Beethoven & The Bhagavad Gita

January 28, 2022 Gary Reiner2 Comments

Beethoven’s Inner Conflicts

Ludwig van Beethoven ( 1770-1827 ) was a musical genius. He was also an emotionally wounded, profoundly neurotic person. He was tortured by inner conflicts throughout his life. He suffered from inner divisions, split between his massive idealism about human nature and the misanthropic, angry, spiteful man he could be. He was tortured by his own behavior. He was suicidal off and on for significant periods of time throughout his life. And, even in his most stable periods, he could appear to be just on the brink of madness.

Bhagavad Gita Influence

In search for psychological and spiritual survival, Beethoven combed the world’s great literature. In the process, he discovered the Bhagavad Gita. He read it intensely. He made notes from it — and from other Hindu scriptures — and kept the sacred passages in plain view under glass on his desk.

Beethoven scribbled the following quote from the Bhagavad Gita into his personal diary:

Blessed is the man  who, having subdued all his passions, performs with his active faculties all the functions of life, unconcerned about the event... Be not one whose motive for action is the hope of reward. Perform your duty, abandon all thought of consequence, and make the event equal, whether it terminates in good or evil; for such an equality is called yoga.

In his quest to make meaning of his suffering, Beethoven enacted in his life virtually all the key teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

The Great Work of Your Life
Stephen Cope

Hellenization In The Mediterranean

October 29, 2021 Gary Reiner1 Comment

Mediterranean Hellenization

The fourth century BC conquests by Alexander the Great in the Middle East started the process of Hellenization throughout the eastern Mediterranean that would last long after formal Greek rule.

Practice of Hellenization

Hellenization is the practice of making the world Greek in terms of culture and thought. Hellenization spread quickly through language, religion, politics, law, theater, education, philosophy, cultural centers, trade, government, and most importantly, through local Greek city-states.

How Jesus Became Christian
Barrie Wilson

Philosophical Schools In Antiquity

July 2, 2021 Gary ReinerLeave a comment

Gathered around great philosophers in antiquity were schools, and schools were about training. Training, in turn, was about putting ideas into practice. Simple dialogue formulas and creative epigrams held the contours of a great teacher’s personality, but most importantly they defined the manner in which the philosophy was a lifestyle.

In antiquity, schools were not buildings but societies. They were social forces that defined the art of presence in the world.

Embracing the Human Jesus: A Wisdom Path for Contemporary Christianity
David Galston

Did Josephus Write History In The Modern Sense?

June 18, 2021 Gary ReinerLeave a comment

Writing Style

Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, isn’t writing a history in the modern sense of engaging a critical investigation of events. He is quick to express his biases, to present his opinions as fact, to condemn groups or persons with little or no evidence, and to offer tall tales as history.

Legendary Accounts

Even though Josephus is an important ancient historian, there is a sense in which he doesn’t write history at all. He writes legendary accounts of things, which allows him to present his own personal and political spin without a second thought.

Goal in Writing

Josephus’ goal is to give an account of things in the style of an apology or defense acceptable to those of his social class. It could be said he was more like a modern politician than historian.

Embracing the Human Jesus: A Wisdom Path for Contemporary Christianity
David Galston

Embracing the Human Jesus

Ancient Writing As Apologetics

April 2, 2021April 10, 2021 Gary ReinerLeave a comment

Ancient Apologetic Writing

Ancient writers almost always wrote as apologists. Their purpose was to defend the integrity of a class or a people.

Homer’s Epic Poems
Homer’s epic poems define and defend the cultural identity of the Greeks.
Virgil’s Aeneid
Virgil’s Aeneid rooted Roman cultural identity in a fabled Greek past, an act that boasted of Roman self-esteem.
Plutarch’s Parallel Lives
The historian Plutarch’s Parallel Lives matches Greek personalities with great Roman ones to show how, in a stretch of his imagination, great heroes hold similar characteristics – especially Greek and Roman heroes.
Biblical Deuteronomist
The Biblical Deuteronomist is the writer who told the story of ancient Israel found in the books from Deuteronomy to 2 Kings. In this history, the writer portrays the Israelite kings Saul and David in all their tragic faults. The presentation is primarily a theological one rather than historical account that defines and shapes a specific interpretation of history. Many archeologists today hold that the Deuteronomist version of history is largely fiction.
Early Christian Writings
Early Christian writings hold similar apologetic and fictional characteristics as the Deuteronomist writings. Though the Christian gospels contain some historical information, the writing is largely designed to defend Christianity. The gospels are not biographies. The writers are not really interested in who Jesus was, which means many questions simply cannot be answered.