Pandora's paradox

>>>>>

You might have heard about the story of Pandora and/or the Pandora's box.

To sum up the story, Pandora, a beautiful woman bestowed with the multi-gifts (Pandora means "all the gifts" ) from the gods, was created by the Greek god, Hephaestus, through order made by Zeus. Pandora was given the box/jar containing difficult toil, pain, and sickness, etc., and she was to give these "gifts" to mankind.
It was due to Zeus's anger against Prometheus, who had stolen the fire from heaven and gave it to the humans.
Although Prometheus warned his brother, Epimetheus, not to accept any gifts from Zeus, Epimetheus received Pandora, and she opened this jar/box, and we the humans has been infested with the toil, pain, and disease.
Somehow within this jar/box was "hope'', and Pandora closed the lid just in time to keep the hope from escaping.

Now comes the problem...

This story is usually understood that since Pandora closed the lid, we have "hope" and not just the pain and sickness in the world, but...

If opening of the jar/box let the sickness, etc. out in the world but kept the hope within the jar/box, what is that mean? It can mean that hope is not released into the world... meaning, we have no hope!?!

If you are interested, please go to:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora
... and scroll down to the section, "Difficulties of interpretation."

What would you make of this story???????

The Fruits of Labor- The story of Adam and Eve

I hope you are enjoying this Labor Day.

I have been writing a book (in conjunction to my research on Leonardo da Vinci / the Holy Grail, etc) which requires me to research the Holy Scriptures (of Judeo-Christian Bible) in Hebrew, Aramaic, ancient Greek, Latin, etc. I am doing this as an artist-creator rather than a academic scholar, linguist (textual critic), sociologist... etc. I hope to complete this soon. Today, I would like to share with you my reflection of creation-labor via the story in Genesis.

First, I would like to ask you a question. What would you do and/or feel had one of your master pieces... be it a book, a painting, a CD (of your musical activity), a movie...etc took on the human personality and decided to "Hide" from you and from the entire universe because it is ashamed of its presence and ashamed of been seen and acknowledged by the universe? What if it feels that you've done a horrible job!?

Wouldn't you be sad or even be angry about such action/reaction on the part of your creation?

You see, to me, the theme of "Fall of Adam/Eve" is not about the "Original Sin" per se, but it has everything to do with the creation....ART!
Also, this theme of creation and the origin and the Originator of the Creation is the most important message in the Tanakh (Old Testament).

The beauty of the creation was "seen ( וירא )" and was acknowledged by its Creator as "Good ( טוב )."

Eve(Chavah-חוה)also "saw( ותרא )" the beauty in everything ...even in the fruits which may teach her what is unpleasant/not good. It is not the fair thing to accuse Eve of corrupting the universe, for she saw the goodness, pleasantness, and the beauty in Creation which was reflected by its Creator as Good...(...and NOT partially good nor consisting some good and some evil).
Besides, awakening to the awareness of: not good/ evil/ unpleasant feeling/ DEATH ...was only occurred after her eyes were opened due to eating/tasting of the fruit. She may have been innocent but not evil.
Also, Eve gave the fruit to Adam out of her love and kindness...and before her eyes were opened! She simply wanted to share the fruit with its beautiful appearance. That's all!
The Creation was good and the created saw it and "trusted" the goodness of his/her own within. Such "Visual" appreciation of creation sadly over-ruled/over-ridden the "Audio/auditory" command of the Creator.

Have you ever wondered: "Well, where were the angels and the beings that later interceded on behalf of humans back then? Why didn't they protect Adam and Eve... or warn specifically about the "cunning" aspect of the serpent before hand? Why didn't they ward off the serpent? 
Adam and Eve weren't sophisticated enough at this point. They may not have had the awareness of associating the idea of "not obeying the commandment" with the 'sin'.

My friends, it may have been due to the Great Plan of Creator. Adam and Eve had to go through the experience no other divine beings could imagine nor withstand at the time...namely, to experience the "separation" from its Creator, to have the individuality-Ego and to risk the direct connection, and to experience "death".

What were some of their assignments (other than the experience mentioned above)? ... To learn to create. To "taste" the hardship and joy of Labor.
...to Adam, it was the outer Labor and to Eve, it was the inner Labor.
In other words, Adam had to learn how to create via "touching" the objects (i.e., soil/water/tools)with his hands just as Elohim the Creator did when Adam was created.
Eve, on the other hand, had to learn how to create via "not touching with her hand", through pregnancy. Why inner creation from Eve? One of the reasons could be that she was not created out of the combination of dust/soil and the moisture as Adam was but born out of Adam. In other words, Eve was born from within. Perhaps it was also due to her superb ability to "feel" the words of Creator and answered the serpent that Creator warned them not only not to eat the fruits from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but not even to "touch ( תגעו )" When Elohim commanded about the fruits and the trees, Eve was within Adam. She was not created yet per se.

This was one of the reasons why Yeshwa (Jesus) later tells Mary Magdalene not to "touch(approach)- ܬܬܩܪܒܝܢ " him. It had nothing to do with Mary being less than Jesus but to remind her of the "Original" event where Eve had to go through... to remind Mary of the words of Eve!

(I am not trying to be sexist here. The lessons of inner and outer creation could have been reversed/exchanged between Eve and Adam.)

At any rate, most of the creation/creative activities fall into the two I have mentioned above: inner and outer

Their(our)lessons were (are) to understand and to experience what it means to create... to complete, manifest, and to see the fruits of labor... and to appreciate the beauty of creation as the creators!

Creativity and inspiration: unfilfilled dreams

[Creativity and inspiration: unfilfilled dreams]







Creativity is vital to the act of creation.


When creativity is in concert with inspiration, it works wonder.


Yet, sometimes we can get stuck or feel stuck and uninspired to create from various reasons due largely to the life situations/circumstances.... illness, financial trouble, accidents, family situations...etc.


On the other hand, the great ideas and uplifting inspiration may seem to subside and dry up because the result is not apparent. In other words, sometimes the great projects requiring the help from the various sectors are not being met and fulfilled to continue and complete the projects.


...or the business is not recognized and not taking off as intended (even after the 3 years of the initial trial period). ..or the wonderful creations are not honored nor recognized... and bought...






When such outcome/situation continues, one may begin to feel hopeless and not wanting to continue/carry on.






I have been through that myself.






One day, during the middle 90s, I was watching a program on PBS where Les Brown, an inspirational speaker, was featured. Out of many wonderful message he had given that evening, one spoke to me deeply. It had to do with the growing of the Chinese bamboo tree. He said that it takes 5 years for the Chinese bamboo tree to grow, and yet, it does not break the ground and sprout for the first 5 years. After that, the tree can grow 90 feet tall in 40 so days! He was reminding us that for the first 5 years, we cannot see the result! Had we stop watering and nurturing the ground where the seeds are growing just because we cannot see the sprout/result, the tree would have died!






It is also like the making of a bread. If we keep opening the oven or wherever the bowl is kept, the bread cannot rise.


...or like the pregnancy. It requires time and patience.






It requires trust in your own inner voice.






We can learn from Cain and Abel story.


Cain offered to Elohim what he has created by tilling the soil just as his father, Adam, was told, following the family tradition.


Abel just offered the lamb after tending the lambs, as a shepherd. He used the creative idea instead of hard creative labor of gardening.


As we all know that the offering of Abel was accepted but not of Cain's.






Perhaps Elohim liked the offering of Abel, for it was not altered nor interfered with the act of creation via human elements. One can say that while Cain exercised the microcosmic creative expression of human ego (but not being able to creatively break away from the inherited family tradition), Abel respected the creation and the creature of Elohim as is without using his ego.






As an artist and/or musician, performer, one can experience Abel and Cain...the acceptance and the rejection of the artistic offerings.We can also, in turn, accept or reject the outcome.






Again, it may take years until the people would begin to accept certain art works. As long as we give them the impression that the creation we are offering are not what they want nor what they need, we cannot blame them for not accepting and recognizing. As long as we push our ego outwardly to be in someone's face, we can expect the rejection.






The answer may be in the harmony between Cain and Abel.. the harmony between the "expression of creative self" and the "path of soul."






Once I was told by a Vedic astrology guru that the expression of self is different from the path of soul.


He also told me that most of the time doing art is just doing your job. He pointed to himself by saying that however good he may be, doing astrology alone is not going to make gods happy, for he is just doing his job just as anybody else.






But...


He has added that if one can show the path/way to divine (which is the natural yearning of souls), then the heaven would be very happy.






I fully agree.






All the creative people have been given the gift of power to create.


We must use such power in service to the divine... and to pay forward...

North Wind and the Sun

[[North Wind and the Sun]] 

In Waldorf/Steiner schools, the story telling (fairy tales /. fables) is very important. Many of the teachers would even write their own.

Today, I would like to share one of my favorite stories with you with my addition at the end (in attempt to bring some sort of the resolution/redemption).
It is to do with the story of the North Wind and the Sun...and this is the way I remember the way my mother had told me (...and added some variation to it...). In other words, this may not be the version you know of...

Once upon a time, there were a North Wind and the Sun , and as energetic and proud as he was, the North Wind decided to challenge the Sun. "You are always smiling and content, so I want to challenge you."  The Sun kept smiling back. "You see over there...?" ..the North Wind pointed towards a man who was walking in the field , wearing a dark, long coat. "I want to challenge you that whom-ever can make him take off his coat shall be declared a winner!....so what say you?"  The Sun kept smiling...which upset the North Wind even more, so he swiftly went to work.... He blew and blew the most awesome, cold wind at this man hoping to blow his coat away from him. But the more the North Wind blew, the tighter he grasped the coat to the point that this man became like a frozen rock...one with the coat! Eventually, the North Wind stopped from exhaustion...."I give up!" said the North Wind exasperatedly.... Meanwhile, the Sun is still smiling....which irritated the North Wind even more and told the Sun...'"Let's see how you do it...that is if you can...????"
So, it came to be the Sun's turn. He just smiled and began to send out to this poor freezing man the most gentle warm ray filled with light. It not only warmed this man but gave birth to the flowers around him and the birds began to sing. Soon or later, this man was surrounded with the beauty and warmth.  Eventually,  it became too warm ...too hot to keep wearing the coat...so he gladly took off the coat with the smile in his face.
The Sun then turned to the North Wind....and he just smiled....
The North Wind was devastated..not just because he did lose...(he didn't care too much for that by then)...he was devastated of witnessing the true power of the Sun...its gentle, effortless quality that could disarm a man....the North Wind realized the Sun's supreme power....and felt that he was no match to the ability of the Sun.

(my addition)

He told the Sun...."I have lost, and I am lost. What's the use? I do not belong here...there is no place for me....everyone respects me but hates me!"
He was sad...for his best effort and his ability did not come to fruition.....and not appreciated.
The Sun kept smiling, and spoke to him gently..."Dear friend, lift your eyes and see. I cannot take the credit for giving warm, gentle rays, for had it been only me and my power, I would have burned this man's coat through and his surroundings. 
"It was she." ...pointing to the beautiful lady, Mother(Earth)... "It was her veil that embraced this man and his surrounding and  protected them from my rays. It was she who took her own veil off to shield off my rays partially so that my rays will not touch this man harshly...."  
The North Wind was touched. He was touched for her kindness, but also for the Sun's integrity and honesty....but inside of him was still sad....for he still did not feel that he belong to this environment. 
Then the gentle Sun added, "Dear friend, she need you now."
The North Wind looked up in wonder, for he could not understand what the sun was saying.

"She need you now because look at her shoulder..." as the Sun pointing to her red shoulder and continued, "Because she took off her veil to protect this man, she did receive my scorching ray fully and suffering from the burn. If you gently breathe out upon her, it will sooth her burn.. You see my friend, we all are necessary....we all have our places."

The North Wind smiled. :D

Exercises for cultivating the Imagination

[Exercises for cultivating the Imagination]

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

What is imagination?

When you open up Wiki, it states that imagination "is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses. Imagination is the work of the mind that helps create fantasy. Imagination helps provide meaning to experience and understanding  to knowledge; it is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world,  and it also plays a key role in the learning  process." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination)

One needs not to be an artist to use imagination. As a matter of fact, we all have the faculty to imagine. When we daydream, we use imagination. The parents can imagine the smile of their children while they are shopping for the birthday gifts. The children are wonderful at imagining the special friends, places, heroes and heroins...
When we read books, especially the theatrical works and dramas, we hear the character "speaking" within our mind. Hamlet may have a certain voice. A little prince may have completely different one from Alice.

In the world of art, during the 20th century, we have encountered many artworks with rich in imagination. Franz Marc had painted the animals with the colors not usually seen in the natural world. Cubists tried to paint the pictures having multiple view points at once. ...so on and so forth.

One of the exercises I have introduced to my students at the Waldorf/Steiner high schools was derived from the special exercises used especially in the lower-middle school level called, the Form Drawing/Formenzeichnen.
One of the basic exercises of the form drawing is to do with the mirror image. One would draw a certain curved "line" on one side of the paper and try to draw the mirror imaged shape of the same "line" on the other side. The form drawing can become very complex, certainly cultivates the imagination of the children.

Nowadays, we can download a image converter software and, with a click, one can flip the image either vertically or horizontally. The exercises I have developed would let our mind use our imagination instead of the software to do the same (eventually).

One can expand this visual imagination exercise to the even more complex one... to imagine what others may be feeling and thinking "without projecting ourselves onto the others". In other words, we have the faculty to objectively observe the reality and also to be in someone's shoe, so to speak. We can shift our view points and see the world with the different eyes and from the different view points.

We know of the great mural of "The Last Supper" of Leonardo da Vinci. One thing is to ponder about the identities and the gender of the disciples, but to me, we would be doing much more service to the humanity when and if we can use our imaginative faculty to imagine what each disciple is seeing in such traumatic environment. What is James' visual field? What is he seeing? What is Judas seeing? ...etc...

What are human beings seeing every moment?
How are the others seeing us?

...something to ponder about...

Why is the Pagan, "The School of Athens" fresco relevant in the Vatican?(part 3)

[Why is the Pagan, "The School of Athens" fresco relevant in the Vatican?(part 3)]

In a blog, I have to limit myself to write the short version of the same thing I would have if I were to write a book. I may be, therefore, accused of over simplification.

Let us ponder about the common denominator among the three: Apelles, Heraclitus, and the goddess Diana (Artemis).

They all have something to do with Ephesus. A great temple of Diana/Artemis in Ephesus, one of the 7 wonders of the world, was rebuilt many times, once after the flood, and again after being burnt by Herostratus, and after being destroyed by Goths, and so on.
One of the curious characteristics of the statue has to do with the lady having the multiple breasts. One reason could be that she was there to feed and to nurture the hungry (souls).

Apelles, the legendary painter, had first studied with the teacher, Ephorus of Ephesus. The legend has that his portrait painting of Alexander the Great was at the temple of Diana.

Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic philosopher known for the idea of the union of the opposite, Logos, and the eternal fire, was a native of Ephesus, although he being a aristocratic decent, hated the common people of Ephesus. He also had said : "To God all things are beautiful, good, and right. Men, on the other hand, deem some things right and others wrong."
(citation: http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Philosophy/Heraclitus.html)

Now let us "baptize" these elements.

It is interesting to note that the above quote reminds us of Genesis, where Elohim, after examining the creation, proclaim(s) that it is good, and later, Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the Knowledge of Good and Evil (right and wrong).

Heraclitus spoke of Logos and the fire as the essential element. Logos is mentioned and understood differently by the different philosophers, but it was later equated as Christos/Christ, and there is the mentioning of the baptism by the fire in Matthew 3:11. In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist spoke of a being who will baptize everyone with the Holy Spirit( Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ ) and the fire. In John 14:16-17, the Holy Spirit as the comforter (παράκλητον /parakleton) is mentioned by Jesus.  Later, at the Pentecost, the tongues of fire also appears to the disciples.

Finally, let us contemplate about Diana. In Christianity, the figure of Charity is often breast feeding the ones in need, but if we look again at the image, Diana is not the one who is sitting on the throne. The throne itself has the two images of Diana. This lady who sits on such throne is Sophia, a being of Wisdom, similar yet different from Athena-Minerva.
It is interesting to know that when the temple of Diana was destroyed for the last time by the Christians, the remnants from the temple were actually used in Constantinople and especially for the columns for Hagia Sophia, the great Byzantine Church! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis )

The name "Hagia Sophia" means the "Holy Wisdom"; therefore, from such point of view, this lady in the ceiling tondo may represents, not only the pre-Christian Greek wisdom, but the Baptized Wisdom as well, especially of the Eastern (Greek Orthodox/Byzantine)Churches.

(It is also interesting to note that in 1453, Constantinople fell to the invasion by Ottoman Empire, and the flood of the Greek refugees came to "Italy", so perhaps, this fresco may be paying homages to the brother Empire, although the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Catholic "empire" were not necessary friendly towards each other during the Middle Ages.)

So, this fresco of "The School of Athens" along with the "Philo-Sophia" tondo on the ceiling represents the elements that were sort of the prefiguration of Christianity, thus relevant in the Vatican.

Why is the Pagan, "The School of Athens" fresco relevant in the Vatican?(part 2)

[Why is the Pagan, "The School of Athens" fresco relevant in the Vatican?(part 2)]

In the previous posting, I have introduced some of the reasons why this fresco abundant with the pagan theme was commissioned and accepted by the Vatican. In this posting, I would like to dig a little deeper. At the end of the previous posting, I have posed the question: "What is Plato pointing at?"

Let us examine this.

We can see that Plato is pointing upwards. This gesture of using the index finger may suggest that he is directing the viewer towards something important. This gesture can be seen in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Saint Thomas in "The Last Supper" and the enigmatic figure in what is known as "St. John the Baptist" are making the similar gestures.
Above Plato, there are 3 window like openings, and we can see the sky. Number 3, of course, can suggest the Holy Trinity.

Nevertheless, I feel that there are even more important elements placed beyond these 3 openings at the top of this fresco. I have mentioned before that there are ceiling paintings beyond the fresco walls.  There is a tondo fresco directly above "The School of Athens" fresco showing a lady sitting on the throne holding the two books with each titled, "Moralis" and "Naturalis". These two books correspond with the two books, "Timeo/Timaeus" and "Etica/Ethics", held by Plato and Aristotle. ("Moralis" = "Ethics / "Naturalis" = "Timaeus")
She is a personification of Philosophy or Sophia (Wisdom) herself. Behind her, there are some Latin words inscribed on the two panels carried by the children: "CAVSARVM COGNITIO (Causarum Cognitio) / the Knowledge of the Causes
Her golden throne has the two sculptures showing the Goddess Diana with many breasts. Diana is a Roman name for the Greek Goddess Artemis, and she is a virgin moon goddess. Moon "reflects" the sun light as we reflect with our reason.
She is gazing towards her right. Her eyes are looking slightly above. Although there are many fresco panels on the ceiling, she seems to be not looking at any of them.
Because the ceiling is curved, the direction/"path" of her gaze also curves like the bullet trajectory, and it would eventually end at the center of the fresco, "Parnassus." There is Apollo at the upper center of this fresco, and Apollo is a Greco-Roman sun god. He is gazing above as if to meet the gaze of Diana.

Are any of these elements relevant in the Vatican? Considering how Catholic Christians had been zealously destroying the pagan idols since the establishing of the new state religion in the Roman Empire, it may seem quite odd to see this much pagan elements in the center of the Catholic religion.

If you are careful, you can observe an oddity in "The School of Athens".

I would like you to focus onto a man who is sitting in the foreground, the lower left side of the fresco from the viewer, contemplating and holding a pen to write something on the paper. He seems to be isolated from the rest and/or indifferent or oblivious to the others and the events surrounding him. If you pay attention to his feet, you can see that he is wearing the boots. While all the others are either wearing the sandals or being barefooted, this fellow is not. The legend says that the model for this figure is Michelangelo and the person portrayed here is the great Heraclitus.
Heraclitus was from the aristocratic family, and he was a misanthropist. The one who proclaimed that "all things are ever in a state of flux" was also a pessimist.   Nevertheless, he was a great philosopher who had discovered the existence of Logos, the organizing principle which brings order to the universe, so to speak. While Thales considered the water as the essential element and Anaximenes, the air, Heraclitus considered the fire as the essence and equated with Logos. This fire seems to be the fire that consumes the universe to destroy it in order to renew it as the Phoenix.
This figure of Heraclitus was not included in the original cartoon of the fresco, and it was later added before the fresco was completed.
It is interesting to note that you can draw a line connecting Heraclitus and Philo-Sophia via Plato's raised right hand.

If you turn to the right corner of the fresco, you can see the young Raphael posed as the legendary Greek painter, Apelles. The Renaissance painters sometimes placed themselves in the paintings as the participant and /or the witness. Apelles was a court painter to both King Philip of Macedon and King Alexander the Great. King Philip was King Alexander's father.

There happens to be a common denominator amongst Heraclitus, Apelles, and the two figures (Goddess Diana x 2) of the throne of Philo-Sophia.

What then, is this common denominator?
(...to be continued...)