9/13/11

“But this time the chaos is the vast shadowy canvas that lies behind our eyes and on which phosphoric patterns constantly merge and fade. Such constant formation of images occurs in each one of us in every instant. But these are not the only peculiarities of the phenomenon. When the phantom, the mental image, takes over our minds, when it begins to join with other similar or alien figures, then little by little it fills the whole space of the mind in an ever more detailed and ever richer concatenation. What initially presented itself as the prodigy of appearance, cut off from everything, is now linked, from one phantom to another, to everything.

At one extreme of the mental image lies our amazement at form, at its self-sufficient and sovereign existence. At the other lies our amazement at the chain of connections that reproduce in the mind the necessity of the material world. It is hard to see those two opposite points in the phantom’s spectrum. To see them simultaneously would be unbearable. For the Greeks, Helen was the embodiment of that vision, beauty hatched form the egg of necessity” (pg.133-134 Cadmus).

Phantoms are projections of real people or whatever image needs to be shown to someone. In certain circumstances the phantom is a projection of person that is already dead. These images of people are shown for a purpose. They come to people as a sign. For example, some say the Helen that was there at the Trojan War was a phantom, she was there to temp men into battle to win her for their king.

In other cases a phantom can come in the form as a missing limb. Some amputees, usually people with terrible accidents that caused the loss of a limb, have a phantom limb. After a limb is lost the person thinks that the missing part is still there. They can feel their missing limb and sometimes they can even see their missing limb. Usually it is a painful phantom. The person feels the terrible pain that their missing limb had before it was removed and now that it is gone they can still feel it and sometimes even see it.

I think it is pretty interesting how the phantoms are made up in our brains. So made up that a person can think a phantom is a real thing, also that some people can even still see and feel a limb that has been amputated. I have never experienced a phantom before, or I suppose I wouldn’t know if I have or not since phantoms seem to appear completely real. 

Class Notes:

In class we told our creation stories. The first 15 stories that were told were:

• Moon and Death
• A Tale of African Origin
• Turtle Creation Story
• The Saga of the Legend of the Stag
• The Origin of Mount. Everest
• Who Can Say From Whence it Came and How Creation Happened
• La Llorona "The Weeping Woman"
• The Beginning of the World
• Legend of the Lady Slipper
• The Beginning of the Earth-Iroquois
• Origin of Medicine
• Flood/Creation Myth- Yutuk Tribe
• I told the Norse Creation Myth
• Legend of Devils Tower
• Old Man Coyote Creates Earth

What is it that we find to be common with all of these stories? They are all true!

Common creation stories that are told are the creation of the world by a giant and the earth diver myths.

<---- Sons Bor creating the world from Ymir's body.