Final Paper

Checkmate

            My profound learning as a result of the class is a deeper understanding of the concept of suffering and the impact it has on the lives of all people. The story of Job conveys much wisdom in the understanding of suffering. I am intrigued by the notion that suffering afflicts all people, both wicked and just, in our daily lives as we are finding ourselves immersed in the competition between God and the Devil for retribution and forgiveness. The concept of suffering, now that I am filled with the epiphanies of the whirlwind, makes an immense difference in my life, and how I perceive life. It is clear that peace is more profound after suffering.

            Job was an honest man who put all his faith, love, and loyalty into God. He was prosperous and had many possessions. Above all, he worshiped the Lord fully with no temptation in his heart to betray or love another. Yet, to test him, God makes a deal with the Devil to test Job’s loyalty and love. All of Job’s belongings are taken away from him, he is struck down with plagues, but still he does not curse God. Job’s friends speak to him, primarily Eliphaz, telling him, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth” (Job 22: 21-22). The meaning of this passage suggests that we should, submit and devote ourselves to God and be at peace with him.  In doing so, prosperity and livelihood will come to you. Accept ‘law’ from his mouth and then speak his words of wisdom through yourself. But this just angered Job because he already knew this to be true. He already knew he loved God with all his heart, and that his friends were wrong, for they assumed since he was being punished he must be wicked and sinning. He therefore rebuts them and spends all of 24:12 telling them of the wicked and how God does not look at those who have done wrong and afflict them out of anger.  Rather, he continues to love them in an ever-growing manner. Even though Job whined within his heart, he ultimately knew that God loved him throughout his sufferings, and within his heart he knew he had done no wrong. Job has an epiphany that God allows for all to suffer, not just the wicked, and that this does not deplete the love God has for his children.

            I believe to this day, God and the Devil are still in competition for our souls and loyalty. Each day we are confronted with situations that can lead to suffering and hardships even if we choose to do the right things; the choice between paths is left in our hands. God still allows for the good to suffer, and every time they are suffering, it is a test of their faith in him. The afflicted, those enduring suffering have a choice to “curse God and die” or continue to live within his embrace and love. We are pawns in a giant game of chess between God and the Devil, and I can now see it much more clearly. Today it might occur like this: Both of them in a coffee shop with hot cups of joe, sitting in chairs contemplating their next move. They are surrounded by leather bound books of ancient philosophers and the Devil has a pipe in his mouth, takes it out momentarily to say, “I’ll take your knights good sir, and now I am one step closer to your king”. And God responds, “Not so fast, I believe you just sacrificed your queen”. Everyday is a new bet for our souls, yet God has the utmost faith in us. The irony is, as soon as suffering is cast upon us, we lose faith in him.

            We talked about how God can allow for people, both innocent and wicked alike, to be punished. The idea of unjust punishment was overwhelming. For example little children being struck with Polio and dying have no control, God just allows it to happen. In my mind, when I think of unjust punishment, the Holocaust consumes my thoughts. Thousands of innocent people are persecuted for their religion, or even the color of their eyes or hair (not being of the Aryan race). Women and children gassed and slaughtered, innocents that put their faith in a higher power who ultimately allows for their suffering and death. Suffering is innate.  For some ungodly reason, we are attracted to suffering. Think about it; most current media, movies and some books, depict some level of suffering and people flock to it. The movie “Jackass” shows extreme suffering and the masses are going crazy for it. Surely you can remember that day you were driving on the freeway, and there was an accident, and everyone slowed down to gawk at the accident to see if anyone was injured, dead, or suffering. This type of suffering is cathartic, in that by viewing the supposed carnage of the accident, this allows the viewer to experience the cleansing effects of suffering without experiencing the physical pains.  It is human nature to be curious, but it is sad that suffering in some aspect is an intriguing part of life. Before our class, I viewed suffering as a punishment, as if I did in fact do something to deserve the heartbreak or loss. But now, after understanding how suffering works, I look at it as a rock in my path, a boulder that can be overcome and moved aside, “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?”(Job, 28.12).  To me, this place of understanding and newfound wisdom lays within the realm of suffering and perseverance to overcome obstacles. We must suffer and be afflicted with the unfamiliar and unwanted in order to gain wisdom and strength. Through our understanding of how pain works we can understand the world and stay on our paths, boulder or no boulder.

            Another part of suffering I learned about was Northrop Frye’s concepts of the cave and the furnace. Prior to the class, I had no knowledge of a furnace or cave, mountain or even garden. Then Frye discussed various elements of life both physical and metaphysical. During our periods of suffering, or even reminiscing on our pasts we enter a place called the cave. The cave is a realm of darkness in which dreams and spirits (shades) dwell, and have the ability to fill in the Lacunas of our lives. These worlds also incorporate journeys primarily the heroes journey in which they must suffer at one point, and they are either helped by their spirit guides, “…Magical objects assist good people or are perverted by bad ones” (Frye 233). These entities help the traveler either ascend up and break through the suffering and darkness, or descend downward into the furnace. Understanding suffering helped me read through Frye’s chapter on the cave. It allowed for me to understand the purpose of our dreams and the subconscious pertaining to suffering and pain. This type of pain or journey allows for people to ascend and overcome their struggles through perseverance and faith.

                        After Job passed through his tests, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”(Job, 42.12). The same goes for people today, we must suffer in some way, but we can allow for this suffering knowing that something better is just around the corner. William Blake once stated, “Great things are done when men and mountains meet”. Once we pick ourselves up from the cave or furnace of suffering, gain the wisdom or knowledge needed from this suffering and start our assent up to the mountain and garden we can expect a new kind of peace in our lives throughout all the hardships and afflictions.

Lacunas

I was thinking about my childhood and past... and how I cannot remember all accounts of my childhood. There are blank spots in my mind... I can remember bits and pieces... but I feel there is a huge gap in my mind..lacunas that I cant piece together... the puzzle of my childhood is incomplete.

Fire

Consumed by Fire

-T. S. Eliot

The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame [1]
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire [2]
Consumed by either fire or fire.

Switchfoot - Dare You To Move

Language...and Frye

Frye mentions we look at language in four different ways...1. Factual and descriptive 2. conceptual or dialectic; language connections between elements and logic 3. persuasive or rhetorical which emphasizes the emotions of both writers, moves people to some kind of action. 4. mythic or literary which is the most talked about....I could not read Frye using any of these language theories... because I could not understand anything that Frye said, besides my Cave chapter... and I reread it 5 times... If I had to choose, I would say that my language consists of persuasive and descriptive... i use my language to connect my emotions and feelings.. and turn that into songwriting and poetry

Marriage Law

So I was looking over the bible... and remembered that in class, we talked about the Levirate Law.. in which it insists that a brother was responsible for creating children with his deceased brother's wife... Back then this was customary, today this would be frowned upon. and I suppose frowned upon is the wrong phrase.. to me it just does not seem politically correct, even though I know it happens.. I guess it just crosses some boundaries in my mind... Even the story in which the daughter-in-law dresses as a hussy and sleeps with her father in law... it baffles my mind..

Women

In class we talked about women in the bible.. here are some things we discussed!

Women: we get confused about what we mean. Confusion of categories. Refers to social persons who are designated by a culture as women.

Feminine: as term for a symbolic or metaphorical women

Female: biological category. X chromosomes, wombs, and mammary glands. 

 Example Genesis 2-3 Eve, which means mother of all living. The woman is a symbolic character. Metaphor of femininity. No biological treatis. Its not about women or men, but rather ideas about masculinity, and femininity. Focusing on monotheism in story. This god is phallic god. What happens to feminine?

a birth story, is called a couvade, or mans envy of childbirth. What is feminine becomes more and more complex, and difficult to locate. In patriarchy, ruled by fathers, most women and most men are women. Privilege masculinity to some men, all else are women or women roles. Eve who is mother of all living, has title of goddess. Social designation, man has dominion over women. Women have childbearing and men work. If women created sin, they technically have all power in world, so creates problem in story.

How to worship and treat one another. In Deuteronomy. Ch 25 verse 11. If women reaches out to defile a man in defense of her man, they cut off her hand. Gender is not about who is man and woman, its about who is playing role of masculine and feminine. In this case its always patriarchal, and how woman reaches out to disturb this. Sanctity of patriarch.

Levite in judges 19: there is a man, and he has a concubine, or kind of wife. Don’t get along, she is angry and goes back to her fathers house. He goes to get her back and her dad and him drink and eat and talk for 3 days. On 4^th day they got up an he prepared to go, but dad told him to stay and eat, and kept him there. On 5^th day repeats, and he lingered. When man with concubine with servant went to leave, the dad did same thing, but Levite says no he must go, so they kept traveling into the night and stopped to sleep. Rules of hospitality, waited for someone to take them in. old man took them in and took care of all their wants. Fed donkeys, ate, washed feet. While enjoying themselves, men of the city surrounded the house, pounding on the door demanding to ‘know’ him (sexually). Master of house said no my brothers don’t act wickedly, do not do this vile thing to him. He said take my virgin daughter and his concubine, and ravage them but do not do vile things to the man. Woman are property, but they are enhanced property with interests and rights. Men not listened to him, so Levite seizes concubine and throws her out of house, and she was raped and beaten until morning, then they let her go. Woman came and fell at house, Levite got up and told her to get up and get going, she didn’t answer so he put her on donkey. When home he cut her body (she died in the night) into twelve pieces and sent her body throughout Israel. Wrong done to Levite not his wife. How do exchange token (women) become symbolic?  Laws between men is more important than women and daughters. Concubine becomes metaphorical being, her body becomes text when its cut up into parts. Becomes words, vows, stories. Testies becomes words of promises.

Prophets: among writing prophets, Amos and Hosea in 8^th century BCE.  586BCE fall of Israelites. Between these periods, task of prophets is to say, what does this mean? How come we aren’t rich and prosperous when David was king?  Want social ease again? Its Israel’s fault they don’t have it, its so bad there and they are suffering. How have they been bad- not worshiping and treating each other badly. Amos says with gods talking through him, I hate and despise your feast days, women as cows. But, let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty string. (repetitive parallelism). God Yahweh wants you to worship by being good to one another. Social justice, it’s the way we worship god. Concerned about how to worship.

            Hosea interested in cultic purity- how to worship and do it just right. Was one of the writing prophets. God says to him take wife or whoredom and have children of whoredom. He marries Gomer and has children. He is historical figure, but what is she? A women? Or metaphor of feminine? Answer is its not that easy to differentiate. Wife of  whoredom cause Israel is playing harlot. Women promiscuous, gods worshiping other gods. This is stuff of symbol, how metaphorical language muddies up story between men and women. If we can make distinction, we wont be manipulated by gender language

Leviticus 19: verse 29- Do not profane daughter by making her a prostitute that the land not become prostituted and full of depravity. this means, conflation of women and land. Land is feminized in particular way, feminine blood. Wedding is property transfer ritual. Dowry paid. Father has right to sell daughter, and over her body and life.

Jeremiah: prophet. 40 year career. Yahweh speaks to him and wants him to act things out.  Does performance art for Yahweh. Has some other things to say. Look at jeremiah 2 verse 33-34. He is speaking words of Yahweh to people Jerusalem, talking bout people as a she and looking at her skirts, and on them he finds life blood of the poor.  So Israel is a promiscuous and unclean woman. Ch 13 verse 22- Yahweh is lifting up Israel’s skirts and violating her. Verse 26- I myself will lift up your skirts and you will be unclean.

Genesis: Jacob has two wives Leah and Rachael. Jacob leaves town and laben comes running after them 31^st chap. He yells at them, made he couldn’t kiss daughters goodbye or grandchildren. He says did you take my teraphin (household gods). Jacob says no he didn’t. Rachael took the gods and out them in bags of camel. She says to her dad, “the way of women is upon me”  j writer was saying household gods have power connected to Rachael and her blood, or associated of gods and fertility.

Judges chapters 4-5:  Deborah is a judge.  Barrack Wants to go to war,  guy says I will not go to war unless you go with me.  Women is like holy book. Three part poem. Next part no word of Deborah. Yael  gets drunk and she puts him to sleep, then a tent peg is driven through his head. She is strattling him and putting it through his head. 3^rd section of poem, mother of sicera looks out of windows, asks where her son will be, women says he will be home. Women as spoils of war. Powerful figure to euphemistic language. Oldest poem. 

Argue

I had an argument with my roommate who is very religious about the bible... and Heaven. She told me that for me to get into Heaven I had to read a paragraph from the Bible and then my soul would be saved... a dumb insignificant paragraph and then my soul would be saved? Are you kidding me? Then our argument continued on.. I said, "so you are telling me if i read this ill be saved... but if my parents and loved ones dont, then they are damned?" she responded, "Well in Heaven you dont need your loved ones being your parents or friends.. God provides you with everything else you need or want, so ultimately they wont matter".... that made me start crying for some reason... the thought of my family in Hell because they didnt read a paragraph.. or the idea that my loved ones would not be with me for all eternity really got to me...i told her that God has faith and loves all of us, and we do not need a paragraph for our souls to be saved. isnt life about forgiveness like in the story of Jacob and his brothers? They threw him into a pit to die, and in the future (since he lives and becomes prosperous) he shows pity on them and in a sense forgiveness...and they must learn to forgive themselves for their wrongdoings just as God does. Our disagreement was short but has stayed with me.. since she studies the bible religiously she felt she knew a great deal more than me, about the bible, god and most likely life. that is not the case. everyone has a different point of view and a different way of looking at the world, as well as the bible and God. her closed mindedness led me to feel she was ignorant about the unfamiliar, or things she refused to see from another perspective. she moved out shortly after.... i was not sad

Why didn't I finish the Bible?

In all honesty, in large part being lazy, but mainly because I could not bring myself to read the bible out of fear. Fear that I might read pieces/stories from our past, and not be pleased. And I know for a fact those stories exist, because we have talked about them in class... sometimes ignorance is bliss. I was not ready to read a book that people have been pushing on me my whole life... so a big part of it was probably stubbornness as well...

Susana...

The story of Susanna the woman who walked through the garden while two elders the the church watch her and perverse their minds and hearts, is a disturbing one...the woman minding her own business bathing in the garden and the dirty old men watching her...and of course.. the men blamed their lust and desire on her, it was her fault unwittingly of course... men always blame women for their wrongdoings... they tried to claim her infidelity and have her put to death.. but their stories didnt match up.. and she was saved by the Lord and Daniel. the poem by Peter Qunice portrays this story beautifully.

The red-eyed elders, watching, felt

The basses of their beings throb

In witching chords, and their thin blood

Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.

The red-eyed elders leads me to believe them of demonic or evil blood. their eyes and hearts no longer with the lord, have left them evil and strained. The phrase the bases of their beings throb, to me alludes to sexual tensions, and perverse thoughts. their heartstrings being plucked in adoration for Susanna. their hearts wandered from the Lord, but if that werent enough, they also lied, and "intended to do maliciously to thy neighbor, wrongdoings" 1469: Susanna.