Eliade's Chapter on Nostalgia for Paradise and How It Relates to The Magus

The paradisiac myth is a common theme seen in cultures all over the world. These myths all include the idea of Heaven being close to Earth and there being an easy and direct connection between the two during the illo tempore. On page 65, Eliade states, “Now, we know that, in illo tempore, in the mythic time of Paradise, a Mountain, a Tree or a Pillar or a liana connected Earth with Heaven, so that primordial man could easily go up into Heaven by climbing it. Communication with Heaven in illo tempore was simple, and meeting with the gods took place in concreto.”

Bourani can be thought of as a pseudo illo tempore. It is a place where Nicholas goes to escape the rest of his life on Phraxos. The rest of his troubles appear seemingly unimportant when he is at Bourani and he longs for the weekends he spends there, which are usually comprised of good food and good company. There are also many mystical aspects about Bourani that suggest it being an illo tempore. During one of Nicholas’s first visits, he watches a display acted out in which a nymph is being chased by a satyr, both of which are being observed by Apollo. He also observes a jackal-headed guard at the villa. Conchis’s manner is mystical in itself in that so much mystery shrouds his true identity. In a way, when Nicholas spends time at Bourani, he is closer to “heaven”, or at least another realm.

Eliade also notes the paradisiac symbolism of churches and monastery gardens. Conchis’s home is also described as a very beautiful place, with an elaborate villa filled with exquisite artwork and a private beach. This is but another parallel between Bourani and the illo tempore.

Questions for The Magus

1. What is the significance of the reference to T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" in The Magus?
2. On one occasion, Conchis says to Nicholas, "All good science is art. And all good art is science." How does this line hold greater significance for the novel?
3. How does the word eleutheria pertain to Nicholas's initiation?
4. What is the symbolism meant by the doll and the human skull left for Nicholas at Bourani (ch 57)?
5. "The better you understand freedom, the less you possess it." What does this mean?
6. Why does Nicholas choose to slap Alison on the face at the end of the novel? What can the reader gather from this action?

Comments on "The Magus" Discussion

In class on Tuesday, Gerrit mentioned he was "jealous" of Nicholas and his situation. In contrast, John believed that Nicholas had been emotionally and morally tortured and would not wish that kind of treatment upon anyone. I see myself taking a stance about in the middle. I'll admit that after finishing The Magus, I felt a strange longing for Nicholas's experience. I also felt a little bit of guilt for even insinuating that what happened to him was acceptable. He was made to fall in love with someone just so they would be stripped away, revealing that his love was neither meaningful nor reciprocated. He was left undermined and humiliated, and perhaps worst of all, the perpetrators did not even feel guilty about it.
So why would I want this for myself? His life on the island certainly became more exciting after meeting Conchis. He also found that he had become a part of something bigger than just himself. He experienced a phenomenon that only a few others before him could relate to. It was also a seemingly indescribable experience that I think probably became his own secret that he could carry throughout his life. I think that perhaps a part of me wanted to be able to say I was a part of something more, or that I had gone through a life-altering experience that no one else could understand. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was the fact that Nicholas's experience was unique and powerful that made me wish I could experience something similar. The means by which this experience was conducted I would also never wish upon anyone. I thought that perhaps, unlike Nicholas, I could take this experience and become a better person because of it. This just goes to show that a part of me also longed for a moral to the story.

Reading "The Magus"

I finished reading The Magus today. I'll admit, after reading the last sentence, a part of me wanted to throw the book against the wall. Perhaps this makes me foolish or naive, but I don't care. I guess I just had so many unanswered questions. But, after all, "An answer is a form of death" as Fowles would say. 

What I'm about to say may seem unusual or even blasphemous to some people in this class but, for me, reading is a chore. I must say that I've never found myself particularly enveloped by a text and you will probably rarely find me reading for fun. However, The Magus is a whirlwind. It reminds me of a car accident. Much of what I read seemed somewhat disturbing or unsettling, but I just couldn't put it down. 

As I read The Magus, I was immediately expecting something magical to happen. During Nicholas’s first encounter with Lucy, it appears as if she was able to be in two places at once, but it turned out that she actually had a twin. Also, his experience with the performance on the beach and the masked experimenters during his “trial” both appeared to have magical elements. However, the novel turned out to be complete realistic fiction. Though not likely, all the events that transpired could theoretically happen in real life.

Quality

How can one measure the quality of higher education? I think Dr. Sexson put it very well when he said we should only evaluate our classes twenty years later. Twenty years from now, will you remember that 100-something-person lecture in which the professor literally read PowerPoint slides to you? A Quality education is something that sticks with you through the years and makes an impact on your life. Sadly classes that do just that can be hard to come by these days.

I have found my honors seminars to be some of the most memorable and impactful classes I've taken. Perhaps this is because of extraordinary faculty. Most likely, It's because I have become an active participant in the learning process. Active discussion has helped me form and solidify my own beliefs and opinions on a variety of subjects. Also, listening to others' thoughts has helped with an exchange of ideas, opening my mind to other points of view. Also, only in a few of the courses I have taken have I been encouraged to write down my own thoughts. Again, Dr. Sexson put it well when he stated, "How do you know what you think until you see what you say?" Through the writing process, I have been able to formulate my thoughts in a coherent, logical manner, further solidifying my beliefs and opinions.

Unfortunately, lessons learned in these types of classes can be difficult to quantify with a grade. Higher education has become such an objective, streamlined process that many of the experiences that I've had in my honors classes have been phased out. One cannot state on their diploma or resume that they considered some classes of higher quality than others. After all, once you graduate, all classes are essentially created equal. Perhaps if we looked at higher education as an unquantifiable process, we would be better off.

Meeting Michael Sexson

As I was filing through the documents on my laptop, hoping to clean out a few things and free up some memory, I came across a Word document titled "Initiation". Curiously, I opened the file and found the following passage:

Every journey that a person has in their lifetime is associated with some sort of pain. Whether this pain be physical or emotional, one must endeavor to overcome it. Think of the journeys you have encountered during your life. I can guarantee you that the most memorable journeys are associated with some sort of pain or hardship. Perhaps the greatest life lessons I have learned have come from coping with emotional and physical hardship. The Satere-Mawe people of Brazil have an initiation rite in which young men place their hand in a glove filled with bullet ants. They endure the excruciating pain of the ant’s bites for a full 10 minutes. Their hand and arm become temporarily paralyzed by the ant’s venom. Chances are that they will remember this scarring experience for the rest of their lives. However, the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with this initiation rite surpasses the physical and emotional damage.

                Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words. Perhaps the most profound lessons are learned using pain. What better way to get your point across?

As I read the passage, I distinctly recalled why I had written it seven months earlier. One Thursday afternoon, I was sitting in my Orientation Leader class, fully aware that this was my last class of the day and anticipating relaxing and grabbing a bite to eat in the near future. I was told we were to hear from a guest speaker that day named Michael Sexon. I had never met Dr. Sexson before, but I had heard that in the previous year he managed to give an entire hour lecture on Mylie Cyrus to the Orientation Leaders. Needless to say, I was intrigued. 

He began his lecture by explaining that the circumstances in which he was teaching us were not ideal. Ideally, he would have walked from desk to desk with a bucket and, stopping at each desk, he would clip off a small portion of each student's earlobe. I imagine the pain would be sharp, but bearable, and would leave a lasting scar. He went on to explain that every time someone would ask what happened to our earlobes, we would distinctly recall that Thursday afternoon when Michael Sexson visited our Orientation Leader class. He went on to explain the initiation rite of the Satere-Mawe people that I wrote about in my passage. 

It was bold, to say the least, but I believe that was Dr. Sexson's way of making us remember. Perhaps his techniques were not as effective as he was hoping, because I only vaguely remember the contents of the remainder of his lecture. Among these were an explanation of the root of the word orient and a reading from The Conference of Birds (which I later discovered was added to the Texts and Critics curriculum thanks to Jerrod). Nonetheless, the first five minutes of Dr. Sexson's lecture seemed to have a profound effect on me. 

Dr. Sexson's lecture got me thinking, and it was apparent that what he was saying was directly related to the culture that I am a part of. As a member of a sorority on campus, we are held to strict standards and regulations, one of those being a zero tolerance policy for hazing. I've heard a lot of horror stories about the dangers of hazing and how fraternity men having even died due to hazing-related accidents. I can confidently say that I have never been hazed or hazed another person, but what Dr. Sexson had in mind sounded awfully similar to hazing. It started to make a little bit of sense. After all, after looking back on my life, many of the most memorable moments have been associated with physical or mental hardship. Have you ever noticed most people can distinctly recall where they were and what they were doing the day of 9/11/2001? It's because the hardship associated with September 11th is ingrained within their memory. That being said, if one wants to instill in their pledges their sorority's core values so that they may better understand their importance, perhaps this should be coupled with some form of challenge or even pain. Perhaps this is what the founders of Greek organizations had in mind. To clarify, I still believe that in many instances, hazing becomes excessive and I still do not agree with it as a practice (partly because it's illegal), but I recognize it as an effective tactic in making sure the lesson one is teaching will never be forgotten. That is not an easy task to undertake. 

After skimming the file, I deemed it important enough to be spared from the recycle bin and continued to scroll through documents...