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.