A Summer-y

ACT I

Scene i.

Theseus the duke of Athens is going to marry Hippolyta and the preparation for the marriage Eugeus Harmia’s father persuades him to enforce Hermia to marry Demetrius who is a powerful man and so on. The problem is that Hermia loves Lysander, not Demetrius, her friend Helena loves Demetrius. The whole theme is to overcome power with love. These people, the characters involved, are the educated ones. Their lines rhyme and have a good structure. The whole scene is just arguments between all the characters, fighting for the love or the will of the other:

“LYSANDER
A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
I have a widow aunt, a dowager
Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do observance to a morn of May,
There will I stay for thee.”

This is the art of persuasion, he uses ethos (the red shaded part) to persuade Hermia to love him above Demetrius and marry him instead. He also uses pathos, as if selling her blame, (the green colored part). As if, “if you don’t love me then…” Which can be very effective, and ends up being so.

Scene ii.

The play changes completele the characters into uneducated ones, tradesmen, and they start organizing a theater play. Quince is the director and yet Bottom wants to direct instead of him and do all the parts because he is very egocentric:

“BOTTOM
That will ask some tears in the true performing of
it: if I do it, let the audience look to their
eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some
measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a
tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to
tear a cat in, to make all split.”

He annoyes Quince because of his arrogance and petulance, he does not let him direct the way he is supposed to:
“BOTTOM
An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll
speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne,
Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear,
and lady dear!

QUINCE
No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.”

It is a funny scene. Something we all noticed was that compared to the previous scene it is completely different because it is evident the lack of rhythm the lines are and the meter is not logical.

ACT II

Scene i.

Shakespeare changes against eh characters; they are not nobles, nor tradesmen, nor mortals they are fairies. And the scene is very weird; every event is random and unexpected and has no logic at all. There is a queen of the fairies, Titania, and a king of the fairies, Oberon. Titania happens to have in her power an Indian boy, but Oberon wants it! And what was supposed to be a plan to get the Indian boy form Titania ends up being a jinx for Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, who loved him. In this scene is where one group of characters joins up with another group of characters. The Fairies with the nobles, and start having a relationship.

“DEMETRIUS
I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.”

Demetrius at first has absolutely no intention to fall in love with Hermia and yet, Oberon, who can be everywhere, invisible and visible knows this and is going to use a magic spell on him.
It is absolutely ridiculous, the play AMND is absurd and cheesy.

Scene ii.

“OBERON
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.”

The spell is given to the worng person, it was given to Lysander instead of Demetrius and he falls inlove with Helena, which is the wrong women, Hermia doesn’t know. This play is thought to be about tragedy, about romance and death, anything but this. Shakespeare has a lot of faces. AMND is no doubt one of the most different and unexpected one.

ACT III

Scene i.

Going back to the trademen, they are rehearsing their play, which is stupid ans very lame. Robin, who is a spirit that does what he wants decide to turn Bottom’s head into an ass.

“BOTTOM
I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid.”

They run away from him because they are afraid, and he doesn’t show to care. His character of petulance could not give a damn if they run away or not. He even makes fun of it. Titania, queen of the fairies falls inlove with him because of the same spell htat was given to Lysander. Bottom takes adavantage that the faities do what ever he askes them to.


Scene ii.

Demetrius is jealous of the fact that Hermia loves Lysander and does not love him, she still instists that she loves Lysander and is very mad with him because of insulting Lysander and not giving up with her. She has no idea where Lysander is and looks for him and Demetrius would not tell her where he is.
Meanwhile Oberon scolds Robin because of making the wrong decistions regarding the spells and the person involved.

“OBERON
What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.”

Oberon then gives the spell to Demetrious to fall inlove with Helena, he was the right man originally. Then the two men are deeply inlove with Helena, and she thinks it is a joke! Hermia finds out that her beloved is after Helena nad not her, which destoyes her and she fights with Helena. Helena still thinks that it is joke and Demetrius and Lysander don’t stop wooing her and askinge her for love to a point where Lysander tells hermia that he hates her, she is completely destroyed and scorns Helena and insults her because of her stature. The whole scene, when played most be very funny, all twisted and confusing.

“HELENA
I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
I am a right maid for my cowardice:
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
Because she is something lower than myself,
That I can match her.”

ACT IV

Scene i.

Everything comes back to normal, Lysander loving Hermia and Demetrius loving Helena. Bottom with a normal head and Titania no longer in love with him.

The problem is that Egues find the 4 lovers sleeping and when finds out that Hermia and Lysander had run away. Egues want to badly punish them, asks the duke. Theseus to do so, but then Demetrius announces that he loves Helena and not Hermia. Egues realizes that he cannot do anything now that the love was established. Theseus then proposes that the four lovers marry respectively.

Something that called my attention was that in this play Ancient Greek mythology in mentioned more than once, the play within this play is about one of the myths.

“HIPPOLYTA
I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.”

The setting of the play is in Athens, Theseus is the Duke of Athens, and Egues and the rest are part of the nobles. The names are evidently Greek. Funny that a very English men such as Shakespeare, bases his work on Greece.

Scene ii.

The tradesman are missing Bottom, and have no idea were he is. It is funny that after all the egocentrism that Bottom had shown and yet they miss him a lot and are sad because he is not going to be able to be the part he is in the play. Life has paradox! I learned that in the Tao.

“QUINCE
It is not possible: you have not a man in all
Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.”

And finally he comes back. As it would obviously happen. And telling everyone that they would perform for Theseus the duke himself.

ACT V

Scene i.

The play is then performed; it is a total disaster as it would have been expected. In real life, the play is famous because of being the “worst” play ever performed. In my group at the class this is out scene and I find it hilarious. IT IS A WALL! A person has to act as a wall. How stupid can it be?

“LYSANDER
He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
enough to speak, but to speak true.”

And yet being so stupid and ridiculous, it reflects what in reality happens. People put down people because of their status. Lysander and the nobles are clear that the actors are poor, that is way they criticize them so harsh.

Beatao

The Beatles were a phenomenon in history. Their music changed the minds of the young ones and old ones. Their era was not only a music time but it lead to a mind revolution. Their songs had very deep meanings and profound thoughts that give a lot of room for interpretations, analysis and get high with the lyrics. John Lennon, the lead singer, usually talked about peace, of being cool, of taking life easy and be open to life and love. The Tao Te Ching teaches the art of not doing anything, of emptying the mind and not seek for anything. John Lennon once did a peace protest along with his wife in which he would not get up from bed and let his hair grow as long as it could be. They have a theory of life as music. Life without any politics, wars or stress. The Tao Te Ching leans to the same branch.

“Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking.” (TWO).
Doing nothing is a concept of living life as it comes and having no worries. Learn as it comes, clearing the mind. They also don’t have anything to do with the religion, as a matter of fact they were once banned by the Vatican because of the revolutionary ideas that were brought up in their songs. The Tao Te Ching could be confused as a religion and yet it has absolutely nothing to do with it. It is now seen as a religion but there is no god in its teachings. There is a very known song from The Beatles called “Let It Be” in which it talks about doing nothing, letting life go on. While reading The Tao Te Ching this song came to my mind because it can be compared to the maxims of the T.T.C:
“Understanding and being open to all things,” (TEN)
Let it be resumes this phrase, let things be, let life teach you, let life pass by, let it be. “It” being everything, such as heaven and earth, humans and life.
“When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
“Mother Mary” could be interpretated as a person or a religion, or a teaching such as the Tao Te Ching or The Analects. In this case it leans more towards the Tao Te Ching than the analects, because Confucius would not say to “let it be”, he would probably say to be eager to do something to learn something and take action.

Tao teaches to live life as it comes, to follow the flow, just like music. The Beatles based their songs on the flow, music.
“Oh, it is intangible and elusive, and yet within is image.
Oh, it is elusive and intangible, and yet within is form.
Oh, it is dim and dark, and yet within is essence.
This essence is very real, and therein lies faith.” (Twenty-One)
There it is practically describing what music is, but it is actually describing the Tao “and Tao alone”. There could not be another explanation, but that music is life, and life is music.
“Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.”
“Words of wisdom” is exactly what it is. The Tao is wise thoughts, wise way of living, letting it be.
“Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.”
These kinds of lyrics refer to taking it eassyyyy. It is said that The Beatles wrote this song when they were high, abusing of the substance SFF. (Strawberry Fields Forever) The Tao states:
“In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace,
But I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.
Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.” (Twenty)
It is described quite similar to the lyrics of SFF. “Without a place to go”, just being drifted by life as it passes in front of you. “Strawberry Fields Forever” is that, a place not known, not existing, and somewhere away.

The Beatles lyrics also tend to lean to the branch of saving the world. Of making a better place for humans to live in and not the hell it has become. In the song “Imagine” there is this phrase:
“Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger”
In this world the most important thing has become having possessions, owning things, power, money, greed. We fail to realize that we are actually wasting the chance to live the life as it should be lived, following the Tao.
“To gain is to loose,
and to loose is to gain.”
To Tao also states many times throughout the book the concept of “gaining” and making “no profit” out of working, and so on and so forth. It is practically the same principle, being able to go on without worrying about material things.

This is why the Tao and the Beatles are related to each other. They share many thoughts and ideas which take a big part of each. The Tao, if you think about it, relates to many things because of the broad ideas and generalized thoughts.
You may follow the Tao and listen to The Beatles!

Ready, set, TAO!

This Japanese game is a representation of what the Tao’s concept is supposed to be. I had no idea that a concept could be taken to be explained as a game. It is like thinking to make a game that explains Christianity without having to mention any of the characters (Jesus, God) but just a simple board game. This is one of the things that relate to the Tao, it is simple, easy to understand after you analyze the rules and tricks and tips. The Tao is just like that, read it at least twice and analyze it, understand the concept and then you can plat the Tao, play in your life, as the way to live, to play the Ta, to live the Tao.

The desireless and the desired, the yin and the yang are shown as the white and black playing checks. The game is simple, when a color surrounds the other then this one disappears. Taken this to the Tao, when you don’t balance out then one takes over and ends up making you misbalanced, and not following the Tao, falling. There has to be a little of both, “to gain is to loose and to loose is to gain”.

Dr. HOUSE

Asa patient comes dying,
He cares about buying
A little more Vicotin,
To commit another sin.
Although he says "don´t care"
To let them die he won´t dare.
Cuddy tries to see beyond
The blue eyes of House
Becasue in medicine he is a James Bond
To every mystery he has a respond.
Could it be that he find love?
For House this is unreacheble,
Because he thinks himself above,
And has proven to be unteachable.

Yet, every pupil that passes through his eyes
Though sacrifise becomes wise.

excercises

World C banana C
Textbook C conduct N
acid D progress D
smoking N biology N
poetry 
 N essay C
applause 
 N crystal C
thought D shopping N

defense 
 X rain
beauty rug X
garbage
 X nature
experience
 X bag X
baggage X emotion X
Because diabetes can cause devastating _damages________ (damage, damages) to virtually all body _systems_______ (system, systems), people with diabetes should not underrate the seriousness of their disease. Learning to live with a chronic __illness______ (illness, illnesses) such as diabetes must be an ongoing process.
The Hospital's Center for Family Life Education is sponsoring a five-part educational series on diabetes. The series will begin on April 30 and continue through May 29. The __program_______ (program, programs) will be held in the second floor classroom of the Education Center from 7-9 p.m.
The diabetes series is free and open to the public and will be of specific __interest_______ (interest, interests) to people who have diabetes and their families and friends.

a table The poetry
these person 
 X a difficulty
this furniture
 X a reaserch
that assignment 
 this eggs X
a boy those argument X


Though you can make _a___ decision on purely economic grounds, buying __a__ computer is often more like joining __a__ religious cult. Buy __an__ Apple, for example, and almost by default you join Apple chairman Steve Jobs in his crusade against IBM. Every machine has its "users' groups" and _a___ band of loyal enthusiasts who tout its merits. That makes it all __a__ more difficult for _the___ uninitiated to decide what machine to buy. Students have __a__ huge advantage, however. The computer companies are so eager for students' business (it builds "brand loyalty") that many offer huge discounts.
In the past six months, IBM, Apple, and others have brought out new computers, and _a___ fierce competition has forced prices down. Also, time is on your side: next year at _the___ time you'll have even more choice and more computing power and features for _the___ same price. On __the__ other hand, this will probably be true for many years. So for those who need or want __a__ computer now, it's a great time to buy one.

The Tao's point of view.

“For one gains by losing
And loses by gaining.” (FORTY-TWO) I’ve noticed that the Tao Te Ching uses a lot of paradox; many of the maxims are based on that, on comparing two things that are the opposite. Antonyms are used to state a point. For example, in this maxim the antonyms losing and gaining are used to state that sometimes things are not always how they should be. It is said that when you have too much you become a hollow person, loose humbleness, and when you have nothing you are full of love and gracefulness! Which is ironic. These kinds of analysis are made throughout the whole novel, as a why of looking at life with another point of view. Because when you twist the thing you might get another perspective that will make your life easier, and you a better person. It is all about looking at the other side of the coin. Sometimes it happens to be the brightest one.

“In the persuit of learning, every day something is acquired.
In the persuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.” (FORTY-EIGHT)
The Tao is quite the opposite of the analects. Confucius teachings were all about learning and being eager to learn, the love, the passion to learn everyday. The Tao on the other hand is all about clearing the mind and looking at life at another point of view.

“They have more possessions that they can use.” (FIFTY-THREE) I read this and a bell ringed in my head. My mom constantly tells me that, “Mariana you have already so many things that you might not even remember what you have.” This, by the way is not true! But what is true is that I have many things that I don’t need, and many of my friends do as well. Incredibly we still ask for more and incredibly there are millions of kids that don’t have absolutely nothing but a piece of cloth to cover themselves, and would be eternally gratefully if one of us that “have more possessions that we can use” give some of them to them, and yet we are too selfish to give something up.

CHANGE

Yield and overcome
Bend and be straight;
Empty and be full;
Wear out and be new;
Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.
(twenty-two)

It is to be able to be better, to do the things you usually do and from them learn, to be flexible, be two thngs at the same time, be balanced and be good. Bing only one thing, monotounos and boring there is no way to be good, to grow as a huma being. People always ompliments the persons that can be seriouds and crazy att the same time, or mature and childish at different times. to be able to adjust to the situation, to be able to accept change and go with it. Change is something that will be always present iin everybodys life. Most people don’t like it, they take it as a misfortune or a problem because they cant adjust to it. They cant be ‘bend and be staight’. They are just ‘staight’ and when the world requests them to bend, they cant! Change also requires the mind to be amt, ready to be filled with whatever it is needed to be illed with.

”Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind become still.” (sixteen) we fill ourselves with trash until there is no space for the important things. Priorities have been lost a lot. Nowadays we are more interested in making bigger cars or more technological cellhones than saving the starving kinds in Africa, or finishing wars that kill millions of people mercilessly. If we wipe our minds of nimportant informations and thoughts then we might be able to focus on other things. To change our ordinary way of living to more spiritual and philosophical to a point in which yourlife is no longer based on material but on inside peace.

No opposite; no one

I think I don’t yet understand what is the Teo, it is explained as something nor explainable nor namable, and not eternal. It seems to be that there are too Teo, the one that is namable and eternal and the other that it is the opposite. At least that is what I understood, the problem is that I don’t know what is the Teo, is it a god, a preacher, another king do Confucius “way”, or the name of a tree. It has the same concept of Confucius. The writing is based of maxims that have a deep meaning. If analyzed and re read it talks about moral values, about truths of life and humans and the world, and everything that has to do with it. Yet it is not religious and it is not a guide on how life should be lived, even though it sometimes feels as if the author is commanding you to do as it is told, otherwise you are wrong.

The structure is a fallacy, “this, because, therefore” and sometimes it doesn’t make sense at all and the main ideas are completely different form one sentence to the other, which makes you get lost quite often. It jumps to wrong conclusions that after all eventually persuade you to believe it. It is a trick!

There is a maxim that talks about there being good because there is evil and there being beautiful because there is ugliness, which made me realize something. We are nothing if it wasn’t because of our opposite. What is white if there is no black? What is love when there is no hate?

I Will Consult Confucius

Confucius’s teachings, if analyzed and put into practice can easily make your life way much better and therefore his teachings changed the way of life of the Chinese. Throughout the week that I started reading the analects many things happened to my life, I had some problems with my friends, with my family in which I didn’t know how to react or what to do, and at night I had to read Confucius for the blogs and happened to be that his teachings made me think and analyze what was going on in my life and gave me somehow advice on how to handle them, to make the right decision. There is this maxim with which I saw myself reflected at the time. “The Master said, “I have never been able to do anything for a person who is not himself constantly asking, “What should I do? What should I do?” 15.16 That is what I had been asking myself for an entire week. “What should I do? What should I say? How should I react?” And that is exactly not being myself, if I question my actions so much then I am very unsecure of myself and have a low self esteem. I realized that in life, if you are not sure of yourself then you are not going anywhere, people are going to squash you and life is eventually going to go ahead of you before you notice it.

I now understand the Chinese and their admiration for Confucius, he definitely changed their lives. If for me it was a help, then for them I might probably be as a God. “To make a mistake and yet not change your ways- this is what is called truly making a mistake” this maxim also made me open my eyes, mistakes are a amazing. I figured that trouble makes you grow up, and that I should not avoid them but learn from them like Confucius always says. All my life I’ve known this truth and yet every time trouble knocks on my door I forget it until they are passed and I say to myself again “Trouble makes me grow as a human being, I learn from it”. It takes a long time to understand somethings in life, sometimes you have to suffer to understand them and get to find the joy of it. Even if it sounds a bit nerdy or unrealistic I think I will consult Confucius quite often, every time I don’t now what to do.

Mistakes.. or errors?

Confucius likes the theory of mistakes, the whole concept of learning from them and looking within you to understand the mistake you did and change or modify what caused it to be that way. He repeats this theory many times and he is asked again and answers with the same thoughts. “To make a mistake and yet to not change your ways-this is what is called truly making a mistake.” 15.30 I love this quote. It is simply stated n a few words that when you commit a mistake and don’t accept that you committed one or that you simple move on and probably commit the same mistake again, then that cannot be called a mistake, it is an error. Errors cannot be fixed or are not fixed, mistakes are. I think mistakes are a blessing. If it wouldn’t be for the mistakes we would not grow as a human being. We would be doing the same things that we did when we were children, we would be having the same thoughts, we would be falling because of the same stone in our paths…
The analects talks about “Heaven”. For me Confucius teachings are not religious in any matter and that is what I liked about them, until Heaven is mentioned. I it mentioned as a source reliable for questions and answers. As another “master” if the Master does not speak. I would like to discuss this in class.

One of the Bunch

Many of Confucius quotes are repetitive, he uses the same concept but with other words. He is very egocentric; he calls himself not equaled and the best in “cultural refinement”, though he doesn’t considers himself the best gentlemen and is still trying to be one. There is one quote that I like a lot because it is something that every religion tells us, every teacher, every philosopher or thinker, “When walking with two other people, I will always find a teacher among them. I focus on those who are good and seek to emulate them, and focus on those who are bad in order to be reminded of what needs to be changed in myself.” 7.22. It is so true and yet we don’t listen to the advice. We criticize so much and never look within us and try to “fix” our faults and our wrong doing. We criticize the way someone is dressed or the way someone talks or who dumb someone is or how cocky the other one is, but when do we look within ourselves to find out that we are no better. Life happens to be fair sometimes and karma brings back all that you do wrong to you. Think about this, when you point at someone three of your own fingers are pointing at yourself. And the ones we find good, instead of applying their actions to yourself you also criticize them because you envy them. We are stupid, having so many tools to be amazing persons we choose to be one of the bunch.

Confucius talks about music. “Find inspiration in the Odes, take your place through ritual, and achieve perfection with music.” 8.8 Perfection does not exist, for me perfection is the imperfection of perfection…JA! Confusing although true. Music is higher than any philosophy; it is the reflection of so many things that it can’t even be described! You can’t describe music, it is the description of everything. “No music, no life.”

PERSUASIVE ESSAY

Videogames are the most famous entertainment activity in the XXI Century. About an 80% of the children have videogames at home. It is considered one of the best businesses, because everybody desires it. Playing video games is very fun for everybody; there is a lot of variety and different types of video games. There is PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Wii, Game Boy, PSP, Computer games, and so on. Something they all have in common is the fact that they all game violent games involved, which mean that all the children that play video games are involved into violence. Shown by studies, that provokes consequences to the children’s mind. Boys from ages 7-18 play this games quiet often, instilling slowly violent thoughts in their minds. Children that play these games are shown to be more aggressive, to have violent reactions and tend to be anti-social. Some get scared, paranoiac and insecure. Any video game that contains violence should be banned from sale. There are one of the reasons why in the U.S teen violence has increased so much. The teens and children spend more time watching TV, or playing video games than they do inside a classroom. Games like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield and 007 are clear examples of violent video games. The goals of these games are to kill as many people as the player can and therefore go to a “higher level” or to” pass the missions”. Unconsciously this sends a message to the players, that with violence they will achieve things easier, and so is their behavior. The children are victims of the hidden message that TV and video games give them and their mood is modified into aggressive and sadist. Violence is attractive to anyone, humans enjoy watching others suffer, yet is wrong. The producer of the video games’ only interest is to sell, and they sell by making the games about violence, they don’t care if the child or teenager that buys it will become an assassin after playing their games. School shooting has become a common event in the U.S. and violent TV and video games have taught the criminals how to use the weapons, making them professionals murders. By age 12 the average child has witnessed at least 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 other acts of violence on television. “The 14 years old killer in the Paducah, Kentucky, school shooting had never fired a real pistol in his life. Nevertheless he fired eight shots, five of them head shots, the other three upper torso shots, killing 8 children. Where did he get the skill and will to kill? Most likely from violent video games and media violence, pared with a lack of adult guidance.” If these games are banned, the violent mentality could probably reduce significantly. Video Games inventors could create games that involve some kind of educational subjects or moral values. To change a corrupted society we have to start at the mind of our young ones.

Perfect Role Model

Confucius had a particular way of thinking. His teachings’ goal was to create the perfect gentlemen. He talks about Good and what does it mean to be Good. He has very deep quotes and philosophical thoughts. In Book Four he kind of explains what is Good, in Book Five he explains who is Good and who isn’t. In Book Six he simple states some judgments to his pupils and himself. Good is described as the opposite of what today is describes happiness, to be the opposite of greedy and the opposite of materialistic, one who is Good is one who enjoys life without measuring joy in profit. One who cares for the common good and not the personal good. One who is Good is a one who is not interested in Way and who is willing to achieve the Way the best way possible without caring about the “shaggy clothes” 4.10. Something that I did not like about his sayings was that it gives an impression of judgement, as if “he is Good, he isn’t, he is better than he is” and so on… If Confucius was a perfect role model, then he shouldn’t be judging others, he should be rewarding them by who they are and not if they are better or worst than somebody else.

Confucius also talks about fate a little but it drew my attention. “the Master sighed, “That we are going to lose him most be due to fate! How else could such a man be afflicted with such an illness (and we left with nothing we can do)? How else could such a man be afflicted with such an illness?” 6.10. This man, Boniu, was an exceptional man that was probably in the category of “Good” for Confucius. Everything is due to fate. Every step we make is because that’s what our destiny decided to be. I am certain that Confucius is going to talk about it later on. Confucius if I am not wrong created through his teaching a king of a religion, they deeply influenced China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. He has point of view towards morality that made the people meditate and feel related.

The Magic of Words

OH MY GOD! I am so satisfied, even though I am an American, I am very pleased with the fact that Obama is the president of the U.S.A. Something that stands out in his speech, and in every time he talks is the confidence that covers him immensely. He is so calm and so clear at everything that he says; he was no doubt and is completely positive at every word he pronounces. His movements are minimum, he changes his view from one place to another, like talking to each individual personally, his stare is fixed and his eyes don’t move around. He has some hand gestures that reaffirm some of the arguments he is stating. He points sometimes, giving a lot of strength to the word he says. The gestures are not distracting at all; they instead give a lot of “magic” to his speech. He uses a bit of every rhetoric. “WE are and always will be the United States of America” demonstrative and deliberative at the same time. “it was build by working men and women who dug their little savings to give 5$, 10% or 20$ to the cause” He is talking the way his campaign was brought up, this is a use of pathos and ethos because the is telling the people, the struggle he has to go through, and at the same time saying that he is honest and that he worked himself up. “The challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime” deliberative. “There are mothers and father that lay awake when their children are sleeping thinking how they are going to pay the mortgage” that’s a use of pathos. Obama’s words are so strong that when the audience was shown by the cameras, more than one was crying. To produce those feeling in an audience just by speaking is the power of rhetoric.

Stop and Think After You Suffer

Eliezer was a devout believer of God, he was a proud Jew. Until circumstances lead him to loose faith in God. Who wouldn’t? What he was going through was an absolute proof that God was not present, because if he were, He wouldn’t let that happen. He was absurdly tortured, discriminated, exploded and hurt, not only physically but psychological. He questions God’s existence… and whether keeping faithful would keep him alive. All his life he had been faithful and the only consequence was that he was taken to a concentration camp for being a Jew. He relates himself to Job, he understands him because Job also questions God and his power. “Some talked of God, of his mysterious ways, of the sins of the Jewish people, and their future deliverance. But I had ceased to pray. How I sympathized with Job! I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice.” (pg. 42) He has very similar thoughts to those of Job. He talks a lot about darkness and light and relates it to his feelings.
He refers to his days at the camp as a night, and there is no time during the unhappy moments is which he talked about light or sunny days… He only referred to the sun a hot and devastating, as a negative thing. “What are You, my God,” I thought angrily, “compared to this afflicted crowd, proclaiming to You their faith, their anger, their revolt? What does your greatness mean, Lord of the universe, in the face of all this weakness, this decomposition, and this decay? Why do You still trouble their sick minds, their crippled bodies?” (pg63) This is so true! What is his greatness to all the suffering? What does it really mean? It seems ridiculous that they stilled prayed for such an egocentric God, who even when they are decaying, He instills guilt to them so that they have to pray to an invisible God. “Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death? How could I say to Him: “Blessed art Thou, Eternal, Master of the Universe, Who chose ud from all races to be tortured day and night, to see our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, end in crematory? Praised be Thy Name, Thou Who hast chosen us to be butched on Thine altar?” (pg 64) WOW! This is so touching and so deep. I noticed that he talks a lot about “nigh and day”, he mentions it twice in this quote. Just like Job talks about it in his dialogue with his friends and God. I myself relate to him. I started doubting his absolute justice, because my family was going through very difficult times and I was very sick, and we prayed, and God was not present at all, since then I lost total faith and relied my beliefs on science and the universe’s energy .

Black and White... But Not Gray

Job misjudges God. He commits a mistake and thinks that God has less power of what he really has. The Almighty is kind of upset at Job because of questioning him so much. I’ve been asking me throughout the whole “book of Job” when was going God to react to all the thinking and talking of Job. God is not the kind of person who lets everything go by and does nothing about it. He usually reacts and punishes humans for their actions, which is why it is said that God should be feared. Job was continually rebuked because he didn’t fear God enough. Something curious is the reaction of God, he doesn’t punish Job, he punishes his friends! It is …strange. “9: So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.” Job 42. God then suddenly forgives Job easily; he even grants him children and a long happy life. God is particular character, as described on the Bible. He has some expected actions and other that are completely random. He is the good guy, or the mean guy, the creator and the destructor. That’s God.

The Only One Brave Enough To Question Him.

Job seems to be a revolutionary man of the times. He questions and challenges the thoughts of everybody. He has some philosophical believes and is willing to make his friends think differently and scorns at them making them feel insulted. “4: But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.” Job 13. He is himself insulted by the fact that God cannot be spoken to or seen. I like the way he thinks, he is not stupid or dumb, he wants explanations and gets upset. “16: He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.” Job 13. It is the first time I hear the word “hypocrite” in the Bible. I find myself using it very often because at CNG it is kind of a daily problem.

Hypocrite :
Pronunciation [hip-uh-krit]–noun
1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2.a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

Job says that God should be his salvation, not another who thinks himself better, a hypocrite, “who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles,” he doesn’t trust the people, his distrusts the humans, but at the same time does not give all his trust to God. I like the fact that he questions him because it makes the rest of the people, as well, ask for more clearness. His friends, like Elihu, who tries to explain to Job the real God, and how to communicate with him. He tells Job that God communicates by visions, or by pain. For me, there is simply not a God, nor an Almighty, or a LORD. There are us, with our own mind power and capable to reach peace within ourselves without the need of any “being” to make us believe that he is the one who controls everything and who we should fear. The Bible mentions continuously the obligation to fear God. Job is scorned because he doesn’t fear God enough and threatens him. Why should we fear him? If he is supposed to be our salvation then there is no need for fear! I like the characteristics of Job, he is by far the only one brave enough to question Him.

Satan vs GOD

It is all a big fight for power between God and Satan. Job was first blessed by God and then given the power to Satan who wants in some way put Job down. “7: So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.” Job 2. Satan finally talks in the Bible… at least he is mentioned and being part of the main characters. This is when Satan suddenly wants to overtake the power of God and have some himself. He wants to manipulate Job, and is able to make him unhappy…He then starts cursing his own life, comparing it with light and darkness. “2: Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!” Job 6. Satan is one of the many representations of evil, as the serpent is, the darkness, the night and so on. He wants to overtake Job because God has had already too many “pupils” and he is jealous, and is willing to threat God with Job.

As a little girl my grandma once told me the tale of the “devil”. She said that he was one of God’s most loved angels, one of the most honored and loyal one. God loved this angel, he was called Lucifer and was the perfect angel. Lucifer then started to have some ambition for the power of God, to control everything and little by little he started to get some power until he challenged God himself and God had warned him already of his behavior. But he dared to deprave his authority and God had no other option than to send him to hell, where he could be the “god” of his own little evil, dark world. When I heard my grandma telling me this story I was petrified, form the moment you are born you are instilled the fear for the devil, and the whole story saying that this atrocious monster was once a good angel scared me. My conclusion is that you never know what people might end up being, enemies your best friends, best friends your worst enemies. Which leads me to go back to my feeling about judgement, it eventually goes back to you.

Whom I don't hate.

Senator Barack Obama is an amazing speaker. I got chicken skin while hearing him talk! It is really touchy and even though I am not very much into politics this guy made me want to be active on his campaign. I noticed that we kind of divided his speech into three parts, demonstrative, forensic and finally deliberative. He makes the audience be with him all the time and be so focused that in every word not only he puts emphasis to, the audience itself does also. Since the assignment was to recognize the logos, pathos and ethos then I focused on that. I noticed that he uses a lot of pathos when he talks about his family members and that they are his role models because of all the things they have accomplished. He mentions his grandparents, his mother, his wife and girls. “my mother, who had to work so hard and still was able to put her kinds into the best schools with help of school lawns and scholarships” he uses pathos, trying to get the audience feeling somewhat “pity” with the facts that his mother had to work so hard, and yet he also uses ethos because he is saying that he got scholarships, as well as his siblings. I loved the way he attacked Senator John McCain, because he didn’t do it in a way to put him down, but to somehow tell the audience that he is not really worth it in a very civilized way. “It is not that John McCain doesn’t care, John McCain simply doesn’t get it” that is ethos. The whole audience laughs somehow telling themselves “that is so true…” Another way he used pathos was talking in the way the democratic measure progress “we measure progress by how many people have jobs that pay enough to oay the mortgage….we measure progress if a waitress that lives from tips can take a day off to look after a sick child and not loosing her job” WOW that is touchy, it is like if he understood every individual in every sense and if a waitress that heard that had passed through that particular situation heard that she would probably think “JESUS! This man knows what he is talking about”. Obama also talks using logos for example when he is talking the way a country, or in this case U.S.A, should work “ Our government should work for us, not against us, it should help us, not hurt us, is should ensure opportunities not only to millionaires but to every American who is willing to work”

Going a little off the topic about ethos, logos and pathos, Obama seems to be a very good candidate for the presidential role of U.S.A. He is humble, he is strong willing, he is “berraco”, and he is smart and very modest. I like that about him. On the other hand McCain evokes hate in me. I don’t really know what his proposals are but the few time I have heard him speak, it seems to me that is everything but humble or modest. He seems to be self centered and “showy”… Just like George Bush, whom I hate.

Oh... bloody jealousy!

God decided to grant David the powers that Saul had becuase he was divine, and a born king.
"23: And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." David was better off than Saul, and was then prefered by God. This obviously provoked jealousy on Saul. Which made him act wrongly. He envied David deeply because he was a great friend of his son's and he was granted power by God, because he was victorious and was the hero and was his daughter Michal was taken as his wife. And suddenly all that Saul wants is to kill David and overtake him. His own daughter will not let him do that and either will all the people who are with David. At the end he is the author of his own death.
Jealousy is the worst enemy you could ever have. The only one who suffers is yourself because the rest of the people are not affected. It leads you to do things that have no right argument and probably would not make things better. Jealousy is a complex feeling, it is a mixture of anger, unsatisfaction, sadness, impotence, rancor, self-insecurity and other... You feel desperate and there is absolutly no right reason for it. The only cure for that jealousy plague is to let it be and just accept it.

Paradox

David has been mentioned in my life various times as the "character of the Bible". A character from the Bible should be seen as a role model. What I knew about him was that he was a king, the king of Israel if I wasn't mistaken. I also heard the name David in the sculpure of Michael Angelo. If an artist like Michael Angelo creates a sculpture, but not just any sculpture but the one he did and names it "David" then it probably is because the David from the Bible is an important figure.... But he isn't! he commited adultery and slept with another women he saw and liked. Then he make the husband to be killed and does nothing else than to cause trouble. Paradoxic.

Ungratefulness.

Moses didn't appear. He is a very obedient guy. Moses does not hesitate when about God it is. The difference between him and Noah is that at the beginning God came to Noah and told him to build an ark and Noah didn't doubt that it was God who told him that and he did it, on the other hand when God came to Moses and told him to get the sons of Israel out of Egypt and to talk with the Pharaoh, Moses did not recognize him and therefore God gave him proofs. The rod that becomes a snake, the plagues and so on. But once Moses realices that God is God, he is very obedient. Moses does not doubt about the power that LORD God has and he defends him. His character is very honest. Moses is faithful and truthfull. He did everything possible to "save" the sons of Israel. And they are absolutly ungrateful, they misbehave and don't follow tha commanments that God send them. Ungratefulness pisses me off. When you do something for somebody or give love for somebody and all that you get back is hate or just a grown. We are the majority very ungrateful with what we have. A perfect example is the way we have tranformed Earth into garbage, such paradises and wonderful things are almost destroyed. If we start to appreciate a little more what we have maybe we could save Planet Earth.

The Description (Exodus 22-30)

The description of the way the concegrations had to be done, the altar, the "church" is very deep and thorough. It is explained how everycorner should be seen, decorated, colores and iluminated. the way it whoucld be carried on is described with perfect detail. The colors and the way it is explained makes it at come point imagine it and perseve it. The text is VERY monotunous. The same sentences are repeated but with dofferent verb or a different noun or adjective the structure is basically the same. For example:
"13: And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 14: And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
15: The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.
16: And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. " Exodus 25.
The red colored is the verb that changes, the green are the nouns with adjectives that change. The sentence is not ENTIRELY the same but it is simil structure. This makes it boring. Ok, it is style and beautiful languege but with the same structure all along it is not entretaining and you can't get to focus and sometime you loose the track and find yourself obligated to read all over again.

THE Commandments

The famous, marveloues ten ocmmandements suddenly turned into about a hundred! The original comamandments were the following:
"7: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
12: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13: Thou shalt not kill.
14: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15: Thou shalt not steal.
16: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. " Exodus 20.
These are the commandments that you are obligated to learn by heart when you are going to do your First Communion, the commandments that your grandmother reminds you of every time you see her, the commandments that you fear to break because you would go to hell. All my life I have heard of the 10 commandments but in the Exodus I found only 8 of them... Did men later made up the other two?
The punishments that are supposed to be the consequences of not following the commandments are really harsh. "16: And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." If these punishments were still held today, more than a 50% of humannity would be dead. Laws are very important if you analyse it. They are boring and irritating but what would happend if there would be no laws. Chaos, uncontrolable chaos. Everybody would do whatever they want, without punishments society would be unbearable. True it is that on those times everything was harsher, ironicly the values today are much more remarkable and people simply don't do many of the things that are morally wrong. "26: And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake." Exodus 21. Today a man would simply not "smite the eye" of another man, it is wrong.
I didn't know that god gave so many orders to so many cases and punishments for all of them and a different one for every circumstance. "28: If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. " The casesa re very random and unprobable....It is very evident the sexism that there is towards men, women are taken ad animals, below the importance of men. This is the way is has always been in the world.

Debates and Ancient Greece

Senator McCain uses mostly forensic and deliberative of the three the rhetoric tenses.

"We can establish priorities with full transparency and intelligence..." (delibe.)
"We can attack health care and energy at the same time..."(delibe.)
"We get to work right away...."(delib.)
"There has been 5 to 6 low economic times..." (Fore.)
"Last year we lost 700 jobs in America...." (Fore.)

Senator Obama more deliberative tenses in his speeches than the other rhetoric tenses.

"Everyone of you remembers the tragedy of 9/11" (fore)
"One of the opportunities was missed by President Bush..." (fore)
"There is going to be need for energy..." (del.)
"we are going to expolore new ways to..." (del)
"Making sure that every and each one of you ..." (del.)

Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nla-64Vj58Q

Stubborn's consequences

The 9 plagues that were left happened to Egypt becasue of the stubborness of the Pharaoh. Even though he knew that the LORD could easily overtake him, and obviously keep the promises of the plagues he didn't let the children of Israel go. That is absurd, quite stupid. He led his people suffer just because he didn't want to let the Israelites go! Ridiculous and we still have wars happen becuase a leader or a preswident simply did something that shoulnd't have done. What more absurd than Hitler? I feel a great attraction to Hitler's time. It is for me amazing the fact that because a man decided that an ethnic group was lower than another, then it should be extinguished. And the most incredible thing about that is that they believed him! Or at least they were convinced and almost destroyed a religion from the face of the Earth.

I remember hearing a Jewish friend of mine complaining becuase she couldn't eat carbohydrates adn she brought a weird flavorless bread to school. I asked her why she was doing that, and she told me "because I'm Jewish and it is Abib" I didn't quite get it. Abib is a "holiday" that the Jewish have in which they follow the things that their ansestors had to go through when they crossed from Egypt to Israel with Moses becuase they couldn't have leaven and brough from Egypt dough unleavened with them to eat. This is what the jewish still do, for an entire week! The Jewish are very devote, they don't miss a holiday for nayhting in the world and they are very proud of their religion. A reason for them to be so united in their religion is probably because of all the things they've gone through, that have made their religion their reason to live. Christians on the other hand are very lazy and "sinners", now-a-days Christianity has lost many believers and practicants. I am one of them.

The Exodus

The LORD values that are represented in EXODUS are incoherent. The LORD is mad at the Egyptians because of the way they are treating the Hebrews (the sons of Israel) and we intents to destroy them. The LORD whois supposed to be teh savior is himself a racist, and he prefers some people above other and is injust in the text. "22: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians." (Exosus Chapter 3) ";and ye shall spoil the Egyptians." horreble words. Quite shocking to read and realice that the LORD is not the LORD is should be.

The difference in text between the Exodus and Genesis is minimum. It is divided the same way and has pretty much the same structure. Most od the stanzas start with "And..." and the context is the same. Something about he Bilbe that is really curious is that come parts of it are historical facts. I don't know about Ishmael or Isaac or Adam and Eve but what is sure is that Moses did exist, there are historical proofs. Abraham, if I am not wrong is also a historical character. Moses did do the movement of the Israelites from Egypt into Israel, what is not sure is if everything that is described in the EXODUS is true, but the main ideas did happen.
"Here is the first of the ten plagues, the turning of the water into blood. It was a dreadful plague. The sight of such vast rolling streams of blood could not but strike horror. Nothing is more common than water: so wisely has Providence ordered it, and so kindly, that what is so needful and serviceable to the comfort of human life, should be cheap and almost every where to be had; but now the Egyptians must either drink blood, or die for thirst. Egypt was a pleasant land, but the dead fish and blood now rendered it very unpleasant." -http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/?action=getCommentaryText&cid=19&source=2&seq=i.2.7.3-
The tranformation of the Nile River into blood reminded me of a movie I watched with some friends in which the ten plagues of to the end of the world happen one after the other. It made me shiver to see it written in a text. In the movie this is the first plague (supposed to be) and the begginning of the movie. My brother explained to me the plagues and teh reason of them, he told me that they were described in the Bible, I did not pay much attention to him but now that I read it is amazing. The Reaping is the name of the movie.

Loved or Feared?

Abraham the father !! Even though he was old he was ordered to have at least two sons with Sarah. Ishmael and Isaac, Sarah was afraid becuase of her old age. The firt thing that came up in my mind was that generatons have changed the number of children that women have. it has decreased intensly. Most of today's generation's grandfathers come from a family of 10 to 15 children, or even more. Now, more than 3 is a lot. My mother comes from a family of 5 children and my father from a family of also 5 children. My grandmother has 5 siblings and my grandfather has 12 siblings. I have one brother and that's it. Why is that so? There are many factors that contribute to this results.
Women are today more self sufficient. They have gained the control of their lifes and are independant of the men. They are no longer housewifes, they focuse on their jobs and on many other things, they are busy. Women don't live for men anymore. Therefore having more than 2 children is too much for thair daily busy life! Another factor is that anticonceptives are more available today, and people are more aware of the risks it has not to use them. Life today is so fast, full of things to do that there is no time to raise many children.

The more I read the Bilble the more similar it is to greek mythology. the same concepts. A god tells the mortals what tehy should do and if they don't do it then thye would be punished. the Bilble for me is just like anyother book, it irritated me that people worship it and base their actions on the Bible. It is very fictional and non real. The values that God supposly has are contradicted in the Bible. I feel that in the Bilbe you are supposed to fear him because he can punish you, and God is supposed to be love. A self that is the sinonim of love is not supposed to destroy and less be feared.

Many names, places, events, thoughts, one main conclusion.

It is starting to get quite complex with the names and the family tree, which is absurdly broad. The point is that many humans were reproducted and were the responsable for many things to happen on the Earth now inhabited by the human race. The concept of the Babel Tower thrills me. "7: Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8: So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. " Genesis 11. It is amazing but in our own little worlds we live in babel Tower, we don't listen to each other and don't try to understantd each other until conflicts are made and those conflicts become wars and wars are nothing but deaths. The whole world is a huge Babel Tower were we can supposely communicate but don't comprehend the person next to you, or better said don't TRY to comprehend the person next to you. From the 6 Chapters I read the Babel Tower was the one that I was most interested in. It is the reflection of the root of many of the problems we have today. Misuderstandings, getting things wrong and judging based on nothing.

Beautiful Moment

As God reaches his hand for him
he reached his to touch.
The light around was nothing but dim,
but they couldn't care much.
Heaven and Earth connected by two fingers,
while that beautiful moment lingers.

This is what I had to do in order to understand. It is now evident that Adam and Eve were the beginning of all humanity, reproduction started and all the people were slowly created and we now are over 4 billion people on earth. personally I don't believe in the creation of men with Adam and Eve. The evolution theory is far more convincing than "men created out of dust". If i belived in Adan and Eve then probably my great grat (x 1928374932) grandmother is Naamah!!

The Story We Always Knew But Never Know.

"she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Fobidden is so attractive that not even Eve was able to contract herself. There are two things that make the forbidden things be attractive; why are they forbidden? What happens if we do it?. It is immediatly that our mind makes a click when we are told that something should not be done, that you are driven to it. Try this, think of everything but do not think about an elefant! What is the first thing that comes up to your mind? An elefant. If I am not wrong it is called reverse psicology. Some psycologists have tried to apply it to patients with the hope that it will have some good results. It doesn't work on all patients but on others it is effective. Drugs for example. About the 90% of the people that try it is because they are attracted to the fact that it is illegal. What effect you it have if the drugs get legalized? Probably less people will be attracted to them and without a adoubt many deaths would be avoided because of the drugdealing (narcotráfico), but the vice could probably not be beatable, that is out of reach. It teh magic of the forbidden. I remember that one of the first phrases that I learned living is Germany was "Das ist forbodden" = "That is forbidden". Germany is way too strict.

The story of Adam and Eve is so familiar to us and it is so many times narrated that ther are many details that we get wrong. For example I had no idea that Eve was the first to eat and then it was Adam. I didn't know either that the women was created out of the rib of the man. No wonder we are in such a "machista" society. As I read I was trying to discover an ethic group in which the women ruled, but failed to find one. "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife" it is said as if the women was the guilty one for tha whole crime, and that what Adam had done wrong was listening to her. Men have always ruled, it is absolutly unfair. Today, women have taken more control over their lifes, it was about time, after so many discriminations and tortures we had to speak up one way or another. This reminds me of a concept that a very wise friend of mine once told me. She said that the symbol for men was a line, a straight vertical line bacause men used logic, they seeked the beginning and the end of everything, they wanted explanations, and bacause of the shape of their body and their reproductive organ. The symbol of the women was a circle because she didn't have a beginning or an end, she was driven by feeling that had no logical explanation and figured out things through out their feelings, also bacuas eof the shape of their body and their reproductive system. So none of them are wrong and neither of them is better thatn the other, they are acceptable and have the right to be that way, that is why men should no be consider greater than the women.

BOISliving

John Bois appears to be an amazing fellow. He was very intelligent, clever, smart, and was the best of the twelve Translators. Btu for me he was sick. His obsession for books and extreme dicipline are simply not wealthy. His eating habits and routine were not normal and could lead to obsessive personality. Now a days he would had been diagnosed with obsessive habits and would probably had to go to the pshycologist. He fasted twice a week, he ate only twice a day, he read every minute of the day, he didn't love his wife because she happened to be normal! He had no affection for his children, maybe for Mirabel only when she died. Bois, yes, he was gifted, he was a genious, knew prefect Hebrew and Greek and was able to read and write prefectly with both of the languages and probably with a few more, but what sense does it have to be such an extraordinary person when you have no emotional life? It makes no sense at all. Was he pleased with what he accomplished, was he satisfied with the life that he carried? I don't think so, his marriege has frustating and his social life was nule. he was full of debts and to the edge of being broken. Oh! Yes he was such a genious, uselessly.

Why do they make such an enfasis on the money? Whether Bois had paid or not, whether there was any record of the paying? I think it is a little bit off topic. But o take advantage of the issue, money is a controvercial concept. Some say that is not the first thing but comes before the second, other say that it is nothing. The truth is that in the world we live in money IS a crucial thing. There are some exceptions that live happily having very little money. But unfortunatly if money is not arround, very few things are reachable. On the other hand, life should be seen in other prespectives, being healthy is far more important than being rich. Having a reason to live is far more important than having the money to buy a BMW. At CNG, money is given too much importance, I will not forget that in the introction to High School assembly Mr. Mott asked us "what do you want to be in life, a BMW (opening his eyes and smiling) or a Honda (rolling his eyes and smiling ironicly) ?" If in a speech that is supposed to encourage us to be better persons, to have goals and reach them succesfully we are compered to car brands, then why the heck do they ask themselves how come CNG students are so materialistic? Here, the students, sadly including myself, judge other based on the type of cloths they wear, or where they bought them. It's absurd and yet so influencial.

God's Secretaries doesn't give any importance to God itself. It mainly talks about the Translators and their important duty tranforming an "ancient" text into a "modern" text. The Bible had an amazing power, it doesn't anymore as much as it did before. People have realised that the truth isn't written in this book, and that all the explenations aren't found there, but within ourselves. The Bible is the same thing as any other book, the difference is that it was given too much importance. Thing's value are not really what they are but the importance people give to them.

The War of Religion

What is it that makes people intolerant to others' believes??

_________


Modern Myth

The Hero I Should Be

Violet’s most desired wish; the end of her people's suffering.
The demons' plans were to merciless kidnap and kill everybody who didn't follow their rituals, to worship them.

Violet questioned the universe; she asked the all-mighty universe for help, for enlightment to finish with the growing violence.

Violet could not accomplish her task alone. She searched for days for her companion, OH Davidenko, he who was sick of violence.

Violent and Davidenko took four years to make up the perfect plan.
One hundred ninety three innocent people were in the demons’ fists, Violet could not stand it.

Nobody would risk anything to save the human race from extinction, that is why the demons were so ahead and the world so messed up.

OH brave Violet and Davidenko went to the dangerous woods where only the demons could walk on, where every step they took it gets more and more dangerous.

They lasted months walking, stopped only three times to rest, the innocent people couldn’t wait.

They reached the satanic structure. Odd shape with a burning fire floor behind the sharp, jagged bars Violet could disguise the agonizing people, begging for mercy and freedom, which the demons were not going to give them.

Davidenko’s and Violet’s heart was destroyed of pity.

Violet and Davidenko concentrated as to make their power flourish within them. Their fuel, Oh! Was the eternal desire for peace. Their bodies warmed up and they levitated from the ground.

A bubble of peace surrounded Violet. Reaching the jagged bars and wrapped her fingers around them, they dissolved immediately into dust. She grabbed the people’s arms, transmitting freedom to all of them.

A little of everything

Blackness has always been assosiated with evilness, wrong, mystery, etc... Why is that so? In the dark, many things can not be seen, therefore it is far more dangerous and the bad guys are able to do treachery without getting caught. In the dark things are not clear and probably that is why they are not appropiate. The queen has black, but it is not refering to the literally meaning of being black the color, but black the symbol. The symbol that represents all those negative things. But why was this color assaigned to the queen? She doesn't seem evil at all...

What happened in November 5th?
"Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated in England on the 5th of November every year. On this date in the year 1605 a large group of Roman Catholics, led by a man called Guy Fawkes, tried to blow up the House of Parliament. The men were angry because the king had treated them badly and they didn't like it. The plan they had was called the Gunpowder Plot. " http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/gregory.html
"The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, or the Powder Treason, as it was known at the time,was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the king, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The conspirators had also planned to abduct the royal children, not present in Parliament, and incite a popular revolt in the Midlands." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot

Quite an important day for England History, in the text it is associated with September 11th 2001, an act of terrorism. In which an important building or place was attacked. Both were for political reasons just like most of the conflicts there are in the world. Political or religious are the most controvercial issues. "November 5 1605 was a day that changed the history of England."

I don't understand what is a "plotter", is it a person who creates problems? or a person who creates a plan for something? Interesting termology. If I understand the word's meanig as a person who plans out a scheme, then for example Osama Bin Laden would be the perfect representation of a plotter. He was able to control 4 airplanes and make then crash into two of the highest buildings on earth without geting CAUGHT! Adolf Hitler is also a perfect example. he planned out to extinguish a whole human race, and was almost succesfull.

I find torture an infame activity, absolutly useless and ridiculous. Is it logical to make people confess a crime that probably were not guilty of, but were forced to say "I commited it" because of the pain they are going through. It is so hard to belive that today, they still practice torture. In Irak and in all those far way countries were war is the daily food. Amazingly absurd.

Jamesdom.

WOW! It was long and quite complex. About 35% of the words I was not able to understand. If I am not wrong, it is British english, which is very different from the American English, which I am used to. Nevertheless the language is beautiful and the word usage is splendid.

James' personality is very egocentric, he was condemned to be a king and since he was an infant he is so. Once he is assigned to be king of England his power rises a lot,along with his ego. England has always been a powerful country and in those times it was one of the most powerful. Today it occupays the 3rd place of the most expensive countries in the world. James is also judged when he sat in the throne. British people seem to be very arrogant. They give him a golden cup and treat him with luxury just to show off infront of him. Queen Elizabeth was also interested in the "good social class" of England's throne. This is why she kept on sending money for James. Probably James' character is so because he never had parents, as I undertood in the text his dad was never present or for some reason he was distant from James and his mother had died. The presence of parents, mark a difference in a person's values and morals.

I can't imagine what would it be to be a noble person in those times. It is absurd luxury and all the power is in your words and orders. Without a doubt I would hate to be part of that monarchy of hiprocrites and fake happiness. Freedom does not take place at any moment. I hate that kind of life. Since you have everything already, what is the essence of life? There is nothing more satisfactory than getting something that you won by yourself. Nobles simply are born rich and have everything figured out for ever. Boring, monotomous, and flavorless. I like the kind of life I carry, but I have to admit that I am very fortunate and many things in my life were figured out for me. I would like to experience what it is to be less priviledged and gain everything by myself.

THE AUTHORS

These translators are, according to the text, the perfect ones. They were able to make a text understandable for any decade. They took the skills of others and the art of language and converted it into The King James Bilble. Tyndale was a role model of literacy but was not able to be as good as the authors did, he was a helpful hand for them to get to that level of literacy.

The truth is that I really want to read the book because I did not understand the preface fully. I don't know what authors it is talking about and what The King James Bilbe is. I hope I get to meet the high literacy that the text is supposed to be.

CLICHE!!

The first time i heard the word cliché was in a song that I LOVE!! Hercules jajajajaja:

Who d'ya think you're kiddin'?
He's the earth and heaven to you
Try to keep it hidden
Honey, we can see right through you
Girl, ya can't conceal it
We know how ya feel and Who you're thinkin' of

No chance, no way
I won't say it, no, no
You swoon, you sigh
Why deny it, uh-oh
It's too cliché
I won't say I'm in love

Since then I really wanted to figure out what i meant, now I know.
Movies with cliché titles:

• Boys dont cry
• Do the right thing
• End of days
• Hero
• The Family Man

Spelling practice....

In the repectedly order.

1. where, wear, we're.
2. to, two, too
3. concious, conciounce.
4. led, lead.
5. their, they're, there.
6. idea, ideal.
7. than, then
8. it's, its
9. you're, your
10. advise, advice.

Consequences..........AGAIN

True it is that when you are warned, you should not fall. True it is also that we constantly fall!! The prohibitions are the most attractive thing to do. If your mom tells you "don't climb the tree, you might fall" the first thing that comes up to your mind is to climb the tree and see what happens. It sounds stupid but i don't believe that there is anybody on this Earth that has not done the forbidden. It is simply attractive. "Beware how you expose yourself to danger and put my happiness to risk." Venus warns Adonis, and nevertheless he goes on and does it! Funny how human mind works, ironically.

Hyacinthus died in an accident caused by Apollo, which does not mean that Apollo was guilty. He simply died. That is a consequence of living, dying, it is not difficult to understand and yet SO hard to accept. I discussed this in a previous blog. Death is a endless subject.

Ceyx died, and halcuone does not want to accept it. I now realice that almost all myths have that base, someone dies and the other, the one left behind, is not willing to accept it. This is selfishness. Once a person dies, you dry because YOU want him/her to be by YOUR side, to help YOU, to love YOU, to take care of YOU, to make YOU happy, and the truth is that this person is gone because he/she had to go. My father once told me that when his mother died, he decided not to cry but to celebrate the teaching and her love that she had left him. It is a wise decition of his, and even though it hurt him he kep the promise. DEath is and endless subject.

Is our will truthful?

Glaucus fell inlove with Scylla but she is ungratefull and scolds him. He asks Circe for help but she just scold him for being inlove with such a shameful maiden, he cannot resist his love and refuses to apply Circe's advice, “Sooner shall trees grow at the bottom of the ocean, and sea-weed on the top of the mountains, than I will cease to love Scylla, and her alone.”Meanwhile Scylla is punished by the goddess and becomes horrible. What is the myth describing? What can I interpret from the tale? Scylla is ungrateful for all the promises that Glaucus gives her and is indignant. I think that is a common situation, sometimes you are simply not interested in the other person while he is dying for you. There is no need to be punished for that, probably the goddess Circe was jealous, she wanted Glaucus to look at her and not to look at Scylla.

Pygmalion hated women. he sculpured a beautiful one in ivory and ended up inlove with it. Prayed to Venus for the ivory to become his wife, and so it did. He fell inlove with his own art and regreted his hatred against women, what does it really mean? That he is selfcentered? COuld it be that we just love our creations and not the others? Pygmalion obsessed with the ivory and treated beautifully, because she could not reply to him. He needed just some kind of a company, until he felt alone because he had no love back. He looked for the perfect women, which doesn't exist, neither does the perfect man exists.

Wow, fatal ending for no fatal action. Dryope did nothing wrong, she was naiive and ripped some floers with no intention to hurt anybody, but was harshly condemned to be a tree and give up her sister, father, baby, and husband! Life is unfair, absolutly unfair. We get punished for being innocent and the guilty are not punished at all. That is the way it works and there nothing to do about it.

Greed, punishment, misfortune.

I loved Mida's myth! The king Midas, as a wish after taking care of a contryman asks that everything he touches becomes gold. Unbeknown to him of the consequences of his wish. He is happy and joyful that everything he touches becomes gold but then he realices that he cannot eat and he is starving because every food he touches turns into gold! He is desperate and asks the gods to take the power off him. Midas then goes to a river and takes it off. How many people in the world are ridicoulously wealthy and are absolutly unhappy? Too many. A proof of this are the celebrities, they are milionnairs and most of them are in trouble, have gotten arrested, in rehab, commited suicide, etc... Nevertheless people still wish for more money, for more power and are still not concious that wealth does not bring happiness! Not untill people crash against the wall, they are smart enough to see it. The real wealth we should all be seeking for is mental wealth. To be at peace, to experience love, to be happy and satisfied with ourselves.
The second part of the myth is that Apollo punished Midas with misformed ears and Midas, ashemed tries to hide it from everyone but his hairstylist is the only one who knows it and is ordered to keep it secret. the hair stylist cannot stand anymore and goes to the mountain and diggs a hole where he whispers the secret that is them revealed to everyone with the growth of weeds in the same spot! This story was familiar to me. My mom once read it to me from a children's book but it had a different context, now I am aware where it came from; Greek mythology.
In the Baucis&Philemon myth...
Humbleness, society lacks this value so much that we have forgotten what it is. To be humble is to appreciate what you have and not brag about it. To be helpful eventhough you yourself are not in the best situation. It may also apply to a person who is very fortunate (wealthy, beautiful, ect.) and care about others anyway. To get away from the egocentrism, selfishnesh and greed and be the total opposite. There are examples of this people, quite scarce but they exist. Shakira is one of them. She is a billionaire and her behaivior shows the opposite. Her perfomances are barefoot, her dauly clothes are simple, her makeup is none, she uses no jewerly and her smile and talent are the only "expensive" things she wears. She takes advantage of her money, but for other building schools and creating assosiations fro the well being of the not so fortunate. That is a perfect model of a humble person. It is a value we should still in ourselfs and without a doubt we would be rewardes, jut like Bauchis and Philemon were.
Proserpine lost her daughter and is very disturbed, she makes a huge drama and cannot accept it. It most be horreble to loose a child. To have a son or a daughter is like giving up a part of you. You love them more than you love yourself, you care for their well being more than you care for yours, loosing it is worst than loosing your life. (brief analysis)

Jealousy. Why do we feel jealous? What provokes that feeling? What is the real reason for that feeling to appear? It is a confusing to understand, and very stupid, if you think about it feeling jealous is absolutly useless. People better than us instill that feeling on us, we envy anyone who has a better life than we do, why? We at least have a life and instead of feel jealous we should simply try to inprove ours and there is no need to blame somebady else for our unsatisfactory life. Self confidence is the real reason. When I am sure who I am, what I can accomplish, my value, there is no need to be jealous of anyone because I feel happy with myself. We feel jealous because we dont trsut ourself we fear to loose to anyone, to fail, not to be good enough. We need to blame someone else for our own fear. This is how Juno acts.

MYTH GRADING RUBRIC

Fluency/Clear Ideas

1. The writer's piece is hard to understand, difficult to read and unclear ideas.
2. The writer's piece has somethings not very clear, most are fluent and many are confusing.
3. The writer's piece is easy to follow and it has good fluency.

Word usage /Grammar

1. The writer makes more than five mistakes and uses simple words (run-on sentences, spelling, puntuation, etc..)
2. The writer makes no mistakes and has interesting words.
3. The writer varies sentence length, uses perfect puntuation, and masters complex words.

Answering the QUESTions

1. The writer has no hero and no questions are answered.
2. The writer answers the three questions, has a hero but does not represent it a throroughly.
3. The writer completes the quidelines and through his hero the three questions are answered.

Creativity

1. The writer has a blut, unrelated title, unattractive hook and a simple writing.
2. The writer has an appropiete title and a good hook.
3. The writer used creative and appropiete title and hook, and has an interesting writing.

Unfair LOVE

Oh my God! I loved the myth of Apollo and Daphne, it is so sad but so true! I felt absolutly reflected in the myth. Apollo was stuck by Cupid with an arrow of love and Daphne with an arrow to repel love. All she wants is to run away from men and avoid love and marriage in every way she can. She is so beautiful and pretty that she attracks everyone that she encounters. Apollo is madly inlove with her but even though he tries as hard as possible she is not willing to love him back. He is one of the wisest of the gods, "Apollo loved her, and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes." He could not do anything regarding love. It is the top most uncontrolable feeling, nobody decides who they fall in love with. Funny, isn't it? For me, love is the most important thing of live, along with peace and happiness. What is life without love? Being the most vital thing, we should be able to control it, but it is out of our hands completly.

This myths describes the phenomenom of falling in love alone. In the movie The Holiday, Kate Winslet talks about all kind of love; inconditional, crazy, distant, and the worst of all, lonely love. It is so horrible, unbearable. The one inlove does plans everything to catch the other one, the owner of her/his heart but the other one has absolutly no will to do anything to establish a relationship. Tough for the inlove person, and anyoing to the other.

Pyramus and Thisbe's myth is quite tragic. Reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, their love is insane and eternal and one commits suicide believing that the other is dead, and it isn't so, when the lover finds out the suicide kills him(her)self and both end up dead! Love is crazy, blind, notunderstandable, unbearable and mean, but at the same time incondicional. Operas are also like the myth, a tragedy, in which everybody ends up dead because of the wrong reason.

Cephalus and Procitus myth is so tragic as well, I am starting to understand why the Greek tragedies are the root of all other tragedies. It basically talks about the same thing, love. Jealousy and misunderstandings that lead to .....DEATH. Communnication is the key to solve all problems, the lak of it lead to big issues and complex trouble. Many realtionships end because of its lack, what is necesary for it not to happen?!

The different types of strengths

Hercules is a very known mythological character, it is part of every child's life. If you are stong you are hercules. In the disney movie, it is obviously modified and adapted for a children's movie. Form the original greek myth Hercules has to go through a lot of difficulties to please Eurystheus ;"Another task enjoined him was to bring to Eurystheus the oxen of Geryon", "Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of this monster." Hercules, even though a hero is never the most powerful. He was just the servant. In today's life many heroes are the ones that are servants, they simply please the one in power. Setting as an example Colombia, all the soldiers go through the difficult taks and beat down the "mosters" while Uribe just sends them to do it. what would happen if the hero was Uribe??

Dejanira, Hercules' wife, ends up killing her husband and herself because of greednes and jealousy. Sometimes impolses driven by strong emotions lead to calamities. Negatives feeling arre the most destructive weapon, it's control is very difficult and hard to manage. That is why it is always better to think and then act, there is a less chance for regrets.

Theseus was able to conquer the minotaour by using the help of the daughter of Minos, her plan was logical and not based on brute force. That way he triumphed. This is applicable to everything in life, brutal force is useless. The mind strength has much more power than physical strength. If you control your thoughts and feelings it is easily to manage your body to do wahteever you need it to do. Greek mythology usuall talks about heroes going through tough obstacles to reach a goal, that is why most of them are epics. The series of tasks are a represanteation of what life is all about. overcoming problems in the smartest way possible to be prepared to overcome the next one and so on and be the hero of your own life.

The origins of all our children's characters.

Medusa!! She is the mean octopus from Little Mermaid, she is gray haired and does everything possible to hurt Ariel. I was really scared of her. She is in fact part of Greek mythology, she is a Gorgon, which are monters that represent the terrors of the sea. Of course her characteristics are modified, she does not convert people into stone at her sight, but she is aterrible creature and does nothing else but harm to others, she is feared from everybody. She is finally dead.


Why is it that most mythology have the same characteristics? There are eternal enemies, extreme beauty (other adjectives..), death, punishment and death. The punishments that the characters, monsters, gods or mortals receive are way too harsh. For me the punishments that god, supposely, give to humans when we sin are harch as well, or at least they make it seem as the worst torture there could be. "You will go to hell and burn eternaly in flames and fire, without a day of joy!!" MEN! That's fearful.

There are also many names involved and a complex story behind each of them. They, I guess, are interpretations of the different kind of people there are in our society, obviously exagerated and overdimentioned. But they have the same feelings that humans do, like anger, jealousy, greed, and so on. They are a very important part of out history and popular knowledge. They usually try to give an explanation or a story behind the creations of certain things; the horse for example or the olives, given by Neptune and Minerva to win the rule of Athens.

Mr. Tangen, I don't see the point we should be getting at by reading these small stories. I am informing myself od the different mythological creatures and stories there are in Greek mythology. I hope we discuss this in class.

the mosters....!!

#12.

Confusing, I haven't really been able to understand what I am supposed to read... I read de 6 links of #12 and I am completly lost. MAny names, different stories and descriptions that have nothing to do 0ne with the other. Many types of mythological creatures have been named, centauros, cyclopes, sphinx, dwarfs, and griffins. They will always be part of our history, the are very important because they are entretaining. They have many stories behind and have been used to make a story more interesting, for example Harry Potter, of the Chronicles of Narnia. Dward, centaurs and sphinxes are part of our lives. We all know what they are but not really why they were created.

I really want to talk about it in class and discuss it with the rest of the students.

Nether World, no justice

It seems to be that Nether World is just like the world today. Not fair and unjust. Depending of the thing you have or in this case how many sons you have, you are treated in a certain way and have a higher or lower range. As Enkidu told Gilgamesh how was it in Nether World he described how the men that had 1, 2, 3, ....7 sons were treated. It is evident that the men that had more sons had much more priviledges, in today's world the ones that have more money have more priviledges, it is the same principle. Gilgamesh reflects the society that has been separated into classes since the beggining of times and even though we try to fight it, it is probably always going to be that way.

There is something else that got my attention, how come Enkidu becomes Gilgamesh servant and how is it possible that they can talk. Enkidu was supposed to be dead while Gilgamesh was alive. Since it is an epic, everythign is possible but an explaination is needed.

If I analyse the whole novel and draw a conclution about it, it would be that it pretty much reflects the society we live in, it is the first novel written and it obviously has a different way of looking at it, but if you think about it, it describes a lot of today's issues. Tyranny, the will of power and greed for more, the desire to be younger, the fear of death, the distance to nature (gilgamesh) and the endless war we have with it, trying to conquer it and rule it. The religion, and believes. It is a good novel, it is a little difficult to understand at the beginning but then you get the hang of it. Many subjects and doubts could be drawn from the novel.

The seek of an "eternal life"

Quite parodoxic. I would guess that if my best friend, my companion, my borther die, the first thing I would wish to be is dead, but not seek for an eternal life. I would miss him too much, I wouldn't be able to stand being alive without him by my side knowing that he died without being me able to save him! I don't understand Gilgamesh reaction, the first thing he goes at to do is to find inmortality! Enkidu's death freaked him out! He fears death more thatn ever and his egocentrism leads him to do everything possible not to experience it. Absurd.

Death, a very debatable topic. Some say that we ought to do well in life so that when we die we go to heaven, on the contrary we would got to hell. Mother Culture says that to us since the day we are born. We grow uo thinking that, the "eternal life" comes after this life, if you are good your prise is heaven, if you sin your consequence is hell. This strongly disturbs me. I coudn't disagree more with that B.S. (sorry). Why should be base our actions and desitions on an eternal life we can't even prove to be real. What really matters and is important is today, no more but today. Do the best today, what for? For today, not for a stupid "eternal life". The desitions we take today affects us today, and will affect us everyday, why to worry about what happens when we die, if we are living? It is absurd, but the most amazing of this is that a very large porcent of the sosiety believes in this. The only thing that is nto denyable is the fact that nobody can be saved from dying, is the fate that we ALL have in common, and nevertheless we keep on avoiding it. Everybody fears death, because it is unknown. What would happen if we didn't fear death? We would probably live ourlifes to the limit! Doing all that our heart leads us to without even doubting it, we would accomplish so many things. Death is just a disguise, we don't know the real of it, why to be afraid? The real fears that could be accepted is to reach old age and know that you haven't lived your life the way it should be lived.

Amazing how we can relate, today with Gilgamesh, it is so evident, hilarious actually. "How-The-Old-Man-Once-Again-Becomes-a-Young-Man in the name of the plant that grows under the waters."pg 79. Today's name is "Botox" !! It is not a very profound analysis, but it actually shows us that we haven't really changed that much. Our goal is still be younger that what we are, we are still scared of growing old, why? Why should we? We are not satisfied with ourselves, and wanting to appear younger is just a way of saying that we want a second chance to do the things all over again.