The Consequences of Creation
Paradise Lost is the essential creation story of a lost paradise due to one thing: creation. Milton introduced his audience with the perspective of Man and the immortal to draw an opinion. Through Paradise Lost, Milton shows the reaction of the world from creation. Creation brought forth Man’s disobedience, the lesson of authority, a moralized view of evil and good as well as given man a voice of self. The word creation was used not only used to define making man but also to be authorized by a controller of man.
In this epic, “Creation” is introduced primarily as a noun because it highlights God’s ownership over Man. Milton explains why God’s authority over Man causes consequences throughout the epic that have formed religious morals. When creation was made by God, the audience realized man was not meant to be perfect. The One who made “his whole creation” (Paradise Lost 2.364) was God, and he used his power to create a creature who had a choice to create an identity or self. How did this one creation create consequences in the world that lost its right to paradise? It enabled man to want knowledge and find their purpose, and it created a purpose for Satan.
Why did man perform their first disappointment? While creation brought disappointment to God, it also brought humans the possibility to have a choice. Jesus explained his questioning of God’s creation of humans leading to their disobedience: “Draw after him the whole Race of mankind, By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy self Abolish thy Creation, and unmake, For him, what for thy glorie thou hast made?”(Paradise Lost 3.161-164). Why did God create the human race when they have the choice to disobey their creator? God made man to have the choice to sin but also to accept Him as their almighty to be forgiven. God, the authority, gave humans Jesus, who was the image of God and the supposed man to be an image of him on Earth. He explains this to Jesus when he says, “Man shall not quite be lost, but sav’d who will Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchsaf’d: once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit, and inthrall’d By sin to foul exorbitant desires” (Paradise Lost 3.173-179). He knows that man will fail, but he created them to be pure like him but all have the freedom to become themselves. If God’s creation were not destined to fail then they would not be able to feel emotions of grace, sadness, and regret.
Some of Milton’s audience may see God’s creation as redemption against Satan because it was said in every creation story that Satan betrayed God. We never got Satan’s perspective until Paradise Lost explained his lack of acknowledgment from God created anger and a lack of respect from Satan to God, and some may say that Satan was mistreated by God. Satan came to Earth and notified his followers that God’s creation had the ability to be destroyed and corrupted. Satan says “[b]y sudden onset, either with Hell fire/ To waste his whole Creation, or possess All as our own, and drive as we were driven, The punie 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.”(Paradise Lost 3.362-369). The consequences of creation were the onbringing of evil, because the consequences of the creation of man enabled them to have the choice to submit to evil. Milton guides the reader to understand that there can be different opinions of who’s the authority and who’s the alien in this creation story. Although humans are seen to have the ability to choose their authority, there are consequences for them following anyone but God. Jesus and God have to sacrifice themselves to show Satan, as well as man, their avowel and love for mankind. God says “so man, as is most just, Shall satisfy for man, be judg’d, and die, And dying rise, and rising with him raise His brethren, ransom’d with his own dear life. So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, So dearly to redeem what hellish hate So easily destroy’d, and still destroys[.]” (III, 294–301). This shows the consequences of creation is for the creator to show his responsibility to man as well as create the reality of right and wrong.
Creation in Paradise Lost teaches the responsibilities and the effect of sharing creation. When man is created,they don’t see their authority which leads to a loss of paradise due to mankind being exposed to sin. This sin brings the consequence that Satan can find restoration from God’s creation having the decision to do wrong. This leads to man trying to understand who is their authority, is it God, themselves, or Satan. God, their creator, seemed to abandon his creation, and this caused man to choose their own morals and act in disobedience. This enabled God to send his son Jesus to sacrifice himself for the purity of man to be restored and His grace to be everlasting. Creation started the choices of mankind, and without creation, we would not have an authority that would allow us to have the freedom to build our identity. Milton uses creation to let us have our own opinion and choose our authority and alien.
In this epic, “Creation” is introduced primarily as a noun because it highlights God’s ownership over Man. Milton explains why God’s authority over Man causes consequences throughout the epic that have formed religious morals. When creation was made by God, the audience realized man was not meant to be perfect. The One who made “his whole creation” (Paradise Lost 2.364) was God, and he used his power to create a creature who had a choice to create an identity or self. How did this one creation create consequences in the world that lost its right to paradise? It enabled man to want knowledge and find their purpose, and it created a purpose for Satan.
Why did man perform their first disappointment? While creation brought disappointment to God, it also brought humans the possibility to have a choice. Jesus explained his questioning of God’s creation of humans leading to their disobedience: “Draw after him the whole Race of mankind, By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy self Abolish thy Creation, and unmake, For him, what for thy glorie thou hast made?”(Paradise Lost 3.161-164). Why did God create the human race when they have the choice to disobey their creator? God made man to have the choice to sin but also to accept Him as their almighty to be forgiven. God, the authority, gave humans Jesus, who was the image of God and the supposed man to be an image of him on Earth. He explains this to Jesus when he says, “Man shall not quite be lost, but sav’d who will Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchsaf’d: once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit, and inthrall’d By sin to foul exorbitant desires” (Paradise Lost 3.173-179). He knows that man will fail, but he created them to be pure like him but all have the freedom to become themselves. If God’s creation were not destined to fail then they would not be able to feel emotions of grace, sadness, and regret.
Some of Milton’s audience may see God’s creation as redemption against Satan because it was said in every creation story that Satan betrayed God. We never got Satan’s perspective until Paradise Lost explained his lack of acknowledgment from God created anger and a lack of respect from Satan to God, and some may say that Satan was mistreated by God. Satan came to Earth and notified his followers that God’s creation had the ability to be destroyed and corrupted. Satan says “[b]y sudden onset, either with Hell fire/ To waste his whole Creation, or possess All as our own, and drive as we were driven, The punie 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.”(Paradise Lost 3.362-369). The consequences of creation were the onbringing of evil, because the consequences of the creation of man enabled them to have the choice to submit to evil. Milton guides the reader to understand that there can be different opinions of who’s the authority and who’s the alien in this creation story. Although humans are seen to have the ability to choose their authority, there are consequences for them following anyone but God. Jesus and God have to sacrifice themselves to show Satan, as well as man, their avowel and love for mankind. God says “so man, as is most just, Shall satisfy for man, be judg’d, and die, And dying rise, and rising with him raise His brethren, ransom’d with his own dear life. So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, So dearly to redeem what hellish hate So easily destroy’d, and still destroys[.]” (III, 294–301). This shows the consequences of creation is for the creator to show his responsibility to man as well as create the reality of right and wrong.
Creation in Paradise Lost teaches the responsibilities and the effect of sharing creation. When man is created,they don’t see their authority which leads to a loss of paradise due to mankind being exposed to sin. This sin brings the consequence that Satan can find restoration from God’s creation having the decision to do wrong. This leads to man trying to understand who is their authority, is it God, themselves, or Satan. God, their creator, seemed to abandon his creation, and this caused man to choose their own morals and act in disobedience. This enabled God to send his son Jesus to sacrifice himself for the purity of man to be restored and His grace to be everlasting. Creation started the choices of mankind, and without creation, we would not have an authority that would allow us to have the freedom to build our identity. Milton uses creation to let us have our own opinion and choose our authority and alien.
The Creation Of Self
"Selves- a sense of a personal order, a characteristic mode of address to the world, a structure of bounded desires." ~ Stephen Greenblatt
Who are you? As you grow into your own personality, do you ever ask yourself how did you grow your own thoughts? How did you start to form your own moralistic point of view? “Renaissance Self-Fashioning” as well as “ Better Living Through Criticism” have both been examples of how your true identity is formed. A. O. Scott and Stephen Greenblatt have proved that our surroundings make us create perspective and our own sense of self through experiences, decisions, and criticism that we consciously or unconsciously create.
As seen in the video above, the world has branded humans to believe that we are in control of who we are and who we become. How do we know what we want to become, and how we act? We go through the world with the thought of becoming someone but is the belief of who we want to be only created by the images that we see?
In Greenblatt’s theory of self-fashioning, we don’t have the ability to procreate who we are. We are under the influence of following our authority and maintaining the goal of never being the representation of the alien. Greenblatt’s “10 Conditions of Self-fashioning” explained how the creation of self is based on the submission to the authority or the alien. The authority can be seen within yourself because you are trying to subconsciously be an image of your authority, but you hold traits of the distorted image of the authority known as the alien. You can’t be self-fashioned because you’re always self-fashioning due to the continuous shift of self based on ever-changing art, literature, and culture. In “Renaissance Self-Fashioning,” Greenblatt created the reality that we do not control how we shape our personality. We can’t shape ourselves by religion, family, and financial status. We shape our sense of self by the submission to the hierarchy of authority.
In A.O. Scott’s “Better Living Through Criticism” he explains an alternate belief of how your self is created. Self is created through the experiences that you consciously focus on and create a profound opinion on the topic. This creation of self is conducted through the aesthetical moments: an experience that evokes an emotional response. Our aesthetics are made by our conscious creating criticism through questions. The questions are created by putting our evoked emotions into words. When we first tasted ice cream, we created an opinion if we enjoyed it or not. We change ourselves with the change of the culture around us because of our choice in the culture we believe.
Both authors showed the formation of self is from your environment based on social pressures, conscious curiosity, and your culture. Impressively, A.O. Scott and Greenblatt both explained how their arguments have flaws that are possibly hard to believe due to the inconvenience of not being able to fully have control over the creation of your own personality.
I believe that the creation of self is dependent on both of their arguments. Your self is affected by the aesthetics that are involuntarily created, but your self is also conducted by whom or what you deem as your authority. Culture is dependent on your choice of hierarchy. Your self-fashioning is independent of your environment.
In Greenblatt’s theory of self-fashioning, we don’t have the ability to procreate who we are. We are under the influence of following our authority and maintaining the goal of never being the representation of the alien. Greenblatt’s “10 Conditions of Self-fashioning” explained how the creation of self is based on the submission to the authority or the alien. The authority can be seen within yourself because you are trying to subconsciously be an image of your authority, but you hold traits of the distorted image of the authority known as the alien. You can’t be self-fashioned because you’re always self-fashioning due to the continuous shift of self based on ever-changing art, literature, and culture. In “Renaissance Self-Fashioning,” Greenblatt created the reality that we do not control how we shape our personality. We can’t shape ourselves by religion, family, and financial status. We shape our sense of self by the submission to the hierarchy of authority.
In A.O. Scott’s “Better Living Through Criticism” he explains an alternate belief of how your self is created. Self is created through the experiences that you consciously focus on and create a profound opinion on the topic. This creation of self is conducted through the aesthetical moments: an experience that evokes an emotional response. Our aesthetics are made by our conscious creating criticism through questions. The questions are created by putting our evoked emotions into words. When we first tasted ice cream, we created an opinion if we enjoyed it or not. We change ourselves with the change of the culture around us because of our choice in the culture we believe.
Both authors showed the formation of self is from your environment based on social pressures, conscious curiosity, and your culture. Impressively, A.O. Scott and Greenblatt both explained how their arguments have flaws that are possibly hard to believe due to the inconvenience of not being able to fully have control over the creation of your own personality.
I believe that the creation of self is dependent on both of their arguments. Your self is affected by the aesthetics that are involuntarily created, but your self is also conducted by whom or what you deem as your authority. Culture is dependent on your choice of hierarchy. Your self-fashioning is independent of your environment.
"But I think what they-what we, certainly what I-crave, above all, is expanded consciousness." ~ A. O. Scott
The Never Ending Cycle of Knowledge
“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”
~ Anais Nin
In modern day we strive off the knowledge that we consume, but our ability to retain that knowledge and actually build off of it is skill within itself. In the years of life we read books, go to classes, and do our assigned homework, while some go beyond those lines, and they pursue a deeper understanding in that subject. What leads someone to a hunger to go out of their way to learn about something? Is it the intriguing photograph that they saw in the biomechanics class or the video they watched on Khan Academy on accident about statistics?
It’s the mindset that clicks when they find a spark of interest called wonder. Wonder is a reality-based conscious that your brain creates and it is attracted to your senses. Do you ever think about why your eyes light up when you see your favorite color? Or when you look at yourself in the mirror you have a certain reaction? This is due to your brain's surprise of what you’re looking at. In Rene Descartes’ philosophical writing named The Passion Of The Soul, she described the art of your indecisions and emotions of the things you encounter. Descartes also argues that your wonderment comes from the soul due to the minds moment of paralysis, which leads to your brain’s connection of curiosity.
Curiosity is what most say "killed the cat", but with knowledge it can blossom ideas and theories that were thought to be impossible. This all happens when your brain leads you from wonderment to curiosity once you've been formally introduced to what or who it is. Georgina Venning created an animation from Ian Leslie's RSA talk, where he explains the necessity to act on your curiosity. "Curiosity is a muscle" and we choose whether to act on your curiosity or to not do anything at all. You are the push that enlists your brain into knowledge. When you let your mind run, only time will tell where that curiosity will lead you.
It’s the mindset that clicks when they find a spark of interest called wonder. Wonder is a reality-based conscious that your brain creates and it is attracted to your senses. Do you ever think about why your eyes light up when you see your favorite color? Or when you look at yourself in the mirror you have a certain reaction? This is due to your brain's surprise of what you’re looking at. In Rene Descartes’ philosophical writing named The Passion Of The Soul, she described the art of your indecisions and emotions of the things you encounter. Descartes also argues that your wonderment comes from the soul due to the minds moment of paralysis, which leads to your brain’s connection of curiosity.
Curiosity is what most say "killed the cat", but with knowledge it can blossom ideas and theories that were thought to be impossible. This all happens when your brain leads you from wonderment to curiosity once you've been formally introduced to what or who it is. Georgina Venning created an animation from Ian Leslie's RSA talk, where he explains the necessity to act on your curiosity. "Curiosity is a muscle" and we choose whether to act on your curiosity or to not do anything at all. You are the push that enlists your brain into knowledge. When you let your mind run, only time will tell where that curiosity will lead you.
Would the time enable your curiosity to turn into a passion which guides you to knowing everything about the subject? The saying “practice makes perfect” does not stand with the amount of knowledge you can learn about something, but it does underline your understanding that you can contain if you keep trying over time. Sometimes a concept can not be understood in an hour, because it takes time, so why would something you’re curious about be simple to understand? You have to take the time to understand the concept before you disregard it all together. Time leads you to a world wind of passion.
Once you’ve clearly taken the time to dive into a topic and start to understand it; you start to develop a comfortable stance to think of in-debt scenarios. As Einstein once said you can only spark “a passion for comprehension”. Once you focus on wanting to learn about the new concept then you continue to work on your passion and grow with knowledge. This cycle of knowledge is never ending and it will lead you to world of new things, but you have to push yourself beyond curiosity. Wonder. Curiosity. Time. Passion.
Once you’ve clearly taken the time to dive into a topic and start to understand it; you start to develop a comfortable stance to think of in-debt scenarios. As Einstein once said you can only spark “a passion for comprehension”. Once you focus on wanting to learn about the new concept then you continue to work on your passion and grow with knowledge. This cycle of knowledge is never ending and it will lead you to world of new things, but you have to push yourself beyond curiosity. Wonder. Curiosity. Time. Passion.
“There exists a passion for comprehension, just as there exists a passion for music. That passion is rather common in children, but gets lost in most people later on. Without this passion, there would be neither mathematics nor natural science.”
~ Albert Einstein