him a servant, forgives him, and is happy because he returned home.

After this, the eldest brother gets kind of jealous since he has worked hard to help his father and he doesn’t receive this kind of rewards for his efforts. He goes to complain with his father, but this one just tells him,

“It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” (15:32)

Yeah, I know it seems quite of unfair, I mean, how can the father reward his son after what he did? If I was the eldest son I would obviously be mad and disappointed, but I guess the father has the right of being happy since his son returned home.

As all the stories in the Bible, this story has a teaching. I have always heard this story in the mass, but I had never actually understood it until now. According to me, the father can be interpreted a God and we are the sons. God has given to us everything and if we decide to sin and ask for forgiveness he will forgive us and will be happy to have us back since his love is unconditional.

FORGIVENESS and other MIRACLES

Now, I´m continuing reading the Gospel of Luke and although I want to sleep I am making a huge effort to keep on reading.
As I said in my last blog post, Jesus is starting to cure people with diseases and is becoming famous for making miracles. In one occasion a centurion´s servant went to ask Jesus for help.

“Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.” (7:6)

When I read this quotation I couldn’t stop thinking about every mass and how each Sunday they keep repeating this. I have never actually understood it, so I decided to read it a couple of times to find its meaning. After trying to analyze it I came up with an interpretation. In those times the Jews were enemies of the Romans, and the Centurion was obviously considered an enemy of Jesus, but Jesus instead of denying his help, agrees to go and cure him. This is extremely contradictory due to the fact that he is curing an enemy, but it teaches everyone and serves as an example of forgiveness and how they are all sons of God and should love each other. The Centurion says that he is no one to ask for his help, but still Jesus decides to help him since he is nobody to judge his actions.

I really like this part since Jesus shows kindness and love and forgiveness. This taught me that in the eyes of the Lord we are all equal so we should treat everyone good. Many times in life we treat people badly and refuse to help them due to their believes or features, and God just wants to teach as that nobody is superior or has the right to treat others badly. In the end we will all die and our actions will be nothing, but the wind. We will ALL die, so what makes you so superior?

Then, we see another act of forgiveness when Jesus forgives a woman who had committed adultery.

“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.” (7:47)

I remember seeing this part in a movie. This woman is Mary Magdalene, who had committed a huge sin, but Jesus instead of punishing her, forgives her. This shows how everyone should be forgiven instead of being punished (this goes to my Mom).

Then, after lots of miracles, Jesus starts spreading his parables and teachings, and the disciples divide to spread God´s will everywhere. Ok, so, I understand that the apostles admired Jesus, but they were practically his servants. Well, if I were them I would think the Lord was a little unfair since how come Jesus has these special powers while nobody else does? Oh well, life sucks.

Well, I haven’t found anything more interesting in these chapters, but I am really liking how Luke makes things so brief and simple. I really like Jesus´ behavior since it shows goodness and compassion. If more people in the world acted with kindness and didn’t have resentment everything would be better, but life is not like this and people have become selfish and egocentric.

Right now, I need a Jesus. If he was so powerful, can´t he just come and help all the misfortunate? If God is able to perform such miracles, why doesn’t he help the world and all the people who suffer every day?

The Gospel of Luke: FINALLY JESUS!

Yey! I’m ecstatic because I am reading the Bible again. (Please note the sarcasm)

Ok, so, as I said previously I am returning to blogging about the Bible, but this time it’s about the New Testament. I am really not enthusiastic about the idea, but let’s be positive and hopefully things turn out to be better this time.

Now, I am beginning to read Luke´s Gospel and as weird as it may sound I am actually enjoying it. Luke starts by telling the story of how Zacharias ´wife, Elizabeth, conceives a child (John). According to the Bible, Angel Gabriel, appeared in the presence of Zacharias and told him that his barren wife was going to have a child. This seems pretty normal, but it isn’t, due to the SIMPLE fact that Elizabeth is an old barren woman. Yes, because they were living in a happy world were this kind of miracles occurred and were menopause didn’t exist. Also, if Zacharias was a priest, how come he was married? Well, at least nowadays the Catholic Church prohibits this.

Then, we finally get to the story of Jesus. In the sixth day Angel Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth´s sister, Virgin Mary, and told her that she was going to conceive a child from the Lord, and that she shall named him Jesus. After this, Mary becomes pregnant and accompanied by her husband, Joseph, they go to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem she gives birth to Jesus.

I like how Luke makes everything seem simple. For example, throughout all of our lives we have heard the same B-O-R-I-N-G story of how Jesus was born. We have not just had to hear this story over and over again, but as well, we´ve had to see people acting it every Christmas (or at least in my case). I come from a very hot city located in the coast of Colombia, so every time I go there for winter break I have to tolerate those long ´novenas´ in the middle of the hot burning sun and those stupid mosquitoes biting all of my legs, while listening to the same old story.
Thanks God, instead of explaining every detail of the birth of Jesus, Luke only says,

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (2:6-2:7)

Also, think about it, isn’t it strange to have the son of the Lord while being married to another man? I personally think the idea of being Joseph and having to see his wife have a child, which isn’t his, is terrible. I just see the fact of the Lord doing this, as sexual abuse and adultery. In the Old Testament we see how one of the Ten Commandments is,

“You shall not commit adultery.” (Seventh commandment)

Isn’t kind of contradictory how God states this as a rule, but he doesn’t follow it? I understand the concept of him being superior, but that doesn’t give him the right to go and leave Mary pregnant. In fact, he didn’t even ask for Mary´s permission or approval, he just sent his Angel to give her the news. Ok, maybe Mary and Joseph were extremely devoted to God, but to me this is just too extreme to be justified.

After all this is told, we now get to the part when Luke mentions how Jesus grows, not only in years, but in knowledge and wisdom. Jesus gets interested in the Lord and is learning about him,

“How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (2:50)

It is told that Jesus, as a small kid, had knowledge and was mature, but I really don’t see this as something possible. I am a girl, and it is said that we mature faster than boys, and it is somehow true. I am fifteen and boys my age are not still mature so I really can’t understand how Jesus was born so intelligent and talks about this topics when he is like 7. OH WELL, maybe this stuff did occur at this period of time.

Another thing that caught my attention is how they talk about virginity. For example, there is one part where Luke talks about a prophetess and mentions her virginity.

“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;” (2:27)

Practically, what I got from this quotation is that Anna lost her virginity when she got married. I thought this was interesting since I’ve always heard my grandmother and mom tell me that they were virgins when they got married, but to me this just seems as a bunch of bull. I mean, maybe at those time women couldn’t have sexual relationships before being married, but in modern days this has changed. So, basically if the Bible doesn’t promote sex before marriage, is this considered a sin?

Then, in Chapter Three, John starts baptizing people and when Jesus is baptized, the Lord appears to him and says,

“Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” (3:22)

UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! I am really mad at God. How is that he has the right to do whatever he wants and everyone seems to be ok with it? I mean, his sudden appearance to his son is portrayed as something very natural, but if I was Jesus I would be really mad with my Dad for not having appeared before.

After this, coincidentally Satan appears and Jesus is tempted by him. Satan offers Jesus all his power and glory, but Jesus refuses and tells him,

“Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (4:8)

I really liked this part since it shows loyalty. Jesus is extremely loyal to his father since his love for him is stronger than all the power in the world. I admire Jesus since he is not ambitious and demonstrates strength.

What follows next is just how Jesus started curing diseases, forgiving sins, and spreading the word of the Lord. One of the things he said that I really liked is,

“Give, and it shall be given unto you;” (6:28)

This is absolutely true since who gives and spreads happiness will receive happiness, but if you decide to give sadness you will receive sadness back.

So far, I am loving Luke, and although I don’t know who this man really is, he seems pretty intelligent. It is weird to read something written about someone unknown, but it is much better since it makes everything more mysterious and we don’t know about how biased and true the information is.

tao ending

tao 29-47

tao 13-28

Opposites Attract

Ladies and Gentleman, the Tao.

Today I started reading the Tao Te Ching and there is just one word that can describe it: CONFUSING. I have read the first chapters over and over again and as hard as I try to understand it, nothing seems to make sense. The Tao starts by saying,

“The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name” (Chapter 1)

WTF? I really didn’t understand this. The only interpretation that I found for this is that if the Tao´s teachings are spread, the Tao will remain eternal and people will learn from it.

Since I didn’t get the first chapter I decided to read the next ones and found many interesting things. Some of these cool teachings were:

“When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other” (Chapter 2)

This aphorism really caught my attention since it shows how everything in life has a balance and things complement each other. Everything known to us has an opposite which creates a balance in society. For example: black and white, good and evil, difficult and easy, high and low, tall and short, front and back, etc. This makes total sense since everything and everyone is different so as the Tao says, when we know beauty and we find other stuff which doesn’t fit into the beauty description, then, ugliness has to appear. I find very good how everything complements each other, but somehow this believe has been a little mistaken by the community. Why do we have to have such extremes as right or left? I mean, who can really judge if something is beautiful or ugly? Why is society always giving such stereotypes and since when beauty is perfection? How can we know what is good and what is evil? We are all humans and we have been brainwashed and shaped to have certain ideals when nobody actually knows how things should work.

“Bearing it, rearing it
Bearing without possession
Achieving without arrogance
Raising without domination
This is called the Mystic Virtue” (Chapter 10)

Ok, so basically what the Tao is saying here is the key to success and happiness. I really liked this part of chapter 10 since taking the path of goodness and being able of controlling your action is really hard. It is absolutely true that when you achieve you shouldn’t be arrogant. I could relate this part with many daily experiences. In many occasions when someone wins they start bragging about it, and this is really rude and may cause other people to become upset. Instead of being arrogant, one should be humble and by being like this you will win the respect and appreciation of others. The same happens with rising without domination. You may rise and get a better position, but you should always remember where you came from and shouldn’t take domination over people with lower positions. The Mystic virtue is mainly saying that we should always find a good balance and act with goodness. We may get better and gain more power, but that doesn’t mean we are superior and can treat others unequally.

“Therefore the sages care for the stomach and not the eyes
That is why they discard the other and take this” (Chapter 12)

At first, I really didn’t get the meaning of this aphorism, but after trying to analyze it I came up with an interpretation. So, I think that what the Tao is saying here is that you should act by following your feelings and not what you see. So, what does this mean? Basically, while reading this I couldn’t stop thinking about Mulan. In the movie, Mulan is always saying that one should follow what your heart tells you and not what your brain or logic wants you to do. This teaching also remembered me about one of my close friends who always repeats this phrase,
“If you feel like doing it, do it. If you want it, go get it.”
This is absolutely true since you should always try to follow your instincts and feelings, since if you don’t feel like doing something nobody, but yourself, can force you to do it.

Now, that I have read some of the Tao I am starting to like it and I’m enjoying reading it. I love how the teachings are so deep, make total sense, and can be applied into reality. Until now, I can say that this is much better than the Analects of Confucius.

BLA BLA BLA BE VIRTUOUS BLA BLA BLA

The Analects are getting really boring right now since Confucius keeps talking about the same things and repeating himself. Seriously, what’s wrong with him? Maybe getting old is affecting his memory and forces him to say the same stuff over and over again. I can’t even mention the millions of times that I have seen the word virtue in the teachings. Still, there have been some points that I have liked. Some of these are:

“The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were-extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings.” (7:21)

Ok, so why is this interesting? I just love the fact of how in the Analects there is not a spiritual being, such as God, but there is just this normal old man who has his teachings to offer. Actually, I had never seen this in other religions and I like how everything written by Confucius is so realistic and related to how society really is. For example, in the Bible we can find this unrealistic-fictional things (such as Moses opening the sea and Noah´s ark), while here the teachings are based on how life really is.

“The Master said, "When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them." (7:22)

When I saw this aphorism, the first thing that came to my mind was peer pressure. I can relate a lot to this since a lot of my friends have great characteristics and I learn from them, but as well, they have bad qualities. This is the case with one of my best friends. She is so cool and makes me laugh a lot, but sometimes she can be so mean with everyone else. So, basically, according to Confucius, you may learn from others by applying their good qualities and avoiding their bad ones. This also reminded me of that weird bumper sticker that says:

"You cry, I cry, you laugh, I laugh, you fall off a cliff, I laugh even harder."

Well, this bumper sticker reflects how if your friend decides to do something bad, you have to take the good path and avoid the bad qualities of your friend.

These were the maxims that I mostly found amusing. I am really enjoying how the book has so many political and leadership information and I hope that Confucius stops repeating himself and makes the lecture more entertaining.

Confucius and Confusion

When I first started reading the Analects I really didn’t understand anything. It is so complicated reading something so confusing. I still don’t even know who the characters are, but I have managed to interpret some teachings. Confucius is basically this weird man who just decided to write the analects to show his perfect idea of a society. His perfect idea of how everything should work was basically based in respecting elders and your family:

"The Master said, "A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies." (1:6)

He also based his teachings on dignity, trustworthiness, respect for others, virtue, and traditions. In these books I have found many interesting aphorisms that make me question myself about the way I should live.

As I said before, virtue is one of the most important values that the Master writes about. According to Confucius being virtuous can be described by some characteristics.

As stated by the Master,

“The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.” (4:5)

I totally agree with this since its true that we always look for virtue when we need it, but when we are happy we don’t think it is a necessity. Think about virtue as God. Sometimes, when we are perfectly fine, we forget absolutely about God, but when a tragedy occurs we immediately remember him and pray for help. This is just how humans function. We are so unaware of everything until something drastic occurs, and then, just then when we are desperate, we decide to act. Remember Haiti? The people there has always been suffering from hunger and poverty, and nobody helped. Then, suddenly the earthquake came and destroyed everything, and in effect people started helping. I don’t think that we do this kind of things intentionally; it’s just that most of our mechanisms are procrastinator programmed. So, basically what Confucius meant by saying this is that you have to be virtuous ALWAYS.

Some other maxims that caught my attention were:

“The Master said, “Riches and honors are what men desire. If they cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If they cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided.” (4:5)

Basically, here the Master is saying that if you can’t obtain what you desire using the right means, then, don’t do it since acting good is always the right path to follow. When I read this I couldn’t stop thinking about a debate we had in school in which we argued about the end justifying the means. According to Confucius, if the actions used to accomplish the end are good, you are successful, but if not, you are just wrong.

The Master said, “It is all over. I have not yet seen one who could perceive his faults, and inwardly accuse himself.” (5:27)

This quotation is so realistic since it’s absolutely true that most of the time we have so much pride and such a big ego that we refuse to accept our mistakes and not blame everything on others.

“The Master said, "They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it." (6:20)

At first, I couldn’t get the message out of this, but I decided to put it since it sounds really deep. After thinking I could interpret this by saying that there are people who know the truth, others that love it, but the ones who actually say it are the ones who live in harmony. This made me realize many things since sometimes we just keep the truth and lie because of being afraid, but when you are free of lies your live immediately becomes better.

Until now, these are the points and lessons that have mainly grabbed my attention. I really like the way that everything is so inspiring and has a political context, although I really don’t admire Confucius since he is so arrogant.

The Master said, “In a hamlet of ten families, there may be found one honorable and sincere as I am, but not so fond of learning.” (5:28)

Like really, WTF? Confucius seemed like this nice man who had this great lessons and now he is saying that it is very hard to find a man as good as him. I mean maybe it’s true, but it’s an irrelevant point. Mr. Confucius has serious high self esteem/ego issues. No offense.

CREATIONISM VS. EVOLUTION

“Inherit the Wind” is a movie which shows the controversy between theology and science. In the film, the characters are debating about creationism and Darwin´s theory of evolution in order to know what is right. While watching the movie there were certain questions I asked myself. Some of these questions were:

ROUND 1:

•How should everyone live?
This question came up to my mind several times since really, should we follow the Bible or should we have the right to choose freely how we desire to live? I believe in many things the Bible says and I try to apply several of its teachings into my daily life, but I also believe in many scientific findings that make everything more coherent. I like how in the Bible nothing has to make sense, while in society we are always looking for explanations to justify everything. I think that everyone should decide how to live according to his believes, and not necessarily following some religious believes or a scientific theory. Cant there just be a balance? In this round I would have to say that the teacher is absolutely right since expressing yourself is not a sin, it’s a right.

ROUND 2:

•Which of the two ideas have best valid explanations and arguments?
Well, at the beginning I personally thought I was going to be biased to defend the Bible, since I’m a Catholic, but now after seeing the movie I realized a lot of things. Darwin’s theory states that complex creatures, like us, evolved from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time (for example: we evolved from apes), while the Bible says:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1, 1:2)

According to Genesis, God created the earth and everything that exists in it in six days, but there is not actual prove about this, while Darwin´s theory DOES. In the theory of evolution its is explained clearly how the first living organisms appeared in earth, but in the Bible we don’t even know how God appeared and decided to be the ruler. In the debate there was a very interesting point in which they attacked the defendants of creationism by asking how Jonah got swallowed by a whale. I thought this point was really interesting since they used a lot of rhetoric by pointing out the unrealistic/fictional stuff written in the Bible. In effect, I´d say that the theory of evolution wins the second round.

THIRD ROUND- CONCLUSION:
I actually agree with everyone having freedom of speech and expression since if we all believed in the same things life would be absolutely boring. In this movie I am kind of against of the Catholic Church since how come they accuse this teacher for teaching about Darwin´s ideas. I mean, if you don’t believe in the Bible and God it’s your problem and no one should have the right to judge or criticize you. I think it’s very interesting how from everyone we can learn different ideas and we don’t specifically have to follow an institution, a belief, or even a book. In the film I agree with the teacher´s perspective since teaching about science is not a crime, and I really liked how the teacher refuses to admit he is wrong and says,
“I will continue to oppose this law in every way that I can”

I really enjoyed watching this movie and I recommend it to everyone who is interested in this kind of topics or in learning about rhetoric. Although the movie was good, I thought it was kind of biased since the director tried to defend his point by showing the leaders and defendants of the Church as bad and crazy manipulators who brain-washed the people .

Watch it now in YouTube!

Is the Joy of Life worth the Pain?

In this book Satan finally appears and challenges God. The Lord couldn’t resist the contest so he agreed to prove goodness in Job by destroying everything the man had. Still, Job refused to curse God and kept praying and worshipping him.
As stated in the narrative,

“And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (The Book of Job 1:21)

If there is one thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as absolute good and pure evil.

First of all I would like to express my hate towards Job. I really don’t like him at all. In Exodus I enjoyed reading about Moses, but I didn’t enjoy The Book of Job. Like really what´s wrong with Job? How can he be so thankful with God after all he did to him? He destroyed everything he had and even killed his sons and still Job refuses to curse him or lose his faith. Is Job a human or is he like this strange alien without feelings? If God took all I have away because of a stupid game with Satan, “his best friend”, I think that I would probably lose all my faith in the Lord. So, why am I referring to Satan as Gods bff? Well, before reading this I thought they hated each other since one reflects goodness and the other one evil, but they seem to get along really well and talk in a very civilized way. Also, we can see how God has so much pride and it is so easy to manipulate him that he can’t refuse to accept Satan´s test.

Satan said,

“But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.” (The Book of Job 1:11 and 1:12)


Before, I had this great image of God, I thought he was so powerful and superior to Satan, but after this I just see him as someone who does not stand up for himself and his people, and who prefers to win a stupid game and prove he is better than his enemy than to care for his loyal follower (Job). I’m just seriously starting to feel like a toy or a puppet that the Lord can move around whenever he desires. If he brought all this suffering to his “best follower”, Job, what disasters would he sent to the normal people? Still, although I don’t like Job that much I admire him for keeping all the anger inside and resisting the temptation to curse his God. Ok, so now I’m feeling really bad since I’m a Catholic and shouldn’t be saying these things. In fact, I am very devoted to my religion and truly believe in the Lord, but when analyzing the Bible I just feel the desire to express myself. Now, I feel so guilty for judging God and my religious beliefs.


Oh great! Now I’ll have to go to the church and confess all my sins.

The Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
When I saw this law the first thing that came to my mind was when Moses went to show the commandments to the Israelites and saw them worshipping a gold bull as if that was their God. I thought this was very disrespectful to the Lord since after God did all those efforts to save them they pay him by believing in another God. This commandment made me ask myself these questions:
Is being an atheist a sin?
Is being part of another religion and worshipping another God a sin?

2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or 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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.As well as the first commandment this commandment made me think about the golden bull. I think that worshipping the statue was a sin, but it is kind of justified since the people had never actually seen the God so they didn’t know how he looked like. Nowadays we can see Buddha statues and the statues are not seen as bad. Does the Lord disagree with this?

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.This commandment remembers me of how we have all said in a point of our lives “I swear for God” so that people believe us. The problem is that many times we don’t say the truth and that is when we use the name of God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
I really don’t understand this commandment and I don’t follow it so I decided to skip it.


5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.Ok, so this is the commandment which I mostly don’t follow. I mean, God is stating that we should respect our parents, but in my case this is extremely hard. Parents are always punishing you and many times overprotect you which lead to fighting with them. Why do we have to respect them if sometimes they don’t respect us back? If God created this commandment why didn’t he create one that said “Honor your son or daughter”?

6. You shall not murder.
I totally agree with this commandment, but I strongly believe that God is contradicting himself. After he has killed millions of people during the plagues, he is now prohibiting murder. I mean, why does God has to have this superiority in which it is justified that he murders, while if a normal person assassinates someone its considered a sin?

7. You shall not commit adultery.
I really didn’t know what to write about this commandment so I decided to procrastinate and turned on the T.V and guess what? Coincidentally in the news they were talking about a man who decided to castrate himself with a knife in order to stop himself from committing adultery. I thought this was of great importance and decided to write about it. It´s incredible how a set of rules and believes, or even some religious institutions such as the Catholic Church can have such a strong power in a person that may lead him/her to do this dangerous acts. The man is currently in the hospital and it is obvious that he has mental problems since you should have control over yourself without having to take this crazy-pathetic decisions.

8. You shall not steal.
I think this commandment is reasonable since stealing is really bad, but lets be realistic. Everyone steals, it’s a normal thing. If God considers this a sin why did he create greed and inequality amongst the people?

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.Ok so wtf? I just thought this commandment was very random.

10. "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Ok, I think that we as humans always want what we cant have so it is completely normal to want what your neighbor, friend, etc. haves.

These commandments were written based on the time they were at, but in modern days many of this commandments would have to be modified.

Exodus: A Series of Unrealistic Events

Ok, so now I finally got to Exodus. Exodus mainly tells the story of Moses and his loyalty to the Lord. The story starts when the Pharaoh feels threatened and orders that all Hebrew boys must be murdered. In effect, Moses’ mother decides to save him and puts him in a basket in the river. Then, Moses is found and kept by the Pharaoh´s daughter, but when he grows he sees how the Israelites are treated and strongly disagrees. Then, the Lord appears to Moses, in the form of a bush, and tells him to fight for his people.
As stated by the narrator,

“And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 3:7 and 3:8)

At first, Moses doesn’t understand what he has to do, but then God gives a long explanation and gives him the power to convert his rod to a snake. Finally, after millions of hours, Moses understands his duty and goes to the Pharaoh´s palace.

Ok, so first of all I have to say, what is wrong with Moses? He seems kind of a retard. How can he actually talk to a bush? As well, Moses is kind of a slow learner since God has to repeat himself various times so that he can get the whole point of the conversation.
I also found interesting how God hasn’t helped his people for hundreds of years and then he suddenly appears and decides to help. Moses confused asks him who he is, but he gives the lamest response I have ever heard,

“I AM THAT I AM” (Genesis 3:14)

What does this actually mean? Like really, who is God? I interpreted this as if God is just like a superior power that can’t be named nor described.

After all this, Moses goes to talk to the palace and the Pharaoh refuses to agree with him. What happens next is just BLA BLA BLA or in other words, the story we all know about the plagues and how heroic Moses opened the sea.
I think God is a little too violent since during the plagues many people died and suffered. I mean, he didn’t have to kill innocent people just because of the Pharaoh´s decision. The Lord is extremely harsh since by making everyone suffer he is actually doing the same thing the Pharaoh did with the Israelites. While reading this I couldn’t stop asking myself some questions. If God did this to teach a lesson to the world maybe he is doing the same thing to us in present days by sending us many catastrophes and tragedies. Also I couldn’t stop thinking about this documentary I saw some years ago in which scientists analyzed the plagues and how he opened the sea and found scientifically-reasonable explanations for them. I thought that the part when Moses opens the sea was very unrealistic so I decided to google it and found out that scientists agree that the wind set-down effect could have caused the Red Sea to part as described in the Bible.

After all this unbelievable events happen, the Israelites guided by Moses finally reach the Promised Land and are given the Ten Commandments. In my following blog you may read more about these commandments.

Genesis Chapters 17-24: More Freaks and Bipolarity

In this chapters of Genesis, Abram forms a covenant with God in which he agrees with circumcision. Every man is circumcised as ordered by the Lord. Then, young ninety year old Sarai (note the sarcasm) is finally fertile and conceives a child. Isaac. The child is circumcised and the treaty is formally established.

As stated by God,
“This [is] my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.” (Genesis 17:10)

Ok so, what is wrong with God? He always has these weird ideas. Couldn’t he just ask Abram for something else? Why would he want circumcision? It’s like if we were his toys and he has fun playing with us. I cannot understand why God wanted this, like really, what kind of FREAK would want to undergo this process? It has been said that this process begun as a religious sacrifice to ensure fertility and to affirm masculinity, but this leads me to my next point. How can you really ensure your masculinity by having a part of your penis cut? I think it’s just a little strange since a very important aspect that determines your sex is your reproductive system and by being cut a part of it cannot emphasize this.

Then, the story of Lot is told. Lot was tricked by his daughters, which got him drunk and had sex with him in order to preserve her father´s generations. As said in chapter 19,
“Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” (Genesis 19:32)



So, first of all, what the hell is wrong with these girls? How can they be so disgusting and stupid to have sexual relationships with their father in order to keep breeding? The fact of seeing this in the bible just disturbs me. Eeeewww! Lot´s daughters are so dumb since doing this with your dad it’s considered a sin and an act of adultery. This fits totally into sexual abuse since when having sex with a drunk person, the person is totally unaware of what is happening. These girls have clearly no respect for their father, their mother, and themselves. I hate the fact that during this time women were used to reproduce and their duty was to have kids in order for the family name to continue. Why were women treated in such an inferior way? Why are women considered always as the bad character of the story? In Adam and Eve, Eve was the bad one, and here, the daughters are the sinners since it wasn’t Lot´s intention. I thought this story was kind of disgusting, but at least the daughters had sons which continued the family tree.

After this story ends, another story is introduced, the story of Abraham and Isaac. So basically the story starts when the Lord orders Abraham to make him a sacrifice in the mountain. Loyal Abraham goes with his son, Isaac, to the mountain and when he gets there he realizes that there is nothing to sacrifice, so SURPRISE, he is ordered to sacrifice his son. When he is about to kill poor Isaac, God tell him to stop since he has already proven love to his Lord. Then, Abraham and Isaac return home, happy ending?



According to the story this ended completely normal and they both return home, but really how could Isaac forgive his father? Like really, if my Dad was going to murder me just because this weird voice told him to I would never forgive him. Where is the love? How could Isaac be capable of almost killing his own son? According to me, as a father you should love your son and give your live for him, but this showed me the opposite. Abraham is not a good father at all. Also I think that God is crazy. What kind of maniac which is considered wise and superior would order someone to kill his own son? Each time I read these things I get madder with the Lord since he is so inhuman and doesn’t care about anything. The society God wants is just confusing since he is always punishing everyone who sins, but he is always committing these inhuman acts. It is obvious that God is bipolar and has mood swings every second and that Abraham is a loser who lets God manipulate him and determine everything he does.

Genesis 10-16: Christian Threesome

In these chapters Noah´s generations spread and divide into many different nations. After many of this generations passed, Abram is finally born. Abram marries Sarai and they both go to the land God blessed for them. Unfortunately, Sarai is barren and she is unable to conceive a child which would cause the end of their generation. Due to this, Abram is “forced” to have sex with the maid, Hagar. Sarah did this because she wanted his husband to have a son that would be his heir. But I think that what was wrong with Sarah? How could she let her husband sleep with the maid? Yes, I understand that she wanted she wanted all the best for Abram, but she must´ve obviously felt anger at her husband sleeping with someone else. If God is almighty and the most powerful why couldn´t he have made Sarai fertile before she was ninety?

As stated by the narrator,

“And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong [be] upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.” (Genesis 16:5)

This proves that she was a bit jealous. Every woman wants to be a mother and even though she accepted the deal, after seeing the consequences she must have felt worse. So Sarai was jealous. The maid is practically forced into this because seriously who would want to be forced to sleep with this old guy out of nowhere to give him a child? Abraham must have felt ok with it since he agreed to do it, I mean, which man would not agree to have sex with a woman younger than him willing to?
I could relate this very much to modern society and the new use of surrogacy. Surrogacy is a method of reproduction whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant and deliver a child for another family due to women´s infertility. Using this procedure the embryo is inserted into another women´s body. I think this is extremely weird. I would totally disagree with the fact of another person conceiving my baby. I believe that being a mother is undergoing all the process of maternity, and this totally ruins the experience. I understand that many women are barren and they want a son with their genetic features, but can´t they just recur to adoption. This can be related to this story since Sarai had to force the maid to have a baby and later when she saw her pregnant felt jealous. According to many people each story of the Bible has a lesson, but this left me completely confused. I really can´t understand the fact that God permitted this to happen. If God was the creator of everything and he can do whatever he wants with his creation, why did he make Sarai sterile if he wanted the generations to continue?

Genesis Chapters 3-9: Why is God a Man and not a Woman??

Adam and Eve were now together and one day a serpent appeared and "forced" Eve to eat an apple of the tree of good and evil. Although Eve knew that God had prohibited them to eat of this tree, she couldn’t resist and decided to eat it. She offered some to her husband and they both ate and sinned. Then, they suddenly heard God coming and decided to his themselves. When Lord God saw them he said:

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life…” (Genesis 3:16)

When I read these verses I thought this was so unfair. God cursed the snake and punished Eve, but didn’t do “anything” to Adam. I understand that Eve gave him the fruit, but he was the one who decided to eat of it. I got really mad while reading since this is very male chauvinist. Why does God decide that men should rule women? This gets me really upset since this might be one of the big reasons of why women were always treated inferior and didn’t have the same rights as men. I totally hate the believe or stereotype of women depending on their husbands and just taking care of home issues and their children. Today, many people have this believe, but women are rebelling and being more independent. The Bible really annoys and confuses me since I as a Catholic had never actually analyzed the Bible, and this makes me question myself a lot about my own vision of religion. Also I am now starting to notice how God has many human characteristics (he talks, walks, gets angry, etc.)

After all this happened, Eve conceives Cain, and later she gives birth to Abel. Cain was very jealous of his brother since God preferred him.

As stated by the narrator,
“But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” (Genesis 4:5)



In effect, Cain ends up killing his brother and then, filled with regret, runs away and continues his generation. Adam and Eve also continue their generation by giving birth to Seth.

Now, I’m beginning to believe that God is extremely biased. Why did he prefer Abel? Couldn´t he just love them equally and save the jealousness between brothers? I really liked this part since I have a sister which is my same age. It is very common that at many occasions you feel jealous of her and think that she is better, but this is no reason to murder her. How can you kill your own sister? It would’ve all been better if God didn’t show preference for one of them.



As I said before, their generations continue after finally Lamech´s son, Noah, appears in the story. God, wanting to destroy evil, decides to send a flood and to kill everyone except Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, and a pair of animals of each species. He orders Noah to built an ark and to embark with his family and the animals. Noah follows his orders and they all survive the flood. I don’t understand God´s mood swings. He does not like evil, but by killing everyone with a flood isn’t he considered evil as well?

When the flood is over and he finally gets to a dry land the narrator states:

“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Genesis 9:1)

I found this verse very interesting since if they were the only humans alive they had to have sex with each other in order to reproduce. Don’t you think it’s like weird to have relationships with your family members? Well I think it’s VERY awkward. The only explanation I find to this is that these occurred in a totally different period of time. Another aspect that caught my attention was how these characters could live hundreds of years. I think their ages are kind of unrealistic, but maybe this stories were exaggerated by the persons who wrote them. Until now I have enjoyed reading The King James Bible and analyzing it since my perspective of the world is changing.

Genesis Chapters 1 & 2: The Creation

In Genesis chapters one and two we can see how God created the world in seven days. He divided light into day and night, divided the waters and created heaven, created the earth and the seas, the plants and the fruits, the sun, the moon, and the stars, the seasons, days and years, created the creatures (animals), and at last created man to domain the other species.
As said by the narrator:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

In this verse we can see how God created men in relation to his image so they could rule and domain all the other living creatures. I found this very interesting since the bible is pointing out that men are superior and they should govern the world. I as a Catholic don’t agree with this since if from the beginning men were brought and created for this purpose, it explains perfectly why in modern days we kill other species and destruct their habitats as if we were the owners of everything. While reading this I couldn’t stop thinking about Ishmael since in the book Daniel Quinn also tries to explain why we humans think we are the most important species. If from the beginning God assigned everything he created a role in the world, how could he actually expect us to respect each other and every other creature that surrounds us? I strongly believe in God, but this sounds kind of unjust. Why would God want to make men superior? In fact, we are all animals in a universe trying to survive.

Then, in chapter two in the seventh day God finally rested and admired his creation.
As the narrator says,

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:3)

I thought this part of the chapter was very intriguing since it says that God blessed the seventh day (Sunday) because it was the day his creation was done. Now I actually get why we have to go to church on Sundays and pray to him.

After this, chapter two describes how Lord God created men and the Garden of Eden. After creating all this, he decided that men needed company and shouldn’t be alone and out of one of Adam´s ribs he created women.

As stated by the narrator,

“And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23)

This was how women were created and although I find the relation between men and women very interesting I think that it is a little male chauvinist since it is extremely unfair that God created men first and similar to his image while he just took women out of men to serve as his accompany. I see this as an explanation of why we always imagine God as someone masculine and not a women.

The end of Metamorphosis

Baucis and Philemon were a happy married couple who lived in their humble home. One day Zeus and Hermes decide to test their goodness by going as two beggars to their home and asking them for a place to stay. When Baucis and Philemon see the two guests, they kindly receive them, offer them a place to sleep and feed them. Later that evening, the Gods showed their true identity and because of the goodness of the couple they decide to grant them a wish. Baucis and Philemon wish for them to die together and the wish becomes true and they both become trees.

“Baucis:
Having spent all our lives together, we ask that you allow us to die at the same moment.
Philemon:
I´d hate to see my wife´s grave, or have her weep at mine.
Narrator two:
The gods granted their wish. Arrived at a very old age together, the two stood at what had been their modest doorway and now was a grandiose facade.
Zeus:
And Baucis noticed her husband was beginning to put forth leaves, and he saw that she, too, was producing leaves and bark. They were turning into trees. They stood there, held each other, and called, before the bark closed over their mouths,” pg 82

I think this story taught me a lot of things specially that you have to treat everyone good because you never know if you´ll need that person´s help. I really liked the characters since they are very good and don’t judge by appearances. I almost cryed when reading the last part since it is amazing to see how Baucis and Philemon love each other so much that they choose to die together and remain close to each other forever. This is a perfect example of how strong love can be.

This story gave end to “Metamorphosis” and I personally loved reading the stories. It taught me so many things about love, death, family, greed, and other feelings. The characters made the stories very interesting since I realized how the Gods also had human characteristics and imperfections. The main lesson I took from reading this is that there is love everywhere and that it may be love for an object, a person, food, nature, religion, or other stuff, but it is still love.

Phaeton Burns the World

The story begins when Phaeton is talking to his therapist about what happened to him. Phaeton, as the son of the sun God, Apollo, starts narrating the story by telling us how everything occurred. He had always known that his dad was Apollo, but he had never actually talked to him. The only thing he knew was that he is the sun and that it had been like a one day stand sort of thing with his mother. One day in school a kid bullies him by asking him about his dad and when Phaeton tells him that his father is the sun, this kid beats the shit out of him. When he gets home he keeps crying and his mom supports him and tells him the harsh route in order to see his dad. Phaeton decides to go to look for him and begins the difficult journey. When he finally gets there he is welcomed by his dad´s servants and at last he meets his sire. Then, Apollo promises to grant his child a favor and Phaeton asks for the chariot so he can enlighten the world for a day. When the God hears this he totally regrets having promised him and is forced to give him the chariot knowing that this may be extremely dangerous. Then, he tells all the rules to Phaeton (who does not listen) and then he embarks to enliven the universe. Unfortunately it all turned out bad and everything ended up burned and destructed.

“Phaeton:
It was over before it began. It was chaos, okay? Out of control, as if no one was driving. You know, my knees were weak, I was blind from all the light. I set the earth on fire. And I fell. And it just destroyed me-you know, I was just completely and utterly destroyed. O-V-E-R. Over.” Pg 67

I thought that Phaeton fits the perfect stereotype of a spoiled kid since he asks his dad for this dangerous favor knowing that it may bring terrible consequences. Although he is spoiled, I totally understand him since it is very hard to grow without your dad´s presence and love. I had heard this story before and I have heard many theories about it. Some people have told me that this is how deserts were formed. This seems very reasonable since Phaeton burned the world. I actually liked this version more than Dryden´s version since in this one Mary Zimmerman uses a more modern language and entertaining tone so I can relate more to the story. I also liked the way she used the therapist since it makes the story more entertaining.

Love is not about Pretending

This story is about a beautiful nymph called Pomona. Pomona dedicated her life to take care of the trees and flowers and loved the fields and orchards. Pomona lived happily with nature and kept away from every suitor. However, the God of Springtime was completely in love with her and was determined to do anything to gain her love. Unfortunately, Pomona was too busy taking care of the plants and tree so she didn’t pay attention to him. In effect, Vertumnus decides to disguise himself with different costumes so that Pomona notices him.

“Narrator:
In the manner of the shyer gods he used to disguise himself, would put on the clothes of a farmhand, wear a straw hat and a working man´s shirt, and stick hay stalks behind his ears, to look like some storybook yokel.” Pg 49



“Narrator:
When that produced nothing, he thought he might hold in his hand a pruner, trying to look like a field hand who tends the grapes in their arbors. After the complete failure of that, he came with a ladder, to seem as though he were bound for some nearby orchard to gather apples. With wigs, costume, and makeup, he once tricked himself out as a soldier, romantically returned from foreign wars. Another time, he set himself up as an ordinary fisherman fishing in her path on the chance she might pass by. He waited from dawn to dusk, passing from boredom to terror and back again.” Pg 50

Vertumnus is determined to win Pomona, but she ignores him and does not seem impressed by his efforts. Finally he dresses up like an old lady and tells a story to Pomona.

I think that out of all the stories this one has been my favorite. I really enjoyed it since it has to do so much with love and how people act when they love someone. Vertumnus loved Pomona and despite her constant rejection he did not give up and continued struggling for her love. He did everything he could to gain her attention and played a bunch of different roles, but according to me this was completely useless. I think that if somebody loves you, he/she has to love you for who you are and not for whom you pretend to be. Vertumnus was so worried about getting Pomona´s attention that he totally forgot to show her who he really was. He was pretending to be everyone but him. I can totally relate to this since when you like someone you try to gain that person´s love and attention by acting as someone else. You start lying about what you like, how you feel, what you do, and everything that determines your identity. This may seem good at the beginning and sometimes you may actually obtain the person you desire, but in a long term basis this will result as an epic fail. Why? Because at the beginning you may trick yourself and your pair, but sooner or later he will find out who you really are and you will get tired of pretending.

"That's what real love amounts to- letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending- performing. You get to love your pretence. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act-” Jim Morrison

Bon Appétit

Erysichthon was a man who scorned the Gods and didn’t honor them. For him, nothing was sacred and he refused to make sacrifices in the altars of those in the Olympus. One day, Erisychthon decides to cut an old tree knowing that this tree was sacred to Ceres. Ignoring the importance of this, he chopped down the tree, but when goddess Ceres heard the cry of her tree she decided to punish him. Ceres, then, decides to send Oread so that he orders Hunger to make Erysichthon suffer and pay for his actions. In effect, Hunger follows orders and makes him suffer.

“Hunger crawled through the air to the house of the victim. As she flew overhead, fields withered and men starved. The birds scattered from her path, too weak to fly. It is night when she arrives at Erysichthon´s home and curdles through the halls until she finds him sleeping in his room. She wraps cadaverous arms around him in an embrace as strong as love, but quite the opposite of love. She breathes her spirit into his spirit. And he begins to dream.” Pg 36

From this moment on Erysichthon started to feel hungry. He couldn’t control his hunger and anxiety so he started eating, but nothing seemed to satisfy him and it was never enough. Each time he asked for more and more food until the food was over and he decided to sell his own mother in order to eat. After selling his mom, he continued eating until there was nothing left. Then, Ceres appears with a silver tray, a fork, and a knife andgives them ho Erysichthon. The man, unable to satisfy himself, and greedy for more, ends up placing his foot in the tray and starts eating himself. This is actually called self-cannibalism.

"Narrator:
There can only be one end to such a man.
[CERES comes toward ERYSICHTHON with a silver tray holding a plate, a large fork and knife, and a rosebud in a vase. She sets it down on the deck.]

Narrator:
He will destroy himself.
[ERYSICHTHON goes to the tray, takes off his shoe, places his own foot on the plate, and raises the knife and fork.]" pg 40

Ceres:
Bon appétit.

I really liked this story since I thought it was very interesting how a person can sell his own mother to satisfy his necessities. It was very surprising to see this since it is incredible how someone can be so selfish and I could relate this lot to modern society. In modern society it all has to do with surviving and survival of the fittest. Everyone seems to be always acting to accomplish and satisfy their desires without thinking on how their actions could affect others. I could also relate this story with the Buddhist and Hinduism believes of Karma.

Karma: The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.
Basically this principle means that your actions determine your destiny and what you give is what you will eventually receive (what goes around comes around).

In this story karma is reflected since Erysichthon by cutting the tree was punished by being always hungry and eating himself. Because of his bad actions, the future gave him what he deserved.

Alcyone and Ceyx: Love is Patient

Alcyone and Ceyx is a love story which ends up with a not so happy ending. Alcyone and her husband, Ceyx, lived happily together until one day Ceyx decided to go on a voyage through the sea. Ceyx leaves and Alcyone devastated gazes to the blue ocean as she sees her husband depart. She waits for Ceyx for days and months, she woke up every day with the hope and faith that her husband would returned, but he never did.

Unfortunately, Poseidon, the god of the seas, created a huge storm which destroyed Ceyx´s boat and ended up with his life. Meanwhile, Alcyone kept waiting for his return and prayed for him. In effect, Goddess Aphrodite appeared as Ceyx in one of Alcyone’s dreams and told her he was dead. The next morning, Alcyone went to the shore and found out that Ceyx had transformed into a bird and as she approached him she became a bird too and both flew away to the sky.

"Lucina:
For the dead body was changing, restored to life, and renewed as another seabird...." pg 32

I really enjoyed this part of the story since it can be understood as reincarnaton and as an afterlife. This part fits perfectly to the title, Metamorphosis, since by becoming seabirds we can see change and transformation.


I really liked this story, since I enjoyed seeing how the Gods also have characteristics and react to situations as humans. I thought it was really cool to see the transformation from humans to birds of Alcyone and Ceyx as a symbolism of freedom and in a way eternity since they are always going to be together. While reading this I thought a lot and its meaning. Love may be interpreted as loving a person so much that you are willing to spend your entire life waiting for a person to return or just taking the risk of waiting for a person you don´t even know that is alive. Love is giving the other person liberty and freedom in doing what he/her desires and supporting your partner in the decisions he takes. In this story we can see how Alcyone had the strength to wait for her husband to return and spend all her life having faith in someone who will maybe never return.

Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses are a series of stories compelled in a book which talk about the creation of the world and how men appeared on it. According to this, first there was chaos. The world was filled with mobocracy. Then, God created everything we know that exists (the ocean, mountains, rivers, animals, and others) and after this he created humans. Humans were created, created words, and so the story continues.






The stories in Metamorphoses are about ancient myths and mythological-fictional characters and their adventures. Throughout the story we can find many Greco-Roman Gods and read about their actions and adventures and how they as well have human characteristics.

Baghavad gita...... ACTION, INACTION AND KNOWLEDGE

In this teachings, Krishna talks to Arjuna about discipline of action. This teaching focuses on two major ideas which are action and inaction. Action is for example when someone hits you and you hit them back, while in inaction instead of hitting them you say something back. According to Lord Krishna action is better but when done with detachment, discipline, and sacrifice. If you do this the Gods will be pleased and you will be enriched.

“Perform necessary action;
it is more powerful than inaction;
without action you even fail
to sustain your own body."



Action imprisons the world
unless it is done as sacrifice;
freed from attachment, Arjuna,
perform action as sacrifice!” pg 44

Then, Krishna also talks about actions as a source of leadership.

“Whatever a leader does,
the ordinary people also do.
He sets the standard
for the world to follow.” Pg 46

I thought this was very interesting since it makes a lot of sense. If nobody takes action and does something, other people wouldn’t have anyone to follow as a leader and everything would collapse and nothing would function. This is what gives a certain stability to the rest of the community. Krishna then says that this is good but that the actions have to be taken with discipline and that you can not be ignorant when taking decisions.

After this, Lord Krishna also talks about knowledge and ignorance. Krishna tells him that knowledge is fundamental for everything and that it makes you better. According to her, men with knowledge have more wisdom since they are able to see reality and take good decisions based in all of their knowledge.

“Know it by humble submission,
by asking questions, and by service;
wise men who see reality
will give you knowledge.” Pg 56

Krishna also says that knowledge is everything and by gaining it you will have more peace and says that ignorant people will end up just lost.

“An ignorant man is lost, faithless,
and filled with self-doubt;
a soul that harbors doubt has no joy,
not in this world or the next.”I totally agree with this since i believe that being an ignorant person is one of the worst things you can be since you really don´t care or know about anything and without knowledge it is hard to live or to contribute something to society.

Finally, In teaching five Krishna gives a lesson about renunciation of actions and says something to Arjuna that I thought was very wise.

“Detached from external contacts,
he discovers joy in himself;
joined by discipline to the infinite spirit,
the self attains inexhaustible joy.

Delights from external objects
are wombs of suffering;
in their beginning is their end,
and no wise man delights in them. “pg 62

I really liked this part of the teaching since I think it is true that you should find happiness in yourself and your actions rather than in external objects since most external things end or get destroyed and nothing will be left, but if you have inner happiness those things can´t affect you.

The Second Teaching: Philosophy and Spiritual Discipline

In this second teaching we learn about a lot of topics. First of all, Krishna talks to Arjuna about reincarnation and death. Krishna tries to convince Arjuna to fight by telling him that killing someone is not a reason to feel guilty since life is a cycle and we all die and are born again.

“Death is certain for anyone born,
and birth is certain for the dead;
since the cycle is inevitable,
you have no cause to grieve!” pg 35

I found this very contradictory since in the first teaching Krishna tells Arjuna not to fight and in this second teaching he is telling him the opposite. It is really weird how someone can change its mind so quickly.

By talking about death and reincarnation, Krishna, gave me a completely new concept about life since according to him/her death is very natural and killing someone is not bad. She talks about death as if it was just a process to become another person through reincarnation.




“As a man discards
worn out clothes
to put on new
and different ones,
so the embodied self
discards
its worn-out bodies
to take on other new ones. “pg 35

I really liked this part of the teaching since Krishna compares death to the simple act of changing clothes and looking different. This is telling us that reincarnation is becoming a new self and that dying is nothing to be afraid of.

When I read this I couldn’t stop thinking about my religion. The Catholic church does not believe on reincarnation, but in resurrection so I really liked this other point of view shown I the book. It is completely different the way that all of us, human beings, look at death. For many, death is so natural, for others it is horrible and we are scared of it, and others just look at it as rebirth and reincarnating into another person. These topics can turn out to be very controversial since none of us knows what really happens when you die, and we will never know that until the day we have to leave this world and our lives end.

After this, Krishna talks about his duty to kill them. She tells him that he has to fight and kill them in order to fulfill his duty and overcome all his fears. I totally disagree with this because Krishna is completely forcing him to do something he does not want to do. I see this as an example of how religion manipulates us. Everyone should be free to do what he thinks is best and not what they force you to do.

Family Duties in Baghavad Gita

In the first teaching of Baghavad Gita they talk about family duties and happiness. Arjuna has to face the dilemma of fighting and going to war against his own family and because of this he decides to ask Krishna for advice. Krishna tells him that family duty is very important and that he shouldn’t take it for granted and that he should not go to war against them.

What joy is there for us, Krishna,
In killing Dhritarashtra´s sons?
Evil will haunt us if we kill them,
Though their bows are drawn to kill.

Honor forbids us to kill
Our cousins, Dhritarashtra´s sons?
How can we know happiness if we kill our own kinsmen? ---pg 28

In this quote we can see how Arjuna does not want to fight against all of the people he loves and does not want to betray them. This is a perfect example of family duty since Arjuna´s duty is to protect his family and not to destroy and kill it. If there are no family values the world would be a complete chaos. If the community loses these values, the balance of everything would be lost and people would go completely crazy. We would live with a constant disaster and anarchy.



When the family is ruined,
The timeless laws of family duty
Perish; and when duty is lost,
Chaos overwhelms the family.

In overwhelming chaos, Krishna,
Women of the family are corrupted,
and when women are corrupted,
disorder is born in society.

………………………………………….

The sins of men who violate
the family create disorder in society
that undermines the constant laws
of caste and family duty. ---pg 29

I really liked this lesson since it is very true that family duty and values it’s what maintains order in society. Family is what makes us all happy and sometimes we end up destroying and hurting the people we love the most because of greed and honor. For me, family is everything and all the people that surround me are very special for me so I totally understand Arjuna´s desire of not fighting. At the end of this first lesson we can see how Krishna tells him not to fight in an indirect way.

“Saying this in the time of war,
Arjuna slumped into the chariot
And laid his bow and arrows,
His mind tormented by grief. ----pg 29

My Best Friend's Death

People are only scared of what they don't know, and there was much I didn't know. I understand death more clearly now, I don't have to fear it, and I don't have to fear God or heaven
When I was 14 years old I lost my best friend and my entire world fell apart. I thought about things a 14 year old should not think about, like when I was going to die, how I was going to die, and everything in between. Becoming closed off was the next big thing to happen to me, as I didn't want to get hurt by anyone again. I just figured a simple solution would be to keep everything in. It got to a point in my life where I needed to fill that void, so I filled it with everything that came along my path in life.
Because of this, my relationship with my friends and family suffered...and I suffered, emotionally. I was not very stable in my thoughts and it was just a very unhealthy period for me. Being as young as I was, and this being such a traumatic incident in my life, it left me shocked, to say the very least.

http://mbsp04.storyspot.com/story/21255

DESTINY: Gilgamesh tablet 11

In this tablet we can learn more about Utnapishtim´s identity. He tells the story of how he became an immortal. I found very interesting how this story is extremely similar to the story of Noah´s Ark in the bible. I think this is so incredible since although the epic occurs in a different region and civilization from that from the bible, the story of Noah is exactly the same. After all this, Gilgamesh still wanted his immortality so Utnapishtim decided to test him by giving him two tests. Gilgamesh fails both of this tests and as a result he cannot earn his eternity. I learned a lot from this tablet about destiny. Destiny is already defined and everything happens for a reason. If life wasn’t like this, maybe it would be really boring……!!!

Looking for Paradise.....Gilgamesh tablets IX and X

Tablets 9 and ten are really interesting and make the book more philosophical. In these tablets Gilgamesh is really scared of death after the lost of his companion Enkidu. As a result of this, Gilgamesh decides to go in search of Utnapishtim.
“Gilgamesh wandered in the wilderness
grieving over the death of Enkidu
and weeping saying, “Enkidu has died.
Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that?”
Gilgamesh felt the fear of it in his belly.
He said to himself that he would seek the son
Of Ubarturu, Utnapishtim…..” pg 48

Utnapishtim is an immortal, which can be related to Noah, since he and his wife were the only ones to survive the Great Flood. In effect, Gilgamesh goes to look for him to find the secret for eternity and immortality. Gilgamesh has to pass through many obstacles to get to Utnapishtim, until he finally gets there. When the two characters meet, Gilgamesh asks the immortal the secret he seeks, but Utnapishtim instead gives him a lecture about how you cannot run away from death since death is part of every human´s destiny.

“How long does a building stand before it falls?
How long does a contract last? How long will brothers
Share the inheritance before they quarrel?
How long does hatred, for what matter, last?
Time after time the river has risen and flooded.
The insect leaves the cocoon to live but a minute.
How long is the eye able to look at the sun?
From the very beginning nothing at all has lasted.” Pg 64

I really like this last part of these tablets since I believe that Utnapishtim is extremely wise. Someday we will all die, destiny is like that. We cannot do anything about it, life has to end sooner or later. Death can´t be planned it is something that just happens, and it is unstoppable. I think that we should not be scared of dyeing, but we should try to make the most out of our lives by having fun, giving thanks for what we have, taking advantage of all the opportunities life brings, and being with the persons we love. Death is just something that will happen eventually to all of us, and destiny cannot be changed neither modified, but your life can….so do what you want before it’s too late!! :)