Good Dharma makes for a good life

To live by dharma means to make choices and actions that will benefit your life, your families lives and the universe too in the future.  Making choices that are according to dharma can keep bad and chaos at bay.

Viswamithra was a righteous man whom everyone looked up to.  He made a choice to change the world by stopping the creatures that were disturbing the holy ground.(p. 7)  Because he was older, needed some younger protectors and I think he wanted to mentor young men.  Viswamithra asked King Vasishtha to let his son, Rama to travel with him to slay the creature.   Viswamithra’s request seems to be a way he can give back to the people by teaching Rama everything he knew to carry on his legacy for the future.  Dharma means to act in a good way so that you have a good future.  If you have bad dharma or make bad decisions those  decisions could come back in your future to hurt you.

I liked the Wedding chapter.  Sita sees a young man from her balcony and love hits her.  But the man doesn’t stop to meet her.  Sita is lonely and distressed.  She has had many gentleman callers but none approved by her dad.  Sita’s dad questioned his decision to make Shiva’s bow the answer to the suitor tale.  If a man could string Shiva’s bow then he was worthy to marry Sita.  I think Sita’s dad thought that maybe the bow quiz was be dharma for Sita.  Her future could be doomed because the quiz was unattainable by any man.  That is until Rama came along.  Rama happened to be the man Sita saw from the balcony.  Rama was able to string the bow with ease.  Sita’s dad was convinced that it was the right thing to do to ensure Sita’s future with a good man.  Rama and Sita were married and returned to Rama’s home town.

It seems that the people of this time was always thinking of the future.  They lived for the future.  They did things like fight demons to protect the future of the land or the people.  Rama’s dad soon realized that he was not physically able to be king anymore.  He knew that his choice to pass the leadership on to Rama would ensure that the kingdom would continue to grow with good people living with dharma.    The dharma code to take care of your people and family is what made living in Dasaratha’s kingdom so good.  He set a good example.

Natasha Romanova

The Black Widow, Natasha Romanova, was a Russian who started out as an orphaned child but grew up to be an “Avenger”.  She caught the attention of the Soviet Intelligence team and soon began training to be a Black Widow.  When a Russian Scientist left Russia to work with Iron Man, the soviets sent Natasha and another man to kill both men.  This man and the scientist died in the battle but Natasha survived.  She flirted with Iron Man, Tony Stark, so she could steal his experiment.  After several attacks on Iron Man and Spider Man that failed she returned to Russia.  With the influence of outlaw archer, Hawkeye, she rebelled against her superiors and broke all ties.  She returned to America and did some freelance work along with assisting the Avengers with some missions.

Throughout her journeys Natasha fell in love or used her beauty to sway a man to follow her into battle.  She romanced Hawkeye but then broke it off to go out on her own.  She romanced Daredevil and soon became a crime fighting couple.  They almost died in a battle against Damon Dran but were saved by Danny French.  After that she officially became a member of the Avengers team.

Natasha was called to adventure by the Soviets, and other heros once she was in America. She refused the call when she became depressed after thought the Red Guardian was dead.  She met with several people that helped her with her adventures and battles.  After fighting many terrorist along side Daredevil she found herself as an equal with the X-Men.  Her journeys had many tests and she encountered many enemies but with the help of her allies she was never killed or captured.

Herakles and Theseus

Even Campbell mentioned the importance of a father or father figure in a boys life. Theseus’s father was Aegeus who was not around for him just like most young male heroes.  The young heroes wanted to prove their importance to the world.  Theseus started a hero’s journey after he removed the sword left my Aegeus.  Theseus headed off to Athens to claim his throne.   Soon he met his first opponent, “Club Man” who like to rob travelers.  Theseus took him out with his bare hands and then moved on.  He came across several tests, one being in the holy place, Eleusis, where he had to wrestle Kerkyon and another was Procrustes who would give travelers a place to sleep but would chop up their legs so they would fit in the bed.  Theseus reached Athens and some thought he was a danger.  Aegeus didn’t recognize him at first but realized who he was because of the sword.  I believe Aegeus turns out to be Theseus’s mentor especially after he saved Theseus from the poison. He also acquired companions.   On his journey, Theseus entered the Inmost Cave part of the journey when he was sent into the labyrinth.  Theseus had many battles on his journey to Athens.  At age 50 Theseus married and had children. Later Herakles would rescue Theseus from the evil Hades.

Herakles who rescued Theseus from Hades was known as the greatest hero of the greeks.  One of Herakles adventures was winning a war against Thebes.   During the battle Herakles father was slain.  Herakles won and was awarded Kreon’s eldest daughter who gave Herakles many children.  Herakles was a great hunter and many of his journeys were bringing back great animals.  He was tasked with reclaiming the swamp while Hera tried to sabotage his work. I guess Kopreus was mentor and sent him on these journeys and battles.

I do think Herakles and Theseus entered every level of the heroes journey.  They took the call, had a mentor, crossed many thresholds and has some tests.  They took care of each ordeal with precise battles and wits.  The were rewarded even though losing many family members along the way.

Can we achieve immortality?

Stephen Cave talks about our experiences of death.  As a child we don’t quite understand, we just know that the person is not walking around with us anymore.  Mr. Cave talks about his experience of death as a child as a black hole that he was afraid.  He didn’t want to go to the black hole.  My first experience of death was when my grandpa died when I was 10.  I don’t really remember asking what happens when we die but I do remember my grandma tell me that grandpa was in Heaven with God.  It wasn’t until I started going to church with a friend at age 13 that I learned what grandma meant about Heaven.

Stephen Cave talks about 4 types of immortality stories or beliefs-elixir, resurrection, soul and legacy.  Since there is no real proof of what happens when we die, people fear it because it is the unknown.  Relying on these immortality ideas helps us cope with the loss of our loved ones and helps us with our final decisions. We believe these stories because we are so afraid of death.

Since most of us want to avoid death because we don’t know what if feels like, we believe in elixirs to make our death easier or prolong our death.  People even believe the elixirs will heal us from cancer, old age, or other fatal illnesses.  Most cultures believe in elixirs that will ensure our life. Nowadays we even believe that the scientists can prolong our lives by medicines, treatments or even freezing our bodies to bring us back when they find a cure for our disease.  The Greeks even believed in special drinks and food would give them immortality.

If you believe in Resurrection if meant you believe that you would die but that you would rise again, live again or even come back to earth.  Just like Jesus.  This idea of immortality is passed down to each generation and there are different versions in each family.  Even though most believe this is basically a Christian belief, Stephen Cave mentioned that other types of religions believe this also.

The majority of people believe we have a soul.  Many stories have been told about near death experiences where we leave our bodies, see our bodies surrounded by people, see a bright light, someone on the other side might talk to us but then we return to our body and continue to live.  Epicurus believed that the soul died when the body died. So he believed we have a soul but it didn’t move to another dimension but stayed with the dead body.

Legacy is leaving behind your story through children, writings, even videos of your stories.  Legacy is a questionable way of immortality to me.  I’m not sure if I understand how a legacy can be immortality because to me immortality is surviving but leaving a legacy is something that’s done after you die.  Stephen Cave said that sceptics doubt legacy as an immortality.  I am one of those sceptics.

I loved his definition of terror management theory, “We develop our world views, that is the stories we tell ourselves about the world and our place in it, in order to help us manage the terror of death.”

Trickster Analysis

In the 1960’s, the Pink Panther started out as a live action title sequence for movies.  A title sequence is a short cartoon before the movie.  In the first short film Pink Panther harasses a little white man that’s painting a house blue.  Pink Panther wants the house to be pink.  Pink Panther plays many tricks on the little white guy and in the end everything including the grass and trees are the color pink.  This short cartoon won the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.  Many cartoons soon followed with Pink Panther coming up with wild ideas, chaos and tricks to get his way. A trickster knows no shame because he doesn’t distinguish between right and wrong.  Tricksters have a thirsty drive for pleasure.

Pink Panther acts like his shenanigans are no big deal and he continues until he wins or gets hurt.  Pink as a deceiver and trick player, seems to be a blockhead.  His actions are odd. He tries to trick the other characters usually to help but sometimes it’s to get back at them by continuing to play the tricks until he succeeds in blowing himself up or losing the game.    He decides the house should be pink so he follows the little white guy around, right after the white guy painted it blue, then Pink would come back and paint it pink again.   The whole cartoon is Pink Panther doing everything he can think of to keep the house pink. This went on until Pink hid all the blue paint so the white guy couldn’t paint anymore.  The white guy then buries all the pink paint.  In the end the pink paint grows from the ground pink grass, pink trees. Pink Panther is so happy that he hugs the little white guy.

Pink Panther is also a Situation-Invertor.  In all his mischief, Pink turns bad situation into good.  He decides he want to be a super hero.  He steals pink long underwear, and a sheet from a clothes line.   He sees a little old lady being held up by a robber.  He grabs the lady and puts her out of site.  Then he tries to take care of the robber.  He tries taking the robber’s gun away but the robber is much stronger.  In the end the robber shoots Pink in the head and his heads is fried black.  Pink seems to be a lot like Prometheus in that he wants to help the human little old lady.  Even though Pink didn’t turn the situation around to benefit him because he ended up getting hurt.  Pink wasn’t as lucky at Prometheus.

As an ambiguous and anomalous, Pink Panther tries to protect himself from a bully from space.  In the cartoon “Star Pink” Pink Panther owns a gas station for space ships.  The cartoon shows Pink filling a tank and washing the windows of a space ship then it flies away.  The next space ship that comes along is a reckless one that comes flying in way to fast.  Pink sees it coming and decides to close his gas station.  The space guy, which happens to be the white guy but green in color this time, gets mad and tries to open the gas station.  The green guy finds Pink hiding behind a rock with a key to the station in his hand.  The green guy sends a robot out to get the key.  Pink plays tricks on them by undoing his jet pack, leading the robot to an area where he drops in a hole and turns the green guy into a flower with a molecular transmitter.  When a bee gets in the transmitter with Pink, Pink comes out half bee.  So, he flies around chasing the green guy shaped like a flower.  Pink is on the edge of getting beat up by the space bully so he plays tricks to keep the bully at bay and in the end the bully runs away.   Loki had a similar situation in that he lured the giant away from the wall and saved the woman just like Pink lured the green space man away from his gas station.

Pink causes hate and discontent for the little white guy in some of the cartoons.  But in others he tries to help the humans by doing good deeds that always end badly.  Pink’s drive is for happiness but his aim to be right gets him to trick all sorts of people in the cartoon. Pink doesn’t seem to be bothers by the tricks he plays and how they may affect the other characters.  Pink just wants to get his way.

https://youtu.be/41aGCrXM20E

https://youtu.be/Rr2Y135W6Fc

https://youtu.be/xXvBkwihOE8

The Pink Trickster

In the 1960’s, the Pink Panther started out as a live action title sequence for movies.  A title sequence is a short cartoon before the movie.  In the first short film Pink Panther harasses a little white man that’s painting a house blue.  Pink Panther wants the house to be pink.  Pink Panther plays many tricks on the little white guy and in the end everything including the grass and trees are the color pink.  This short cartoon won the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.  Many cartoons soon followed with Pink Panther coming up with wild ideas, chaos and tricks to get his way. A trickster knows no shame because he doesn’t distinguish between right and wrong.  Tricksters have a thirsty drive for pleasure.

Pink Panther acts like his shenanigans are no big deal and he continues until he wins or gets hurt.  Pink Panther is ambiguous and anomalous.  His actions are odd.  He decides the house should be pink so he follows the little white guy around and paints over the guys blue color.  The whole cartoon is Pink Panther doing everything he can think of to keep the house pink.  In the end the little white guy buries all the pink paint but soon pink grass grows and pink trees grow.  Pink Panther is so happy that he hugs the little white guy.

Pink Panther is also a Situation-Invertor.  In all his mischief, Pink turns bad situation into good.  He decides he want to be a super hero.  He steals pink long underwear, and a sheet from a clothes line.   He seems a little old lady being held up by a robber.  He grabs the lady and puts her out of site.  Then he tries to take care of the robber.  He tries taking the robber’s gun away but the robber is much stronger.  In the end the robber shoots Pink in the head and his heads is fried black.

Pink causes hate and discontent for the little white guy in some of the cartoons.  But in others he tries to help the humans by doing good deeds that always end badly.  Pink’s drive for happiness but his aim to be right gets him to trick all sorts of people in the cartoon.

Tricksters are Ornery

These trickster characters are so fun and entertaining.  Tricksters seem to be everywhere in World Mythology. They are rule breakers and have no desire to abide by societal norms or laws.  They can be selfish or giving, harmful or helpful and/or down right mean.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus tricked Zeus and some other gods into letting the humans have the best part of the animal.  Zeus was furious and took fire away from humans.  Prometheus snuck and ember and gave it back to the humans.  Prometheus seemed to want to help and give to the humans.  I think that Prometheus is a situation invertor.  He gets even and often turns the whole situation around to benefit him and his human friends.

In Norse mythology, Loki was a huge trouble maker for the gods. But at some point he helped them by luring the giant away that was building a wall in exchange for a wife. He could change his for into any animal making him a shape-shifter.  Loki had many wives and children.  The children were growing huge and powerful and the gods decided they need to get rid of some.  This infuriated Loki and he became more evil.  He was a situation invertor and disrupted gatherings of the gods to get even.  He tried to change himself into a fish but the gods caught on by now and they caught Loki in a net.

In Native American stories a chief stole all the light so the earth was dark.  The trickster Raven embedded himself in the chief’s daughter so she was pregnant with the chief’s grandson even though it was really Raven, The boy begged the chief for stars and moon to play with and chief did.  Then the boy tricked him into the sun. After the boy had put the sun back into the sky he turned back into Raven and flew away.  Raven is definitely a shape-shifter for turning into a fetus and boy but he can also be a Lewd Bricoleur because he made the girl swallow his seed to get impregnated.

I think the Pink Panther is a great trickster.  He always gets himself into trouble and the other characters by just being clumsy and forgetful.  I think he is a messenger and imitator of the gods because pushes the limits between life and death.  In one cartoon he washed himself in a washing machine then ironed himself flat but forgot the iron was on his belly and the iron burned right through his whole body.

Monsters in an apocolypse

We read and hear monster stories all the time throughout our lives.  Monsters under the bed.  Monsters in the woods.  Monsters in the alley.  As I read these stories I find there are even more talk of monsters in all the myths.

In Greek myths, Pandora opened a box and cursed the world with evil.  There was choas and corruption among the gods.  They were out to get each other.  Zeus was mad because someone was stealing fire. Theseus founded Athens and thought what better way to populate his city then rape the women and that got him eternal hate from everyone.   I think they considered each other and humans as monsters and knew that if they didn’t do something about all the evil  it would be the demise of their world.  Were these monsters, the evil ones going to destroy everything?  Flooding and killing everyone but a few would save the world.

Many Native American myths talk about monsters killing everyone.  They believed two-faced monsters, witches that take the form of other things, water serpents and even flying heads.  Each tribe had their beliefs but they all believed that these monsters could kill and end the world they knew.

When you think about our time, people worry about the end of the world because of all the stories that have come from our past.  Scholars, historians and researchers are discovering more and more stories about the end of the world.  They even say that the Bible has stated the signs of the end of the world like fighting in the holy country.  Today, people still believe in that.  Some believe the world will end from a nuclear war or huge breakout of an illness or disease.  Monsters like Big Foot or Loch Ness are stories we want to believe but I don’t think these monsters would end our world.  The human brain just always trying to understand why things happen and when we aren’t sure then we get these crazy stories of monsters taking over the world.

3 ways Native Americans Creation stories differ from Christian stories

Creation stories are important to us because we want to know where we came from and why we are the way we are.  The stories give people something to follow to base their beliefs on.  The 3 differences I found from the Christian creation stories and the Native American are who they believe is their creator, the story of two worlds and Native Americans worship, respect and cooperate with the Great Spirit, while Christians were doomed to sin from the beginning.

In Christian stories they call the creator God.  He is considered a man and older.  Even some pictures depict him as an old bearded man.  The Bible even states “He or Him” when referring to God.  In some Native American stories the creator is called grandfather or Great Spirit but in others the creator is a woman and earth.  They consider earth(creator) to be a woman because it can create life.

When describing the two worlds, both describe it as the sky world and the lower world.  Native Americans say that on the lower world were monsters that roamed.  Christians didn’t believe that monsters roamed the Earth.  The monster was the devil and he never was above ground.  Native Americans believed the good people came from the sky.  This is similar to the theory of heaven and hell except for the monster living on the lower world.

Native Americans show huge respect for their Creator, the Great Spirit.  They never disrespect the creator or go against anything from the creator.  Christian say they were given free will and are able to make bad decisions.  After they sin they just pray to God for forgiveness, he forgives and they are surely getting into Heaven.  The Native Americans would never betray their creator or fear doomed with the monsters.

Creation

In both the Greek and Hebrew creation stories, there happens a god from the darkness or void and great floods.  The Greek stories talk about a being called Chaos creating Gaia, Earth, from the dark void of Chaos.  The Hebrew version of creation is similar with God coming from the dark void and creating earth.

In the Hebrew creation or ex nihilo, God speaks and things happen.  God said let there be light and light started.  God commanded all things to happen including night, stars, plant life, creatures great and small and even man and woman.  I’m not sure where the names come from but they have stuck all these years and we still call these the same names. The Hebrew bible states that God worked on creation for 6 days and the 7 day he rested.  The Hebrew stories tell of two great trees in this garden where the man and woman lived.

In the Greek creation stories, Chaos, who some believe was a god, created Gaia or Earth from nothing.  He then created the night and the day.  The Greek myths also talk about Tartarus being the dark depths of night far from earth.  The Greeks named the things they created but the names are strange to the common English language.   After Chaos created the night and day he told Gaia to start her creations.  Unlike the Hebrew stories where God commanded things to come, Gaia gave birth to these things like Love, blue sky, mountains and seas.

In both writings about the floods there were humans acting crazy. There were fights, wars, many bad crimes committed.  In the Greek stories, Zeus looks down from the mountain, sees all the fighting and decides to flood the earth.   He chooses one honorable man and woman to live.  The same thing happens in the Hebrew stories.  God sees violence and corruption.  God chooses a man that is faithful to him and allows him to take his wife and children with him to be safe while God floods the earth to kill all the evil in the world.   The trusted man in both stories have many children and repopulate the earth.