Weekly Journal 2
Thursday August 30, 2018 11:10–12:30 (class)
Thinking of 5 questions took me longer than I thought, because the assignment was 5 “biggest” questions. I do not even know what I ask myself on a daily basis, let alone all human beings. I did know the cliche however, asking about one’s purpose. From that point on I stayed along the lines of questioning divinity and self worth/calling. Luckily I did not miss the mark too much considering the whole class thought of pretty much the same questions. However I do wish I asked myself about self-control and determination because that is something I want to work on this semester, so I’m glad my classmates thought of those. I believe that humans consider these questions so important because it gives them some type of explanation, or an attempt, of who we are. But as seen through the class discussion, how the question is asked determines the answer. Making the question more general or specific prompts you to get deeper into what was being asked. Asking what my purpose is, is different from asking what our purpose is as humans. Maybe I do not have a purpose and I am only here because my parents wanted 4 kids. Looking back I think asking what am I meant to do or what my goals are I am able to get a better answer. After the class discussion do I even think we have purposes, or do we just wish we had one? Usually if you ask a person what their purpose is they will say something over the top like to end world hunger or find a cure to cancer. Therefore I think it is true that we are overly concerned with purpose, there are too many people on this planet for us all to have our own specific purpose. The first piece of literature that comes to mind dealing with the answer to purpose are religious works. Religion usually tries to give answers by connecting them to whatever higher power is in charge. Christians are taught that Jesus died on the the cross for our sins. Does that mean that was his purpose, or is our purpose to repay him for all that he has done? Philosophers kind of fall into that same box even though they are not any kind of God. They try to explain something that is bigger than all of us with their big words and deep thought, but it goes over your head if philosophy or religion are not your thing so in my opinion they do not really further any true explanation of purpose (for the general public). The roles song and film have with any purpose explanation is minimal. If you do not listen to an artist or like a movie genre than those attempts at an explanation will not even make it to you, therefore leaving it up to whatever you believe. At the end of the day whatever I think my purpose is, is what it is going to be. Nobody else should be able to tell me why I am here or what I should do, and I do not think anything else can help me come to that conclusion.
Monday September 3, 2018 10:00–12:00 (reading)
Never have I ever had to define what the word myth meant, I just knew what it meant in a sentence. I know that Goldilocks and The Three Bears is folklore, Robin Hood is probably a legend and all the Greek/Roman stories I have heard since elementary classifies as mythology. Before reading the first 30 or so pages in the textbook I would have thought that there might be more than one definition to what a myth is, like isn’t a myth just a myth? If somebody asked me what a myth was I would probably say that it is an elaborate story that has been passed down by generations with some kind of magical element included. Understanding the complexities of classical myths starts with knowing who is involved. The family tree at the beginning of the text was probably the best thing the author ever did. I mean it is not absolutely imperative to know who belongs to who, but it makes understanding why things happen the way they do that much easier. I also had a hard time reading the 30-ish pages because nothing was happening so it wasn’t very interesting. I guess talking about the evolution of mythology in terms of time period and geographical location is important to how we use it today, it just was not all that interesting. I don’t really know anything about other kinds of mythology so that might be one of the only things I gained from the reading.
Tuesday September 4, 2018 11:10–12:30 (class)
We began class by attempting to answer, how do we (or should we) experience/participate in stories and myths beyond just learning/reading/seeing them? Sometimes it is hard for me to think of an answer to a question like that without examples and a box to put my answers in. Luckily for me we were given Easter, Thanksgiving and Star Wars. The story of Easter has a sacred aspect to it that separates itself from the the events mentioned. It is a religious holiday that connects us regular folk to the divine, so of course there are some “rituals” that take place for us to interact. Thanksgiving is another holiday, but lacks the religious attitude of Easter. Both are stories that are retold time after time, but why? You would probably be called a bad Christian of you forgot the story of Jesus being crucified and rising from the dead. You learn the story of pilgrims and Native Americans feasting together when you are young, but not much after that. Yes you learn about Good Friday And Palm Sunday at a young age but it is reinforced in church every year. Thanksgiving on the other hand I just worry about eating and do not even think about the first Thanksgiving so many years ago. Because Easter is meant for a God that people worship, it it taken much more seriously. Of course I am always thankful and appreciate Thanksgiving, but I believe the two differ for that reason. Do we interact with them differently because one may be a myth/legend (no specifics here) that we are always told, or does religion just make everything that much more serious? Star Wars is just one of those things people interact with for the fun and thrill of it. I am a Harry Potter person myself so I do not understand the hype behind lightsabers and space stuff. But I guess it gives you something else to “believe in” because it is a fantasy world that is bigger than you. Because Star Wars is the most fake of the three mentioned, it’s easy to recreate it. A new Easter story with new characters would never happen. The story of the first Thanksgiving has already been established so it would be kind of weird for us to all of a sudden add a new story line. Star Wars on the other hand changes as its demographics change. The writers are able to add things that make it more interesting to keep people engaged in the Star Wars world, which in my opinion is an advantage. Just how stuff keeps coming out for Harry Potter and we already know how it ended. Stuff we never really heard about or got deep into in the original series can be sold for more profit because it keeps hardcore Harry Potter fans interested in the world, they can live it now. I do not become a pilgrim or get placed at the cross with Jesus, but I can become Princess Leia (or Hermione in my case) which could make up for it I guess. We get all the aspects of what we want with these three — divine connection, a nice dinner and a fake space world.
Wednesday September 5, 2018 6:00–8:30 (reading)
It was either the 9th grade or elementary school when I read the Odyssey in class. I didn’t remember any details just that his journey was long and dramatic. Before reading it and refreshing my memory, I wondered why he do all those crazy things in the story? Was it because he had to or did he choose to take the hard path? Dis his journey have something to do with a God’s wrath or was it just coincidental? Or was Odysseus just incident-prone and his path was inevitable? I didn't know if any of my initial questions had an answer, but when reading stories more than once you tend to pick up something new every time. Because we start the story in book 11, I have to understand that much happens before then. I hate not knowing what leads up to things I feel like I’m missing out. But this time I am okay with it because that would be a lot to read my brain might explode. I guess all that is necessary is that the Trojan War is the war of all wars, long and bloody. Odysseus’ beloved wife is back home and they both long for his return, obviously the world had other plans. Also that most heroes are not Godly themselves but seem divine to those who look up to them. Does all Classical Mythology have some type of prophecy that get ironically fulfilled? Because Odysseus went through some major grief and destruction all because he did what he was told not to. If I had to describe the story in one word, it woud be dark. From the beginning everything about his journey is related to grief and darkness. For some reason the whole time I was reading I kept thinking about that one time I saw Percy Jackson. Every god and demigod were all seen and mentioned, kind of like how Odysseus seems to see everybody who ever existed in mythology while in the Underworld. Percy Jackson also had a crazy journey, just less dark I guess. Book 11 did not really answer any of my questions considering it was set in pretty much one place. I had never heard of the majority of the names he had seen during his time in Hades so now those are more questions that arise. Who are all these people and what do they have to do with Odysseus and his horrible journey?