awakening

"Enough of all this. I have awoken, have truly awoken, and this day is the day of my birth." (Hesse, 35).

"Siddhartha in the moment of his awakening, on the path to himself." (Hesse, 35).

"This, he felt, had been the final shiver of awakening, the final pangs of birth." (Hesse 37).

My awakening

One night while I had stayed up all night with a friend back in California for the point of having a philosophical discussion, we had both received a spiritual awakening while studying the words of Ram Daas and Bob Dylan. It had taught us to not only be kinder people, but also a more awoken person in terms of a different thought process after processing their words and listening to their messages. 

My second awakening was at a Furthur concert (2/22/13), while looking around at the 10,000 Grateful Dead fans, all singing together in unison, all in perfect harmony and peace, I had truly realized the world's inner beauty. Not only of the beauty of people, but also of the world, and what music can do to connect people. At that moment, I had truly realized the beauty of everything.

The third awakening was when I was sitting in a class watching the snow fall on the window, and feeling trapped inside. Even though I was only a few feet from the window, I could not touch the snow because of it. That sent me into a questioning period with myself asking "Why do I have to be here? I want to be outside." But that itself was temporary as I like learning. It then got more insightful. I began to think "Wow, people are both beautiful and ugly." It's just in the eye of the beholder for which one it is. I then began to think, "Why are we are?" and those sort of questions as everyone does. I then realized that we just are here on this earth, not real point, we just are.

                                                 

Metamorphosis Part one and two

            Both friends and family feed off of their companion's or relative's  success.. Gregor's father, who has not worked in five years is riding off the success of his son, and at the same time, Gregor is paying for his father's debt in order to keep his family afloat. "Gregor's only concern had been to use everything he had in order to allow his family to forget as quickly as possible the business misfortune. And so at that point  he had started to work a special intensity and from a minor assistant had become, almost overnight, a traveling salesman." (Kafka 12). This is just an example of how Gregor shows himself as a selfless man who is putting his head to the grindstone and is sacrificing his life in order to keep his family happy. In comparison, over those five years that Gregor had been working, his father had put on some weight. " He had in these years, the first holidays of his laborious but unsuccessful life, put on a good deal of fat and thus had become really heavy." (Kafka 13). As Gregor is working, his father is enjoying a leisurely life of reading newspapers, eating breakfast for hours, and just plain ol' relaxation. They are the true vermin, not Gregor, he is acting humane towards them by optionally paying for their bills, while the family eats, and enjoys life (exempting Grete because she helps Gregor) This just isn't fair to him as he is spending his life helping to pay off the father's debt. But hey, family or not, people can still feed off their child's or friend's success.

           The ideas of Existentialism are exemplified throughout this story, angst, isolation, and alienation. The feeling of isolation from the rest of the world, goes hand-in-hand with Gregor's new bug body. "But while Gregor could get no new information directly, he did hear a good deal from the room next door, and as soon as he heard voices, he scurried right away to the appropriate door and pressed his entire body against it." (Kafka 11).He is almost in a prison, but in his own house, because he is unable to speak audibly, can not interact with the other's there because of their reactions towards him. He is slowly loosing that human aspect of him, the ability to be social. As Gregor is trapped in his room, he thinks about his old life. "[He] leaned against the window to look out, obviously with some memory or other of the liberating sense, which looking out the window used to bring him in earlier times." (Kafka 13). He's feeling trapped because he does not want his mother, father, or his sister to be afraid at the sight of him, showing his humbleness and humanity. This feeling of isolation coincided with Existentialism because of the thoughts of isolation and alienation from the rest of the world.  Even in modern society, the feelings of isolation are still very prevalent, and cause emotional pain to many.

         

11-23

In canto eleven, Dante and Virgil are still in the sixth circle of hell, the lair of people whom have committed heresy. Virgil describes the heresy of one group in particular, Epicureans, because they pursued pleasure in life because they believed the soul died with the body. The punishment here is that the heretics can only see distant things because they only tried to pursue the near future, or what was right in front of them. In the seventh circle of hell, lies the people whom have committed violence towards one another. However, sodomy for some reason is viewed as an act of violence towards god. The people here are placed in a lake of fire and blood. In the fifth pouch of the eighth circle of hell resides frauds, specifically politicians. In the fifth pouch,  the politicians are stuck in a pool of flaming tar. The tar represents their "sticky fingers" and false deals while in power. The sinners here are guarded by the Malabranche, and Virgil and Dante are assigned an escort of them to the next bridge, but in actuality, there is no bridge and must descend down cliffs. 

I included Pinocchio because he is viewed as an ultimate liar; whenever he lies, his nose gets bigger

3-10

The gates of hell state "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" essentially meaning, if you're here, you've messed up part of your life. The first circle contains everyone in limbo, not good enough for heaven, but have not committed a sin serious enough for the rest of hell. Here, the sinners just walk around the river Acheron, and are continuously bit by flies and wasps for not quite making the decision to be good or evil. In the second circle, contains the people whom are guilty of lust, ironically, Dante should have been placed here because he wrote the Inferno about finding his love Beatriz. In this circle, contains Helen (Trojan war was fought over her) and Queen Cleopatria. Here, the sinners are blown about for all eternity by a powerful wind, symbolizing their never ending lust for another human. 
Here, I have included the picture of the great Jim Morrison, for many hundreds of thousands of girls lusted after him as he was not only a major rock star, but also a sex icon. I have also included the gates of hell, showing the journey that Virgil and Dante are about to encroach upon

Canto 28-34

Ahh, the "sin" of betrayal will land you in the farthest depth of hell, in which Dante details in Canto 34. Here lies the ultimate three sinners (as well as many others), Judas Iscariot  who betrayed Jesus, Cassius and Brutus who betrayed Julius Caesar, and finally, Lucifer for betraying god himself. The sinners here are all trapped in ice, with Lucifer's beating wings constantly keeping it cold, icy, and windy. I personally do not believe the punishment fits the crime because being frozen and not being able to move is a little much for betrayal. However, the three sinners mentioned did commit huge acts of betrayal, so, having them being frozen in ice and not being able to move does prevent them from harming others. Did I mention that these three are constantly being torn apart but never killed by Lucifer? How fun! The other canto in the ninth circle of hell is the 33rd, people who have betrayed their family or their country, and they are trapped in a frozen lake, like the ones in 34. But here's the other part of it, whenever they cry, their tears are frozen to their face, which is extremely painful. The ironic thing is that they themselves cry because of the troubles and tears shed in betrayal. Canto 28, the final canto of the 8th circle, houses falsifiers: alchemists, perjurers, importers, and counterfeits). Their punishment is that they are each infected with some disease because Dante viewed them as a plague upon society

Dantes Inferno Canto Analysis

In Dante's hell, everyone goes there, even him, because we all commit some form of sin: stealing, lying, cheating, trying to look into the future, or harming another human. Hell, I'd even go there! I've lied before, but who hasn't?! Now, in some cantos, the sinner is shown as roasting in their own individual fires for committing fraud, but hey, that's not very clever. What is clever is Canto 20 though, where the fortune tellers and the philosophers, have their heads turned backwards, so they can only see what is behind them. I think that is so clever because it punishes them not so much as physical pain, but now they can't look into the future. But Canto 23 is clever as well, the hypocrite wear extravagant robes, but on the inside, it is lined with led, leading them to slouch.

                                 I chose to show canto 23, the hypocrites, because I thought Dante was clever in his punishment

Hell

       As someone who identifies themselves as an atheist, I do not believe in a hell or heaven, I believe after we die, we stay in the ground, not get judged at the gates of heaven. But hypothetically if there really was a heaven and a hell, one would be the "best" place possibly in your reality, and hell would be the absolute worst. As many religious preaches will say, "You stay in hell" to "pay" for your misdeeds. My hell would be like Dante's hell, fire and pain. And for me, heaven would be a plethora of mountain bike trails as well as a new road a day to road bike on. A hell would be non-denominational, meaning that anyone religious or not can get into heaven or hell.