| Malkhos | 10-21-2003 09:57 AM |
The spiritual part of Greek religion was the mysteries of Orpheus (or Orphism), which became, through Pythagoras, the foudnation of Greek philosophy.
According to this teaching, the first gods were the Titans or Giants, who were terrible, destructive mosnters. Their king Chronos (time) ate all of his childern, except Zeus, whom his mother hid away. When he grew to full godhood he came and defeated the Titans with his thunderbolts and chained them in a cavern in Tartaros, deep under the earth. Mankind was built out of the ashes of the Titans' physical bodies left over from the battle, this is why we have a fallen sinful nature and why we must rely on our imperfect phyiscal senses for knoweldge, instead of intuitively seeing the ture nature of things the way a god does. Orphism is the origin of the idea of divine judgement, that the souls of the dead will be rewarded or punished depending on whether they were sinners or not (guilty, or not guilty, as it were). Orphism was also the the origin of the idea that human sould (the divine, not Titanic, part of man) were pre-existent in heaven and, when they came into their bodies, drank form the river Lethe, the waters of forgetfullness, taking away their memories of the divine world.
An orphic sage could become a god by undergoing a ritual of katabasis (descent). In this he would descend into the underworld, beginning in some cave or chasm, going deeper underground until he reached the palace of the underworld gods, where he would meet and understand his true nature. When he emerged again from the earth he would be a god by virtue of knowing the true divine nature inherent in every human being.
I hardly need to elaborate how all of this was played out in episode 25, excpet to add that when Roger identified himself after his katabasis he said, 'I am who I am,' which is the answer God gave to Moses on mount Sinai when asked about his name.
I would not ordinarly think that something so obscure as Orphism would underlay a popualr television show like Big O, but the presentation of the material in this episode was all too clear and specific. It is not that surprising however, educated Japanese often learn far more about western spritiuality than westerners themselves do. I can hardly doubt that the creators of Big O were famialr with Orphsim and purpsoely set out to create an allegorical retelling of it--presenting this kind of religio-philosophical material in an allegorical fiction was a standard practice in antiquity, so that its secrets would not be too readily presented to the profane. Also, The explicit mention of Oedipus--while not specifically Orphic, in some sense authorizes or suggests to us to look to Greek material to explain the show's symbolism.
Can somone post a link here to any writings by or interviews with the shows creators, or a contact address?
According to this teaching, the first gods were the Titans or Giants, who were terrible, destructive mosnters. Their king Chronos (time) ate all of his childern, except Zeus, whom his mother hid away. When he grew to full godhood he came and defeated the Titans with his thunderbolts and chained them in a cavern in Tartaros, deep under the earth. Mankind was built out of the ashes of the Titans' physical bodies left over from the battle, this is why we have a fallen sinful nature and why we must rely on our imperfect phyiscal senses for knoweldge, instead of intuitively seeing the ture nature of things the way a god does. Orphism is the origin of the idea of divine judgement, that the souls of the dead will be rewarded or punished depending on whether they were sinners or not (guilty, or not guilty, as it were). Orphism was also the the origin of the idea that human sould (the divine, not Titanic, part of man) were pre-existent in heaven and, when they came into their bodies, drank form the river Lethe, the waters of forgetfullness, taking away their memories of the divine world.
An orphic sage could become a god by undergoing a ritual of katabasis (descent). In this he would descend into the underworld, beginning in some cave or chasm, going deeper underground until he reached the palace of the underworld gods, where he would meet and understand his true nature. When he emerged again from the earth he would be a god by virtue of knowing the true divine nature inherent in every human being.
I hardly need to elaborate how all of this was played out in episode 25, excpet to add that when Roger identified himself after his katabasis he said, 'I am who I am,' which is the answer God gave to Moses on mount Sinai when asked about his name.
I would not ordinarly think that something so obscure as Orphism would underlay a popualr television show like Big O, but the presentation of the material in this episode was all too clear and specific. It is not that surprising however, educated Japanese often learn far more about western spritiuality than westerners themselves do. I can hardly doubt that the creators of Big O were famialr with Orphsim and purpsoely set out to create an allegorical retelling of it--presenting this kind of religio-philosophical material in an allegorical fiction was a standard practice in antiquity, so that its secrets would not be too readily presented to the profane. Also, The explicit mention of Oedipus--while not specifically Orphic, in some sense authorizes or suggests to us to look to Greek material to explain the show's symbolism.
Can somone post a link here to any writings by or interviews with the shows creators, or a contact address?
