Symposium

What is love?  A few different answers are provided in this text.

There is the story of love - seeking love, one's soulmate or other half and an explanation for one's orientation coupled with a fantastic creation myth!

There is the story of love - sexual love or lust.

There is the story of love - guidance to a life of virtue, the importance of the role of a mentor to another.

There is the story of love - framed as the pursuit of happiness and/or abstract knowledge/wisdom (Socrates and Diotima) and as means to achieve immortality.  (1) Physical immortality = you are never the same and you are mortal.  Perpetual procreation by offsprings after offpsrings will ensure that you (your genes) live on forever.  (2) Mental/Spiritual immortality = guidance through mentorship, passing down or "reproducing/giving birth" knowledge to a life of virtue (43-45).  What struck me on page 45 is the similarities to ideas expounded in the Bhagavad Gita on fleeting moments or the ephemeral nature of life.  There is also a quality mentioned that is reminiscent of non-attachment on page 48, in that something or an idea (e.g. beauty) just is.  The slow process in the search for wisdom is also reminiscent of Siddhartha Gautama's slow search eventually leading to enlightenment or Buddhahood.

After class thoughts: The Form of Beauty and more generally, Plato's theory of forms, again reminds me of Buddhist ideas.  When one achieves oneness with one's form (e.g. a dog that is most doglike in its abstraction) is to be the ultimate being, godlike, reaching Budhhahood.

Genesis

This marks the first time that I have picked up a bible in my life!

I enjoyed ch1-3 but from ch4 onwards, I found numerous contradictions and/or inconsistencies. This made it really hard to follow the text (especially the genealogy parts).  I understand that the stories within this text were passed down orally, hence when reproduced in written form, gaps in continuity become a prominent feature.  However, that said, I do not understand how anyone can take the bible literally given the numerous inconsistencies within this story. e.g. God said that man would live 120 years yet later in the story, man would live much beyond this age.

I do not fully understand the symbolism within the story, nor am I familiar with biblical knowledge/history but I find it interesting that the serpent is a symbol of evil in Genesis yet in other cultures, the serpent represents something positive.  I wonder if Christianity as it is written in the current form of Genesis co-opts older religions in which the serpent is a positive symbol (e.g. Ouroboros) and changes it into a negative symbol to 'entice' people to embrace Christianity.

The change in tone is also very interesting.  In ch2, nakedness was not something to be ashamed of (25) yet later on, it is. (20-25) Lines from this text have been used by various groups to promote their own cause.  e.g. Nudists using verse 25 to promote their lifestyle noting that this is the way we are supposed to be, as we were in the Garden of Eden.

God in Genesis appears to me to be childish, hateful/vengeful, women-hating.  Stories are always open to individual interpretation, of course. The is no right or wrong (or is there?)  This God seems to seek obedience (or revenge) on mankind by any means necessary!

Genesis is to me many things including:
1. a creation myth (how we have night/day, earth/sky, man/woman, etc.).
2. a myth to justify the "Chosen People" based on the genealogy story.
3. a story to guide gender relations (in favour of men).
4. a story of what we can do to nature and other creatures on earth (some read 'dominion' as the right to conquer.  Others read it as stewardship over earth and its creatures).


After class thoughts: Both reason and passion guide me in spirituality although it may be argued that reason trumps passion in this case.  I find the story of Genesis to be highly convoluted.  I am not able to reason myself into using this text as a philosophy to guide my life.  I think a better understanding of the roots of Genesis and more generally, Christianity would help to alleviate my confusion.  I thought it interesting that the question of whether astronomy and/or astrology factor into the story of Genesis - something that I have never given any thought to.