An Introduction to Growth - Nicholas and I

'With no company but my own boredom, I began for the first time in my life to look at nature, and to regret that I knew its language as little as I knew Greek.  I became aware of stones, birds, flowers, land, in a new way, and the walking, the swimming, the magnificent climate, the absence of all traffic, ground or air - for there wasn't a single car on the island, there being no roads outside the village, and aeroplanes passed over not once a month - these things made me feel healthier than I had ever felt before. I began to get some sort of harmony between body and mind; or so it seemed.  It was an illusion' (Knowles pg 52/53).

This is one paragraph in the book that I can completely relate to.  It is depicting Nicholas' new opening of the mind by leaving London and moving to Greece which presents a change of scenery, one he is not normally used to.  He has just left Alison back in London so he is back to being lonely in an entirely new world which can only offer new adventures he would not have been offered before.  This reminds me of myself, my journey from growing up and graduating high school in California to jumping instantly into the lifestyles of Montana, two completely different lifestyles.  Coming from a big city, I was not used to this enormous amount of nature and outdoor activities, let alone the different personalities that I was bound to meet.  Initially, I felt life was much easier than it actually was, as if it was already planned out and was supposed to be handed over to me on a silver platter, as though I was just going through the expected notions of me.  It wasn't until I came to this new land, not knowing anybody or what to expect by starting a new school, that I realized I am the one controlling my life; nothing is simply handed over, I must learn and change my way of living to ultimately grow as a person and develop my personality to better myself.  I can clearly see that my friends that stayed home have grown as well, but through my experience I was forced to meet new people, to express myself in a way that allow me to be most comfortable with where I am in life, to be responsible and grow into the adult that is ultimately expected.  But the the one line within Knowles' paragraph that really stood out to me was the final submission, 'it was an illusion'.  I did not need to come to Montana to become the person I am today.  I agree that it provided an experience like no other that none of my friends back home have gone through and I certainly grew from my past 4 years in being in this new land, but all it really was is a new location, one I was not used to.  It will be forever remembered, but rather than my location - only I can be the true depiction of me, myself and I.

vs.

The unveiling of masks

One of the main themes that I felt this novel covered pretty well is that of an 'unmasking' in order to get at the essential core within a person.  There is this dramatization within the masks that each of these various personas wear which is presented through this 'godgame' where Maurice Conchis is the magus, or the magician, which brings forth the actors and actresses and then proceeds to 'unmask' them as they proceed to take on their new roles. Nicholas, who is the protagonist of this novel, is destined to become the hero but in the beginning he is very uncertain with himself so he must be tempted into this realm in order to release or gain a newfound knowledge that can only be found within his self. Having left because of the complications of love, he is easily tempted by none other than that a beautiful, young and mysterious woman, Lily, a character that adopts multiple masks based off of Nicholas' personalities and challenges his cynical view on life. 

Nicholas is ultimately unmasked in the end which allows him to be reborn into this previously unknown higher state of consciousness which opens his eyes to who he really is, presenting a sense of stripping away appearances in order to unveil essential truths. He has gained the ability to choose and in turn Nicholas learns how to be free.

exam #2 study guide

Calasso: pg. 209-212 (four stories to the quaternity--much like Myers-Briggs test), Zeus (thinking) Athena (sensation) Dionysus (feeling) Demeter (intuition)  also talked about in terms of space. Zeus (up) Athena (out---civic-polis-community) Dionysus (down, not thinking, pure feeling, thonic diety-relating to the underworld) Demeter (in function)

Narcissus flower
Kore---maiden
the tripartite goddess-- maiden mother crone

244--chapter 8 the Elusynian mysteries...

the supremacy of the visible

336-we see now as through a glass darkly...
daylight and light as important metaphors in homeric theology
"let me look at the light one last time"-- Ephiginea
"do it in the sun"--Odysseus
pg 359--Zeus has prepared a woeful destiny for us...so that in the future we might be sung of for the bards"

the blues...Robert Johnson
we suffer so people can write blues songs about us...
 383-(387)390- Definition of mythology as the precedent behind every action
invasion of the mind and the body vs. a convivial
the necklace from Aphrodite
to invite the gods ruins our relationship with them.
to invite the gods creates disasters...
Cadmus becomes the founder of the city of Thebes....sets in motion a series of disasters
gave the greeks the gift of fly's feet
brought vowels and consonants...gave them the alphabet
all of his daughters turned out badly

the great Pan is dead
WB Yeats poem
Dionysus from the Bacchae
Eleusynian material
Tarboleum


what does spiritus mundi mean?
--spirit of the world
in the marriage of cadmus and harmony, what two animals were drawing the couples chariot?
--the lion and the boar
What country are the nacirema tribe from?
--America
Which of the three things important at the elusinian mysteries was important to the theater?
--the thing done (dromenon/drama)
The word psychology is not the study of the mind, but of the?
---soul
pg 204 calasso
---Persephone
What is the basis of our present legal system?
--story of Orestes
In mythology there is a night where women beat men with sticks--what its it?
--tete toge (day of the dead)
What is the animal that is associated with the tarboleum?
--A bull
What makes something sacred?
--it has to be made sacred, they don't come that way
According to your instructor, the real hero is?
--us (me)
Jame's joyce's novel which talks about an ordinary person is based on?
--Odysseus
It always starts with a ___ and a _____
--a girl and a bird
What is the greek image for the soul?
--butterfly
What did Zeus injest when he ate the mother of athena?
--Metis (wisdom)  Athena born from his head
WHich word best typifies a space cared out in which sacred rituals are carried out?
--Temenos
WHo is the god of the double door and what does it mean? (Dithyramb(os))
--Dionysus--born twice, once of a mother Semele, and from Zeus' thigh...he wants you to see double
--Dithyramb (os)

Diomone--Demon, the angel of your better nature...now in the religious age, it means demonic
What was said to end the pagan world and initiate the religious age
--great Pan is dead
Whats the difference between gods and heroes?
--mortality--the gods don't die...
ON what occassion do the furies get pissed?
--kill your mom (blood murder)
What is the psychological development of the femenine?
--story of psyche and eros
Which ritual was repeated many times during our presentations?
--the australian rain making ritual
What is the name of the peasant girl that the king threw a sandal at?
--charila  re-read this passage....163
---answer is Antigone
What is the root behind senator?
--Senex

an image that is presumably universal...but found most clearly in myth and fantasy

---archetype (mythological typologies)
22 points of the hero formula
WHo covers most more than anyone? Oedipus
What christian ritual did we discuss that had to do profoundly with death and rebirth?
--baptism
Why did demeter put the baby in the fire?
to make him immortal
If you have someone in your family who is a daddys girl, who is she modeling?
Athena