Lessons Learned

It is always clear in books and movies that the protagonist has been deeply neglected by his/her parents and therefore has the courage to go on in life and become a ruthless, yet accomplished business person with an A sized mansion.

Or they grow up to be cold, deficient people with no happiness whatsoever and a dreading ache for every countable day, and person.

Suffice to say, things like ‘parental indulgence and neglect’ can affect someone in more ways than one.

This is the case for Phaeton, son of Phoebus Apollo, the sun. As stated before, Phoebus is the ignorant father who seems to have more important things in his life than his own flesh and blood.

Of course Phaeton feels like crap, not only being constantly ignored by someone that is supposed to love him, but also for the lack of proof that Phoebus is, indeed, his father.

“If it’s true, how come there’s no proof of it? It’s unfair to us, you know, that there’s no proof.” Phaeton tells his mother one day. Well, obviously he’d feel this way after this random kid in school beat the ‘shit’, as he so put it, out of him for merely saying who his dad was.

Resolute, Phaeton travels to the valley where his father resides to tell him himself.

Now, you would imagine the guy wants nothing to do with him, but suddenly Apollo says, “My son, you are welcome. Let me grant you a favor.”

Well.

That was so not the reaction I was expecting.

Isn’t it an unwritten rule that the negligent parent wants nothing to do with their son/daughter when said son/daughter search them out to reconcile?

Apparently, Apollo does things differently.

So Phaeton decides he wants his dad’s car, in other words, to control the sun, for just one day. Obviously, Apollo wasn’t expecting that, and says that it’s his job, therefore, to pick something else.

But Phaeton isn’t having it. He has lived a life that his father chose not to be a part of, and you can’t judge his plain resentment.

So Apollo finally lets him, but not without the following advice:


“Don’t fly too high.”
“Go slantwise”


But I guess anger and fueled greediness makes you deaf, because whatever advice came out of Apollo’s mouth, went through one of Phaeton’s ear and out the other.

He didn’t listen. He lost Control. Chaos erupted.

I don’t know whether this is meant to explain a son searching for his indignant father and being let in, therefore encouraging people to go after what they want, or if it’s about said son not listening to his father and erupting into flames of chaos because he chose to not follow the rules.

So two things were learned:

1) If you have a father that knows of your existence but doesn’t feel the need to let you into his life, search him out until he grows fond of you (or exasperated enough) and decides to grant you a wish (to get you off his back in the latter case)

2) If said wish is taken, please do try to listen to your ignorant father’s requests because you just might end up frying to death from the deathly flames of the sun

Well.

That was educational.

Pheaton Iamic Pentameter

With restlessness he begged to seize the sun
But control was lost and chaos begun

Disguises are Useless

There has been a time in everyone’s life, when they fall for someone they barely know. I’m not talking about seeing a stranger at a Starbucks and suddenly realizing your undoubted love for him. I’m talking about people you see every day, and no matter how much you like them or would love to get to know them, they barely even know you exist. It’s like you’re just a crushed tiny bug on their windshield: practically nonexistent.

Vertumnus is in love with Pomona, even though he barely talks to her and his attraction is most likely based purely on looks and what he has observed from afar. Stalker potential? Possibly.

He may disguise himself as a farmer who loves agriculture and adores flowers and plants (Pomona’s only visible interests) or pretend to be an ordinary fisherman with a penchant for tanned skin and gorgeous hard-working hands, and yet she pays him no mind.

Finally, he decides to do the smart thing, and instead of dressing himself in a disguise as a guy, he decides to change his approach to a more effective result by dressing like an old lady, and ‘subtly’ informing her that she has to be more open and that keeping to herself is a “ sad violation of nature.” He recommends this guy named Vertumnus, of course, and when she asks the point of it all, he drives into the story of Cinyrus, Myrrah, and Aphrodite.

Myrrah has never loved, and she, like Pomona, keeps to herself. That is until Aphrodite tells her to stop being such a wimp and to admit that she is indeed in love, with her own father, Cinyrus. She tries to deny her love, of course by saying that it’s her father and that it would be against the law.

The first word that comes to my mind is: incest. I guess you can’t really control your feelings, but your own flesh and blood? Do you seriously want to take the risk of having deformed four-eyed children because you just so happened to fall in love with your own father? Judgmental, I am not. I like to think of myself more as being a realist.

Oh my god, I’m sorry but this thing has seriously got me thinking whoever wrote this was in love with their father themselves, or else why go to such lengths to bring this upon us any way? The mom leaves, and then the maid tells Cinyras that pretty girl is waiting for him. “Is she attractive?”

So not only do we have a girl that is attracted to the man that gave her life, but a man is willing to cheat on his wife with no second thoughts. This is truly inspiring.

They do it once. They do it twice. They do it again. Of course, Cinyrus is blindfolded throughout the entire time or else he would go completely insane, which we find when he takes off the blindfold one night and sees his lover’s true identity. So he decides to drown her. How loving.

She runs away and begs the gods to transform her entirely and they grant her wish: she melts.

Back with Pomona and Vertumnus, the story he just told her went nowhere. I don’t even understand how that pointless tale relates to his situation in getting Pomona to notice him.

Pomona notices his wig and tells him to take it off. Free from every disguise, Vertumnus is exposed as who he really is. And Pomona notices him for that and is happy with him.

I guess there’s a teaching in this story, and if there’s not, well I’ll just go on as if it was meant to be that way. We are who we are for a reason. If we want someone, we should let them see us as who we are and have them appreciate us for our own true beings. And if they can’t appreciate it, well then they are not worth it.

Bon Appétit

It is safe to say Erysichthon is an egotistic, selfish, arrogant, supercilious, annoying, all-mighty grade-A jerk. Not only the way he speaks, but what he says makes you dislike this guy instantly. One would probably praie him for being his own man and not fearing the gods and everything, but this man is completely off his rocker.

Since he has no cares in the world (and probably nothing to do on a daily basis considering his attitude) he one day decides to cut off the tree sacred to Ceres. He needs the wood, so that perfectly justifies his cutting down an innocent tree. This reminds me of modern society and how we are killing our planet by personally blowing everything into dust and cutting and breaking down bleeding forests while we bask in the sweet glory of modern technology and the obliteration of our only home.

I am not bitter.

Anyhow, he cuts the tree against the narrator’s advice, and then gets visited by the Spirit of the Tree that has ‘revenge’ stuck on his forehead. “You will never get away with this,” it (or is the spirit a ‘he’?) says. Erysichthon just laughs. How annoying, I hope he dies.

Unfortunately that hasn’t happened.

Yet.

Ceres then decides to get Hunger, which is indeed a person, to go “visit” Erysichthon and accompany him until he dies. I would have never even imagined making casual emotions and feelings into people that could somehow trespass their being into someone else. I think it is the most creative occurrence I have ever seen. Ever.

So Hunger agrees and goes to Erysichthon to curl up against him “in an embrace as strong as love, but quite the opposite of love. She breathes her spirit into his spirit.” And then the hunger begins.

He wakes, starving, dreaming of any type of food to fulfill his undying hunger. He is so hungry, in fact, that he decides to sell his own mother, like modern gamblers that resort to betting their jobs and kids when they are in too deep. I guess when you are in need of something, or too addicted to its only being, you will do most likely anything to fulfill your lust and longing. But his own mother?

Fortunately, the mother had a long-lost relationship with Poseidon, and begs for his help. In return, Poseidon turns her into the young girl she was when she worshipped his waves, and all’s well with the mother’s future. This is one of the times where I wish I had a god as a best friend, you could always be protected. And if the god is cute, well it comes with a bonus, no?

It all ends with Ceres placing a plate in front of him, and having him place his foot on it. The narrator says, “He will destroy himself.” Is this what I think it means? Is he seriously going to cut into his own flesh and blood and use his body’s meat as a food source?

Well, as Ceres so put it, “Bon appétit.”

Of Birds and Happy Endings

Everyone has heard of the typical story where the guy decides to fight for his country and cross the Atlantic Ocean to go to war, while the girlfriend (or wife) is left mourning in perpetual tears and praying daily for his return. Clearly, these scenarios mostly always end in tragedy and in death, while some, very few, end in unexpected happiness.

In Alcyone and Ceyx, the story is similar, except that instead of war, it’s the sea, and instead of being killed by blood-hungry men, Alcyones dad, who happens to control all of the vast blue sea, is the one that brings death upon Ceyx. Yeah, what a nice father-in-law, no?

When Ceyx tells Alcyonw about his journey, she says, “If you die my life is over and I shall be cursed with every reluctant breath I draw.” Basically, her life without out Ceyx is shattered and completely hopeless. Seriously? Just because a guy you like (or love) leaves for whatever reason takes up his mind, what kind of self-deprecating girl lets that affect her own happiness? Sure, you love him, but does that seriously make for a reason to drown in your own tears and curse God for your desperate and heartrending existence?

I’m not saying you should be cold-hearted or too laid-back to even register the fact and let it affect you. I’m just saying you can’t base your happiness (or life) on someone else.

When they are on the ship, it says that Poseidon enters the scene, therefore causing the terrible storm that will lead to Ceyx and his henchmen’s doom. What I fail to understand is the fact that Poseidon is the one that controls the seas, and yet Alcyone had said that her father was the one who controlled them, “My father’s winds are wild savage.” But Poseidon isn’t Alcyone’s father, right? I’m sorry to have to point out that in that point of the story I am completely and totally lost.

The winds and ocean blurs in a terrible and malicious storm and that is when Ceyx knows he is going to die. It would really be annoying to know are going to die, especially when you promised your wife you’d be back safely in two month’s time. Another reason you shouldn’t make promises you are not sure you can keep: Your girlfriend is going to end up heartbroken when you die. So refrain from making them in the first place!

Alcyone counts the seconds in which it will take her husband to get home. If only she knew she was wasting her breath.

Aphrodite pities Alcyone’s heart melting hopefulness, and decides to subtly inform her that her husband is in fact, dead. This puts Aphrodite on the top of my list considering she is taking it upon herself to put someone out of their misery.

When she finds out from Morpheus who has transformed into Ceyx, she gets kind of hysterical, or maybe it’s just common procedure to cry and argue when someone important to you has died. What really got to me, and not in an emotional way, but just sounded like a really cool quote, was when she was ranting about how she had asked him not to go and said, “I’m drowning now in the air.” Maybe it’s just me, but the fact she is drowning in pure air makes it fascinatingly deep to me. Oh, well.

You’d think it would be like all the normal tragedies out there where a happy ending is completely out of its reach. Wrong. It turns out, they actually end up together by becoming birds and flying away together to nest in their own happy glory.


I’m not kidding.

And I also ended up happy because I overcame my inner confusion and found, plainly stated in that last line, that Aeolus is Alcyone’s father and he controls the winds.

So in the end, we all get our happy endings.

Metamorphoses

Whoever decided to make this either just made up random words that I came close to identify as meaningless gibberish, or he just knew some sort of cool sounding and yet effusive language that sounds a lot like Latin. Either way, when the narrator went to talk in that weird language of his, I was lost. Which means I was lost for kind of the entire time.
Of what I did understand when he managed to speak in plain English, is that our world started in chaos. He talks about the slender moon and how the world has ceased to hang by just its plain surrounding, or the ocean stretched his arms to the land.
Sometime ago, no one could swim through that ocean, walk across that land, all objects were at odds. Even though sometimes this guy tends to drift on into sometimes-weird rants, you can kind of understand the whole point of this.
Which is the beginning of earth as it is now, how it used to be run by emptiness and disarray made up what we now call earth. It talks about the beginning, God, the creation of live as it is. The world heavier than leaves, carrying mounds on it shoulders. But in the end, it all became somehow arranged order in the world, because some god caused it. Right.

Bye, Bye Krishna...

The Bhagavad-Gita is, simply put, wising (if that is even a word). Some of the teachings actually make you stop and think about how you relate to them on a regular day basis. What he says actually makes sense when we look at how we act normally, and find faults in our reasons for doing certain things and our resolve. Basically, it actually teaches and shows some human traits which we need to downplay.


As for the actual story of Arjuna and his doubt on whether to go to war or not, he ends up swinging along with sacred duty. As Krishna said, no matter how much you try to do something because of what you might think is right, nature will always take its toll and make your attempts futile…

As much as sometimes I could barely understand the symbolism in Krishna’s words, or what he meant when he spoke of certain things, I came to fin the teaching quite refreshing actually. It not only opens you to the true dire nature of our kind and our sometimes-selfish reasons for certain actions, but it enlightens us to change or at least pull back on them. Of course, he also talks about worshipping him and believing, kind of leaning in toward more touchy subjects in terms of faith and religion, but other then that, it was pretty much the standard for the perfect teaching.

True Meaning of Faith = 17 & 18

Passionate

What would life be like had we not certain beliefs? What if when our boyfriend/girlfriend tells us they’re going to be staying extra late at work we don’t believe them and trust their acts completely? What if when life brings hardships and we face obstacles, we don’t have the faith to know that it will all be okay? What if we didn’t have face? Then life as it is would cease to be the blissful haven it’s carved out to be.

In Teaching Seventeen, Krishna says there’s a “threefold nature of faith inherent in the embodied self—lucid, passionate, and darkly inert.” While explaining the relation to being lucid, he explains how a person’s faith amounts to their lucidity, their clear perception and understanding. In a way, it relates to people whose cups are not yet filled by society’s current judgments and ideas, and have the rationality to fill their own cup based on their beliefs and personal faith.

He then goes on to compare these types of men, in relation to food. When you taste food that pleases ‘lucid’ men, they promote “strength, health, pleasure, and delight.” As opposed to passionate men, who are brought in by pungent, harsh, burning, food that cause pain, grief, and sickness. In the case of men of dark inertia, the food is unsavory, putrid, spoiled and stale. Basically, he is classifying the three types of men in their classified categories, where ‘lucid’ men are moral men that life a plentiful and wholesome life, ‘passionate’ men are pulled towards harsh and painful situations that will lead to endless grief, and men of ‘dark inertia’ are plainly too spoiled, in a way like decayed and corrupt fruit, that are of no use and are saddled with selfish wants.

Lucid men give sacrifices, not for the possible chance of getting a reward, not for the passion and dark inertia that await for some kind of recompense, but just for the sake of doing good, unlike the other two types.

Basically, Krishna dives deeper into the wants and reasons between these three types of peoples’ act. Passionate men do good, only for their own benefit of gaining admirers, respect, and worship for their act. Men of dark inertia resort to acts of ‘good-will (not so much in their case) due only to some sick type of sadism whish brings them satisfaction. They never do it just because, for someone else’s happiness.

The whole point of this teaching is to understand the reality of our kind, the cruel, the good, the inspiring. People who are just so caught up in reaching fortune and accommodating to everyone’s best interests, they do things to be accepted. Others just live life down an endless dark path. And others, the ‘lucid’ ones, that at least help and care, for no other reason than their own free will.

In the Eighteenth Teaching, Krishna introduces us to the term ‘renunciation.’ In today’s words, we can mostly recognize it as ‘quitting.’ He views it as unnecessary and inappropriate. Acts are established in the same categories as the men in the previous teaching.

Whenever we act out of pure passion, without thinking, straight from our impulses, resolve is passionate, not the one we aim for.

Success is also brought into the picture in the way that, when one has a goal, and you achieve it, it is your own personal accomplishment and definition of success.

In verse 53, Krishna states that, man, “freeing himself from individuality, force, pride, desire, anger, acquisitiveness; unpossesive, tranquil, he is at one with the infinite spirit.” When we don’t let ourselves be bound by these unbecoming feelings, and let peace drift within us with nothing to break down our shields, we can achieve pure, untainted tranquility.

When you are with Krishna, you will transcend all dangers, but if you are all caught up in your individuality, on the belief that all you need is you, and you, on your own, can accomplish anything, well, you got your wish: you’re on your own. You will be deafened. You will be lost. You will be susceptible to nature, even when you have a clear resolve to do something, it will be tampered with.

This all brings us back to how being one with lord is the only way to handle it all. He is your refuge, your haven, your passage towards eternity.

Now here is where I have trouble in clarifying if the ‘lord’ he is talking about is, Krishna, himself, or God, ‘The Lord,”, etc. Either way, the explanation of how sacrificing for him and adoring only him with complete trust, life will be just a blink in time.

Krishna also states:

“If he listens in faith
Finding no fault, a man is free
And will attain the cherished worlds
of those who act in virtue.”

Faith is key for almost everything. Here, Krishna is making the same rules as in the Christian religion, where the ticket to Heaven, is pure faith, belief in God. In that same way he makes it out to be the key factor in reaching one’s entity with him. Believe, even if you haven’t seen with your eyes or heard with your ears.

It takes more courage to believe in something just with faith, with your soul, with no visible proof, than to take something of visible nature to truly understand a concept.

That is the true reality of Faith.

Branches Unknown

Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal his immortal self. Who would have thought you can’t actually see Krishna himself, but in other forms…Typical. According to him, he is not visible with the naked eye, he is reflected by the forms, animate and inanimate in this world.

Sanjaya goes on to describe Krishna’s view as:


“If the light of a thousand suns
Were to rise in the sky at once,
It would be like the light
of that great spirit.”

So maybe Krishna really is as amazing as he makes himself up to be.

He finally decides to show Arjuna his true form, revealing the ultimate manifestation of his power. Arjuna here, finally understands who Krishna truly is, no shield to screen him from exposing his true, divine self. We also learn, that no one has ever seen this form, only Arjuna.

You don’t achieve the priveledge to see his form by “penances, lore, or sacrificial rites.” Only with loyalty, can one truly come to see his form.

In that same way, it demonstrates how with trust and true loyalty, people will come to rely on you and expose themselves in ways never before. Same with faith. Wichever god or immortal being you believe in, real dedication and fidelity consist in your living after the life after death to your expectations.

In lesson fifteen, Krisha, I think, compares life to one of the following things. It could be possible he is comparing it life. The branches point in all different directions, their roots reaching downward to life on Earth. It’s as we climb these vines that we ask ourselves what is the point, how do we get to the top, why go up if there’s achance we’ll be thrown back down.

There is also the mere chance of it being a type of symbol for God (In this case, Krishna). How, no matter how many of us believe in one of them entirely, with all our beings, some of us still question them and ourselves.


“Its form is unknown
here in the world;
Unknown are its end,
its beginning, its extent”

We ask ourselves how it is possible that such beings exist, and sometimes wonder about our own lives. He goes on about his glory, and about our human spirits later becoming eternal, as whoever is devote to him is eternal. With faith and knowledge, one has understanding, a purpose, and a goal, that is eventually fulfilled.

Supercilious King

It is important to be smart. Suffice to say, if you want a quality that will get you somewhere in life where you can be sure it will guarantee you a good house and a stable income, intelligence, it is. Another word for the term is knowledge, as stated in lesson seven, along with judgment. We learn, that, with knowing only those two things, nothing else in the world has to be known.

Krishna tells Arjuna to meditate, not exactly in those words, but implies it. He tells Arjuna that those that “seek refuge in me, cross over this magic.” The magic of nature, and a connection to nature, is meditating, reaching the supreme divine spirit of man.

Lord Krishna describes four types of men, one of which is the disciplined man of knowledge. According to Krishna, the former is disciplined, noble, and finds refuge in him (Krishna). Here I don’t really understand how they take refuge in him. Is he a god, a soul, an all-mighty divinity? Who is Krishna?

He enforces the fact of knowledgeable men having faith, and in doing so, goes on to quote,

“But finite is the rewards
That comes to men of little wit;
Men who sacrifice to gods reach the gods;
Those devoted to me reach me.”


Here he leads is comparing himself to the gods, in which he himself has people devoted to only him, as well. So I am guessing he is actually a god?

Then he goes on to explain how the people that are faithful in him and devoted to him, “cease from evil and act with virtue,” and they know the “infinitive spirit, its inner self and all its action.” Basically, he’s saying that everyone who believes in him is whole in almost every which way and they have discipline. They “know him at the time of death,” therefore trust him to take their lives into his hands when the time comes.

The eight chapter focuses on how when death becomes you, you have to be ready and in good graces with Krishna, with mind and understanding, so that you will come to him, relieving your inner being in imperishable existence.

When men reach him, “they attain absolute perfection.”

“The man of discipline
Transcends all this an
Ascends to the place
of pure beginning.”


In the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary it states that discipline is controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control. Here, it mostly means applying virtues, following your faith, and understanding where you are and where you are going. When you have faith, life has a purpose. Whether you believe in God, Buddha, etc, now you have something to drive you forward in life, I those cases, reaching for heaven, reaching for the possible afterlife. But you have a goal. They say that without faith, society would cripple as it is now, because then, we wouldn’t have a reason to try.

Lord Krishna then goes on to mention his glory, his being the universal father, purifier, the way, the Lord, the witness, and too much things that would take too long to list. In essence, he has a reason to be the egotistical, narcissistic, self-exuberating god. It’s true. And he goes on to say that by believing in him, no matter what the circumstances in life (you could be a violent criminal with a penchant for stealing old ladies purses, for all he cares---he said so himself), if you are solely devoted to him, you are a man of virtue. Virtue means a right resolve and the ability to find eternal peace…Now isn’t that just dandy?

Fear is Overrated

We always hear the word ‘quit’ and usually it comes with the extra advice of not going ahead with the urge to do so. Quitting is for cowards (here we go back to the last chapter) and in no way highly thought of. So we have to learn Discipline of Action.
In the third lesson, Lord Krishna says that

“A man cannot escape the force
Of action by abstaining from actions;
He does not attain success just by renunciation”

Whenever we, in life, come to the circumstances in which we have to apologize for our unbecoming acts, reveal ugly truths, or face things we will do when they serve ice cream cones in hell, we decide to abstain from doing them, taking the easy way out. Well, it turns out by not facing our fears, we will never learn, we won’t advance in life, we won’t live. Quitting may seem like the easier route in the beginning (and it is), but later on you will come to find that by not facing an obstacle in the road, you will go through varied measures to still head in that same direction. Like Babe Ruth once said, “Don’t let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.”

We are also introduced into knowledge and its importance: Krishna quotes
“The wise say a man is learned
When his plans constructs of desire,
When his actions are burned
By the fire of knowledge.”

Deep, I know. Well, honestly, the actual meaning of this quote beats me, and yet it seems to have a strong focal point in the lesson. I am guessing he is trying to say that humans are very deeply affected and twisted by their materialistic and natural desires, they are born with greediness and such things. The fact that most everything we do in life, we do for ourselves, our own personal benefit, is what he refers to when he says actions based on constructs of desire. We have to learn to do things, not for our benefit, for what we will get out of them, but just for the sake of doing good because we know it is what’s right. . . Also, probably the importance of knowing yourself, your wants, your goals, is basic in achieving a fulfilled and blissful life.

The fifth lesson has to do with the Renunciation of Action. Renunciation, the denial, the rejection of action. Reject in the way of not doing anything? Denying the reasons for certain things we decide to do in life? The title of the actual lesson has yet to give me any actual reference to what it’s trying to seep through to my conscience.
I see this quote:

“Seers who can destroy their sins,
Cut through doubt, master the self,
And delight in the good of all creatures
Attain the pure calm of infinity.”

Here it is basically amplifying the need for everyone to truly learn to understand themselves. In a way, it sort of leans towards reaching high self esteem and mastering your self, your soul. He explains that when you know yourself, enough to know what is right, with no doubts that overscome you, no sins that you can’t identify and withdrawal, you can achieve many things. The most important thing is to love yourself and be in complete harmony with your decisions, be in peace with your surroundings. It may be that I completely missed the whole concept and am just digressing to random relevant things that could justify its meaning. Either way, whatever was just stated above, and my aforementioned opinion on its exact connotation, it ends up kin of making sense.

Just, love yourself, be sure of what you want, who you are, and it will all be okay.