Let Us Talk About My Poem/Presentation

My poem was adapted from Popol Vuh: The Mayan Creation Myth, by A. Recino, translated by S.G. Morley, D.Goetz. It's a 74 page book laden with creation myths, myths of heroes, and Mayan history. The creation myth I expressed in my poem is not arranged sequentially in any one spot in the book, but is rather dispersed in chunks throughout. I compressed the chunks into a single cohesive creation myth describing the origin of the world and the origin of man. I've omitted the names of particular deities in hopes of maintaining a universal feel. In addition, they are impossible for me to pronounce with my limited intellect.
I enjoyed all of the myths so far. I am thoroughly impressed with how much time everyone has put into them. I look forward to more on Friday.

-Aaron                                                                    

In illo tempore,

All was in suspense,

Silent and Motionless.

 

No living creatures,

No voices made cry,

No earthly features,

Only water and sky.

 

The creators were in the depths,

All life’s secrets did they hold,

They unified their breaths,

The essence through which life unfolds.

 

Planning Meticulously,

Form given to the sky,

In the face of infinity,

It’s like the blink of an eye.

 

They’re design was in motion,

Life world be formed,

But the work not done,

Until humans were born.

 

Let the waters divide,

Creating a sphere,

Nothing inside,

So the earth can appear.

 

The Unified Voices

Created the earth,

Transcending the womb,

A spoken birth.

 

Next came the animals,

All of the beasts,

Like man but not whole,

 became the source of his feasts.

 

For they were given a gift,

The great gift of speech,

But the gift caused a rift,

With their dissonant screech.

 

They could not invoke,

Praises to their lords,

Each time they spoke,

The absence of words.       

The creators endeavored for more,

Made man out of dirt,

But this first man they bore,

Was shapeless, inert.

 

He next came from wood,

And crawled like a beast,

On four limbs he stood,

An earthly disease.

 

He did not recall,

The source of his life,

Creation would fall,

Because of this strife.

 

So the Makers brought rain,

And flooded the earth,

It would be through pain,

That they remembered their birth.

 

For those who didn’t die,

By choking on water,

They did not gain life,

But died in a slaughter.

 

From dogs and the birds,

Attacks they endured,

Even the non-living,

Joined the massacre.

 

These wooden men,

Became mangled and ugly,

They propelled a descent,

Became ancestors of monkeys.

 

The makers would not stop,

They would not admit defeat,

They’d make man of corn crop,

A plant fashioning meat.

 

These men made of maize,

Born of incantation,

Gave their makers praise,

A perfect creation.

 

But this perfection,

Came at a price,

Wise as their creators,

Pride was their vice.

 

So mist was blown,

Into their eyes,

Obscuring their vision,

To the secrets of life.

 

Now man was done,

A creature with soul,

But without women to bear sons,

He could never be whole.

 

So the gods made a partner,

Fashioned her with care,

Hearts of men she would stir,

So beautiful and fair.

 

This was the origin,

Of a great nation,

Born out of sin,

Like most of creation.   

                                                                                                                                               

For the Things I See and Cannot See

The things I see and cannot see surround me. They are a gift and a curse. Talking to my grandpa, loving him more because he is dying, he tells me about his brother-in-law, Daryl, who has stage 4 lung cancer. 

"It seems like we're healthy, you and I," he says with a hint of sadness in his weary voice. "But like, Daryl, it's something we can't see. These things just happen."

I wrote my grandpa a letter for his birthday. He is turning 76 on January 28th. His gift is insight into the things he cannot see, the love and appreciation I have for him. I finished the assignment before it was assigned. The phone call was just a follow-up.

Daryl is undergoing treatment in Tecate, Mexico and has a 20% chance of survival. In between visits to the hospital, Daryl stays at my grandpa's house in San Diego. My grandpa has never heard of Sonnet 73, but he has been doing our assignment for the last 2 weeks. He has been loving Daryl more because he is dying. 

"Daryl is my favorite brother-in-law. If I could have chosen one, it would have been him," my grandpa tells me, and I wonder if Daryl knows.

"He looks scared," my dad says, recollecting Daryl's expression when he told my dad the severity of his condition. "Well how many stages are there?" he asks. "Five," Daryl replies, the single word punctuating silence. I never saw his face, but it visits me in my sleep. I see his cheeks pale, lips tight and teeth clenched, a slight quiver in his jaw and glossy eyes betraying the stoicism a man should display facing death. I've never seen it, but I see it.

Stage 4 cancer refers to a state characterized by cancer spreading from its origin to other organs in the body. Early detection can prevent the progression, but, like my grandpa says, it's something we can't see. The funny thing about Daryl's situation, however, is that his cancer was visible, but still unseen. He was misdiagnosed and it wasn't until stage 4 that it came into the light.

What does 20% really mean? What purpose does it serve? It's like giving form to something invisible. The form doesn't fool me, though. The numbers do not comfort. His chance of survival is just that, utter chance. He may as well go to the Asklepion and dream. A visual representation is the last thing Daryl needs. Visuals are misleading much like the misdetection of his cancer. What Daryl needs now more than anything is the something he cannot see, the love and support of his family.

 

 

Let us discuss my dream from last night...

I returned from a place unknown to me to a house crowded with family, friends, and strangers by the names of Traffic Tethered and Fair Stranger. I heard music and there was an unspoken understanding that I would dance. Somewhere deep within the recesses of mind I knew that I was dancing to prevent my blood from falling. My dance was magical, slow motion and fluid. The music was directing something in an unintelligible tongue that only my primal nature understood. I swayed around the room instilling delight in each of my onlookers. My mom, my brother, my grandma, my best friends, they were all fixated and mesmerized. I felt a soothing sense of comfort and knew I was undergoing something very special, something infinite. I was dying and being born anew, dancing my new self into existence.

Here is the link to the song I mentioned in class, the one about Sisyphus. It's more of spoken word accompanied by music but it's beautiful. I hope you all listen and enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4fvwSrNwDA

Courtesy of Viviana Haff. I do believe I am hugging Myrrha.

Class Notes: 16 January 2013

In this class, there is no such thing as distraction
     -Any deviation from a subject matter will land us precisely where it is that we need to be

Let us talk of Asklepios:
- a snake came from a fissure in the ground and he killed it.
- another snake came baring a leaf and brought the first snake back to life
- he found that the snake knew something he did not
- he wraps the snake around a staff and from this originates the medical symbol

Let us talk about Asklopion:
-temple of healing unlike medical facilitites today
-enter and fall asleep
-a dream of a snake or Asklepios is auspicious
     -your ailment will be cured

-Hyberborean: Scandinavian, north of Thrace

Read Song Lines. You'll learn all about aborigines in Australia and the dream world.

Let us talk about Peter Pan:
-Tinkerbell is dying
-To save her, simply say "I believe..."

Have a dream and record it in the blog.
-no coffee 11 hours before slumber
-eat pickles and ice cream (I'd likely do this anyway)

-The Doors of Perception: If they are cleansed, everything will appear as it really is.

Class Notes: 14 January 2013

And what does Wilson and Main have to do with Mythology?

-Here we have Bacchus, god of wine
-Here we have Erotique
     -Eros
     -Aphrodite/Venus

Lesson: Myth surrounds us. Be alert to its myriad of clues.

-Moonwalking With Einstein: A must read

-Rituals of mourning: a prescribed thing to achieve prescribed results.

Let us talk about Sexson's visit to the doctor.

-"I am Pedar. I was your student 15 years ago."
-Mythologies in which the class read The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
-He gives the appropriate definition of myth.
-Next visit, Sexson will tell him all about Andre Gibson

-Hug a tree.

-The Call to Adventure: leave mundane life and head into the unknown

-Fairytales: degenerates of myths
     Ex: myth of the frog and the princess

Heed these words: There is a woman behind every hero.

Education= Transformation

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13

Myths offer a mythical key to most of the most extreme forms of human behavior and suffering.
Extreme behavior and suffering = holocause, plagues, sexual harrassment, rape, incest, seduction, sex change, suicide, love, torture, war, depression, intoxication, drugs, etc.

-Italo Calvino: the point that expands.

Ovid's Metamorphoses is the ancient world's version of cinema.

Class Notes: January 11, 2013

Let us talk about The Wizard of Oz...

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

Translation: Those we hold in high regard for whatever seemingly important reason are just as we are.

-Jennifer Cooley is our woman behind the curtain.
-Ironically, we should pay attention to Jennifer.

Let us talk about King Midas with his ears like an ass...

King Midas' barber discovered he had ears like a donkey,
So, natually, he was sworn  to secrecy
The barber, desperate to reveal what he had found,
Whispered the secret into the ground,
And the wind carried it all over town.

In the beginning, we will discuss creation. (An appropriate topic for any beginning)

In the middle, we will discuss patterns of initiation.
     -all involve pain
     -pain signals a transformation

In the end, we will discuss death and the afterlife. (Again, an appropriate topic)
     -Sparagmos: The act of tearing, rending, pulling to pieces. The act of mangling.

Class Notes: January 9, 2013

Now we shall learn of things that change...

Mythos- story

Myth (for our purposes)- The precedent behind all actions. (This is something I'm still trying to wrap my mind around. I understand each term definitively, but grasping the weight of this statement will be a struggle)

Lets talk about the parable of Martha and Mary...

Mary was at the feet of Jesus listening to stories and Martha was doing some very domestic and tedious chores. Naturally, Martha was jealous and spoke disparagingly about Mary's work ethic. Jesus, in response, explained to Martha that there is a single important thing in life and that Mary was doing that very thing. Moral of the story: there is a single important thing in life and that is listening to stories.

Metampsychosis
      -transmigration of souls
      -there is no death (In the case of Alexis Ragenovich, she will become dirt and nourish a tree)

in ilo tempore- in the big time

There will be 3 divisions of this class and they will be the 3 essential parts of any story according to Aristotle-- beginning, middle, and end.

Moses: he who comes from water and the brother of Aaron.

In the beginning, there was the word (logos)

Logos is the truth and mythos is the story so mythologies are the true stories which could have a variety of meanings depending on inflection.

Lets talk about Orpheus, but that is for a later date.