Augustine on Memorization

Augustine‘s method of memorization seems pretty effective. When I first read about his method of memorization I thought to myself, “Imagine memorizing the bible….. This dude must be crazy!” But now I can see where he is coming from: Memorize the bible so you’ll always have it in the back of your head so that in your future life experiences and interactions with people you will draw a connection a finally get to say “o0o I get it!”

I am a theatre/psych major, and I find it easy to apply Augustine’s method to memorization in terms of acting. Memorizing a script is no easy task. Every actor has a different memorization style. Some find a way to relate the script to personal experience in order to remember, some people just repeat lines over and over and over etc. When you are a part of a production, you have to understand all the different concepts, relationships, and the overall meaning within and beyond the actual script. Character building is one way to develop this understanding. Because you have already memorized the script, the process of character building is very helpful in performing the essence of that specific character. You are then able to connect the script, the character and yourself into the production. It’s a beautiful thing =)

Mr. Smith mentioned that Augustine wanted people to understand their position in the world while remaining open to new ideas and connecting to the world (correct me if I’m wrong). I feel like I can draw a connection between Mr. Smith’s interpretation of Augustine and an actor. A good actor knows how to shake it off after the performance. Just because you are now portraying the essence of this character does not mean you have to literally become the character. You still understand your position.

Side Note: After reading Ariana's blog and her buddhist quote, i found some interesting websites and blogs:

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/

- http://beastorbuddha.com/2009/01/22/unauthorised-access-to-company-websitesinformationsystems/
Here is a meditation website too, it was some pretty sweet tunes:

http://www.buddhanet.net/audio-meditation.htm

How would Augustine interpret the Psalms?

In book two of Saint Augustine’s On Christian Teaching I found that there are many different ways to interpret the Psalms through his examples of interpreting scriptures. Many of the Psalms are kind of ambiguous, therefore we should as he states; “follow the ideas rather than the words”. I really like this concept and for some strange reason it makes a whole lot of sense. I guess I can draw a connection between his ideas and the discussion we had in class on Psalm 18. Many people visualized the speaker in a literal battle, but for me I guess it’s made clear that I was just focusing on the ideas as oppose to the actual words.

“But casual readers are mislead by problems and ambiguities of many kinds, mistaking one thing for another” (Augustine 32). This connects with my personal beliefs while reading the Psalms. The author was more focused on historical context; his interpretation of the Psalms kind of took away from the actual meaning. I found a way to connect most of the Psalms with personal experience to understand them. Augustine’s ideas are very helpful for interpreting the Psalms. I think if Augustine was in our Religious Studies class trying to interpret the Psalms he would say: Ignore Alters translations for they are just words; rather follow your ideas.
=)

Psalm 18 Follow up

Wednesday we discussed Psalm 18. I feel like many people who were involved in the class discussion pictured the speaker in a literal battle. I found this very interesting because as I was reading, I did not picture him being in an actual war or being physically rescued. I read it with a different perspective. The speaker was thanking God for rescuing him from himself.

The man before God saved him was “evil” and tried to dominate his spirit, and mind. This is also why I do not view god as “scary”. God, in this sense, is not defeating others because this man asked him to. God aids this man in defeating the “evil” man that he was before he turned into the holy man that he is in the present.

Also, Mr. Smith mentioned discussing the differences between having those who have a belief in a religion but remain open to new ideas vs. those who take on one religion and become hostile to the world around them. I found this interesting and it made me think about myself. Which do I take one and why? I would not consider myself a Christian, but, I do however keep the beliefs of Christianity in my mind. Before this question was brought up in the classroom I never understood why I did this. I realize now that I do it for perspective. I am open to new ideas and religions, but to keep me grounded and to have a better understanding of the world, I relate most things to the Christian perspective first, and compare and contrast based off of those teachings.

Side note: Today I really enjoyed our class discussion: drawing a connection between the movie happy feet and religion.

Psalm 18

Given the image of God as a volcano, it does not seem unordinary to view this Psalm in a bizarre or frightening light. Personally, God’s image in Psalm 18 does not scare me because I can kind of relate. As a child, I used to think God controlled the weather. I believed that when it rained, God was sad= (. I was fascinated by God’s power. He was so interesting and played such a huge role in my life, that I would relate him to everything. As I got a little older, I learned about precipitation and all that jazz and became less comfortable about my childhood beliefs. My point: the speaker in Psalm 18 and I were once on the same page.

The image of God as a fighter is no more (or less) frightening or problematic than the image of a rabbit’s foot. What I mean by this is simple. Some people choose to carry around a rabbit’s foot with some expectancy of good luck and protection. The speaker in Psalm 18 has this same level of expectancy. God is his source of strength and protection. Without him he would die (he almost did); therefore he carries God with him wherever he goes.

In verse 9, Alter believes that the man simply uses imagery to express his strong belief in God’s power; God is literally the volcano. His belief is so strong, that he literally sees nothing else in its natural form. Maybe before God saved him from evil he would have said “Eghh…that’s just and old volcano...about to erupt.” But now, he sees the God in everything. God is a volcano, a tree, a rabbit etc. God is everything to this man. This is his way of giving back to God after rescuing him from evil.

I can think of many different ways that Psalm 18 can be interpreted. Right now I can’t formulate the words to actually write these thoughts down, but, I will write about them sometime in my future blogs. This is the most interesting Psalm thus far!

Random Blog

I will always remember rainy days when I was younger. I would say “Daddy I’m bored” and he would always reply “An idle mind is the devils workshop”. This scared the crap out of me. Every time he said this I would think, “O no I don’t want a little red man with horns screwing up my brain. What made the devil so powerful anyway?

I never really understood the relationship between God and the Devil. The only thing I knew from my parents teachings was that God is “good” and the devil is “bad”.
As I was sitting on the green yesterday with some friends =), a conversation on Christianity sparked. According to my friend, in the bible there is the story of the “fallen angel” or the devil (I believe the bible also refers to the devil as Lucifer, or Satan). Apparently, the devil was an angel in heaven before he became “the devil”. The devil was the angel of music and always tried to get beside him in gods kingdom; he wanted to take over.

I would never imagine the devil being an angel of God, and of music at that! My church always referrers to some rap or rock music as “devils music” which is funny to me because now I realize that it is actually the devils music. (That was corny) But anyway….. This is such an interesting topic for me because my parents would always try to instill this fear of the devil in me. This could have been for two reasons: 1) they both really didnt want me listening to rap music or 2) because he’s kind of like the rebellious teenager who decides he’s going to drop out of school and hitch hike across the country.

\Here is a pretty interesting link. It has many of the controversial themes in our society today in terms of the bible: http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm

Here is a picture of the "Fallen Angel". This is a statue in Madrid:
http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/49539.html

Psalm 2

I noticed a change in the meaning of the word “anointed.” In my opinion, this separates both contexts completely.

“Kings of the earth take their stand and princes conspire together against the LORD and against HIS anointed” (Alter, Verse 2). The rhythm of the Alter version seems to have a more violent connotation. The “I” is defending his land whereas in the Bay Psalms version, the “I” is claiming it with confidence; there is no need to be defensive.

The “I” in the Bay Psalms version is “the anointed” or the son of God. The fact that one is using “I” statements indicates a certain level of support, faith, and comfort. It kind of implicates that there is no longer this fear of war because we have in some ways found and appreciate ourselves. “But I anointed have my king up upon my holy hill” (Bay Psalm 2, verse 6). There is a sense of confidence and appreciation.

Not sure if this is going to be relevant, but there just some thoughts: Thinking in terms of the Old and New Testament: It seems logical to assume that the Alter version was written before the birth of Jesus (Old Testament) because the “I” is not yet defined. Whereas in the Bay Psalms version, it is clear who the “I” is. It was written connecting to the New Testament because Jesus was born.

???

I grew up in a Christian house hold. My father is very religious. He brought me along with my two brothers to church every Sunday. We prayed together. I was involved in my church: the Easter plays, bible study, teen Fridays and all that jazz...
Since the beginning of my senior year in high school, I began to question my belief in Christianity. There are so many different perspectives on how we as humans were first created. The idea of evolution seems pretty logical. But that’s where the skepticism comes in. Human beings are so complex. There is no way I’m going to accept this theory that we just developed from a different species. The end! This idea is wayyyy too simple. I believe our creation may have been so complicated, that it is impossible to describe. I like to believe that it is beyond human understanding; I love the mystery. I’m taking this class because I want to learn about different religions beliefs on human creation/development.

Effigy Mounds

I agree with the Geertz definition of religion in relation to the effigy mounds. I also agree with the idea of the mounds and cemeteries representing a renewal of the earth; however I believe that the mounds were also built to establish a sense of territorial dominance and worship within Native Americans culture.
Native American societies, specifically the Red Ocher complexes, and the Adena people, buried many different materials along with the body to represent a person’s social status. They chose to put all power into material items to establish a sense of worth. The effigy mounds were built with this same concept in mind. It seems to me that the construction of the mounds was the beginning of the Native American societal hierarchy. The mounds were somehow the authority figure in the hierarchy; they represented the idea that nature comes before humans. Nature was always recognized and worshiped in the Adena rituals. The mounds were built so that one could not get around it without recognizing its beauty and its size. It gets in the way of one’s path.
Question: “Like the Old Copper and Red Ocher Complexes in Wisconsin and adjacent regions, Adena was not one culture, but a cluster of rituals shared by a number of different people” (page 83). In my opinion, culture within a group consists of shared beliefs and values. The Adena people shared the same rituals and beliefs among their people; wouldn’t this make them one culture?
Some sweet mounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCLGUqG87E0

Rastafari Religion.....?

Ok. So I have 3 cousins in Jamaica, and 2 back at home in New York who identify themselves a part of the Rastafarian religion. Many tend to think that all Rasta’s do is smoke weed and dread their hair. I’m pretty sure this is not true, which is why I’m super excited to get to the Rastafarian section of the course =). The only thing I know about the religion, is that it originated through the teachings of Afro centrism, and that they speak an English dialect called Patois. (I could be totally wrong.)

Specifics that I want to learn:
Rastafarian history, belief system, music, art, politics, language, rituals, community………Ok so I want to learn a lot; because my Rastafarian cousins are by far some of the coolest people I know. =)