Response to Matt

I will be responding to Matts open post on Dante http://lwithforce.blogspot.com/.  I agree with his statement that “that its version of Hell is the scariest I have ever seen.”  The story is that of a visual experience.  Dante holds your hand through a very real and scary place.  Matt talk about it being so scary because it is all individualized.  Dante touches on topic and fears that are still relevant today.  I find his writing to hold up extremely well for how old it is.  He gets to the core of the human mind and is able to put every reader in their own personal hell.  To me that is one of the biggest things this story has to offer.  Everyone can take away their own things from the story that some on ells might not have really looked at that hard.  It is stories like these that really inspire people and survive because it will always remain relevant.

Dante’s Inferno

I found this to be a very interesting story.  It is one I have read already just for fun last summer.  The story revolves around Dante on his quest for true love.  The mental picture that is painted by this story is just so vivid.  The hell he described becomes this tangible place where you can really see the people suffering.  Each level has its own distinct feel to it.  No two punishments are the same and each reflects the sin that has been committed.

The first level of ell did not seem to be too bad.  There was not punishment except for not being with god.  What I found the most interesting part of this section was the massive amount of baby’s.  This is where all the unbaptized baby’s go too.  Back in the day al of baby’s die young so this level would have a lot of baby’s in it.  That would be the worst part of being in this level.

What I found to be especially interesting took place in the 7^th level of hell.  That place is reserved for suicide.  The people there come back ass trees.  When Dante was in the 7^th level he went through a forest.  In that forest he saw strange trees with black leaves and thorns.  Upon breaking of a branch the tree started to cry and it said “Owww! Why’d you do that, man?” and then it bleed black blood not sap.  Dante was horrified by this.  He did not know that this was the forest of suicide.  But if Dante had listed to Virgil earlier Virgil would not have let that happen.

Response to “What happens after death?”

As Jake talks about in his blog http://jakeslitblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-happens-after-death.html what happens after death is on everyone’s mind.  Death is an inevitability that everyone must face.  Some people spend a lot of time thinking about it, while others try to avoid thinking about it.  But any way you look at it death is important.  And the reason people think about it because of the afterlife.  There are as many different beliefs about the afterlife as there are different groups of people

Jake talks about the Christian views on the afterlife.  Being that one must turn their life to Christ to be saved, and if you don’t you will be sent to hell.  As he says “men only die once” and that “eternity is a long time to spend in hell” that is true.  That is a very powerful statement.  Hell is a power deterrent in Christianity.  If you mess up you go to hell.  If you warship the wrong deity you also go to hell.

There is much to learn from the christen views.  I personally do not follow them but I can respect them and learn from them.  The idea of being a good person is an important one.  People need to live their life to the best of their ability’s.  That is a cove value that everyone can learn from.  I may not follow the same set of rules as Jake but as long as everyone try’s their best to be good people it does not matter what religion you follow.

Afterlife

Death is something that people have always struggled to come to terms with.  Just about every culture out there has their own myth and beliefs about what lays on the other side.   There are just as many different afterlife stories’ as there are different cultures. Some people take solace in their religious beliefs on death while others feel like death is the end of the road.  The two I find most interesting is the Buddhist beliefs and the Egyptian beliefs.

In Buddhism death is viewed differently than other religions.  It is not a bad or even a scary thing.  In Buddhism when one dies there soul is judged based on their karma or their personal actions.  Then the soul is put into a new body and the quality of life they will have in their next life will depend on the quality of person they were in their past life.  This means that even animals can become human and vice versa.

After doing my research for presentation this week I now want to talk about the Egyptian afterlife. Originally the pharos where the only ones that got an afterlife.  They were mummified and preserved so that their souls could come back in at night and recharge.  During the day the souls would go the underworld ruled by Osiris.  Every morning they would raise with Ra the sun god and go with him on his journey before entering the underworld.  Latter it was changed that everyone could have an afterlife.  Their souls would have to be pure to achieve it though.

To me both these topics are important.  Being Buddhist I would care great deal about their afterlife.  Reincarnation is something I have thought a great deal about and find it fascinating.  Also I have always had a fascination with ancient Egyptian culture.  So much so I have the eye of Ra tattooed on my body.

Small-Group Discussion

To prepare for the small group discussion I had to do things a little differently.  I read the questions before I read Beowulf so that way I knew what to look out for during my reading.  And when I found it I marked the page and made a mark in my book to show me where it was.  I had to explore the text more to come up with questions I had and try to know the text in case I did not get a question I wanted.  Witch ended up being a good thing because I ended up getting a question I did not have pages for, but since I knew the text and questions I was able to answer it.  Other than that I actually finished the story a few days before class.  I normally put it off as long as I can but not this time.

I learned from this experience that it is ok to join in the discussion.  I normally am fairly quite in discussions but I need to speak my mind more.  I have things to say I just never feel like speaking up.  Also Beowulf has a whole lot of filler in it.  The good parts of action seem to go by fast and we are left with a whole lot of filler.  I also learned that I should not put off my reading to the last minute because it causes way to much stress.  I for once finished this story a few days early and it was so much less stressful for me.  It also gave me time to revisit parts of the story.  I found this means of discussion to be better for me.  It forced me to be part of the discussion and give my point of view.  That is something that I would probably not have done without it.

Beowulf response

As Jake states in his blog http://lwithforce.blogspot.com/2011/10/beowulf.html Beowulf is unlike any other story we have read so far.  There are heavy supernatural occurrences yet there is really no intervention from the gods.  People are fighting monsters but other than that the world seems to be grounded in reality.  It is odd to have a seemingly normal world with monster running around but that is what is happening in the story.

Jake also draws connections between Beowulf and Gilgamesh.  I agree with this because both stories revolve around two leaders who go out and kill monsters.  There man difference is Beowulf is a better leader.  His people and fellow warriors love him.  His acts of courage inspire people and he even gave his life to save his people.  Gilgamesh really quested for his own personal glory.  His big quest was for eternal life Beowulf’s was to save his land.  I agree with jakes post on all the points he made.