Paradise Lost, by John Milton.#

I've always had an idea of what this book was and I was talking to my Aunt a few weeks ago about how I'd like to experience the pain of reading it straight through and really experience what it is. After going through this, the book is much different than I expected it to be. I had expected a lot more warring Angels and didn't expect so much retelling of the Old Testament. Also, I expected more monologues by Satan. I certainly agree with Satan as the hero, but I was surprised how he was not always on the forefront of all the action.#

Book I#

The army of Satan have arrived in Hell and discuss their next move.

Satan makes the most important point: Whatever they will do, they must continue to resist God. Furthermore, he warns the fallen Angels that God will attempt to subvert their challenges and turn their evil into good.

To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist. If then his Providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil; [l. 159-165]

Satan rallies the troops by asserting that even though they are in Hell, they can still pursue the freedom that he convinced them was only attainable through resistance of God. Being in Hell should have no effect on their resolve:

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than hee
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n. [l. 254-263]

I find the above to be such a wonderful summary of the lies of Satan. They represent not only his beguiling of his army, but of Man as well. (Also, finally reading that final famous line was awing.)

Book II#

The Consultation begun, Satan debates whether another Battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it, others dissuade: A third proposal is preferr'd, mention'd before by Satan, to search the truth of that Prophecy or Tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature equal or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: Thir doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search: Satan thir chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honour'd and applauded. The Council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways and to several employments, as thir inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He passes on his Journey to Hell Gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are op'n'd, and discover to him the great Gulf between Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to the sight of this new World which he sought. [The Argument]

My favourite thing about Milton's description of the high-ranking devils is their deceptiveness and their indistinguishability against the Angels of Heaven:

On th' other side up rose
Belial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not Heav'n; he seem'd
For dignity compos'd and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow; though his Tongue
Dropt Manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest Counsels: for his thoughts were low;
To vice industrious, but to Nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful: yet he pleas'd the ear, [l. 108-117]

Mammon's discourse is another great example of the typical lies of Satan: that obedience is for the benefit of God, not ourselves; and that there can be anything separate from God.

Suppose he should relent
And publish Grace to all, on promise made
Of new Subjection; with what eyes could we
Stand in his presence humble, and receive
Strict Laws impos'd, to celebrate his Throne
With warbl'd Hymns, and to his Godhead sing
Forc't Halleluiahs; while he Lordly sits
Our envied Sovran, and his Altar breathes
Ambrosial Odours and Ambrosial Flowers,
Our servile offerings. This must be our task
In Heav'n, this our delight; how wearisome
Eternity so spent in worship paid
To whom we hate. Let us not then pursue
By force impossible, by leave obtain'd
Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state
Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek
Our own good from ourselves, and from our own
Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,
Free, and to none accountable, preferring
Hard liberty before the easy yoke
Or servile Pomp. [l. 237-257]

Satan's proposal to attack Man on Earth:

here perhaps
Some advantageous act may be achiev'd
By sudden onset, either with Hell fire
To waste his whole Creation, or possess
All as our own, and drive as we were driven,
The puny habitants, or if not drive,
Seduce them to our Party, that thir God
May prove thir foe, and with repenting hand
Abolish his own works. This would surpass
Common revenge, and interrupt his joy
In our Confusion, and our Joy upraise
In his disturbance; when his darling Sons
Hurl'd headlong to partake with us, shall curse
Thir frail Original, and faded bliss,
Faded so soon. [l. 362-376]

Book III#

At the end of the last book, Satan traveled across Chaos. Now, he approaches Earth and God comments to Christ that he will succeed and they discuss the eventual Atonement. Satan sneaks past the guards of Earth and prepares to attack.

Book IV#

Satan spies on Adam and Eve. The Angels discover his trespass and prepare to guard Paradise and Man.

Satan laments his choices that seem to now force him into a particular path:

is there no place
Left for Repentance, none for Pardon left?
None left but by submission; and that word
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the spirits beneath, whom I seduc'd
With other promises and other vaunts
Than to submit, boasting I could subdue
Th' Omnipotent. Ay me, they little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vain,
Under what torments inwardly I groan:
While they adore me on the Throne of Hell,
With Diadem and Sceptre high advanc'd
The lower still I fall, only Supreme
In misery; such joy Ambition finds. [l. 79-92]

After learning about their sole commandment, Satan makes his plan and departs from his spying with these words:

Live while ye may,
Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,
Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed. [l. 533-535]

Gabriel assaults Satan and drives him out of Paradise and asks him why he comes, Satan responds:

Gabriel, thou hadst in Heav'n th' esteem of wise,
And such I held thee; but this question askt
Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain?
Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,
Though thither doom'd? Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt,
And boldly venture to whatever place
Farthest from pain, where though might'st hope to change
Torment with ease, and soon recompense
Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
To thee no reason; who know'st only good,
But evil hast not tri'd: and wilt object
His will who bound us? [l. 886-897]

Book V#

Raphael warns Adam of Satan's pending temptation.

Book VI#

Raphael tells Adam of the War in Heaven lead by Michael and Gabriel. The War is ended by Christ chariot assault. Raphael warns Adam again.

Satan, hee who envies now thy state,
Who now is plotting how he may seduce
Thee also from obedience, that with him
Bereav'd of happiness thou mayst partake
His punishment, Eternal misery;
Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the most High,
Thee once to gain Companion of his woe. [l. 900-907]

Book VII#

Raphael describes the creation of the universe by Christ at the behest of the Father.

Book VIII#

Adam tells Raphael about his first few days of life and meeting Eve.

God's promise to Adam of Eve:

What next I bring shall please thee, be assur'd,
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,
Thy wish, exactly to thy heart's desire. [l. 449-451]

Book IX#

Satan having compast the Earth, with meditate guile returns as a mist by Night into Paradise, enters into the Serpent sleeping. Adam and Eve in the Morning go forth to thir labours, which Eve propose to divide into several places, each labouring apart: Adam consents not, alleging the danger, lest that Enemy, of whom they were forewarn'd, should attempt her found alone: Eve loath to be thought not circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make trial of her strength; Adam at last yields: The Serpent finds her alone; his subtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other Creatures. Eve wond'ring to hear the Serpent speak, asks how he attain'd to human speech and such understanding not till now; the Serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain Tree in the Garden he attain'd both to Speech and Reason, till then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to that Tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden: The Serpent now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat; she pleas'd with the taste deliberates awhile whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at last brings him of the Fruit, relates what persuaded her to eat thereof: Adam at first amaz'd, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her; and extenuating the trespass, eats also of the Fruit: The effects thereof in them both; they seek to cover thir nakedness; then fall to variance and accusation of one another. [The Argument]

Part of Adam's argument against separating for labour:

Yet not so strictly hath our Lord impos'd
Labour, as to debar us when we need
Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,
Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse
Of looks and smiles, for smiles from Reason flow,
To brute deni'd, and are of Love the food,
Love not the lowest end of human life. [l. 235-242]

Satan's tempting verse:

Queen of this Universe, do not believe
Those rigid threats of Death; ye shall not Die:
How should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you Life
To Knowledge: By the Threat'ner? look on mee,
Mee who have touch'd and tasted, yet both live,
And life more perfet have attain'd than Fate
Meant mee, by vent'ring higher than my Lot.
Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
Is open? or will God incense his ire
For such a petty Trespass, and not praise
Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
Of Death denounc't, whatever thing Death be,
Deterr'd not from achieving what might lead
To happier life, knowledge of Good and Evil;
Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evil
Be real, why not known, since easier shunn'd?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not just, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd:
Your fear itself of Death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers; he knows that in the day
Ye Eat thereof, your Eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfetly be then
Op'n'd and clear'd, and ye shall be as Gods,
Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.
That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man, [l. 684-710]

Adam follows Eve in the Fall:

How can I live without thee, how forgo
Thy sweet Converse and Love so dearly join'd,
To live again in these wild Woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another Rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no no, I feel
The Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh,
Bone of my Bone thou art, and from thy State
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe. [l. 908-916]

Book X#

Angels report to God of the Fall. Satan returns to Hell and receives praise. "God foretells the final Vicory of his Son over them, and the renewing of all things."

Book XI#

Christ forgives Adam and Eve and clothes them. Michael shows Adam a vision of the event up to the Flood.

Book XII#

Michael continues showing visions and then leads the first Parents out of Paradise and into the world.

Worlds in Collision, by Immanuel Velikovsky, was published in 1950 and offers an interesting and alternative view of many historical events.#

The basic premise of the work is the very interesting idea that ancient people are not to be looked down as ignorant and superstitious, and given this, their records are to be seen as containing some measure of accuracy. In many situations, these records, however, are `only' stories and legends.#

The answer to the problem of the similarity in the motifs in the folklore of various peoples is, in my view, as follows: A great many ideas reflect real historic content. There is a legend, found all over the world, that a deluge swept over the earth and covered hills and mountains. We have a poor opinion of the mental abilities of our ancestors if we think that merely an extraordinary overflow of the Euphrates so impressed the nomads of the desert that they thought the entire world was flooded, and that the legend so born wandered from people to people. At the same time, geological problems of the origin and distribution of till, or diluvial deposit, are awaiting explanation. [p. 304]

The approach is to identify similarities in the majority of legends across the world, then look for explanations.#

In this case, the explanations are always related to the influence of celestial bodies, specifically comets and planets. In Velikovsky's words:#

Harmony or stability in the celestial and terrestrial spheres is the point of departure of the present-day concept of the world as expressed in the celestial mechanics of Newton and the theory of evolution of Darwin. If these two men of science are sacrosanct, this book is a heresy. However, modern physics, of atoms and of the quantum theory, describes dramatic changes in the microcosm---the atom---the prototype of the solar system; a theory, then, that envisages not dissimilar events in the macrocosm---the solar system---brings the modern concepts of physics to the celestial sphere. [p. vii]

Thus, Velikovsky allows the idea that solar system and the Earth was not always as it is now in recorded history to be considered. I find it interesting that the work is based on records typically seen as closed-minded (legends and the Bible,) but is extremely open-minded as compared to the status quo---the scientists---that is typically seen as open-minded.

The first core idea is that Venus was once a comet, and that prior to being caught by the Sun, it made a collision with Earth. This collision came at the time of the Hebrew Exodus and caused events that were interpreted by the Israelites as miracles. Similar events are reported across the world, but---interesting--are considered as a horrible punishment, rather than a blessing. There is a huge catalog of hundreds of pages of citations of the histories of other peoples covering many aspects of the reported miracles.#

The record of manna across the world is very interesting:

The Maoris in the Pacific, the Jews on the order of Asia and Africa, the Hindus, the Finns, the Icelanders, all describe the honey-food being dropped from the clouds, dreary shades of the shadow of death, that enveloped the earth after a cosmic catastrophe. All traditions agree also that the source of the heavenly bread falling from the clouds with the morning dew was a celestial body. [p. 137]

The absence of Venus from early planet systems is particularly well documented, something I had never known.

The second core idea is that Venus had an impact with Mars and changed its orbit. This collision and subsequent change was witnessed by the world and shows up in the legends of the battle between gods representing Venus and Mars across the world. This is said to have happened during the Hebrew conquest of Palestine after the wandering in the Wilderness.#

Another idea contained in the book is the idea that the rotation of the Earth was once different. This is manifested in a longer year (365 and a quarter, rather than 360, days) as documented by many changes in calendars around the world at approximately the same time (seventh century B.C..)#

How could the stargazers who composed the earlier tablets be so careless as to maintain that the year is 360 days long, a mistake that in six years accumulates to a full month of divergence; or how could the astronomers of the royal observatories announce to the kind the movements of the moon and its phases on wrong dates, though a child can tell when the moon is new, and the record all this in very scholarly tablets requiring advanced mathematical knowledge? Hence scholars speak of "enigmatic mistakes." [p. 350]

A few interesting theological comments are made:#

The Jewish people did not obtain all of its "supremacy" in that one day at the Mountain of Lawgiving; this people did not receive the message of monotheism as a gift. It struggled for it; and step by step, from the smoke rising from the overturned valley of Sodom and Gomorrah, from the furnace of affliction of Egypt, from the deliverance at the Red Sea amid the sky-high tides, from the wandering in the cloud-enshrouded desert burning with naphtha, from the internal struggle, from the search for God and for justice between man and man, from the desperate and heroic struggle for national existence on its narrow strip of land against the overwhelming empires of Assyria and Egypt, it became a nation chosen to bring a message of the brotherhood of man to all the peoples of the world. [p. 297]

A few interesting historical notes are mentioned for comparison with the ancient past:#

The eruptions of volcanoes are also accompanied by loud noises. The sound produced by Krakatoa in the East Indies, during the eruption of 1883, was so loud that it was heard as far as Japan, 3,000 miles away, the farthest distance traveled by sound recorded in modern annals. [p. 96]

My conclusion is that this work is accurate in general and interesting in the details. It is not feasible for me to verify every citation of ancient peoples' folklore, but I have heard enough of the brief versions of many peoples' stories to pick up a bit. Additionally, I can identify a few parts in this book where Velikovsky obviously gets scientific details wrong, or ascribes a bit too much to the comets. If this work were not such heresy, it seems to me a very valuable research plan for understanding ancient history.#

The Grand Fundamental Principles of Mormonism: Joseph Smith's Unfinished Reformation (PDF), by Don Bradley.#

This article talks about a series of sermons in the last year of Joseph Smith's life about the principles of Mormonism: truth, friendship, and relief.

Prior to declaring these "grand fundamental principles," Joseph had attempted to define Mormonism in doctrinal terms in D&C 20, the Lectures of Faith, and the Articles of Faith. But each of these inevitably failed to provide a timeless or final definition of the faith's essence. The task of capturing Mormonism in a creedal statement was Sisyphean, because Mormonism was more committed to the principle of forever acquiring truth than to any particular formulation of the truth. It was a circle no state set of doctrines could square. [p. 36]

The impact of these principles of Christian unity:

But Joseph averred that he would not use his authority to press others to follow his beliefs and revelations, nor would he condemn them for failing to do so: "If I esteem mankind to be in error shall I bear them down? No! I will lift them up & [each] in his own way if I cannot persuade him my way is better! ... I will ask no man to believe as I do." [p. 37-38]

On relief:

As R. Dennis Potter has observed, "For King Benjamin, the fundamental sin... is the failure to take care of the poor." Since for Benjamin, to serve others was to serve God, to neglect others in need was to neglect God, jeopardizing one's standing before him. In Benjamin's theology, receiving a remission of sins requires faith and repentence, but "from day to day" requires that one "impart of [one's] substance to the poor" (Mosiah 4:26). [p. 38]

I think this can be interpreted too literally. We must also consider the need to provide relief and comfort for those who are spiritually poor, i.e. lacking in Christ-like qualities. The Saints must be perfected and we are on the same team, working for the same goal.

Dean L. Larsen on Personal Accountability (MP3):#

In our relationships with others, we must be careful not to prevent them from acting accountably. This is especially significant when we are given positions of leadership or responsibility which place others under our charge. The Lord's concern about this sensitive area in human relations called forth the excellent counsel that we find in section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord warns us against exercising unrighteous dominion. He cautions against compulsion and controls. The proper way to influence the behavior of others, he says, is

by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile. [D&C 121:41 42]

The Lord acknowledges the need to occasionally reprove with sharpness when inspired to do so, but counsels that even this reproof should be delivered in a spirit of love.

Manipulation, programming, and regimentation are destructive to personal accountability. It does not matter how benevolent the motive of a parent or leader who compels his children or his subordinates to follow his precise prescriptions. The motive does not prevent unfortunate results from occurring and the development of a conditioned dependency.

And:

It was for this reason that President John Taylor once made the following declaration subsequent to an experience in which someone had attempted to compel him unrighteously:

I was not born a slave! I cannot, will not be a slave. I would not be slave to God! I'd be His servant, friend, His son. I'd go at His behest; but would not be His slave. I'd rather be extinct than be a slave. His friend I feel I am, and He is mine:--a slave! The manacles would pierce my very bones--the clanking chains would grate upon my soul--a poor, lost, servile, crawling wretch to lick the dust and fawn and smile upon the thing who gave the lash! . . . But stop! I'm God's free man: I will not, cannot be a slave! Living, I'll be free here, or free in life above--free with the Gods, for they are free. [B. H. Roberts, The Life of John Taylor, Bookcraft, 1963, p. 424]

LDS Homosexuality: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.#

How Kissing Works#

Drug Fueled TV Appearances#

Elder Oaks on homosexuality#

Mormonism and Pop Culture (Featuring South Park)#

Fare on the Middle Way between Socialism and Capitalism.#

John Bytheway: Gospel Values for Youth#

Nethack and Eternal Progression#

Funniest post ever.

LDS Music Today : Show #26 - The first song is amazing.#