After reading your assessment: In my opinion this movie/novel illustrates what I believe has become the modern West’s greatest folly; the obsession, elevation, and pursuit of Aphrodite as the ideal woman and wife.
Not unlike Bella, I spent my first 25 years orchestrating my life in pursuit of my own Aphrodite and lust by shagging my way from America across through Europe and the Middle East. What I’ve learned from my own philandering and from observing the tragic male heroes in my life, is that Aphrodite marries for material and social gain; marrying the smith and fashioner of the gods, Hephaestus, at her father Zeus’s behest. But she’ll happily sleep with you even if she’s already married, since she spends most of her time schtupping Ares, the Tennis Pro, or whoever sufficiently stokes her passions.
I’m obsessed with ancient mythology. Reading the classical myths growing up, Hera always seemed like such an unattractive nag. No woman wants to hear “you’re my Hera”, yet the obvious conclusion is that she is in fact the archetypally ideal wife; the queen and mother of the gods.
However, I still wonder if it’s possible or even wise to jump to this conclusion without having known an Aphrodite or two, in the biblical sense. Otherwise, if you marry Hera directly, you might not be able to resist the temptation of cheating with Aphrodite or knocking up your hot secretary when she throws herself at you. What do you make of this assessment? Are there analogous female characters in the Judeo-Christian pantheon? Is there a dearth of archetypal women or have we simply let ourselves be engaged by the Virgin Mary with cyclopean fervor, thus glossing over other useful examples?
Responding to the idea of Hera being an unattractive nag, I'd say that all of the classical deities in the myths aren't good, they're great- representing the best and worst aspects of their particular domain, the extreme of that archetype taken to its furthest form, good and bad.
This is where you'll find the Christian hierarchy differs from the classical, as they (like Plato) put Goodness at the top, and say "that is where God dwells" while the classical myths put Power at the top and say "that is where a god dwells." This is why Christianity absorbed the platonists and the stoics, their worldview encapsulated those ideas and more.
Within the Christian "pantheon" the stories you're looking for are the live of the Saints- St. Mary of Egypt comes to mind; however Christianity has always rejected the idea of "tasting the bitter to know the sweet" as the wrong thing to strive for. The great thinkers of Christianity essentially say that sin is like heroin: corrosive, destructive, addictive- to be fought as much as you can, because there is no guarantee that once you jump off that cliff that you'll survive. Better people than you have been lost to it. Not to say that redemption isn't available, it always is, but who's to say you'll want it again if you've intentionally turned away from it once already?
Besides, it isn't the hedonist who knows true pleasure in a feast, it's the ascetic who breaks his month long fast and eats the Bread and drinks the Wine, and truly knows it for the first time.
Wow, these are certainly accurate and wise analogies, thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading about St. Mary of Egypt. Though, perhaps I illustrated my points or query poorly. I would never advocate intentionally turning away from Christianity. Rather, I perceive the default stance of society today as already turned away towards lust. Furthermore, advocating for a near monastic life may fall on deaf ears if pushed on adventurous adolescents. The case of St. Mary illustrates this well, as only after she shagged her way from Egypt to Jerusalem was she able to see the folly of this lifestyle, renouncing her lustful ways and retreating to hermeticism, which as you pointed out is a risky path with no guarantees. She's also hardly a desirable wife or life partner, which would be the objective of most men who aren't taking vows of celibacy. Does scripture or the classics ever advocate a middle way, such as deliberate moderation, rather than swinging from extreme indulgence to extreme renunciation and asceticism?
"It’s probably pointless to answer this star-studded film with yet another old-man-yells-at-cloud tirade about embodied souls, and if I embarked on one then I would be boring you, which is what this movie ultimately did to me."
After reading your assessment: In my opinion this movie/novel illustrates what I believe has become the modern West’s greatest folly; the obsession, elevation, and pursuit of Aphrodite as the ideal woman and wife.
Not unlike Bella, I spent my first 25 years orchestrating my life in pursuit of my own Aphrodite and lust by shagging my way from America across through Europe and the Middle East. What I’ve learned from my own philandering and from observing the tragic male heroes in my life, is that Aphrodite marries for material and social gain; marrying the smith and fashioner of the gods, Hephaestus, at her father Zeus’s behest. But she’ll happily sleep with you even if she’s already married, since she spends most of her time schtupping Ares, the Tennis Pro, or whoever sufficiently stokes her passions.
I’m obsessed with ancient mythology. Reading the classical myths growing up, Hera always seemed like such an unattractive nag. No woman wants to hear “you’re my Hera”, yet the obvious conclusion is that she is in fact the archetypally ideal wife; the queen and mother of the gods.
However, I still wonder if it’s possible or even wise to jump to this conclusion without having known an Aphrodite or two, in the biblical sense. Otherwise, if you marry Hera directly, you might not be able to resist the temptation of cheating with Aphrodite or knocking up your hot secretary when she throws herself at you. What do you make of this assessment? Are there analogous female characters in the Judeo-Christian pantheon? Is there a dearth of archetypal women or have we simply let ourselves be engaged by the Virgin Mary with cyclopean fervor, thus glossing over other useful examples?
Responding to the idea of Hera being an unattractive nag, I'd say that all of the classical deities in the myths aren't good, they're great- representing the best and worst aspects of their particular domain, the extreme of that archetype taken to its furthest form, good and bad.
This is where you'll find the Christian hierarchy differs from the classical, as they (like Plato) put Goodness at the top, and say "that is where God dwells" while the classical myths put Power at the top and say "that is where a god dwells." This is why Christianity absorbed the platonists and the stoics, their worldview encapsulated those ideas and more.
Within the Christian "pantheon" the stories you're looking for are the live of the Saints- St. Mary of Egypt comes to mind; however Christianity has always rejected the idea of "tasting the bitter to know the sweet" as the wrong thing to strive for. The great thinkers of Christianity essentially say that sin is like heroin: corrosive, destructive, addictive- to be fought as much as you can, because there is no guarantee that once you jump off that cliff that you'll survive. Better people than you have been lost to it. Not to say that redemption isn't available, it always is, but who's to say you'll want it again if you've intentionally turned away from it once already?
Besides, it isn't the hedonist who knows true pleasure in a feast, it's the ascetic who breaks his month long fast and eats the Bread and drinks the Wine, and truly knows it for the first time.
Wow, these are certainly accurate and wise analogies, thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading about St. Mary of Egypt. Though, perhaps I illustrated my points or query poorly. I would never advocate intentionally turning away from Christianity. Rather, I perceive the default stance of society today as already turned away towards lust. Furthermore, advocating for a near monastic life may fall on deaf ears if pushed on adventurous adolescents. The case of St. Mary illustrates this well, as only after she shagged her way from Egypt to Jerusalem was she able to see the folly of this lifestyle, renouncing her lustful ways and retreating to hermeticism, which as you pointed out is a risky path with no guarantees. She's also hardly a desirable wife or life partner, which would be the objective of most men who aren't taking vows of celibacy. Does scripture or the classics ever advocate a middle way, such as deliberate moderation, rather than swinging from extreme indulgence to extreme renunciation and asceticism?
"It’s probably pointless to answer this star-studded film with yet another old-man-yells-at-cloud tirade about embodied souls, and if I embarked on one then I would be boring you, which is what this movie ultimately did to me."
I see what you did there.
Thanks for watching that so I don’t have to.
Yuck!