Religious eschatologies.

Again, another collection throughout the week.

05/08/2009
August, aye? Wow, time does seem to take flight. Week 2 of lectures—ahh, what can I say? Is it holiday yet?
I forgot how tired I get going to class everyday and packing in tons of information, not to mention digesting it all and applying it to the realities of this so called life.

More rain this week- add more wind, darker and gloomier during the day. Oh, winter.

I’ve been thinking more and more on what I want to do AFTER college and when I am forced to grow up and not just live vicariously through lectures. Peace Corps? Maybe.

06/08/2009
Religion class got me thinking about my ethics and my own moral, self-judgment. In ancient Persia, when you die you go through a three-day journey of self-judgment. You cross a bridge that can either lead to heaven where life is full of great music; beautiful smells and it will be your eternal paradise or the hot, uncomfortable realities of hell. The trick was that the path is narrow and in the middle of the journey you are met by a spiritual being, Daena. Daena could be either a beautiful figure or an ugly one, depending on how you have held your image within yourself your entire mortal life. Daena would show you your ethics, your morals and make a clear divide on what is right and wrong. If you saw Daena as beautiful, then you held respect for yourself, you led a morally correct life and you were then brought into the House of Song or heaven. If your Daena was ugly, the bridge broke and you fell into the underworld- that smelt horrible, the noise was unbearable and it was dark for eternity.

This leads me to questioning whom my Daena look like and what would happen in the middle of the bridge? In the underworld you were then met by all of your druj or all of your lies and wrong doings in life. They surround you forever and you never are rid of them, the true punishment of falling through the bridge into the flames of hell.

Is it horrible if you do not accurately know what world you would be taken to? I feel like you should know what type of life you have led and you should be able to see your own self-judgment before you meet Daena. Yet, I still struggle in seeing the truth or any clarity.

Are you blind your whole life until that three-day journey, where you finally realize it and by then it’s too late to make a difference? And what if you do realize you were morally wrong a part of your life but you calibrated into a revitalized spirit and devoted your life to a morally correct lifestyle? Are you still deemed to meet the ugly Daena?
Long weekend this weekend. August 10 is Women’s Day. No lectures. It’s supposed to be nice- a great break from the week of rain. I’ve almost been here a month and to me, it seems like I just arrived.

I shall venture this weekend to new places. I’m determined to get off of Main Road for a while. Maybe by the end of the weekend I can figure out what my Daena will look like. Let’s hope it’s not in my reality for a few more years—yikes!
I met an interesting character today at Café Le Grind. He was looking for someone to make his documentary about his journey throughout South Africa while he donated stationary to underprivileged villages. The 45-day journey cuts into my UCT research, therefore and regretting my decision, I had to decline a great opportunity of really seeing South Africa. Something like that is what I’m looking for and what I ache to do. He was a great guy though.

“Africa is like a bug under your skin and before you know it, you’ve devoted your life to it.”

Le Grind has great coffee. And an excellent atmosphere that helps to absorb some more Cape Town culture, hospitality and intellectual thought.

Cheers for now,
*Mel