tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post5811025781549723063..comments2023-12-15T02:38:55.020+10:30Comments on Still Life With Cat: Immortality: a thoughtKerryn Goldsworthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-51942160858258339382008-10-14T11:51:00.000+10:302008-10-14T11:51:00.000+10:30Thank you Ms O'Dyne, I could use a little peace an...Thank you Ms O'Dyne, I could use a little peace and love around here. Bernice, yes, I agree that the distinction between the discourses of the spiritual and the secular must be made, but to my mind 'be careful what you wish for' is the humanist equivalent of the rule about jealous gods. And I think of jealous gods (particularly the Greek/Roman pantheon) as metaphors, and therefore feel free to mix them, so to speak. <BR/><BR/>Fyodor, thank you too for your kind words. I identified the Dawn Goddess as Aurora (see Mixed Gods, above) only because that is what most people know her as, and one does not wish to interrupt the flow of one's narrative with too much explanatory back-story.<BR/><BR/>Like Bernice's it's an important distinction, the one about Christian v Greek notions of immortality. Excellent point about guilt -- hadn't thought through that one at all. My own point of view is anthropological/psychological and therefore tends to bundle these things = major sacrifice of nuance. A third and wholly secular frame of reference could be introduced by discussion of the advances in medical science that are keeping people alive long enough to sink into tortuous mental and physical decrepitude. <BR/><BR/>Highly recommended to anyone interested in these things and/or in early 20thC Eng Lit: Aldous Huxley's <I>After a Many a Summer</I>, to my mind his best novel after <I>Brave New World</I>. <BR/><BR/>Actually I think it's <I>better</I> than <I>Brave New World</I>.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-43075026212747910842008-10-14T08:13:00.000+10:302008-10-14T08:13:00.000+10:30What Ms O'Dyne said. It's because most newspaper r...What Ms O'Dyne said. It's because most newspaper reviews don't have stuff like that in them that I don't read them. Unless they're written by K. Goldsworthy, o'course, in which case I read them with a small amount of frustration with the word limit.<BR/><BR/>On the post itself, it's possible to draw a distinction between the Greek trope of the over-reacher and the Christian conception of immortality as necessarily unholy. The Greeks saw immortality as the preserve of the gods, naturally coveted by mortals but jealously guarded. In contrast, post-Christian narratives obviously see the aspiration to immortality on Earth (as opposed to heaven) as an explicit rejection of God, Christ, the Whole Shebang. Which introduces a dominant layer of immorality and guilt to the aspiration - hence the moralising and demonic aspects to the characters of Dracula, Faust and Frankenstein.<BR/><BR/>Also, apologies for being pedantic, but Aurora was the Roman equivalent of Eos.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-6201524635706231592008-10-12T14:56:00.000+10:302008-10-12T14:56:00.000+10:30Arr your blog - for which we are eternally thankfu...Arr your blog - for which we are eternally thankful, in a non-necromancer eternal kinda way. <BR/><BR/>Often tempted to consider "be careful what you wish for" as the starting point of all rational philosophising about the human condition. Placating jealous gods should always run a distant second.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-21049623502309147052008-10-12T09:48:00.000+10:302008-10-12T09:48:00.000+10:30"None of this stuff belongs, however, in a 180-wor..."None of this stuff belongs, however, in a 180-word newspaper review. Which is why I have a blog"<BR/><BR/>... and is why I come here and enjoy reading it.<BR/>Last night I saw on television, a document of The Angels recent zimmer-frame tour. No Gods were involved. References to the films 'Still Crazy' and 'Boy Town' <I>were</I>, lacking the humour of those two unfortunately.<BR/><BR/>peace and love to you dear CatAnn ODynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01159263330547329077noreply@blogger.com