Why do bad things happen?

"In England artificial giants seem to have been a standing feature of the midsummer festival." James Frazier, The Golden Bough, pg 630

Why do bad things happen?  Well there are multiple things to look at.  First there is karma. 

Karma is like Newton's Second law.  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  So if you are a jerk to someone, someone else is gonna be a jerk to you.  I believe that there is car karma.  If i leave a good parking spot, then i find another one thats as good or better.  Karma is one of the best things for evil people.  If a person robs you, something just as bad will happen to the robber.

Then there is luck.  Luck has 2 different definitions.  One is the superstitious kind of luck.  If you break a mirror, you will have bad luck for 7 years.  If you find a penny that is heads up, it is good luck.  If you have good luck, good things happen to you like finding money on the ground.  If you have bad luck, things like tripping in mud happen to you.  The other luck is just a description of an event that happens to you.  If you you trip down the stairs, you say you have bad luck.

Next is divine retribution.  Its when you do something bad, so your god disciplines you.  This can also be tied to the superstitious kind of bad luck.  In the metamorphosis of ovid, this is really easy to see.  When Actaen saw Diana, she transforms him into a horny beast to be eaten by his dogs.  This was an act of divine retribution.  This is apparently the most common explanation for why something bad happens to you because if you google "why do bad things happen to you?", a billion websites come up saying that its not God punishing you, its God strengthening you. 

The return of home

"The of Namosi in Fiji always ate a man by way of precaution when he had had his hair cut." James Frazier, The Golden Bough, pg 224

Over this weekend, I did the mythological return home.  Nostos comes to mind, meaning homecoming.  Odysseus yearning to return home to see Penelope.  I hope everyone else's weekend was as lovely as mine.

The Metamorphosis

Call me a procrastinator or a genious but I'm doing my sentences on the Metamorphosis as a helpful study tool.

Chapter 1.

Lycaen- He was turned into a wolf for his ferocity and as punishment from Jove.

Apollo and Daphne- Daphne's father Peneus turns her into a tree in order to escape Apollo's love for her.

Io and Jove- Io gets turned into a white heffer to avoid suspicion from Juno.  She is guarded by Argus, but Argus is killed by Mercury

The Four Ages- The first is the golden age, ruled by Saturn.  Next is the Silver Age ruled by Jove because Saturn was banished to Tartarus.  The next 2 ages would be Bronze and Iron signified by humanity growing worse and worse.

Creation- Man was created by Prometheus by mixing earth with new rainwater.

Chapter 2.
Arcas- He finds his mother, who had been turned into a bear, and before he could kill her, he didn't know it was his mother, Jove took them both and put them in the stars to form the great and little bear constellations.

Raven- Because of his talkativeness, he is changed from being a white bird to a black bird.

Coronis, the raven, the crow, Nyctimene- Nyctimene is turned into an owl.  Apollo kills Coronis for her infidelity but wishes he hadn't and blames the crow.  The Crow is changed from white to black for being the messenger of bad news.

Ocyrhoe- She is turned into a mare by the fates to prevent her from continuing to tell the future.

Battus- He is turned into a stone because he chose to lie to Mercury about cattle.

Chapter 3.
Cadmus- He kills Mars's serpent pet, so Mars turns Cadmus into a snake himself.

Actaeon- He sees Diana naked. She turns him into a stag to be devoured by his own dogs.

Semele- She asks to see Jove in his true form. When she does, she burns to ash.

Narcissus and Echo- Echo is forced to repeat everything she hears for stopping Juno.  Narcissus looks into the pool and loves himself and starves to death looking at himself in the pool.

Pentheus- He is ripped apart by women.

Chapter 4.
Pyramus and Thisbe- Pyramus kills himself thinking Thisbe is dead.  Thisbe finds his body and kills herself and mulberry bushes are created.

Mars, Venus, Vulcan, The Sun- The sun sees Venus and Mars having an affair and tells Vulcan, Venus's husband.  Vulcan sets a net in their bed so that they are trapped and all the gods see the shame that they brought on themselves.

Leucothoe and Clytie- Leucothoe is raped by the Sun and her father kills her and buries her for this dishonor.  Clytie hoped to earn the sun's affection for telling the father Leucothoe's misdeeds, but the Sun shuns her.  She withers away into a plant like a violet.

Salmacis and Hermaphroditus- Hermaphroditus is turned into a half man half woman.

Athamas and Ino- Athamas and Ino are driven insane. Athamas hunts his wife Ino and his child because he thinks they are a lioness and cub.  Venus has Neptune turn Ino and her son into sea deities.