Dexter, Super-Hero May 7, 2008
Posted by Ian in Ancient Greek, Critical Theory, Education, Ethics, Literary Criticism, Plato.Tags: Aristotle, Dexter (tv)
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(and now for something completely different)
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone already caught this, but it’s novel to me right now. I was watching the season finale of Dexter on CBS and it dawned on me all of a sudden why, for all of the gore and sociopathy, Dexter seemed so familiar. The plot, the character, are modeled on superhero comics. In fact, not just any superhero, but an iconic and powerful one–Spiderman. There are significant variations, of course, but the structural parallels are strong.
Plato and Africa December 2, 2007
Posted by Ian in Africa, Ancient Greek, Modern Polytheism, Myth, Open Theology, Plato, Religion and Faith, Simone Weil.add a comment
So there is this beautiful passage in Plato’s Phaedrus in which he describes the orbits of the gods about the Good, each accompanied in train by the souls they have chosen for their retinue. It’s a beautiful passage and, sadly, I don’t have a copy of the work ready to hand to quote.
But I was always struck by how that seemed to parallel the notion in many African diaspora faiths that the orisha or loa chose heads. The metaphor seemed nearly identical, right up to the notion that the orsha/loa were in turn oriented toward Olodumare or Bon Dieu, the greater Good.
So, let me share this little bit I came across in Simone Weil’s Intimation of Christianity among the Ancient Greeks:
The image of the man as a plant whose root penetrates heaven is linked in the Timaeus to a theory of chastity….This plant is sprinkled by celestial water, a divine semen, which enters the head. In that man who continually exercises the spiritual and the intellectual part of himself…in him the whole contents of the head, including the divine semen, is propelled by circular movements like those which govern the rotation of the heavens, the stars and sun. This divine semen is what Plato calls the divine being lodged with us, in us, and whom we must serve. (98-99)
How well this parallels the whole notion of initiation and worship in many of the African diaspora faiths! It’s interesting to think of that in evolutionary terms, as indication perhaps that the two share a common ancestor. If naught else, it’s interesting to consider in terms of parallel development.
