Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Week 1


“To live is to be separated from what we were in order to approach what we are going to be in the mysterious future.” Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude, 195.

I think that this is one of the most profound statements that I have read in a textbook during all of my college career and one that rings true throughout almost all mythology, theology, and religions. As we start out on the journey of life we don’t know anything and we progress and learn by our own experiences what we need to in order to get through this life; we leave behind our lack of knowledge and experience for that knowledge and experience that makes us who we will become. When I read this the clear ties to the plan of salvation penetrated my mind. I began to think of all that I have learned about the gospel and how it is a gospel of progression and how we will continue to progress through the eternities and I felt extremely excited to move forward. As I continued the daily reading in Victors and Vanquished I read about Cortez and everything that he went through. Online I found that Cortez came from a distinguished family, but was a sickly child who dropped out of a fine university. Given our society’s outlook on dropping out of school I would assume that his choice was not looked on very highly and he was probably considered a wild and adventurous kid who would probably not amount to anything on that big boat going all around the world. He left his home in Medellin a “nobody” and finished his life as a historic figure that we all now study and research. Just as Hernan Cortez left behind what he was to become something greater we too can and must do the same thing.  


No comments:

Post a Comment