The title of this blog, "The light of Knowledge" is my choice because I believe that knowledge that we acquire by going to institutions such as our great University is the reason for success in our life. It may not be financial success, but rather a success that we in ourselves know that we committed to something grand and completed it. If we glance back at history and look at previous generations, how many of the people living in our grandparents time had gone to college and achieved degrees in higher education as is possible today. Not very many, did so because of various reasons but one thing is evident, we as a generation are lucky to have the choice of going to great educational institutions and attaining knowledge that can empower us for the rest of our lives. That is the reason why I chose the aforementioned title. What better way can I describe the purpose of this blog assignment other than to acquire knowledge.
With regards to the Popul Vuh, one thing in particular stood out for me is that the mention of the gods, creators and makers in the story is not the same as when it's mentioned in other religous texts, such as the Old and New testaments, Torah, etc.. The mention of the god(s) here is one of authorities that make mistakes, bicker with one another and aren't as high and mighty as the god(s) of the aforementioned religious texts. I can't quite comprehend why this is the case and what purpose this is done for, but a particular reason I can conjecture would be that the gods mentioned in the Popul Vuh are to appear as "human like" in their qualities and characteristics as possible. This way people who hear the story can relate more to the trickery,deceit and arrogance that occurs among the lords in the story as well as the mistakes done by the various gods. An interesting theory but I'm not sure of its relevance.
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I like your title, and I think your point about the Popol Vuh is interesting. There seems to be more of an acknowledged fallibility here, and I think that might say something larger about the text. This could make for a strong paper topic. Perhaps it suggest a larger concept of a cause and effect outlook on the world rather than an all-knowing, all-dictating presence. I don't know; thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed that out about the Popol Vuh, I never really thought about that. I feel like maybe the Gods had human-like qualities so that later on, those two brothers could defeat them? And brothers became the son and the moon. Possibly to send a message that the humans (not just the Gods) took some part in creating the world too?
ReplyDeleteBut that is definitely interesting to think about...
Gina, It seems to me from the Popul Vuh that rather than having an all-knowing being the creator, it seems that the aim or message was to illustrate examples for the Mayans in the way that they conduct themselves in social circles and amongst their families. I think in that case it would be a cause and effect outlook on the world if anything at all that can be assumed from the various attributes that were given to the gods in the Popul Vuh.
ReplyDeleteNas005blogger, I guess what it seems like is the outward reason for the human like qualities the gods exhibit would be the ultimate demise of the lords of Xibalba but I think the underlying message would be to exemplify various different scenarios of what happens if you conduct yourself in an inappropriate way. For example, the arrogance of the lords of Xibalba led to their humiliating defeat. The lesson learned here would be arrogance leads to humiliation, at least that's what I believe would be the message.
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