In representation to humanity, the hawk is called messenger, protector and visionary. Keen vision is one of its greatest gifts. Hawks see things others miss.
The hawk comes to you indicating that you are now awakening to your soul purpose, your reason for being here. It can teach you how to fly high while keeping yourself connected to the ground.
As you rise to a higher level, your psychic energies are awakening and the hawk can help you to keep those senses in balance. Its message for you is to be open to hope and new ideas, to extend the vision of your life.
The Hawk is an animal of flight. It soars through the air looking down, and sees everything. It has a larger perspective of what is going on down below. With its keen eyesight, it looks down as it soars through the air looking for its prey. It can see the smallest of creatures below.
The Hawk is known as a messenger, similar to the planet Mercury, for the hawk soars close to the Grandfather Sun, as does the planet. When you listen to the power of the Grandfather Sun or Wise Spirit that lives within, you are protected from all types of harm.
The Hawk teaches you to be observant and take a close look at your surroundings. It soars with the power to overcome difficult situations. It soars in circles over the life of the earth, asking you to circle over your life and view it from a higher perspective.
The Hawk has a distinct cry, one that most people are aware of. Its cry signifies awareness. If you hear the cry of the hawk use your intuitive ability to discern the message and seek the truth.
If a hawk has soared into your life, you require a higher perspective. You need to see the details of what is going on and look at the bigger picture. Take a look at your situation from above.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Moon History and Folklore
La Celestina, the story from which the first illusion is loosely based:
You know the Man in the Moon--you have all seen his jolly face beaming down at you from the great yellow moon. Whenever you see him he is smiling and you know, just to look at him, that he is good-natured and happy and very fond of the little children at whom he smiles.
Although you have all seen the Man in the Moon, not all of you have heard him. It wasn't until recently that he could talk to little earth folk, not till the radiophone was perfected. There he lived on the Milky Way this Man the Moon, with the Star Children, but he couldn't speak to you because there was no way to make you hear him. The radiophone, which is the wireless, has made it possible for the Man in the Moon to talk to you. And as soon as he found the children could hear him, he began to tell stories. The Man in the Moon told the first story for children ever told by radiophone and the first stories he told are those in this book.
As he told these stories to children, the Man in the Moon named stars for them, bright, twinkling stars that stay shining as long as little people for whom they are named are good, but which turn dull and cloudy when the children are naughty. The Man in the Moon wants every child to have his own star; if you look inside the cover of this book you will find yours. As soon as your name is written on your star, you will be one of the Man in the Moon's Star Children. Please don't forget, the way to keep your star bright and shining is by singing as much as you can and never pouting at all--you'll really find it easy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Celestina
Man in the Moon stories:
- From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_Moon)
A longstanding European tradition holds that the man was banished to the moon for some crime. Christian lore commonly held that he is the man caught gathering sticks on the sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the book of Numbers XV.32-36. Some Germanic cultures thought he was a man caught stealing from a neighbor's hedgerow to repair his own. There is a Roman legend that he is a sheep-thief.
One medieval Christian tradition claims him as Cain, the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth. Dante's Inferno alludes to this:
- "For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine
- On either hemisphere, touching the wave
- Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight
- The moon was round."
This is mentioned again in his Paradise:
- But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots
- Upon this body, which below on earth
- Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?”
There is also a Talmudic tradition that the image of Jacob is engraved on the moon, although no such mention appears in the Torah.
John Lyly says in the prologue to his Endymion (1591), "There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone."
In Norse mythology, Máni is the man who pulls the Moon across the sky. He is continually pursued by the Great Wolf Hati who catches them both at Ragnarok. The name Máni simply means "Moon", but sounds very similar to the Old Norse for "human" mannligr.
in Haida mythology, the figure represents a boy gathering wood, who was taken up from the earth as a punishment for disrespect.
- From the introduction of a children's book titled "Man in the Moon Stories" (http://earlyradiohistory.us/1922mm.htm)
You know the Man in the Moon--you have all seen his jolly face beaming down at you from the great yellow moon. Whenever you see him he is smiling and you know, just to look at him, that he is good-natured and happy and very fond of the little children at whom he smiles.
Although you have all seen the Man in the Moon, not all of you have heard him. It wasn't until recently that he could talk to little earth folk, not till the radiophone was perfected. There he lived on the Milky Way this Man the Moon, with the Star Children, but he couldn't speak to you because there was no way to make you hear him. The radiophone, which is the wireless, has made it possible for the Man in the Moon to talk to you. And as soon as he found the children could hear him, he began to tell stories. The Man in the Moon told the first story for children ever told by radiophone and the first stories he told are those in this book.
As he told these stories to children, the Man in the Moon named stars for them, bright, twinkling stars that stay shining as long as little people for whom they are named are good, but which turn dull and cloudy when the children are naughty. The Man in the Moon wants every child to have his own star; if you look inside the cover of this book you will find yours. As soon as your name is written on your star, you will be one of the Man in the Moon's Star Children. Please don't forget, the way to keep your star bright and shining is by singing as much as you can and never pouting at all--you'll really find it easy.
- http://www.skyscript.co.uk/moon.html
Consciousness and Free Will (again!)
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/
By the beginning of the early modern era in the seventeenth century, consciousness had come full center in thinking about the mind. Indeed from the mid-17th through the late 19th century, consciousness was widely regarded as essential or definitive of the mental. René Descartes defined the very notion of thought (pensée) in terms of reflexive consciousness or self-awareness. In the Principles of Philosophy (1640) he wrote,By the word ‘thought’ (‘pensée’) I understand all that of which we are conscious as operating in us.
Later, toward the end of the 17th century, John Locke offered a similar if slightly more qualified claim in An Essay on Human Understanding (1688),
I do not say there is no soul in man because he is not sensible of it in his sleep. But I do say he can not think at any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it. Our being sensible of it is not necessary to anything but our thoughts, and to them it is and to them it always will be necessary.
Locke explicitly forswore making any hypothesis about the substantial basis of consciousness and its relation to matter, but he clearly regarded it as essential to thought as well as to personal identity.Leibniz was the first to distinguish explicitly between perception and apperception, i.e., roughly between awareness and self-awareness. In the Monadology (1720) he also offered his famous analogy of the mill to express his belief that consciousness could not arise from mere matter. He asked his reader to imagine someone walking through an expanded brain as one would walk through a mill and observing all its mechanical operations, which for Leibniz exhausted its physical nature. Nowhere, he asserts, would such an observer see any conscious thoughts.
T. H. Huxley's famous remark, How it is that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness comes about as a result of irritating nervous tissue, is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the Djin, when Aladdin rubbed his lamp (1866).
Increased freedom of choice or free will. The issue of free will remains a perennial philosophical problem, not only with regard to whether or not it exists but even as to what it might or should consist in (Dennett 1984, van Inwagen 1983, Hasker 1999, Wegner 2002). The notion of free will may itself remain too murky and contentious to shed any clear light on the role of consciousness, but there is a traditional intuition that the two are deeply linked.
Consciousness has been thought to open a realm of possibilities, a sphere of options within which the conscious self might choose or act freely. At a minimum, consciousness might seem a necessary precondition for any such freedom or self-determination (Hasker 1999). How could one engage in the requisite sort of free choice, while remaining solely within the unconscious domain? How can one determine one's own will without being conscious of it and of the options one has to shape it. The freedom to chose one's actions and the ability to determine one's own nature and future development may admit of many interesting variations and degree rather than being a simple all or nothing matter, and various forms or levels of consciousness might be correlated with corresponding degrees or types of freedom and self-determination (Dennett 1984, 2003). The link with freedom seems strongest for the meta-mental form of consciousness given its emphasis on self-awareness, but potential connections also seem possible for most of the other sorts as well.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Character Presentations!
Hey, cast!
I transcribed what everyone said during their character presentations, so hopefully this is useful for you. I've also included a few of the sentences we created during our one-word story circle.
--Taylor
One Word Story
- When you go looking for an answer you find yourself wondering if you needed it at all.
- He needed to go to the cave to make his despair easier for bearing.
- Didn’t mention any of the illusions
- A lot of hide and seek; everyone is hiding from something and seeking something else
Amanuensis:
Pulls out props; He most treasures his tongue because it allows him to tell his stories.
Geronte:
He’s unbreakable as steel.
Alcandre:
Her greatest illusion is that she’s good at magic, that she is magic. Her greatest fear is that she will lose her mind. She needs her mind. Her mind is very powerful, so she can’t lose it. Her greatest dream is that one-day she’ll cry. Her favorite object is her jar of tears that she’s been collecting since she came to the cave. When you open the jar, you’ll hear the souls of a thousand men; hear their torment, their loss, their love, she saves them. It’s almost full. She taught the Amanuensis everything he knows.
Pridamant:
He’s an expert in the illusion of love/deception of love. He knows what it can do. He knows how it can creep up on you when you least expect it. It can open your heart in the most spectacular way and them turn on you as if you were holding onto it so tight and then it explodes into all other emotions. The deception lies in that you think you can love for the rest of your life but what you really have is the stale emotions that come with it. He dreams that he’ll find something he can attach to. Courage, wisdom enough to remind him that life is one experience that has no other significance than desire. He fears his life is one mistake, a glitch in the system. He only has desire, chasing a mirage that falls when he reaches it, every time. His greatest possession is his coat. Whatever his coat goes through, he goes through.
Calisto:
When he was young, he was sitting in his room playing the lute. His mother came in and smashed his lute to the ground. The best thing about that story is that it’s not true. Calisto is a storyteller. His dream is to find the most important woman in the world and have her take care of him. His greatest fear is that he’ll never find her. His greatest possession is Melibea’s handkerchief.
Clindor:
His greatest illusion is charm. He serves someone who doesn’t deserve to be served. Everyone believes whatever he says. Even his master lusts after his love. He hasn’t found anyone to love him and never will. His greatest fear is being a servant forever. His greatest possession is Isabelle’s letter.
Theogenes:
His expert illusion is that he’s convinced everyone in his life that he’s worthwhile. He thought he hadn’t found the most important woman, but she was there all the time. His greatest fear is that no one loves him. His greatest possession is his heart.
Melibea:
Her mother died when she was young; she was everything she wants to be. Her greatest possession is a picture of her parents. Her greatest fear is that she’ll grow up and be like her father if she doesn’t find her true love. Her expert illusion is choice.
Isabelle:
She’s through being led around through being told what to do. Her expert illusion is the power to break free and still be who she is.
Hippolyta:
Her expert illusion is self-persuasion. She constantly convinces herself that she can change him. She hasn’t found the right way to show him. Her greatest possession is a picture of her and Theogenes at their wedding to remind her that they’re true loves.
Elicia:
People think she’s nothing compared to Melibea, but she is something! She and Melibea are best friends. Her greatest possession is a diamond brooch that Melibea gave her (the brooch belonged to Melibea’s mother). As important as Melibea’s mother is to Melibea, Melibea is to Elicia. She wants to marry Calisto, but knows he is in love with Melibea. Her greatest fear is losing the two of them to each other.
Lyse:
Her expert illusion of mass seduction. She gets what she wants through batting her eyelashes and seducing men with her soft, soothing voice. She can put people together or tear them apart. She does it to gain something out of life. She wants to be rich in order to gain people’s respect and love. Her greatest possession is the diamond Adraste gives her. Her greatest fear is that she’ll never be rich no matter what she does and that she’ll die a poor maid.
Clarina:
Her expert illusion is maintaining her cool. Her dream was to be rich (which came true!) and now it’s to find someone who loves her as much as Hippolyta loves Theogenes. Her greatest fear is that all of her money will go away. Her greatest possession is a bottle of sand from the moon. It reminds her that all the trifles and backstabbing isn’t worth it. At all times, she keeps her cool.
Pleribo:
His expert illusion is chivalry. His dream is based on the Canterbury tale, “Sir Topaz”. His father read it to him often as a child. His greatest fear is that everything he knows and believes in is imprisoning him and preventing him from truly living and exploring the world. His greatest possession is a tapestry of two people dancing passed down through his mother’s generations.
Matamore:
He’s a warrior, lover, son of Achilles, vanquisher of the Trojans, and lover/son of Diana Ross. When he was three years old, he scalped his father, Achilles. He’s never going to answer to anyone. He searches the world to find a worthy opponent. His favorite possession is the hair from when he scalped Achilles. His expert illusion is mortality. His greatest fear (which he must have in order to appear mortal) is snakes…no. Spiders? No. His true greatest fear is meeting his son and having him treat him the same way he treated his father.
Prince Florilame:
His greatest possession is all of the hidden cameras he has around his castle because with information, no one can ever make a fool of you. His dream is for Hippolyta to come to him, try to kiss him, and he says no. He then goes to Theogenes, who tells him that he’s always envied him and asks the Prince to take Hippolyta. His greatest fear is that he’ll live a lonely and meaningless life.
Adraste: (the 4th)
His expert illusion is gilding the lily, or making something out of nothing. He can turn a pauper into a prince, a prostitute into a queen. No matter what’s underneath, he can make it into something else. His dream is that Isabelle will realize her folly and make him feel what he’s wanted to feel since birth. His greatest fear is that he won’t be fulfilled and spend every day hungering, but never being filled. His greatest possession is his father’s ring (which was passed down from his father’s generations). He wears it around his neck and one day Isabelle will wear it around her finger.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Can You Choose to Use Free Will?
Hello, all!
I was researching consciousness and came across this article about free will. It might be interesting for you all to consider how free will affects your character's stance in the play; does your character actually have a choice in the decisions they make? I've included a few of the most interesting quotes.
Also, I'm Allegra's liaison while she's in New York, so feel free to ask me questions or to relay things to her.
Enjoy,
Taylor (hooray for my first post!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/science/02free.html?_r=2&pagewanted=3&sq=free%20will&st=cse&scp=3
A bevy of experiments in recent years suggest that the conscious mind is like a monkey riding a tiger of subconscious decisions and actions in progress, frantically making up stories about being in control. As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place.
"Is it an illusion? That's the question," said Michael Silberstein, a science philosopher at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Another question, he added, is whether talking about this in public will fan the culture wars.
Daniel C. Dennett, a philosopher and cognitive scientist at Tufts University who has written extensively about free will, said that "when we consider whether free will is an illusion or reality, we are looking into an abyss. What seems to confront us is a plunge into nihilism and despair."
Whatever choice you make is unforced and could have been otherwise, but it is not random. You are responsible for any damage to your pocketbook and your arteries.
"[Free will is] an illusion, but it's a very persistent illusion; it keeps coming back," Dr. Wegner said, comparing it to a magician's trick that has been seen again and again. "Even though you know it's a trick, you get fooled every time. The feelings just don't go away."
A bevy of experiments in recent years suggest that the conscious mind is like a monkey riding a tiger of subconscious decisions and actions in progress, frantically making up stories about being in control. As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place.
"Is it an illusion? That's the question," said Michael Silberstein, a science philosopher at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Another question, he added, is whether talking about this in public will fan the culture wars.
Daniel C. Dennett, a philosopher and cognitive scientist at Tufts University who has written extensively about free will, said that "when we consider whether free will is an illusion or reality, we are looking into an abyss. What seems to confront us is a plunge into nihilism and despair."
Whatever choice you make is unforced and could have been otherwise, but it is not random. You are responsible for any damage to your pocketbook and your arteries.
"[Free will is] an illusion, but it's a very persistent illusion; it keeps coming back," Dr. Wegner said, comparing it to a magician's trick that has been seen again and again. "Even though you know it's a trick, you get fooled every time. The feelings just don't go away."
Monday, January 12, 2009
Baroque Context
This is a website with an incredible overview of the Baroque Period in which Corneille was writing. Included are themes of Baroque Art, the new idea of motion in art and the cosmos, and Corneille's response to the Church's denouncement of theater.
Baroque was the age of theater and where the illusory representation was the most important part of the art.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
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