Notes March 27

• Mythological Poems- Required to go
• Fredrick Turner
• Next Thursday @ 7pm
• Will also be in class on the following day (Friday)
• talk on epics
• Went through people's displacement stories
• Read through everyone's displacement stories and have an idea about what story their were displacing
• Read Chapter 15 of Ovid.
• Last chapter we will focus on this semester
• Transmigration of souls
• 
  

Notes March 25

• Story of Shehrazad
• importance of stories
• 1946
• Debbie's 18th Birthday
• Parade- very big deal
• transformed into a swan
• light surround the float and angels singing
• Displace fairytale
• The Ugly Duckling
• Displacement Stories
• Went through the ones already posted for ideas
• Everyone be here on Wednesday to go through and guess the original stories
• 15th April
• Presentations start
• "My Life as a Mythic Detective" 
• Still need to cover
• Apocalypse
• "We all get it in the end"
• Philemon and Baucis
• explore the ordinary and extraordinary
• everyone should try to have an ordinary but everyone will fail because no day is ordinary
• Man Reading
• Michael Sexson
• inspired by reading the Bozeman Chronicle
• read the Chronicle as a mythological text
• Hippolutus
• child killed by a horse
• ripped to shreds (sparagmos) 
• Ordinary day in Bozeman MT- not so ordinary when looked at correctly
• POST DISPLACEMENTS BY WEDNESDAY!!! 

Dear Diary,

            I know I haven't written in a while but I need to tell someone about today and this is the only way I can tell it. Mom was finally right today. She told me time and time again that if I continued to talk I would eventually lose my voice. And it happened on the worst day EVER!!! Now you know that I have been totally crushing on Nathan for weeks now. I had done everything to get him to notice me. Hair highlights, new make-up, new clothes, flirting more, and I even signed up for Advanced Calc. to be near him. I mean that totally isn’t me! And I broke up with Tom before I knew for sure that Nathan would be my next BF. I have never done that before, that’s for sure! This crush was something totally new to me. Nathan is so not my normal type. Typically I go from the godlike football players like Zach and Steve. I mean huge muscles, center of attention all the time, and very funny. Nathan was different. He is in the acting club. In fact he just finished playing Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. He was so dreamy in the play. Everyone in the audience wanted him. Afterwards, I could barely get near Nathan to tell him how great he was due to the swarms of girls that flocked around him. It was ridiculous. Couldn't they all see that they were hitting on my future BF! 

            This morning started just like any other morning. Got up and checked FB, checked my text messages, and then got ready for school. Fought with Mom but that’s pretty normal. The only weird thing was that my throat kinda hurt but I just shrugged it off. I mean I forbid myself to get sick so I won’t…right? Wrong. By the time, I had dropped off the annoying younger brats at their elementary school, my voice was starting to sound like a FREAKING MAN. Can you believe that?? My voice is one of my best features! Well I guess nothing I can do about it but just try and get by without speaking. 
          I made it through most of the day without talking. It was kind of weird to listen to the other people talk but beautiful at the same time. Normally, my world centers around my own voice telling the latest gossips and bickering with teachers. Especially Mrs. Queen. Man does she hate me! I decided as I was walking to my locker from my last class that I would have to miss cheerleading practice tonight. There was no way that I could cheer. Hopefully missing would allow my voice to rest and be back to normal by tomorrow. As I got closer to my locker, I looked up and there he was. Nathan was standing against my locker waiting for me! It had to be the best moment of my life. 
       "Hey" Jack said as his normal greeting though maybe a little bit nervous. 
        Of course, I just nodded and smiled. Inside my heart was racing. I had been working for this for weeks. Oh how I was hoping that he would ask me to prom. Guess it is true, be careful what you wish for.
       "Ummm so I was wondering if maybe you would umm like to go to prom with me. I mean if you don't already have a date that is" He stammered.
       I was shocked! I mean it is one thing to dream about this happening but for it to actually happen! In my shock, I completely forgot about my voice. I tried to answer but nothing came out. My voice had finally given out. I couldn't answer him. I started nodding frantically trying to show that I wanted to go even though I couldn't talk. But he was looking down, embarrassed taking my silence as refusal. Before I could get his attention, he mumbled "Goodbye" and hurried off. All I could do was stand there in horrified shock.
       As he walked out the front door of the building, I was finally able to utter one word as tears created trails down my face.
      "Goodbye" 
        

Notes March 22

• 15th of April starts the presentations in the class
• 5 minutes 
• Expectations
• no notes
• spend time wisely
• Iceberg
• live in the tip of the iceberg
• all that is past possesses the present
• conscious and the unconscious- tip of the iceberg and the hidden parts of the iceberg
• Anamnesis
• process of thinking back to the beginning 
• goes back to the notions of paradise within mythologies
• Change Metaphor into a house 
• Personal Unconscious
• Freud's representation of a house
• basement is the unconsciousness
• shown to us by dreams
• open us up to the forgotten memories and stories
• filled with signs and symbols
• Freud called this displacement
• C.J. Jung
• Dream
• found a trapdoor underneath his house
• process went on through human culture
• Collective Unconscious
• subterranean labyrinth
• have access to everyone else's unconsciousness
• Archetypes
• primordial images
• found most clearly in language of dreams, fairytale, and myths
• Pandora
• pan-everywhere
• dora-gifts
• Change definition of Originality
• not never been done before
• it means going back to the origins 
• Displaced stories
• Titian Flaying of Marsyas Story
• Saytrs personifies the lustful and fertility of nature
• Iris Murdoch displaces the story of the Flaying of Marsyas
• standing in front of Titian Painting on the back cover of her books
• sees this as an archetypal event
• pain, suffering, initiation rites are themes in her stories
• Daedalus and Icarus
• "architecture is the only honorable pursuit"
• study of the first and original things
• "such was the cleverness of that strange arbour" 
• Led Zepplin uses Icarus as part of symbolic image
• SOL- Sun- Signs & Symbols
• Moths fly into a flame 
• Pale Fire
• Nabokov
• man reading about the Daedalian designs
• In 1964
• "real story" displaced
• 
  

Notes March 20

• Important Dates
• Required: Guest Speaker- Fredrick Turner- Thursday April 4th- 7pm- Museum of the Rockies
• Professor Sexson will have tickets for all students in the class
• Will be in class on Friday April 5th
• Will teach us how to be mythic detectives
• Quiz on next Wednesday is cancelled! 
• Write a paragraph or two on our roles as Mythic Detectives instead of the exam
• Displacing Story from Ovid
• Write a blog that displaces one of Ovid's stories
• 2-3 paragraphs
• Nabokov- Icarus and Deadalus
• Sexson used a Hansel and Gretel as an example in class
• Displace into the direction of plausibility and realism
• Make it sound if it could really happen
• Have it done by next Wednesday
• Tip of the Ice Burg
• mythological strata is below what we can typically see 
• Read the original very carefully so that you can displace in specific terms as well as in the general terms

A New Perspective on Icarus' Death

 

     Recently we have been talking a lot about the death of Icarus. While going through the commentary that Dr. Sexson told us about a few weeks ago, I found another painting that shows his death. I really like that painting as it shows another facet of the story. The one below shows of father's loss of his son. The one to the left shows loss of goodness. Icarus looks like a fallen angel at this point (which could be related to the Biblical Christian myths). When looking at the women surrounding him, I see the virgins that were to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Now I may be over-reading this picture but to me it is a commentary that the loss of innocence comes through death in a multitude of ways. The color of red signifies death, pain, and tragedy. While the one below depicts a happy pastoral scene until one looks below the surface. Only on close inspection can the loss of life and a father's despair be seen.

One of my main points in this blog is just to point out how the various stories can have many many different meanings when looked at through different lenses. If I had not already read Ovid's Metamorphosis, would I have been able to decipher that these two paintings were about the same thing? No I definitely wouldn't have been able to do that. The painting below seems to show that even if death occurs for someone, the rest of life goes on for everyone else. The one above tells me that the death of one can be the death of someone's world. It just is a matter of perspective.

    

Notes March 18

• Synchronicity
• Nabokov
• Symbols & Signs
• Aunt Rosa- 
• proof of a back story of Jewish decent 
• Discussed the following blogs
• Autumn
• Carol
• Zac C
• Rachel
• Julie
• Zach S
• "What would the third telephone call message be?"
• "Trust the story, not the author"
• Myth is the precedent behind every action
• References to Dedalus and Icarus
• Minotaur
• Theseus- Redeeming hero
• help from Aradne
• "Something is rotten in the State of Denmark"
• Batman/Superman
• Superheroes
• Call for redeeming hero
• Sexson's take on the story
• created a labrinyth of a short story
• references Dedalus and Icarus
• son that wants to tear a hole in his world and escape
• parts are a wild goose chase
• 3rd telephone call is not an answer but part of the design
• Father
• jars and jelly are the true keys

Symbols & Signs & Alice Out of Wonderland

It is easy to see the superficial meaning and feel the superficial sadness but nearly impossible to comprehend the multitude of layers within this unbearably sad story. There is so much mythological references in this story that it is hard to decipher all of it into a coherent manner.

To try and understand this work in a manner that makes sense to me, I decided to just break it down into sections and focus on the sections that interested me. The section that was most intriguing was that which centered around responsibility, tarot cards, and beauty. When looking at this section on the page, it doesn't seem to flow together until one looks at the themes instead of the location and layout of the words.

When bringing together "beautiful weeds that cannot hide from the farmer", the Knave of Hearts, the Nine of Spades, and the King of Hearts, a theme is formed. This theme centers around responsibility, guilt, and understanding beauty that is rare and unique. The Knave of Hearts is a reference of from Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland. This character is only mentioned a few times but he symbolizes a thief as that is his understood role in Alice in Wonderland. The other cards are symbolic of fear and intellect, which is also a theme in Alice in Wonderland.

After working my way through all of this, it has occurred to me that Symbols and Signs is a version of Alice in Wonderland. However, we are not shown the story from the viewpoint of Alice but the Queen. The mother is the Queen that has lost her power. She can no longer control the symbols and significance of the world anymore. The fantasy that once ruled her world has become lost to reality. Each of the characters copes with this in different ways. The son (Alice) has become influenced with referential mania as a way to try and understand his world. However in their new reality, the son cannot understand that not everything has to have meaning. Thus by containing him to an asylum, "the beautiful weed cannot hide from the farmers". The weedy son was once the beautiful flower of Wonderland. The king (husband) is still living out trying to pardon the prisoners. It becomes his focus to free his son so that he can still be a beautiful weed.

Now, I haven't read anything else of Nabokov's but I have heard a lot about his work from Ashley and other classmates. The similarities between Symbols and Signs and Alice in Wonderland seems to be in line with the amazingly complex mythological and symbolic stories that he likes to tell. I truly think that this is a story of Alice in Wonderland without the Wonderland.

Diego Velazquez- The Spinners

We pointed out a lot of the significance Monday in class of this painting. However, there are some aspects that I don't truly understand. Now I am by no means an artist or know that much about art. I basically only know what I like and refer back to the stories behind the paintings, well sometimes I can.

I think that the tapestry in the back is probably the tapestry that Athena wove. You can see things looking like they are flying around. I think that this might be a representation of the gods that Athena chose to create. The way that the light shines onto the tapestry is significant. It draws the focus to that scene. But in that scene I do not see Arachne. Instead the light creates the shimmering light that I often see when I look at spiderwebs in the direct sunlight. The feeling that Arachne is no longer welcomed into the light comes to mind at this point. Monday, someone talked about the thing hanging on the wall above Arachne's head in the forefront of the painting. This reminded me of a spider's eggs. I think that this is to mean that Athena's legacy will always be in the light while Arachne's will always be in the dark and be something that we cannot understand and likely fear.

It feels like this painting is not only separated by the division of the front and back but also down the middle. The right side is dominated by the human Arachne and the left by the goddess Athena. The ladder symbolizes Athena's higher status in life. The blank doorway signifies Arachne's tenuous life and her close encounter with death. This is to remind the audience that nothing good can ever come from challenging an immortal being. Athena's helper seems to show a closer connection and loyalty to her than do Arachne's helpers. Her helpers seem to be refusing to look at her as they seem to know her fate and fear the monster she is to become.

Athena & Poseidon Battle for Athens

I know that we were supposed to pick a story out of Books 4,5, or 6 but I was inspired by class on Monday to pick a story that I have always liked to hear about but have never been able to read for myself. I honestly don't know where to go to find the whole story, like they are in Ovid's Metamorphoses, but I have found summaries and whatnot on the Internet. So the story I chose concerns Medusa but not as she is typically portrayed. I wanted to see her as she was before she was cursed. She was supposedly very beautiful. I couldn't find any paintings of her but I did find one that portrays the story very well, at least I think it does.

The story goes that Poseidon raped (or seduced) Medusa in Athena's sacred temple. This was done out of pure spite as the goddess had been chosen by the people to be their patron instead of Poseidon. This is what doomed Medusa to her hideous fate and made her become a monster.  I think that this creates an interesting link between Medusa and Arachne. Both created types of art because of their curses from the gods. These art pieces would reflect the horrific natures of the gods. Yes Medusa's art was real people but I am guessing that all of these people were terrified, horrified, and then petrified. Much how people in the stories felt about the gods at various times. This painting signifies the true aim of this mythological story. It isn't about Medusa but instead it is about how the gods used mortals to settle their own disputes without caring what punishments were given to the mortals for their roles, no matter if they were willing or not.

In the picture above, you can see Athena and Poseidon fighting. Athena is shown in her war clothing and Poseidon (Neptune) has his Triton out ready for battle. Behind them, you can see the winged horses Pegasus, which was a product of Medusa's rape.  The story of the two gods almost became a war but instead they held a contest. Poseidon gave the people a new water source and Athena gave the people an Olive Tree. The Athenians decided to have Athena become their new protector and patron. In the painting the Olive Tree is placed behind Athena as she was the winner of the contest to be the patron of Athens. Both gods seem to be protecting something from each other. Athena is protecting the olive tree, which is symbolic of her role in Athens and her temple that Poseidon desecrated. Poseidon is protecting Pegasus, his son. Another interesting point of interest with the protection of Pegasus is that Neptune has the closest connection with horses, so it could be inferred that he is also protecting his domain from Athena. I am not sure exactly what the role or significance of the two mermen that are at the gods' feet. I almost think that they are there to help Poseidon and Pegasus get away. If you look at the faces in the picture, everyone looks scared except for Athena.

This picture accurately describes the story except for the placement of Pegasus. He would not have been born or conceived at the time of the war over Athens. It is my opinion, that this is the artists way of showing how the repurcussions of the gods' actions affect the mortals. Medusa is not in this painting as her fate is tragic but does not affect the gods overly much. They will continue to fight, bicker, and manipulate each other at the expense of mortals.

Paper Topic Proposal

I have finally found my research topic for this class and most likely my independent research. Several times I have talked to Professor Sexson about various topics relating to the Eleusinian Mysteries that I think would make great research subjects. And most of them would but they are to broad of topics for me to cover in just a single paper and with the short amount of time that I have. This one that I am now proposing could fall into the same categories but I think that with enough work the focus can be made narrow enough that it will fulfill my objectives for Mythologies and my personal research.

As you all probably know by now, since I talk about it often enough, I am studying the Eleusinian Mysteries. This story and its subsequent rites and rituals have connected with me personally over the past year. Today at Ulysses, we started off the meeting talking about the Palm of Beauty, which led to a discussion of Penelope as the central female character of Greek mythology instead of Helen. Somehow and I have no idea on how to explain how, my mind jumped to heroes of Greek Mythology. It seems to me that all of these heroes are imitating the gods in some fashion, which led me to Christianity with the Father and Son duality.

This jump started me thinking about how there are many many similarities between the mythological background of Christianity and the Eleusinian Mysteries. The biggest difference comes from the matriarchal vs. patriarchal dominance of the two religions. For my paper(s) I am going to explore how these two mythologies are similar and different. This will entail studying the story (the Bible vs. Hymn to Demeter), rituals that accompany each one, and the benefits that are given to people who believe and follow these specific mythologies. I think that this could lead to interesting discoveries about how matriarchal and patriarchal mythologies function in society and how things differ when one or the other dominates a specific society and era. This feels like a lot to undertake but I think by keeping the focus solely on these two mythologies, it will be an attainable paper topic.

Primitive and Crude Leopold Bloom

As I don't have a blog for my Ulysses group, I hope that all of you will forgive me for so many blogs about the interesting things that happen on my Sunday afternoons. Last week, it seemed like a normal meeting with the normal players. However the discussions took an interesting path that I did not realize the value of until much later (aka today!). We started discussing the public intellectuals within the Joyce's novel. What is the point of having intellectual people (such as those in the group) discuss the mundane life of Leopold Bloom? Why has L. Bloom become such an interesting fictional figure when his life was....well to be honest very very boring? These are just a few of the questions that popped up during our discussion.

These questions led me back to my senior capstone class from last semester. The subject gravitated around the public intellectual and role of public intellectuals (PI). Now everyone in my class came up with different answers to what a PI is and what their role is. I think a PI is a fluid person that adapts to what is needed from them for society. Right now I see everyone in Mythologies and in the Ulysses group as a Public Intellectual. But I also see us as the other common use of the abbreviation PI. We are all private investigators into the fictional and mythological worlds that permeate reality. All of us have discovered new and exciting areas of inquiry from our sleuthing into literature.

One area of my sleuthing has brought me to the idea of the primitive and crude. I have heard these terms many times this semester describing the books that I have been reading in multiple classes and meetings. These two words really really frustrate me. They are always used in a negative context as those to be primitive and crude are bad things. However, I am taking a stand against the negative reputation that has come to surround these words. It is not always bad to be primitive and crude. In fact, at times it is wonderfully beautiful and refreshing. I feel that these two words are directly related to the theme of this class and the idea of the origins of the world. Everything has to be primitive and crude at one point and time. In fact, I am sure that my brand-new MacBook Air will be considered to be primitive and crude in about five years while it is amazingly innovative and wonderful to me today. But without this particular new and innovative advancement, I will not be able to get my new whatever in five years. Thus even the primitive and crude have their value in the economical world.

The discussion that got me started on this rant came directly from Ulysses last week. We were talking about the value of Leopold Bloom and he was thought to be a more primitive character. But what is wrong with that??? He may be primitive yes but maybe he has the right idea. Today, I have been sitting in Barnes and Noble doing homework and everywhere I look everyone is one their phone, laptop, or has headphones in. It has become socially acceptable to shut off from society. Now I'm not casting blame because as I am typing this I too have my headphones in and pounding away on my computer. But how many new friends have I missed the opportunity of making today just because I am now an advanced and technological person? The part of Ulysses that I have read today showed Leopold visiting with strangers on the street and feeding gulls, just because he could. I do not know the last time that I randomly started a conversation with a stranger or took the time to feed the birds. I am too busy in my daily life. So while I might be a PI (public intellectual & private investigator) in my academic fields, I don't think that I am a PI in life. That award goes to Leopold Bloom. With his crude and primitive way of life, he understands the value of human contact and unplugging from life's advancements. So for the rest of today, my goal is to be primitive and crude. That is to go back to the origins in how I live my daily life.

Beyond my personal revelations from Ulysses is the lessons that can be learned from Ovid. Looking at the stories overall, it is easy to say that the plots are very basic. A couple synonyms of basic are primal, primordial, and original. Again we are back to the theme of mythologies. Joyce and Ovid have realized the value of creating stories that are primordial. Society needs these stories as a reminder to how we should live our lives. Now comes in the roles of the Public Intellectuals. We are all Public Intellectuals as we are all choosing to read the works of Joyce and Ovid. Now most of our contemporaries would not undertake such daunting tasks as these two works of literary art are very time consuming and at times just mind boggling. Thus it is our jobs as Public Intellectuals to tell of the Greek gods and heroes and to tell of Leopold Bloom's seemingly boring day in the hopes that it will help people to value the primitive and crude aspects of life.

Passions, Obsessions, and Possessions

Over the past few years, I have often heard Professor Sexson talk about passion, interest, and curiosity about various topics. He uses these words to describe his students when they stumble upon something new and unique. But when he says the word "obsessed" his eyes light up and his whole body seems to become more alert and focused on individual students. Now we have talked so much about Etymology lately, that I decided to look up obsessed.

Obsessed (adj.)
 mid-15c. "tormented, obsessed," pp. adjective from obsess. Originally especially "possessed" by a devil, etc.


To find out that to be obsessed is to be possessed is an amazing revelation for me. We have all grown up thinking that to be possessed by the devil would be a bad thing, according to the influences of Christian religions. However while Devil in the literal sense would make sense as a bad thing, lets look at this more abstractly. I see Devil not necessarily as evil but as the idea of something new, different, and unheard of. I'm sure that all of us can think of things that were once thought of to be evil or bad or whatever other word you want to inject but after careful exploration, experimentation, and education, it turns out that this thing is not truly evil. I choose to see possessed by the devil as to being possessed by passion for something that is a little out of the ordinary.

Another thing that seems pertinent to point out from the excerpt above is that it says "a devil", not "the devil". This one tiny change can make all of the difference. This change signifies that this etymology is not specifically directed at religious devils but towards the devils that create change.

The other day, I was counting how many Sexson classes I have taken over the years and this semester, will mark my 7th! Wow that's a lot. But it also means that I have seen a lot of my classmates become obsessed and possessed. James, Jenny, Ashley, Spencer,  and Breanna are just a few that come to mind. I'm sure that I am missing many many more. After the obsession/possession had taken place, a visible change came over these students whenever they were in the presence of either their devil or Dr. Sexson. It was amazing to watch.

As I get closer and closer to graduation, I am starting to think more and more like this. Remembering the last five years and trying to figure out what exactly I want to take away from my time at MSU. And more importantly what I want to make sure I remember. I know now that I will remember my own obsession but also the obsessions of others.  Now I'm not sure how many of your are just starting your time at MSU or just about to end it but I truly do encourage you to become obsessed with something. It doesn't have to be within our Mythologies class (I have met students who are obsessed with Finance! Go figure) but find something. The obsessions and possession really are what you will remember fifty years from now about Montana State University. Plus you might help someone else by inspiring them to find their passion through obsession of being possessed by their own devil.

Limitations in the Initiations

This morning as I was preparing for my presentation on the Eleusinian Mysteries, I completely started freaking out. I blanked on everything I have been studying on for months. I know nothing about them! In order to try and calm myself down, I decided to just read some of my favorite passages of my books to collect my thoughts and show myself that I really do know a lot. But going into my books with this frame of mind it suddenly occurred to me that no one knows anything about the Mysteries. They are...well the only word I can think of is..a mystery. Ironic, I know! But the initiates kept all of the proceedings so secretive that we truly will not ever know anything about the actual initiation ceremonies. Scholars can make guesses but there will never be any validation of these guesses into the lives and minds of the ancient followers of Demeter and Kore (Persephone).

After coming to this realization, I decided to stop stressing (if one can ever just decide to do that!) and just read for my enjoyment in the sections that I haven't explored as carefully. So I started reading on the "theology" of the Mysteries. There was a lot of interesting information in this section....at least it was interesting to me. I highly doubt many of my fellow business students would agree though...or my my family. They all think I'm crazy to be obsessed with a bunch of mythological stories and ancient religions and cults. But I digress. Back to my point of the theology perspective of the Mysteries. Here is the point that I think all of you will find interesting

"If we knew more of what happened in the Myesteries, we would still be left with the problem of interpreting the meaning of the rites performed, because such exegesis almost certainly played little role in these as in other Greek rituals. Similarly, myths such as that told in the Hymn to Demeter derived their meaning from the narrative itself, from their relation to ritual, and from their similarity to closely related myths. The read or hearer of the narrative is left to fill in what we experience as the gaps and to explain the religious significance of the story in the context of his/her knowledge of other and sometimes conflicting narratives about gods, humans, and the relation between the two. This does not mean that we cannot understand to some degree what kind of contribution the Hymn, its myth, and Mysteries made to the experience of Greek worshipers."

I think that this is vital in any study of culture but especially within cultures that we cannot see ourselves. It is important to understand and accept the limitations that time and personal cultures have placed upon us. Thinking of this in relations to my "freakout" puts a new perspective on the idea of my own personal knowledge of the Mysteries. I know that I could perform the necessary parts of the rituals to become an mystai (one who closes his eye and/or keeps his mouth shut) but never will I have access to the world and experiences of the epoptes (one who sees). That is my eyes will never be truly open. I can prepare myself, in the Mysteries, to close my eyes and experience new things but never will I be able to open them to see the world where Kore and Demeter truly exist. Even if I did know all of the sacred objects, what was said, and what exactly happened I could never be a epoptes (one who sees). 

I think this can be related to all of the initiations that we have studied or will study in our lifetimes. For example, I can see and comprehend the teeth chiseling rituals but never will I fully be able to grasp the innate value it provides to people who have been immersed in the culture that reveres that particular practice. Even if I spent the next fifty years studying teeth chiseling, it will never have the same significance for me. Even though I have this limitations, I believe it is still an admirable goal to try and come as close as possible to this experience. It is better to be an mystai with eyes closed than to be a murderer or a barbarian (people who were not allowed to partake in the Mysteries).