Bloom's penis envy

I just read that Harold Bloom has edited a book about C.S. Lewis. I think he wrote the introduction. You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-Blooms-Modern-Critical-Views/dp/0791093190

I can't find much comment on this book. If I go to google books, a preview isn't available. I really want to get a hold of this book because the last time I've read anything Bloom says about Lewis I find it ridiculous and annoying. For instance, in a book called "Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds", in a section on the poet John Milton, Bloom takes cheap shots at Lewis' interpretation of Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost.

When Lewis wrote his book "A Preface to Paradise Lost", the popular interpretation of Satan was that he was a tragic hero, a symbol of the movement known as Romanticism, and that his rebellion against God was somehow a symbol for how Man has thrown off the shackles of Religion. Milton, they say, stealthily made Satan a symbol for himself, showing how Milton rebelled against God. Also, that Milton's Satan can shed light on the myth of Prometheus, a titan who stole fire from Zeus through trickery; as a punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock where an eagle ate his liver everyday, since his liver was made to grow back everyday. Don't worry, though: Hercules finally saved him.

Lewis, on the other hand, put Milton in his context. In context, Satan was a buffoon, as is all evil. In Christianity, God is the source of all joy, happiness, and blessedness. To step outside of this is to step into oblivion. What Romantic glory is there in such a foolish act? Bloom, however, takes a potshot at this, making Lewis look like a moron for even suggesting it. It's just propaganda. I'm not saying Bloom needs to go all-out and provide a thorough analysis of Lewis' whole book. I am saying that if Bloom feels the need to single out Lewis, he'd have a little more charity with the way he presents Lewis' view.

I came across this book (C. S. Lewis (Bloom's Modern Critical Views)) yesterday and I want to read it. I hope he is fair. I always get the sneaking suspicion that Bloom is jealous of Lewis' notoriety and that if Bloom can't win by pot-shots, then a whole book on Lewis might get him a little closer.

The I Ching

Fu Xi, an ancient Chinese ruler and hero, received 8 trigrams supernaturally. Now what is especially interesting are these trigrams. In Chinese, these 8 trigrams are called 'ba gua', which literally means '8 symbols'. Each of these trigrams represent the fundamental principles of reality; and all the symbols are interrelated. Here is what the trigrams look like:

Notice the Ying Yang at the center. Yin and Yang is used to describe how opposing forces in the cosmos are connected and related. Each of the symbols surrounding the Ying Yang has 3 lines, either broken (Yin) or unbroken (Yang) - that's why they're called 'trigrams'. The 'I Ching' is supposed to be all the possible pairs of these trigrams: each pair is called a hexagram. Qian is Heaven; Dui is Lake; Li is fire; Zhen is thunder; Xun is wind; Kan is water; Gen is mountain; Kun is earth. This Yin and Yang is produced by Taiji ("great ridgepole": ridgepoles are horizontal beams in which rafters are fastened, along the ridges of roofs), meaning The Absolute, which itself is produced by Wuji ("without ridgepole"), meaning Without Limit, Boundless. By analogy, these poles are supposed to describe either magnetic (like the North Pole), geographic (like the so-called 4 corners of the Earth), or celestial (Poles located at the outermost reaches of the universe). Yin and Yang then produce 'lesser yin, greater yin' (the moon) and 'lesser yang, greater yang' (the Sun). These 4 phenomena (lesser yin, greater yin, lesser yang, greater yang) all act on the 8 trigrams, which leads to the possible pairs of the trigrams (the hexagrams, since instead of 3 stacked lines, there are 6): the I Ching, meaning 'The Book of Changes'.

These hexagrams were recorded in Lian Shan (trans. "continuous mountains").

I'll give one example of a Hexagram as found in the I Ching. It is 6 stacked, unbroken (Yang) lines. It's name is 'qian', meaning Force, or possibly 'god'. Both the inner (lower) and the outer (higher) trigram mean Force, and that's why all the lines are unbroken (Yang).

Notes on Turtullian: 2nd century Christian apologist

His original name was Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. Tertullian is his anglicized (the English form) name. He was Berber: native of North Africa. He was the first to write Christian Latin literature. He was a Christian apologist and attacked many heresies. He is called 'the father of Latin Christianity' (e.g. Western Christianity, contrasted with Eastern). He coined the term: Trinity, and came up with: three Persons, one Substance. Coined the terms: Old and New Testament. He later converted to Montanism: a heresy lead by Montanus claiming to have a New Prophecy from God. After his conversion, he still combated heresies such as Gnosticism. He wrote 46 works: 31 are extant. He thought God has a body, though He is Spirit. He hated Greek philosophy, and thought it a breeding ground for heresy. Adhered to Traducianism: one's soul is transmitted by one's parents - the only soul directly made by God was Adam's. The soul has a distinct kind of physicality: thus, the fires of Hell can affect it. Jesus has not always existed: the Father - at one time - existed without the Son.

What is a passion?

Passion: a kind of concept - not particularly Romance. More to the point - a passion is an emotional state: innate and biologically driven. Examples: anger, lust, greed - thus: sins are passions, even though not all passions are sins. Passions can lead to: social ills or benefits. Like what?: God's punishment, Hobbes' state of nature, karma. Passions are foils - foils to what?: the pursuit of reason, virtue, or faith. Some indulge the passions: Hedonism and Nihilism. Some moderate the passions: Epicureanism or conventional Religion. Some extinguish the passions: Stoicism, Buddhism, Monasticism.

Spinoza and the passions: to be contrasted with action. When does a passion happen?: when external events affect us. In what way?: if we have confused ideas about the events and whatever caused them. What is a passive state?: occurs when we have a certain emotion - call it 'passivity of the soul'. When this happens, the body's power diminishes. An emotion is this: a bodily change coupled with an idea about that change, an idea that can help or hurt the body. When we have emotions, this happens: bodily changes are caused by either external or internal/external forces. We - as persons - should be the only cause of our bodily changes. And we should always base our acts on an understanding of cause and effect coupled with this: ideas of such bodily changes logically related to one another and the world. If one does this, one is active. Most of the time this doesn't happen: that's why Spinoza thought the emotions were more powerful than reason.

Yes: in the beginning was the Word - or, the Logic, and the Word became flesh to dwell among us. But the Word is also the only begotten of the Father - one almost wants to say: in the primordial beginning was the Music which begot the Word, just as Greek Tragedy begot Greek Philosophy. The Son was dead and buried, but rose: to reunite with the Music, the supra-rational, the trans-rational. A mystical parallel: our reason must die and resurrect to unite with the divine mystique - though reason be saluted!: for reason brings us to the dock where our mystical ship awaits.

Music: the infusion of the Dionysian and the Apollonian - Dionysus: the music - melody and rhythm without words. The mouth and vocals can express this: it's only condition - that language is not embodied. Apollonian: the words and the language as it is sung. Since the sung can also have melody and rhythm, it is a peculiar autonomous infusion of the greatest art. When this infusion is itself infused with the instrumental Dionysian, we have a more complex infusion, and the primordial infusion is brought to the second power. Movies: the infusion is also made - we have the score: it transforms the projected images, and the images embody the Apollonian. The key question: how is consciousness transformed or effected when brought into sensuous contact with such an infusion? Is not this the beginning of a nascent, mystical contact with the Divine beauty? Or - more generally: contact with things of the spirit?: things that cannot be directly stimulated, but conjured, enchanted, awoken, or coaxed?

The facing of the daily grind after a deep, religious, emotional experience of longing: the hangover after a night of intoxication.