I have a theme song for my post today.
I'm a sucker for apocalyptic literature, so Jacopone making big references to the Book of Revelation (and then *gasp* changing it) caught my attention. In poem 50, The Battle Against the Antichrist, I know that we talked a little about this in class, but the scene in there is SO MUCH LIKE the scene in revelation where the serpent-dragon-Satan thing comes up out of the sky, sweeps a third of them out of the sky and drinks all the water in the river. Except, in the Bible version, Mary gives birth to Jesus just in time (talk about epic battle scene--the angels are trying to fly her away from Satan and the woman is HAVING A BABY), and that power defeats the serpent. Yeah, he takes some sinners down with him, but that's to be expected and the world is saved.
In Jacopone's version, there is no light. At all. Not even from Mary and Jesus's heads. It's completely dark. The moon's not even out. You get the sense that the sun is there, but nothing's happening. It's just there as kind of this still presence, and you know that it's there and you know that it has to be providing some light, but that's not the point. The point is that the sun is just this passive thing, and it's the moon that takes the active role. The sun just sits there. The moon's dressed for a funeral and darkens everything. It almost seems to overpower the sun, which is all kinds of ridiculous, because seriously, when does the moon ever do that? The order is wrong, and by setting up this extremely uncomfortable setting (as well as referring to a battle we're used to winning as a losing one), Jacopone gets our attention. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG HERE. THE CHURCH IS EXTREMELY WRONG HERE. The focus here isn't on a powerless God; it's on the fact that the Church has taken God pretty much completely out of the equation. He's still there in name, but Jacopone doesn't see God's presence in the Church's actions or intentions. The Church's power is so great that it's sucking God out of other people's lives too, and they're left in a position as helpless as the one that Jacopone describes. The goodness is this great light that can't do anything. We even forget that it shines.
Jacopone goes on to describe three traps people fall into. There's three options and none of them are good. We're used to at least one of them being good--or at least one of them being slightly more desirable than the others--because we're used to the Bible. Or I'm used to the Bible, and Jacopone's audience would have been used to the Bible. Most people, says Jacopone, fall to greed. That's the big problem in the Church, and it really is. The Church has become this political force where people make lots of money--even more so in Jacopone's eyes, since he's totally advocating for a primary Francis of Assisi way of life. Then he mentions what I talked about in my last post, which was the vanity of knowledge. So essentially, if greed doesn't get you, learning things and thinking you're better than everyone else and getting lost in being all "knowledgable" will.
Then Jacopone mentions this third option that I didn't quite understand. It's like...if you get past the first two, then you're lost to this want to perform magic and miracles. I wasn't quite sure how to interpret that. Could it be a want to be Christ? Or a want to extend beyond human bounds? Or maybe it's a fame thing? Either way, I guess it leads back to the first two, where you end up turning away from God to follow these things. God becomes, again, like in his first image, a passive force in your life. He exists, and you do things in his name (sort of), but he becomes a circumstance rather than a focus and a reason. That's what Jacopone critiques here (in a rather fantastic fashion, in my extremely humble opinion).
Jacopone gets nicer at the end, in kind of a vain hope (but a hope, I noticed, nonetheless) that people will be able to defeat the three temptations and end up in a good and functional (and active) relationship with God. This is pretty early on as far as his poems go, so I guess he might not have been very angry yet, but yeah. Even if the hope is sarcastic, it's still present. Jacopone mentions that confiding in our strength is wrong, so I was wondering where strength comes from. Does it come from God? I think that's where Jacopone thinks it comes from, and that's one of the reasons why he's riding everyone so hard about this.
Also, in answer to Jacob's question in class the other day, Christ had to die and it was said that he was going to die, but I don't think people exactly understood the fact that he had to die because of all the bad stuff everyone had done in the past to turn away from God and, essentially, love. That's why you got the blame game instead of people kind of checking their lives.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Post 1: What is Idle Knowledge?
Jacopone is kind of a rock star.
Reading the poems assigned, I had so many things to discuss about all of them, but the thing that stuck out most to me is Jacopone consistently referring to two forms of knowledge: learning vs pious devotion, or true knowledge vs university knowledge.
First, this sticks out to me because, you know, I go to a university. So that got me thinking about what I was learning in class. Was that knowledge true, or was it something that wasn't? Jacopone seems to think that there is learning that falls in line with God and the way he wants us to live and learning that takes away from God. God must be a present figure in your learning and knowledge. This is true. Sometimes, knowledge creates pride. When I was a little girl, "know-it-all" or "Smart Alec" were among the worst of insults you could get (you know, besides "Poopy Head"). Knowledge is supposed to benefit yourself and others. It's not supposed to be something to cut yourself off from others or put yourself above them.
This passage, in 34 (ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRUE AND COUNTERFEIT LOVE, ACQUIRED AND INFUSED KNOWLEDGE), stuck out to me the most:
"Acquired knowledge, however long its meditation,
Cannot engender properly ordered love.
Infused knowledge, as soon as it touches you, fills you
With burning love, makes peace between you and God.
It makes you humble, edifies your neighbor,
And gives you knowledge of the truth."
Well, hey there, Jesuit values. Going to a Jesuit liberal arts school, you kind of get this sense of "learning for the sake of learning," but you also get that learning serves as a tool to help other people (as well as kind of a cool path to self-fulfillment through helping others). Through knowledge, you pursue a higher truth about the world that's not as much of a cut-and-dry means to an end as perhaps knowledge solely for the sake of being rich.
For knowledge to work for Jacopone, it must be selfless, and that wasn't something he was seeing a lot of when he was living. People with knowledge and in higher offices got paid more, and they were being very corrupt. Popes were rich and getting corrupt. Jacopone didn't see the aspect of their offices where they helped other people--at all, it seems. His solution was to get rid of them and to hope in vain that people would eventually turn and follow the path to true knowledge, that people would ultimately turn away from pride and follow God.
The papacy did eventually clear up (and by eventually, I'm talking more like "recently"), but learning even more about how corrupted the papacy was, I can see how hopeless it must have seemed for poor Jacopone. It's hard to stick it to the man when the man runs like...everything.
Reading the poems assigned, I had so many things to discuss about all of them, but the thing that stuck out most to me is Jacopone consistently referring to two forms of knowledge: learning vs pious devotion, or true knowledge vs university knowledge.
First, this sticks out to me because, you know, I go to a university. So that got me thinking about what I was learning in class. Was that knowledge true, or was it something that wasn't? Jacopone seems to think that there is learning that falls in line with God and the way he wants us to live and learning that takes away from God. God must be a present figure in your learning and knowledge. This is true. Sometimes, knowledge creates pride. When I was a little girl, "know-it-all" or "Smart Alec" were among the worst of insults you could get (you know, besides "Poopy Head"). Knowledge is supposed to benefit yourself and others. It's not supposed to be something to cut yourself off from others or put yourself above them.
This passage, in 34 (ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRUE AND COUNTERFEIT LOVE, ACQUIRED AND INFUSED KNOWLEDGE), stuck out to me the most:
"Acquired knowledge, however long its meditation,
Cannot engender properly ordered love.
Infused knowledge, as soon as it touches you, fills you
With burning love, makes peace between you and God.
It makes you humble, edifies your neighbor,
And gives you knowledge of the truth."
Well, hey there, Jesuit values. Going to a Jesuit liberal arts school, you kind of get this sense of "learning for the sake of learning," but you also get that learning serves as a tool to help other people (as well as kind of a cool path to self-fulfillment through helping others). Through knowledge, you pursue a higher truth about the world that's not as much of a cut-and-dry means to an end as perhaps knowledge solely for the sake of being rich.
For knowledge to work for Jacopone, it must be selfless, and that wasn't something he was seeing a lot of when he was living. People with knowledge and in higher offices got paid more, and they were being very corrupt. Popes were rich and getting corrupt. Jacopone didn't see the aspect of their offices where they helped other people--at all, it seems. His solution was to get rid of them and to hope in vain that people would eventually turn and follow the path to true knowledge, that people would ultimately turn away from pride and follow God.
The papacy did eventually clear up (and by eventually, I'm talking more like "recently"), but learning even more about how corrupted the papacy was, I can see how hopeless it must have seemed for poor Jacopone. It's hard to stick it to the man when the man runs like...everything.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Last Day Reflections
Everyone else's last day isn't really mine, but I planned on getting the most out of Rome today so I can spend time with everyone and recover tomorrow. Mostly, I just visited sites I loved. Like the Disney Store.
Of course, I visited Populo and walked up and down Corso for a bit. Today wasn't about seeing sites. Today was about reflection. And there's a lot that I learned in Rome--the majority of it has gone into this blog, and I'm very glad I made it so that I can come back to look at it every once in a while.
Coming to Italy has really reawakened my love of culture and also a confidence in myself that I hadn't really seen a lot of this first year in college. It was hard for me to be myself this year because I guess I was just trying to figure out who I was when I wasn't around familiar things. I like the person I see though, and that's good. I really want to put more of different cultures and different people into my studies, and that probably wouldn't have happened without this trip, so I'm very thankful for that.
I've gotten to know so many awesome people on this trip and have heard so many stories. It's only been a month! But I almost wish I was in this kind of situation more often because when people face things that are challenging, they seem to be more open, and you learn more things about people. I have experienced pretty much every emotion under the sun in this country, and I'm not really an emotional person. But I definitely got the experience i wanted, and I feel like I've grown a lot. :)
Of course, I visited Populo and walked up and down Corso for a bit. Today wasn't about seeing sites. Today was about reflection. And there's a lot that I learned in Rome--the majority of it has gone into this blog, and I'm very glad I made it so that I can come back to look at it every once in a while.
Coming to Italy has really reawakened my love of culture and also a confidence in myself that I hadn't really seen a lot of this first year in college. It was hard for me to be myself this year because I guess I was just trying to figure out who I was when I wasn't around familiar things. I like the person I see though, and that's good. I really want to put more of different cultures and different people into my studies, and that probably wouldn't have happened without this trip, so I'm very thankful for that.
I've gotten to know so many awesome people on this trip and have heard so many stories. It's only been a month! But I almost wish I was in this kind of situation more often because when people face things that are challenging, they seem to be more open, and you learn more things about people. I have experienced pretty much every emotion under the sun in this country, and I'm not really an emotional person. But I definitely got the experience i wanted, and I feel like I've grown a lot. :)
Tuscany
Tuscany is beautiful. It's glorious.
As long as you keep that in your head for the rest of this post, we're good. :)
Assisi blew my mind. It was such a nice and small town. We walked inside San Francesco and just...I don't know. We were all down by his tomb and people just started to kneel and...pray? Meditate? I don't know what they were doing, but it was clear that a sense of peace had come over us in Assisi. We saw the relics of his life and learned about how he started the Franciscans. He really was trying to get back to old school and live the way Jesus did, a very poverty-laden life, doing good works and adhering very strictly to this poor life.
Antonia and I climbed a mountain at night and looked at a castle and at the stars. It was quite peaceful, and I loved climbing by sunset. We hung out by Santa Chiara (where there was a party in the street).
Something that I noticed while I was in the church there was that there were a lot of portrayals of Jesus and God holding the ball. The ball, held by the Roman goddess Fortuna, is a symbol of fate and its instability (the ball rolls) as well as its everlasting qualities (fate always exists because there's a circle). I talked to some people in our class about it, and Jacob suggested that it just signified the universe. Which I suppose has the same kind of universal quality as fate. It gave me something to think about.
In Siena, we learned about the horse race and how that's actually the first scene of Quantum of Solace. We visited the Museo di Civico and the town square equivalent (it's a lot like the Forum in Rome). There was a map of the world on the wall that replaced frescos that had been there before. We also saw Mary in Majesty, Christ holding a scroll made of actual parchment because artists back then were awesome. IN the Citizen Center in Museo Civico, we found St. Catherine of Siena on the wall holding a lily. The picture also featured two faces, representing the Old and New Testament.
The most mind-blowing thing about the picture was that it was made out of fresh plaster, meaning that it had to be done in a very short time. Several people worked on the incredibly detailed picture, and a head per person was considered a day's work.
After that, we headed into Sala del Pace, which portrayed the Allegory of Good and Bad Government. I looked out the window while I was there and saw boys flag twirling in the street! That appears to be a Siena thing. :) Back to the picture though. The picture's main idea was that a city built on justice is peaceful. You walked in under the figure representing Justice and sat under it. The good government contained temperance, providence, prudence, fortitude, magnanimity, and then justice again. Ropes came down from Justice's hands to Concord to the people and finally the string ended at the ruler. The government kept in peace had a peaceful city and countryside. People were happy and trading and working and it was all good.
The bad government side had figures that all had like, demon ears or something. The government was led by a tyrant surrounded by avarice, vain glory, and pride. The city was full of war.
Also, there was a picture on the wall of Nero, showing that Nero was a tyrant.
Well, it implied it.
Anyway, we also found some pointy hats in the pictures referring to the Chinese that may have been in Siena at the time.
We had a party for Jeff that night, because it was his birthday. Also, in Assisi and Siena, I had bathtubs and took the first two baths I'd taken in a long time.
I didn't take too many notes in Florence just because I recognized that it was time to sit down and just enjoy life. Good sites I saw were a tour guide carrying a mop (awesome!)
We saw the Vasari picture of the six Tuscan poets. And then we went to the Uffizi and saw so many things that I can't even put them here. I did, however, see my buddy Jean-Marc Nattier and some of his pictures as well as more female deities holding balls, just like Fortuna that I identified as Fortuna. Also, I was absolutely in love with Spring. I just sat there and stared at it.
Beautiful Views!
As long as you keep that in your head for the rest of this post, we're good. :)
Assisi blew my mind. It was such a nice and small town. We walked inside San Francesco and just...I don't know. We were all down by his tomb and people just started to kneel and...pray? Meditate? I don't know what they were doing, but it was clear that a sense of peace had come over us in Assisi. We saw the relics of his life and learned about how he started the Franciscans. He really was trying to get back to old school and live the way Jesus did, a very poverty-laden life, doing good works and adhering very strictly to this poor life.
Antonia and I climbed a mountain at night and looked at a castle and at the stars. It was quite peaceful, and I loved climbing by sunset. We hung out by Santa Chiara (where there was a party in the street).
Something that I noticed while I was in the church there was that there were a lot of portrayals of Jesus and God holding the ball. The ball, held by the Roman goddess Fortuna, is a symbol of fate and its instability (the ball rolls) as well as its everlasting qualities (fate always exists because there's a circle). I talked to some people in our class about it, and Jacob suggested that it just signified the universe. Which I suppose has the same kind of universal quality as fate. It gave me something to think about.
In Siena, we learned about the horse race and how that's actually the first scene of Quantum of Solace. We visited the Museo di Civico and the town square equivalent (it's a lot like the Forum in Rome). There was a map of the world on the wall that replaced frescos that had been there before. We also saw Mary in Majesty, Christ holding a scroll made of actual parchment because artists back then were awesome. IN the Citizen Center in Museo Civico, we found St. Catherine of Siena on the wall holding a lily. The picture also featured two faces, representing the Old and New Testament.
The most mind-blowing thing about the picture was that it was made out of fresh plaster, meaning that it had to be done in a very short time. Several people worked on the incredibly detailed picture, and a head per person was considered a day's work.
After that, we headed into Sala del Pace, which portrayed the Allegory of Good and Bad Government. I looked out the window while I was there and saw boys flag twirling in the street! That appears to be a Siena thing. :) Back to the picture though. The picture's main idea was that a city built on justice is peaceful. You walked in under the figure representing Justice and sat under it. The good government contained temperance, providence, prudence, fortitude, magnanimity, and then justice again. Ropes came down from Justice's hands to Concord to the people and finally the string ended at the ruler. The government kept in peace had a peaceful city and countryside. People were happy and trading and working and it was all good.
The bad government side had figures that all had like, demon ears or something. The government was led by a tyrant surrounded by avarice, vain glory, and pride. The city was full of war.
Also, there was a picture on the wall of Nero, showing that Nero was a tyrant.
Well, it implied it.
Anyway, we also found some pointy hats in the pictures referring to the Chinese that may have been in Siena at the time.
We had a party for Jeff that night, because it was his birthday. Also, in Assisi and Siena, I had bathtubs and took the first two baths I'd taken in a long time.
I didn't take too many notes in Florence just because I recognized that it was time to sit down and just enjoy life. Good sites I saw were a tour guide carrying a mop (awesome!)
We saw the Vasari picture of the six Tuscan poets. And then we went to the Uffizi and saw so many things that I can't even put them here. I did, however, see my buddy Jean-Marc Nattier and some of his pictures as well as more female deities holding balls, just like Fortuna that I identified as Fortuna. Also, I was absolutely in love with Spring. I just sat there and stared at it.
Beautiful Views!
INSANE IN ASSISI 2011!
"Empty bottles? Well, that's a waste." - Carlyn
Katie: And here we are, shootin' the shit about New Orleans Catholic schools.
"We don't have a St. Cletus! You have a St. Cletus!"
"You're from Maryland. God, you're weird."
"ALICE HAS GOT THE KEY!"
"They're laughing out found on the inside!" - Kristin
"Chris is starting to remind me of my cat. IT'S A COMPLIMENT." - Heather
"Is that pole wood?" - Jeff
"That taxi across the street is lovin' it." - Heather
"I'll see you in heaven!" - the adorable tour group staying in Assisi
"You sat in the train today and did iPod shuffle with your voice!" - Michelle Rau
"What sorority are you in?"
"Alpha Chi Omega." - Kristin
"What does that mean?"
"I'm so sorry--it was just your face!" - TerTer
"It's on Wikipedia!" - Michelle Rau
"FLABBY THIGH BOLO."
"JK LUPD BOLO LOL NBD CIAO." - Lauren
TerTer and Othello...
"ADHD thing going on."
"She put something in my coffee." - Michelle
"OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS." - Jeff
"They had to eventually dynamite me to put an end to my reign of terror!" - Sebass, on playing Hungry Shark on Kathryn's iPad
"That kid is trying to offer his mother's breast to that dead guy!" - Sebass
"THAT GUY. WHY IS HE NAKED?" - Sebass
"THE BABY OF JUSTICE WILL PISS ON YOU!" - Sebass
"I do a dance when I pull up my pants." - Kristin
"Jeff, do you have a question about shit?" - Sebass
Sensual washing soap...
"Alpha Chi Omega? Looks like a bladder and ovaries."
"IT'S THE NUN SLAP."
"Lay that **** in there good." - Lauren
"He's going to be prom king of Italy!" - Katie
"BRICKS BRICK BRICK AND MORE ******* BRICKS." - Lauren
"I drank nothing but wine for the last twelve hours."
"Reel it in. It ain't yo birthday no more."
"It's like a gingerbread cathedral!" - Antonia
"That's why I became a ninja." - Sebass
"I'm so bad at eating!" - Antonia
"Holy ****!" - TerTer
"Are you trying to get us drunk?" - Antonia
"No, I'm trying to get me sober!" - Heather
Katie: And here we are, shootin' the shit about New Orleans Catholic schools.
"We don't have a St. Cletus! You have a St. Cletus!"
"You're from Maryland. God, you're weird."
"ALICE HAS GOT THE KEY!"
"They're laughing out found on the inside!" - Kristin
"Chris is starting to remind me of my cat. IT'S A COMPLIMENT." - Heather
"Is that pole wood?" - Jeff
"That taxi across the street is lovin' it." - Heather
"I'll see you in heaven!" - the adorable tour group staying in Assisi
"You sat in the train today and did iPod shuffle with your voice!" - Michelle Rau
"What sorority are you in?"
"Alpha Chi Omega." - Kristin
"What does that mean?"
"I'm so sorry--it was just your face!" - TerTer
"It's on Wikipedia!" - Michelle Rau
"FLABBY THIGH BOLO."
"JK LUPD BOLO LOL NBD CIAO." - Lauren
TerTer and Othello...
"ADHD thing going on."
"She put something in my coffee." - Michelle
"OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS." - Jeff
"They had to eventually dynamite me to put an end to my reign of terror!" - Sebass, on playing Hungry Shark on Kathryn's iPad
"That kid is trying to offer his mother's breast to that dead guy!" - Sebass
"THAT GUY. WHY IS HE NAKED?" - Sebass
"THE BABY OF JUSTICE WILL PISS ON YOU!" - Sebass
"I do a dance when I pull up my pants." - Kristin
"Jeff, do you have a question about shit?" - Sebass
Sensual washing soap...
"Alpha Chi Omega? Looks like a bladder and ovaries."
"IT'S THE NUN SLAP."
"Lay that **** in there good." - Lauren
"He's going to be prom king of Italy!" - Katie
"BRICKS BRICK BRICK AND MORE ******* BRICKS." - Lauren
"I drank nothing but wine for the last twelve hours."
"Reel it in. It ain't yo birthday no more."
"It's like a gingerbread cathedral!" - Antonia
"That's why I became a ninja." - Sebass
"I'm so bad at eating!" - Antonia
"Holy ****!" - TerTer
"Are you trying to get us drunk?" - Antonia
"No, I'm trying to get me sober!" - Heather
Papal Audience Day!!!
We had a papal audience today! I wasn't feeling that well but I really wanted to have the audience, so we all got up and headed to the Vatican. It was really cool because there were these little kids who sang and they did the readings in so many languages! I looooooove languages.
Pictures!
After that and the heat, I went back to my room and slept for the rest of the day.
In a rather hilarious turn of events, while I was packing in my room for our Tuscany adventure, this girl came up to my door.
Girl: Hey, we're all going out tonight. Want to come? *pause while she looks at my t-shirt and shorts* Is that what you're wearing? That's cute.
Me: *blank stare conveying I have never met you before in my life*
Girl: Oh wait. You're not Lisa. *walks away*
WHAT?
Pictures!
After that and the heat, I went back to my room and slept for the rest of the day.
In a rather hilarious turn of events, while I was packing in my room for our Tuscany adventure, this girl came up to my door.
Girl: Hey, we're all going out tonight. Want to come? *pause while she looks at my t-shirt and shorts* Is that what you're wearing? That's cute.
Me: *blank stare conveying I have never met you before in my life*
Girl: Oh wait. You're not Lisa. *walks away*
WHAT?
The June 21 Blog
I only went to one place, and it made me feel kind of not adequate, but I really wanted to see Maria Trastevere before i left Rome, so I trekked there today. It took me a while to find, and my directions that I typed into my iPhone were kind of hilarious.
Left fork
Third left, left fork
Bird
Cross river, straight
^ :D
The church was beautiful. There was a statue of St. Anthony of Padua, and everyone had left intentions there. They'd also left them in the chapel up front. I'm not sure if I can describe why I like the church so much. It just felt like a good place to be, and I really like Trastevere.
This class really taught me a lot of stuff about the Bible that I didn't know. Granted, I don't really read the Bible, and I never really thought about it as literature before because the though never crossed my mind. But of course it is. The patron-client relationship and the slave-master relationships are really relevant. And the manager as the go-between. Relationships that seem cruel, like beating the slave and such--that was just business. And the patron trusted the manager to manage his affairs and with the slaves. There was a very rigid hierarchy of trust that you didn't mess with. I didn't realize how...rigid that was until now, I guess. And freed slaves immediately became their master's clients. It was cool.
Tomorrow--papal audience!
Left fork
Third left, left fork
Bird
Cross river, straight
^ :D
The church was beautiful. There was a statue of St. Anthony of Padua, and everyone had left intentions there. They'd also left them in the chapel up front. I'm not sure if I can describe why I like the church so much. It just felt like a good place to be, and I really like Trastevere.
This class really taught me a lot of stuff about the Bible that I didn't know. Granted, I don't really read the Bible, and I never really thought about it as literature before because the though never crossed my mind. But of course it is. The patron-client relationship and the slave-master relationships are really relevant. And the manager as the go-between. Relationships that seem cruel, like beating the slave and such--that was just business. And the patron trusted the manager to manage his affairs and with the slaves. There was a very rigid hierarchy of trust that you didn't mess with. I didn't realize how...rigid that was until now, I guess. And freed slaves immediately became their master's clients. It was cool.
Tomorrow--papal audience!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)