Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Mythology of the Red Fern
The Red Fern seemed to persist in my searches, appearing throughout history and varying countries in legends and mythological stories and rituals. Here are some of the different ones which I found.
Mythology of the Red Fern:
Slavic tradition dictates that couples wishing to be married would go out to the woods in search of a fern flower, which was only supposed to bloom at night, which allowed them to engage in sexual activities and become married. The mysterious fern flower became a powerful symbol of fertility and couples wishing to have children sought the flowers in order to have better odds at reproduction. The fern flower itself became a euphemism for sex.
In Wilson Rawls' novel Where the Red Fern Grows, Billy finds a red fern growing amid the graves of his two beloved animals. When Old Dan and Little Ann tree a mountain lion, Billy tries to save his dogs with a hatchet, only to have to be rescued by the two. Old Dan dies of the mountain lion's inflicted injuries and Little Ann dies of heartbreak from losing her companion. After seeing the red fern growing on the graves Billy remembers that the plant is a symbol of eternity, planted by an angel, which will never die.
A Native American legend tells of a young boy and girl who are lost in a blizzard. When the Spring comes, they are found frozen together holding hands. Between them there is a red fern growing, symbolizing the eternity of their friendship. The place in which the fern grew from then on was considered sacred ground.
In another myth of unknown origin a fern only blooms during the summer solstice. A person who comes across the fern flower was said to be endowed with fantastic gifts such as great wealth, luck, and the ability to interpret the speech of animals.
In a Hawaiian legend, Kamapuau, the god of rainfall and certain aspects of nature had a tempestuous love affair with Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and eruptions. At one point, Kamapuau attempted to capture Pele while she was inside one of the volcanoes by building a large house over the opening of the volcano. The house was built entirely of ferns, which did not hold Pele inside.
 |
| Eared Lady Fern in May |
Mythology of the Red Fern:
Slavic tradition dictates that couples wishing to be married would go out to the woods in search of a fern flower, which was only supposed to bloom at night, which allowed them to engage in sexual activities and become married. The mysterious fern flower became a powerful symbol of fertility and couples wishing to have children sought the flowers in order to have better odds at reproduction. The fern flower itself became a euphemism for sex.
In Wilson Rawls' novel Where the Red Fern Grows, Billy finds a red fern growing amid the graves of his two beloved animals. When Old Dan and Little Ann tree a mountain lion, Billy tries to save his dogs with a hatchet, only to have to be rescued by the two. Old Dan dies of the mountain lion's inflicted injuries and Little Ann dies of heartbreak from losing her companion. After seeing the red fern growing on the graves Billy remembers that the plant is a symbol of eternity, planted by an angel, which will never die.
A Native American legend tells of a young boy and girl who are lost in a blizzard. When the Spring comes, they are found frozen together holding hands. Between them there is a red fern growing, symbolizing the eternity of their friendship. The place in which the fern grew from then on was considered sacred ground.
In another myth of unknown origin a fern only blooms during the summer solstice. A person who comes across the fern flower was said to be endowed with fantastic gifts such as great wealth, luck, and the ability to interpret the speech of animals.
In a Hawaiian legend, Kamapuau, the god of rainfall and certain aspects of nature had a tempestuous love affair with Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and eruptions. At one point, Kamapuau attempted to capture Pele while she was inside one of the volcanoes by building a large house over the opening of the volcano. The house was built entirely of ferns, which did not hold Pele inside.
Monday, December 3, 2012
The Myth of the Red Fern
Here is some of the material from my presentation as well as some that I didn't have time to get to.
Fern Facts:
Ferns are a part of the Plantae group called featherplants or pteridophytes.
Featherplants are some of the oldest plants on earth, dating around 400 million years.
Most coal is derived from featherplants.
The Cyathea tree fern can grow to be 80 feet or higher.
The Wall Rue fern is 2-3 inches tall.
Ferns do not have seeds.
Ferns do not produce flowers.
Ferns reproduce through the production of spores.
Spores are produced in sporangia sacs on the underside of the leaves.
The spores develop into tiny heart shaped plants which produce both male and female cells.
Ferns can only reproduce when the male cells are allowed to "swim" to the female ones through rainwater.
The only climate unsuitable to grow ferns is Antarctica.
Ferns have outlived the dinosaurs.
Ferns grow fronds and not leaves.
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
The woodmouse, short-tailed bat, and bullfinch all eat fern spores as a primary food source.
There are more than 12,000 varieties of ferns.
There is no actual "red fern," there are merely variations in pigmentation and seasonal color changes.
It remains a scientific mystery that water drawn from fern roots to leaves can travel against the force of gravity.
The grape fern turns a spectacular fiery red color in the Winter.
Ferns form the prominent base layer to most any tropical area.
Ferns are known to form symbiotic relationships with host plants.
While forming bonds with host plants, ferns are never parasitic and often a source of nutrients for the host.
The rhizomes of the Licorice Fern contain a potent steroidal compound that is 3,000 times sweeter than sucrose. Using this sweetener is illegal in the United States but the plant can be purchased at most nurseries.
Some ferns in the genus Athyrium have shocking maroons and reds for the color of veins and stems.
Fern Facts:
Ferns are a part of the Plantae group called featherplants or pteridophytes.
Featherplants are some of the oldest plants on earth, dating around 400 million years.
Most coal is derived from featherplants.
The Cyathea tree fern can grow to be 80 feet or higher.
The Wall Rue fern is 2-3 inches tall.
Ferns do not have seeds.
Ferns do not produce flowers.
Ferns reproduce through the production of spores.
Spores are produced in sporangia sacs on the underside of the leaves.
 |
| Sporangia on a fern frond |
Ferns can only reproduce when the male cells are allowed to "swim" to the female ones through rainwater.
The only climate unsuitable to grow ferns is Antarctica.
Ferns have outlived the dinosaurs.
Ferns grow fronds and not leaves.
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
The woodmouse, short-tailed bat, and bullfinch all eat fern spores as a primary food source.
There are more than 12,000 varieties of ferns.
There is no actual "red fern," there are merely variations in pigmentation and seasonal color changes.
 |
| The Autumn Fern turns a rusty color during Spring |
The grape fern turns a spectacular fiery red color in the Winter.
 |
| The Grape Fern during Winter |
Ferns are known to form symbiotic relationships with host plants.
While forming bonds with host plants, ferns are never parasitic and often a source of nutrients for the host.
The rhizomes of the Licorice Fern contain a potent steroidal compound that is 3,000 times sweeter than sucrose. Using this sweetener is illegal in the United States but the plant can be purchased at most nurseries.
Some ferns in the genus Athyrium have shocking maroons and reds for the color of veins and stems.
 |
| Lady Fern |
 |
| Japanese Painted Fern |
 |
| Japanese Painted Fern |
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Solaris Quotes
There are so many interesting ideas presented in this short novel. I will try and limit my entries however to make it easier on everyone.
"...they bowed to the unknown, proclaiming the ancient doctrine, arrogantly resurrected, of ignoramus et ignorabimus." (p.22)
"We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is. We are searching for an ideal image of our own world..." (p.72)
"We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us--that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence--then we don't like it anymore." (p.72)
"I put my arms round her and held fer with all my strength. Nothing mattered to me except her: everything else was meaningless." (p.107)
"A painful smile flickered over her face: 'Does that mean that I am...immortal?'" (p.144)
"If she disappears after the experiment, that will mean that I wanted her to disappear--that I killed her." (p.156)
"Man has gone out to explore other worlds without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed." (p.157)
"Was the ocean a living creature? It was no longer possible to deny the 'psychic' functions of the ocean, no matter how that term might be defined...The ocean lived, thought and acted." (p.171)
This portion on page 172 was extremely interesting and, as Kelvin discovers this old "calf-bound" book which seems to have been forgotten, we are reminded of Lucretius' work which was absent for a great many years. The message within is the same. Perhaps this is Lem's overt nod to Lucretius?
"According to Muntius (or Lucretius), Solaristics is the space era's equivalent of religion: faith disguised as science. Contact, the stated aim of Solaristics, is no less vague and obscure than the communion of the saints, or the second coming of the Messiah. The comparison is reinforced by obvious parallels: Solarists reject arguments--no experiences in common, no communicable notions--just as the faithful rejected the arguments that undermined the foundations of their belief." (p.172)
"Solaristics is a revival of long-vanished myths, the expression of mystical nostalgias which men are unwilling to confess openly." (p.173)
"'I'm not thinking of a god whose imperfection arises out of the candor of his human creators, but one whose imperfection represents his essential characteristic: a god limited in his omniscience and power, fallible, incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his acts, and creating things that lead to horror. He is...a sick god, whose ambitions exceed his powers and who does not realize it at first.'" (p.197) One of the central Lucretian passages of the novel.
"'This god has no existence outside of matter. He would like to free himself from matter, but he cannot...'" (p.197)
"'Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him.'" (p.198)
"...they bowed to the unknown, proclaiming the ancient doctrine, arrogantly resurrected, of ignoramus et ignorabimus." (p.22)
"We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is. We are searching for an ideal image of our own world..." (p.72)
"We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us--that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence--then we don't like it anymore." (p.72)
"I put my arms round her and held fer with all my strength. Nothing mattered to me except her: everything else was meaningless." (p.107)
"A painful smile flickered over her face: 'Does that mean that I am...immortal?'" (p.144)
"If she disappears after the experiment, that will mean that I wanted her to disappear--that I killed her." (p.156)
"Man has gone out to explore other worlds without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed." (p.157)
"Was the ocean a living creature? It was no longer possible to deny the 'psychic' functions of the ocean, no matter how that term might be defined...The ocean lived, thought and acted." (p.171)
This portion on page 172 was extremely interesting and, as Kelvin discovers this old "calf-bound" book which seems to have been forgotten, we are reminded of Lucretius' work which was absent for a great many years. The message within is the same. Perhaps this is Lem's overt nod to Lucretius?
"According to Muntius (or Lucretius), Solaristics is the space era's equivalent of religion: faith disguised as science. Contact, the stated aim of Solaristics, is no less vague and obscure than the communion of the saints, or the second coming of the Messiah. The comparison is reinforced by obvious parallels: Solarists reject arguments--no experiences in common, no communicable notions--just as the faithful rejected the arguments that undermined the foundations of their belief." (p.172)
"Solaristics is a revival of long-vanished myths, the expression of mystical nostalgias which men are unwilling to confess openly." (p.173)
"'I'm not thinking of a god whose imperfection arises out of the candor of his human creators, but one whose imperfection represents his essential characteristic: a god limited in his omniscience and power, fallible, incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his acts, and creating things that lead to horror. He is...a sick god, whose ambitions exceed his powers and who does not realize it at first.'" (p.197) One of the central Lucretian passages of the novel.
"'This god has no existence outside of matter. He would like to free himself from matter, but he cannot...'" (p.197)
"'Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him.'" (p.198)
Shadows of Solaris
At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision,—what will be his reply? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? -Plato
The awakening in Solaris, or removal of oneself from the cave, is when Kelvin realizes that his gods were merely constructs of his own imagining; these are the contrivances of earthly understandings which crumble away in the face of the ocean's power. With the power to create or recreate life at will the ocean on Solaris reinvents Kelvin's notion of immortality. His former notion of reality, gleaned from his time on earth, disintegrate when Rheya is resurrected from his subconscious. Is the shadow of reality conjured by Kelvin's time with Rheya on earth more authentic than that which he spends with her shadow on Solaris? The painful truths are revealed only when he re-encounters her contrived being on the foreign planet. This is the reality of which Plato speaks: a painful truth derived from the reality materialized through the mind. Real is entirely subjective.
"We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us--that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence--then we don't like it anymore." -Snow
The awakening in Solaris, or removal of oneself from the cave, is when Kelvin realizes that his gods were merely constructs of his own imagining; these are the contrivances of earthly understandings which crumble away in the face of the ocean's power. With the power to create or recreate life at will the ocean on Solaris reinvents Kelvin's notion of immortality. His former notion of reality, gleaned from his time on earth, disintegrate when Rheya is resurrected from his subconscious. Is the shadow of reality conjured by Kelvin's time with Rheya on earth more authentic than that which he spends with her shadow on Solaris? The painful truths are revealed only when he re-encounters her contrived being on the foreign planet. This is the reality of which Plato speaks: a painful truth derived from the reality materialized through the mind. Real is entirely subjective.
"We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us--that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence--then we don't like it anymore." -Snow
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Men from the Sea
"Men from the sea
Might rise" -Lucretius
And they do, at least on the planet Solaris.
Each of the scientists has a visitor which is a product of their subconscious turned flesh and blood by the ocean's primordial power.
The hero Kelvin is subject to his deceased lover; the god Rheya is also his muse. The manner in which she adulates Kelvin creates her not as a separate entity but rather entwined wholly with him. Wherever he goes, she follows, so much so that she cannot stand to let him out of her sight. Likewise Kelvin unconsciously needs Rheya.
"And my hand lingered, moved up her warm, rounded arm. In spite of myself I was caressing her. My body recognized her body; my body desired her, my body was attracted towards hers beyond reason, beyond thought, beyond fear."
All rationale is secondary to this desire and necessity for a lover, for a god. Rheya is not a separate entity but principally a byproduct of Kelvin's mind and secondly as a corporeal manifestation of this need. Even his body is moved "beyond reason, beyond thought" to have her as his muse, as his god, disavowing self-preservation, scientific fundamentals, and all concept of reality.
"We have no need for other worlds. We want mirrors."
As Snow states, the need for other is unnecessary. All that mankind wants in the exploration of new frontiers are "mirrors" with which to reflect himself. The god is a part of the man and his quest seeks affirmation that this god is both unrivaled and unique.
There is only one other visitor which is revealed to readers in the novel; the tall, muscular, black "Negress." Kelvin finds her huge form coiled up against the dead body of Gibarian. Somehow this god figure born of Gibarian's psyche had driven him mad enough to commit suicide and, like Kelvin, was unable to detach himself from her even in death.
Snow's visitor is left purposefully ambiguous. The movie, however, does insert a child into the narrative which is purportedly his dead son.
So how to merge the comparisons of Lucretius and Solaris into a unified project...
Might rise" -Lucretius
And they do, at least on the planet Solaris.
Each of the scientists has a visitor which is a product of their subconscious turned flesh and blood by the ocean's primordial power.
The hero Kelvin is subject to his deceased lover; the god Rheya is also his muse. The manner in which she adulates Kelvin creates her not as a separate entity but rather entwined wholly with him. Wherever he goes, she follows, so much so that she cannot stand to let him out of her sight. Likewise Kelvin unconsciously needs Rheya.
"And my hand lingered, moved up her warm, rounded arm. In spite of myself I was caressing her. My body recognized her body; my body desired her, my body was attracted towards hers beyond reason, beyond thought, beyond fear."
All rationale is secondary to this desire and necessity for a lover, for a god. Rheya is not a separate entity but principally a byproduct of Kelvin's mind and secondly as a corporeal manifestation of this need. Even his body is moved "beyond reason, beyond thought" to have her as his muse, as his god, disavowing self-preservation, scientific fundamentals, and all concept of reality.
"We have no need for other worlds. We want mirrors."
As Snow states, the need for other is unnecessary. All that mankind wants in the exploration of new frontiers are "mirrors" with which to reflect himself. The god is a part of the man and his quest seeks affirmation that this god is both unrivaled and unique.
There is only one other visitor which is revealed to readers in the novel; the tall, muscular, black "Negress." Kelvin finds her huge form coiled up against the dead body of Gibarian. Somehow this god figure born of Gibarian's psyche had driven him mad enough to commit suicide and, like Kelvin, was unable to detach himself from her even in death.
Snow's visitor is left purposefully ambiguous. The movie, however, does insert a child into the narrative which is purportedly his dead son.
So how to merge the comparisons of Lucretius and Solaris into a unified project...
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Reality
What is reality? There is both the metaphysical and the concrete but there seem to be some shades of gray area. I had an interesting conversation with one of my residents at the nursing home last Monday. Alyce is the resident and Barbie is one of my co-workers.
Alyce: Help!
<laying in bed with no covers on>
Me: What's wrong?
Alyce: Levi, help Barbie! She isn't moving!
<shakes the edge of her mattress pad frantically>
Me: What do you mean?
Alyce: She crawled in here <pointing between the mattress pad and the mattress> and hasn't come out.
Me: Oh yeah?
Alyce: Yes, and now she isn't moving. I think she's dead.
Me: I think Barbie went home. Her shift was over 2 hours ago.
Alyce: No, she is here. You see her?
<again she shakes the mattress pad as if shaking a person back to consciousness>
Me: No, that's your mattress.
Alyce: This is her blue sweater.
Me: I don't think it's her.
Alyce: Levi, help Barbie! She isn't moving.
Me: How did she get in there?
Alyce: She came in about 10 minutes ago and laid down on the bed.
I proceeded to try and convince her that Barbie was not trapped between her mattresses for about 20 minutes with no luck. Alyce was completely convinced of this situation but the reality was vastly different. To her, it was as real as the nose on her face. The disparity between my reality and her reality was immense. In order to make a little sense, there needs to be some back story. Alyce has lived in the nursing home for 5 years. They took her out of a rodent infested apartment and into the custody of the state and APS. While living in the nursing home, she has had many fantastical imaginings which seem as real to her as anything. The metaphysical realm seemed to be more comfortable for Alyce.
Alyce would gaze out at the courtyard for hours and call me in to witness the sundry forms of wildlife which she saw. Of the many things she saw, I can recall vividly most of them. On one occasion there were baby bobcats in the neighbors basement which Alyce could see peering out the basement window. She was so intensely distressed that I went out to assuage her fears, finding that it was merely leaves piled up in the sunken window. Another time a weasel which girded the birch trees had eaten so much that he became too fat to escape from between the two birch trees. I was summoned to rescue the weasel. Another image was a snake in the reeds that was dead and had a rat in his mouth which was having its eyes plucked out by a blackbird. I remember her telling me there was a dead dog on the neighbors patio one winter. "How could they just leave the poor thing out to die?" she asked. It turned out to be a bag of dog food. I even brought her a pair of binoculars to inspect the animals more closely but her reality remained the same.
Lately Alyce doesn't even think she lives there. She imagines that the staff has pulled an elaborate prank on her, switching her room to a different location while at a doctor's appointment. "What apartment number are you Alyce?" "233" and I showed her the label on the door saying 233 but she would not believe me.
We shall not cease from our exploration
And at the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
Alyce encounters the world again, only to explore it anew. All her realities are those of a child. She sees things as if they were brand new to her.
Friday, September 28, 2012
The Red Sea
"The ceaseless mutation of forms composed of indestructible substances is the greatest thought that mankind was ever given."
On Solaris, there is an ocean which is a monstrous, biological fluid with amazing capabilities. It exerts a gravitational pull, correcting the planets misguided orbital path around the two suns. But the most fascinating aspect of the ocean is that it is able to produce life, gleaning knowledge of the scientist's deepest hidden thoughts and recreating living, breathing people which mimic or stand in for lost relations to Kelvin, Snow, and Sartorius. This red ocean is able to produce a "ceaseless mutation of forms", a byproduct of the scientist's minds who inhabit the station on Solaris. The created likenesses are memories from the deepest recesses of people's minds taken from dreams. Then when Kelvin and the others awake, the person, flesh and blood, is there next to them in a form that is immortal and ageless-a god. These creations become their masters, their gods, whom they must placate at any cost.
Rheya, the alien reproduction of Kelvin's deceased ex-wife, does not understand why she cannot stop following him, even to the point of her tearing the door off it's hinges to be near (this is what the picture illustrates, her confusion at acting the way she does; in fact, she doesn't even know why she's bleeding). Lem's entire novel reflects the ideas of Luctretius: religion as a byproduct of the human mind and nature as the ultimate creator.
Whilst human kind
Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed
Before all eyes beneath Religion—who
Would show her head along the region skies,
Glowering on mortals with her hideous face—
A Greek it was who first opposing dared
Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,
Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke
Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky
Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest
His dauntless heart to be the first to rend
The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.
And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;
And forward thus he fared afar, beyond
The flaming ramparts of the world, until
He wandered the unmeasurable All.
Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports
What things can rise to being, what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
Wherefore Religion now is under foot,
And us his victory now exalts to heaven.
-Lucretius
Rheya etymologically comes from the goddess named Rheia, the titan mother to all Olympus gods. While the ocean produces the substance that makes Rheya "real", it is Kelvin's mind that produces the her characteristics which form of a familiar, comforting deity. When it is time for her to leave (try not to spoil it too badly), it is nearly impossible for Kelvin to let go. The destruction of the gods mirrors Lucretius' denunciation of the pantheon. Rheya is the embodiment of what Lucretius is questioning in De Rerum Natura.
The ocean echoes Lucretius as it presents a disruption to the entirety of human experience and knowledge as it creates life at will. This is in complete absence of a god or creator in the most common sense, instead posing a natural force as the ultimate source of life.
Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies
And fosters all, and whither she resolves
Just as the red fern, like the red ocean, conjures up the proposition that the world and all of creation has not changed but rather the way in which we are seeing it has evolved. The fern was an object or symbol within my mind but had not been fully illuminated until experienced fully. Likewise, the ocean on Solaris is a symbol for the expansion of human knowledge which is never completely realized until Kris Kelvin arrives there and truly understands the pure natural power of the ocean. The ocean lives, creates, moves, a godlike organism which tests the reality of Kelvin's world and the realm of possibility.
On Solaris, there is an ocean which is a monstrous, biological fluid with amazing capabilities. It exerts a gravitational pull, correcting the planets misguided orbital path around the two suns. But the most fascinating aspect of the ocean is that it is able to produce life, gleaning knowledge of the scientist's deepest hidden thoughts and recreating living, breathing people which mimic or stand in for lost relations to Kelvin, Snow, and Sartorius. This red ocean is able to produce a "ceaseless mutation of forms", a byproduct of the scientist's minds who inhabit the station on Solaris. The created likenesses are memories from the deepest recesses of people's minds taken from dreams. Then when Kelvin and the others awake, the person, flesh and blood, is there next to them in a form that is immortal and ageless-a god. These creations become their masters, their gods, whom they must placate at any cost.
Whilst human kind
Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed
Before all eyes beneath Religion—who
Would show her head along the region skies,
Glowering on mortals with her hideous face—
A Greek it was who first opposing dared
Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,
Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke
Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky
Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest
His dauntless heart to be the first to rend
The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.
And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;
And forward thus he fared afar, beyond
The flaming ramparts of the world, until
He wandered the unmeasurable All.
Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports
What things can rise to being, what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
Wherefore Religion now is under foot,
And us his victory now exalts to heaven.
-Lucretius
Rheya etymologically comes from the goddess named Rheia, the titan mother to all Olympus gods. While the ocean produces the substance that makes Rheya "real", it is Kelvin's mind that produces the her characteristics which form of a familiar, comforting deity. When it is time for her to leave (try not to spoil it too badly), it is nearly impossible for Kelvin to let go. The destruction of the gods mirrors Lucretius' denunciation of the pantheon. Rheya is the embodiment of what Lucretius is questioning in De Rerum Natura.
The ocean echoes Lucretius as it presents a disruption to the entirety of human experience and knowledge as it creates life at will. This is in complete absence of a god or creator in the most common sense, instead posing a natural force as the ultimate source of life.
Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies
And fosters all, and whither she resolves
Each
in the end when each is overthrown.
-Lucretius
Just as the red fern, like the red ocean, conjures up the proposition that the world and all of creation has not changed but rather the way in which we are seeing it has evolved. The fern was an object or symbol within my mind but had not been fully illuminated until experienced fully. Likewise, the ocean on Solaris is a symbol for the expansion of human knowledge which is never completely realized until Kris Kelvin arrives there and truly understands the pure natural power of the ocean. The ocean lives, creates, moves, a godlike organism which tests the reality of Kelvin's world and the realm of possibility.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Since everyone's posting poems...
This was a quick assignment I had done for film class where we were to "describe what our shoe meant to us". Most of the people had quirky utilitarian definitions like, "Comfortable, rugged...Holy shit! Shoes!" The other requirement was that it be short enough to fit into a tweet, so as to be concise and not too boring.
Don my Stocks
summers arrival,
On/Off while
warm months wan,
Frozen gaze
enveloping pleasure,
Oily prints
as nude on snow.
Just had some fun with it.
Don my Stocks
summers arrival,
On/Off while
warm months wan,
Frozen gaze
enveloping pleasure,
Oily prints
as nude on snow.
Just had some fun with it.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Ferntacular!
Opening the bible, as I often do, I stumbled upon The Red Fern which I really like.
The large-leaved day grows rapidly,
And opens in this familiar spot
Its unfamiliar, difficult fern,
Pushing and pushing red after red.
There are doubles of this fern in clouds,
Less firm than the paternal flame,
Yet drenched with its identity,
Reflections and off-shoots, mimic-motes
And mist-mites, dangling seconds, grown
Beyond relation to the parent trunk:
The dazzling, bulging, brightest core,
The furiously burning father-fire...
Infant, it is enough in life
To speak of what you see. But wait
Until sight wakens the sleepy eye
And pierces the physical fix of things.
I had never really looked at a red fern but this one is growing out of rocks it seems. There are a bunch of them all nearly identical.
I think this poem is merely describing the fiery red fern in the first three stanzas but the last one is what really piqued my interest. It almost discredits the first three. I believe he is saying that you can talk about, write about, and describe, or try to illustrate certain beauties in life but sometimes words will just not do the object justice. As here, the fern was just an opaque and lifeless image in my mind until I googled it and realized how amazing it really looks. Further, these pictures probably do not do proper homage to the actual living thing.
The large-leaved day grows rapidly,
And opens in this familiar spot
Its unfamiliar, difficult fern,
Pushing and pushing red after red.
There are doubles of this fern in clouds,
Less firm than the paternal flame,
Yet drenched with its identity,
Reflections and off-shoots, mimic-motes
And mist-mites, dangling seconds, grown
Beyond relation to the parent trunk:
The dazzling, bulging, brightest core,
The furiously burning father-fire...
Infant, it is enough in life
To speak of what you see. But wait
Until sight wakens the sleepy eye
And pierces the physical fix of things.
I think this poem is merely describing the fiery red fern in the first three stanzas but the last one is what really piqued my interest. It almost discredits the first three. I believe he is saying that you can talk about, write about, and describe, or try to illustrate certain beauties in life but sometimes words will just not do the object justice. As here, the fern was just an opaque and lifeless image in my mind until I googled it and realized how amazing it really looks. Further, these pictures probably do not do proper homage to the actual living thing.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Volcano
Through the weaved links on the chain fencing I watch my two children playing on the elementary school playground; it is only the third day of school. The biting autumn wind reminds me to zip my jacket. The imminence of a long, frozen winter continuously confronts me with my mortality-a frail and fleeting collection of memories and words. The bell rings for what seems a solid minute and I kiss my young children goodbye wrapping their small frames in my arms in loving embrace. They eagerly scamper inside for spelling hour. I turn to walk home and think of these kids, not just my own, but every one of them. They will speak our language; but will they know our stories? They will endure a literate despair.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Violet's Story Revisited
Violet's Story
So, in case you don't know, Violet is my four year old daughter. This is her story. She can't read yet but can decipher some basic words and knows her alphabet, etc. I told her to tell me a story and this is what we ended up with.
"Once upon a time there was a princess named Vanilla and her mom didn't let her go out any of the time. And she didn't let her mother go out because she didn't want to go out because she wouldn't, because she wouldn't because she wouldn't. Blah blah blah. And then the prince came and she had a furry coat and she had a list about it. Most of all she loved her bunny. Hop hop hop went the bunny. Hop hop hop she helped her bunny. Hop hop hop hop hop with her lovely penny and her little woof woof named Allay. Allay and bunny went to the store because they wanted to sweep and they sweeped the computer and they sweeped the wall because most of all she loved her bunny, she loved her bunny. The queen loved the animals and she tried to keep her away from the bunny and her bear Sandy with a pink bunny and a white bunny with a broom she wouldn't go without a bloom bloom wash. Tada the end of that one. Now it's time for the next one. Because she has a bow doesn't mean she was a boy. I made myself homemade handcuffs today out of this today. I just did and then I had a little time and then it was really hard getting it off. (Singing) Balupadupadup. I don't know what to do. She didn't know what to do. I am singing the song for her because she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to do because she's lost, because she's almost new because she's eating fruit every day. I don't know what to do. She didn't know because I didn't know. She had a floppy coat that was pink and black and she had nice soft shoes on and a nice soft Hoseypillow. And she didn't know her name, she couldn't write her name. (Begins to strum the guitar and sing now) She would be a bad bad bunny because end of story but we still have part of the story left. If you ever liked a tomato, if you don't like to talk to tomatoes, then you don't like to talk to me, and if you like to talk to me, then you don't like to talk to me. It's fine if you don't. I don't know who did it for awhile. The End. I will tell you more of the story. Hopping leaping for awhile. You don't know what the frog is. It's a Wooluf. A Wooluf is a wolf that doesn't scratch or doesn't bite, but most of all, doesn't bite. And her name is Vanilla. Va-uh-nil-uh. That is what it says? If you don't have this list, then you don't know what it is. (Guitarring again) And I don't know what to do, I love books and you do too."
So this is completely unedited. I just wrote what she said/sang. Actually turned out kind of cool (I think).
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