Hermes and Zeus Visit Baucis and Philemon

We sometimes are mean and selfish enough to realize we have more than others and instead of sharing or caring and trying to help, we only think that they might be dangerous and try to stay away. We don’t understand that we all have hard times in our lives, some different than others. When you help and show that you care, you will feel good and the person that you help will be happy to think they are important too and that they are being helped by someone else. This is a very interesting story and with many teaching that become perfect for the closure of this wonderful book. I really like how there are good people out of all the bad ones that might seem to exist and I really liked the way Baucis and Philemon treat Hermes and Zeus when they first see them. They were probably tired after so many people had been mean to them, and to find a welcoming and warm place must have felt like heaven. They treated them like old friends, people they knew, but when Zeus and Hermes asked they just answered the truth. “Why, you are children of god. Come in, come in” (pg. 79).This shows us how important we all are.

There is also the teaching of when you are good to others you will receive good things back, just like do to others what you want others to do to you. What if there was a time in our lives where we were that kind of people that needed help and there was none to help you because of how un-humble and selfish you always were. Everything has a consequence and depending to how we act we will end being happy of in terrible sadness. Baucis and Philemon were greatly blessed, because of being so nice to them and sharing the little and simple things they had. “Suddenly everything was changing. The poor little house, their simple cottage was becoming grander and grader, a glittering-marble colored temple. The straw and reeds of the thatched roof metamorphosed into gold, and gates with elaborate craving sprang up, as ground gave way to marble paving stones.” (pg. 82)

Last but not least we see one more about love, and how humble and caring Baucis and Philemon were. When they realized who were really there in their small house they were scared and just wanted to do more things to show how much their guests really were of importance. They, Zeus and Hermes decided to give them something else, whatever they wanted, and they weren’t selfish and asked for big unimportant things, but just asked to die at the same time, so one wouldn’t suffer for the other one that was missing. That I think is extremely lovely. It’s not like they asked to money to be given to them, or to be together and become immortal, but they asked to die at the same time. And they did, but they were also transformed into trees, which gave it a special touch to end with.

Phaetons Iambic Pentameter

For being brute, the world was all burned down;
No happiness came from this foolish clown.

Rebellious Phaeton and Eros and Psyche´s Blind Love

He we see a different kind of love. It isn’t like the love you feel for someone you like, but your family. I really like this passage because to me families a very important. They are like the center or the base that holds life together. Phaeton had a family like everyone else, but his was a little different, it was made up by Phoebus Apollo and Phaeton´s mom.

They really care for him, just like parents usually do, and in this case his mother comforted him after what had happened to him at school. “She gets all upset, crying and everything, because she still loves him.” (pg. 63) so she sent him to his father, who also loved him very much and wanted him to be happy, so he lends his cars keys and gives him some advice, because he knew that it wasn’t going to be easy and that he really needed to be careful, not to fly too high or too slow and so on, but he didn’t listen and that’s when the consequences come.

Here we see the importance of being obedient to our parents, they have lived longer and know more than we do, and even though times are different, they are still wise and know what is best for us, they always want us to be happy, because they love us so much. Things would have been different if Phaeton had listened to his dad, and there wouldn’t have been chaos and earth wouldn’t have been destroyed.



The tale of Eros and Psyche is very interesting, especially because it’s told in a totally different way. There are narrators, but the way they tell what it happening is by asking questions and answering them. I like how they say that Eros is blind folded, and in a way I it´s like saying that love is blind. There is also Psyche and how she was so perseverant and was one day, was finally able to be happy with someone she loved. “It´s just inevitable. The soul wanders in the dark, until it finds love. And so wherever our love goes, there we find our soul.” (pg. 76) I think this kind of means that without love we aren’t complete, but we can only find it when we have searched for it with our soul, but only after having found love, we find our soul. But how can we love if there is no soul and how can we have a soul if there is no love? Love coming from our soul, and souls existing thanks to love are just like a cycle, but with no beginning or end.

How Pomona and Vertumnus Got Together and Other Love Stories

I really liked this story and the way the characters in it told another story. The first one was between Vertumnus and Pomona, who at the beginning weren’t really in love, only Vertumnus was. He loved her, and possibly would die for her, but shenever paid him any attention. He started to dress up and act as if he was someone else, so maybe she would notice him. “With wings, costume, and makeup, he once tricked himself out as a soldier, romantically returned from foreign wars… he set himself up as an ordinary fisherman fishing in her path on the chance she might pass by” (pg. 50).

I think that in a way we can all relate to this story, because we sometimes want others attention and believe that if we do things or look different, then others will notice us, just like Vertumnus, but the truth is that that’s not the way things should be done. If you want to be noticed, then you should be yourself. There are probably stories of others that have been lucky and getting what they wanted, just by hiding ones true self, but how hard is it to be someone else for who you love and not be you for yourself? It is much easier to just be who you are with everyone.

At the end of the story we see that after Pomona told him to take his costumes off and saw who he really was, things got much better than what he had probably imagined. “When at last the god revealed himself just as he was, much to his surprise he had no need of words. Little Pomona was happy with what she saw, unadorned and undistinguished. Soon enough the vine was clinging the tree”. (pg. 62)

The story that is told by Vertumnus to Pomona is this story of Myrrha, who also fell in love, but this time, it all became a total tragedy. She had fallen in love with her father and the passion she had for him was so big and wild that she couldn’t control it. Not only was that wrong, but it led to other things happening, such as his father not helping her with what she felt but also cheating on his own wife with his daughter. This teaches us something else. We have to be able to control our passions and emotions so we don’t hurt ourselves or others that we care for. Even thought it might seem impossible, just like Aphrodite said, “You can shut yourselfin a room, bolt the door, but love will come through the window. Draw the curtains, lock the casement, but love will seep through the walls. Never think, never think that that you can be safe from love” (pg. 53). But I think it’s different, there is always a way.

Orpheus and Eurydice (Another Love Story)

This is another love story, only this one is much more tragic than the other ones I have read in this book. Yes, Orpheus and Eurydice were both deeply in love, only this time they were actually about to get married when something terrible happened. A snake bit Eurydice and caused her death. Many would have thought that was her end, and that there was nothing to do. But Orpheus was different and he loved her so much that even thought she was dead and it seemed as if there was nothing to do, he did. He went to hell and fought to get her back. But when he did, he lost her, for having looked back. That’s what I would call true love. Fighting for who you truly love, even if that means death, and even if after doing everything you could to be with that person, but failed and there is nothing else to do afterwards, it will be sad not being with that someone anymore, but it’s even better than having showed how much you really cared to them and how much you really tried just because of what you felt for them?

I have realized there are different transformations in every story, and for some reason they all talk or relate to hell in some way. Why is it always hell or Hades? Are people to bad to go to heaven… Why isn’t there are story for someone going to heaven? I always though that’s what people always wanted… to go to heaven, but it suddenly seems as if everyone is just going to hell… for now I think I just have to continue reading to see if things change, or if there is an accurate explanation for this crisis.

Erysichthon´s Consequences

Once again we see how every single one of our acts has a consequence, but some are good and others totally the opposite. A very good example is Erysichthon´s story. He used to be a very selfish and not-humble-at-all type of person, and that attitude lead him to thinking he could do anything he pleased and that made him have terrible consequences for his actions. We have to be careful for what we do, because even when we do something that seems to be so simple and with no importance at all, we have to remember that everything will have an outcome. Erysichthon cut down a tree and that led him to being punished for his actions and followed by Hunger until he wasn’t able to stop himself and practically committed suicide without noticing. This leads us to another teaching. We have to lay our passions and emotions aside and really concentrate for the things that really matter like family and friends.

Sometimes when we are deeply into something, we don’t notice what is happening with the ones around us. With the ones we love. Until we don’t realize what we are doing to them and at the same time to ourselves. If we don’t stop soon then it could be too late. Just like what happened to Erysichthon. He sold his mom for some coins, and that made him be left alone and with no chances of getting her back. I think we really have to pay more attention to our actions, because not only do they affect us and many others. Sometimes the consequences can be deadly.

Ceyx and Alcyone’s Love Story

The next story we find in Metamorphoses is the tale of Ceyx and Alcyone. This was a very interesting story, and I really like it because not only does it have action and romance, but there are also many things we can relate to.

Everything started when Ceyx told Alcyone that he was going on a voyage across the seas. She felt sad and was extremely worried. She wanted to go with him, for the love they shared was one of the deepest ever seen. After departing Ceyx has to go through a lot, first he travels and then there start to be storms sent by the gods and many start to die. His love for Alcyone is huge and tries not to die, but that impossible. Alcyone knows something was happening and was really scared and worried. One day she finally knows the truth and is transformed into a bird and continues to live, while Ceyx died and would never come back.

This is kind of tragic… but its reality. Death does exist and so do many other things that seem to be destroy true love. But as a book said, true love never dies.

A Small Comparison

After reading Mary Zimmerman’s interpretation of the beginning of Metamorphoses, I have to say it is definitely much better to read and understand than it was to listening to someone saying other things that I wasn’t really able to understand. It starts, by telling the story of some laundresses and the tale they have to tell and all the things they say and all the characters they introduce, I think is a very cool way to start reading a story like that, because it makes me be more interested in what will happen and makes me realize it could actually be from a good author. I think it’s going to be a good that will be fun to read and get a lot from.

Metamorphoses (The Creation) How Things Came to Be

I had seen the Metamorphoses play in school some time ago, and thought that maybe reading or this case listening to the story would help me understand it better, but since the first few words I heard from the guy telling the story, I realized I wouldn’t be able to understand it.
For some reason, I think reading is better than having to listen to someone saying it in a very boring and hard to understand. Did I ever mention that the audio is in English and Latin?! Well, it is and I think that, that makes even more confusing.

There was little I was able to understand. It mainly talked about the way things came to be, and in a way it was something like the Bible, because it also talks about water and earth being divided by the gods. It like the creation, how thing began, and led to the present time.
Everything changed and develop, until to be how we now them now a days. It mainly refers to nature, and how the elements began and how the rivers started to flow and the rocks made the mountains and hills, plains and valleys. There was also climate and how it was made to have a perfect relationship between hot and cold and be able to find a valance.
I think it would be more interesting if we read it and not listened to it, because it could be a very good story.

Bhagavad-Gita Conclusions

I actually really liked Reading Bhagavad-Gita, I think it is very interesting and a very important piece of literature. It really made me think and realize that sometimes there are much better ways of doing things and that being in peace with yourself and being able to be disciplined in what you want to do and actually work or have faith and action towards your goal, you will be able to reach it and will have a great satisfaction. I also liked the way Arjuna was able to stick to his believes and what he wanted to do. I think he was a great example of just being firm in the decisions we take. I also believe that this is actually a very inspiring book if it was actually religiously analyzed, it’s easy to read, and even though it might be kind of confusing at some points, it actually does carry a message and I think that message can been delivered to everyone who reads it.

It’s not like I will convert or anything like that, but I do think it is important to know about other cultures and their beliefs, and this does a pretty great job interpreting what the people that believe in it do. Just like reading Gilgamesh, reading Bhagavad-Gita was a good experience.

Wondrous Aspects of Faith Teachings

Krishna answers other doubts Arjuna has and one of them is about some people who think differently about sacrifice, and the other one is relinquishment. First he explains that there are three different types of faith, and that leads to three different types of people. The faith we have or the belief we believe in, makes us what we are: “The faith each man has, Arjuna, follows his degree of lucidity; a man consists of his faith, and as his faith is, so is he.” (131) according to Krishna there are people who are lucid, passionate and others that are darkly inert, and because each believe different things, they make sacrifices to different things. What Arjuna must have understood from what Krishna said, was that the ones that are lucid, sacrifice to the gods, sacrifices to the demons and spirits if they are very passionate, and to ghosts and corpses if they believe in the dark inertia. Then he talks about relinquishment, and tells Arjuna that it has also three kinds.

Last but not least, and to finish off, Krishna ends by restating about what he thinks are the most important things, such as the picture above shows. It mainly shows a cycle, and that the way I think Krishna taught Arjuna.

Devine Power, Krishna’s Totality, Devotion, Knowing Natures Qualities and The True Spirit Teachings

Krishna continues to talk more about of how powerful he is in comparison to every creature and everything that exists, and things wouldn’t exist without him. "Among horses, know me as the immortal stallion.” (94)"I stand sustaining the entire world with a fragment of my being." (96)
Then Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal himself and show him his real form. Krishna explains that he has thousands of forms, all with different colors and shapes. He also tells Arjuna that he can’t see him with his eyes, but needs eyes that will make him be able to see his discipline and majesty. At the end Krishna does show himself to Arjuna and sees how awesome and totally powerful he is, and tells him all that he sees and how he feels about what he is seeing. "I see no beginning or middle or end in you; only boundless strength in your endless arms, the moon and sun in your eyes, your mouth of consuming flames, your own brilliance scorching this universe. You alone fill the space between heaven and earth and all the directions; seeing this awesome, terrible form of yours, Great Soul, the three worlds tremble" (101) One of the most important things that Arjuna says, I think is the way he describes Krishna, and how little he might feel seen something so powerful. "Seeing the many moths and eyes of your great form, its many arms, thighs, feet, bellies and fangs, the world trembles and so do I. " (102) I think that Arjuna being able to see Krishna really help in the way he feels about him, and that way gets to know and understand much better his way of thinking and the way he sees things.
Krishna showed one of his many forms to Arjuna, and this time it was some kind of monster, because of the fangs and all the destruction it has caused. I think this created a kind of bond in their relationship, because no one had ever seen that form Krishna had and even though Arjuna was scared he was able to relax and understand how powerful the one he was dealing with really was.
Krishna also talks about devotion and how important it is to be dedicated to him, have faith and reach out to him, so that those who do become dear to him. Then he tells him more about knowledge and how beings came to be, Krishna tells him that he is the father, the one that gives the seeds so beings can be. “Arjuna, know that everything inanimate or alive with motion is born from the union of the field and the owner.” (116) He also tells Arjuna about negligence and how it sometimes comes by passions, dark inertia and when there is no action.
I think Krishna teaches Arjuna about death, and how those who don’t have knowledge suffer when it comes to them, and takes all their senses away, but he tells him that he can penetrate and sustain them with his strength, because he says: “I dwell deep in the heart of everyone; memory, knowledge, and reasoning come from me; I am the object to be known through all sacred lore; and I am its owner, the creator of its final truth.” (125)

Discipline, Knowledge, Judgments, Infinite Spirits and Mystery Teachings

Teachings continue, they never stop, and it’s probably because there is always something else to learn and there are still many things we don’t know about. Krishna continues his deep talk about discipline and the sacrifice it sometimes takes. Once again we see things start to come up again just like in Gilgamesh, and again, I think that they do this to emphasize things. This time we get to know more about how Krishna feels about himself. He teaches Arjuna about his eight aspects of nature. "My nature has eight aspects: earth, water, fire, wind, space, mind, understanding, and individuality". (73)
Here we understand Krishna a little better, we learn that he is some sort of god and that he is actually someone really powerful. In a way I think Krishna is very selfish, and just wants to make Arjuna feel inferior, but then there are times when it seems to be as if he was just telling Arjuna these things so he can know he can count on him because he is powerful enough to help him in everything he might need.
"I am the universal father...object of knowledge, purifier...I am the way, sustainer, lord... friend, source, stability... I am immortality and death; both being and nonbeing I am". (87)
"Keep me in your mind and devotion, sacrifice to me, bow to me, discipline yourself towards me, and you will reach me!" (90)
We also get to know Arjuna some more, we can see that he is a very curious, but at the same time knows how to listen to what Krishna has to say. An example is when Krishna starts to say: "men who know me as its inner being, inner divinity, and inner sacrifice, have disciplined their reason, they know me at the time of death" (77) and Arjuna, being curious, asks questions to be able to know and understand what he is talking about. Krishna just tells that inner beings are like forces, mans spirit and existence.
Something different, was that this time they started to talk about death and how rebirth can happen but only to those who have been disciplined, but in a way it still happens to everyone else because it’s a cycle.
"without faith in sacred duty, men fail to reach me… they return to the cycle of death and rebirth" (85)"...and by reason of this, Arjuna, the universe continues to turn"(86).

This video mainly shows the story or the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna.

Discipline, Knowledge and Renunciation Teachings

This time, they get to talk about deeper things such as understanding, acting, knowledge, sacrifices, having self discipline, and not being possessive or individualistic, so there isn’t so much destruction and chaos. We have to "perform necessary action; it is more powerful than inaction; without action you even fail to sustain your own body" (44) There are things we have to do and they won’t be done by themselves, we have to get up, and act so they can be done. But how are we going to do them if we don’t know how? That’s why there is knowledge. "Knowledge is obscured by the wise man´s eternal enemy, which takes form as desire, and insatiable fire." (48)
When doing things or acting we sometimes have to sacrifice some good things, but instead of sacrificing something good we will get something much better. We all sacrifice different things. "Others sacrifice... the cycle or vital breath, others... food" (55) and others, other things. Sometimes when sacrificing material things we can gain knowledge. "Wise men who see reality will give you knowledge." (56) There is nothing that equals knowledge. Knowledge is something precious, and if we don’t take care of it, we will certainly lose it.
"When ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self, then, like the sun, knowledge illuminates ultimate reality." (61)Having knowledge is everything, when you know what to do and how to do it, then the only thing you have left to do is to actually do it. Knowledge can lead us almost anywhere, we just have to act and be disciplined, but also keep in mind that there will be times where we will have to go through sacrifices that will make everything much better than what it used to be, we will have peace and be joyful with ourselves and others around us.