I am sorry that the link didn't work from yesterday. Here it is: Owain and the Lady of the Fountain
We probably won't have time to look at Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. So please disregard any reference to it in the schedule and instead focus on the above reading which is probably the best so far on this subject. Please be aware that your final projects are due this weekend. I will have your grades finished by Monday and posted for you to see. Tomorrow we will discuss Owain and then on Friday we'll discuss your movie picks.
I'm really glad to see that things are coming together and making sense for people. The comments posted from yesterday were really good and show that you are grasping the importance of this to myth.
In order to be able to bring a change in consciousness and return to the masses with it, it is often necessary to overcome your desire. Desire usually takes the shape of worldy things such as money, sex, power, food, whatever. When is the last time you saw a fat Buddhist monk? The hero can enjoy worldy things but not to the exclusion of his main purpose. Bilbo Baggins (before his adventure) was a great example of a selfish fool. He would rather indulge his desires, food, smoking, sleep, than anything else. It was not until he was forced out of Hobbiton, and faced some trials that he became someone who really understood, charity, compassion, courage, etc. By the end of the novel he turned a 180 into a self actualized human being, from the infantile figure he was.
So yes, Adam taking the apple from Eve and eating amounted to Adam's choice to live with woman and all she stands for. Earthly temptation was to great for Adam and so mankind was consigned to the earth and be a part of it forever. This explains why we must submit ourselves to the indignity of death while still enjoying the pleasures of sex and love. So the real choice made was Adam's; Eve was and is a representative of life. Adam chose knowledge of the world over spiritual bliss and ignorance.
Sorry again about the broken link.
