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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Friday, September 3, 2004
Sitaram writes:

I awoke at 3 am with the image in my mind of Queequeg's floating
casket in Moby Dick, and a title for a post; "Surviving Death."

Every religion has something to do with surviving death, either
through ressurection or rebirth, or at least being able to accept
death with equanimity.

Melville's novel has been much studied and analyzed. The Spark Notes
make some valuable observations.

Why does Melville create his novel as such a theological puzzle to
unravel?

On the very last page of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick," the Epilogue,
the coffin becomes a life-raft.

Melville prefaces many Chapters with Biblical verses. He prefaces the
Epilogue with Job 1:15

http://bible.cc/job/1-15.htm

Job: 1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea,
they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only
am escaped alone to tell thee. KJV

The very first sentence of the last page mentions the disappearance
of the Parsee.

How curious that Melville has a Zoroastrian character. The
Zoroastrian religion is perhaps the first to speak of a struggle
between a good God, Ahura Mazda, Lord of Wisdom, and an evil devil
figure, Mainu. It is the Zoroastrians who first speak of a final
judgement, a resurrection from the dead, a lake of fire which burns
the wicked and conforts the righteous, and a savior figure called
Soshuant, or Savior (a word related to Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus).

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mobydick/characters.html

Fedallah -

A strange, "oriental" old Parsee (Persian fire-worshipper) whom Ahab
has brought on board unbeknownst to most of the crew. Fedallah has a
very striking appearance: around his head is a turban made from his
own hair, and he wears a black Chinese jacket and pants. He is an
almost supernaturally skilled hunter and also serves as a prophet to
Ahab. Fedallah keeps his distance from the rest of the crew, who for
their part view him with unease.

http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/moby/themes.html

There are a number of characters who teeter at the brink between life
and death, whether literally or metaphorically, throughout Moby Dick.
Queequeg again proves to be an example: during his illness he
prepares for death and in fact remains in his own coffin waiting for
illness to overtake him, but it never does (Chapter 110: Queequeg in
his coffin). The coffin itself becomes a transitional element several
chapters later when the carpenter (and remember, Jesus was a
carpenter's son) converts it into a life-buoy and it thus comes to
symbolize both the saving of a life and the end of one
(Chapter 126: The Life-Buoy).

The Parsee Fedallah also has a prophetic dream concerning Ahab's
quest against Moby Dick, dreaming of hearses (although he
misinterprets the dream to mean that Ahab will certainly kill Moby
Dick).

Sitaram comments that the Whale bears some resemblence to the Islamic
concept of Allah as "that which is like nothing else."

The Whale as a Symbol of Unparalleled Greatness: When Melville,
through Ishmael, describes the Sperm Whale during the many non-
narrative chapters of Moby Dick, the idea that the whale
has no parallel in excellence recurs as a nearly labored point.
Melville approaches this theme from a variety of standpoints, whether
biological or historical, in order to prove the superiority of the
whale over all other creatures. During a number of occasions Melville
relates whaling to royal activity, as when he notes the strong
devotion of Louis XVI to the whaling industry and considers the whale
as a delicacy fit for only the most civilized. In additional,
Melville cites the Indian legends of Vishnoo, the god who became
incarnate in a whale. Even when discussing the whale in mere
aesthetic terms Melville lauds it for its features, devoting an
entire chapter (42) to the whiteness of the whale, while degrading
those artists who falsely depict the whale.

In a sense, Moby Dick is not a character, as the reader has no access
to the White Whale's thoughts, feelings, or intentions. Instead, Moby
Dick is an impersonal force, one that many critics have interpreted
as an allegorical representation of God, an inscrutable and all-
powerful being that humankind can neither understand nor defy. Moby
Dick thwarts free will and cannot be defeated, only accommodated or
avoided. Ishmael tries a plethora of approaches to describe whales in
general, but none proves adequate. Indeed, as Ishmael points out, the
majority of a whale is hidden from view at all times. In this way, a
whale mirrors its environment. Like the whale, only the surface of
the ocean is available for human observation and interpretation,
while its depths conceal unknown and unknowable truths. Furthermore,
even when Ishmael does get his hands on a "whole" whale, he is unable
to determine which part—the skeleton, the head, the skin—offers the
best understanding of the whole living, breathing creature; he cannot
localize the essence of the whale. This conundrum can be read as a
metaphor for the human relationship with the Christian God (or any
other god, for that matter): God is unknowable and cannot be pinned
down.

I searched the internet on the phrase "surviving death" and found
several interesting URLs.

http://www.earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/winter.html

Surviving Death: Eternal Consciousness and the Self-Perpetuating
Universe

Author: J. Robert Adams

ISBN: 1563150824

Publisher: Dr. J. Robert Adams (November, 1997)

http://www.centrasoft.net/b22/1563150824.htm

Dr. J. Robert Adams, that personality and memory can survive
biological mortality. The mechanism for this conjecture is based
largely, on physics as the scientists of the 20th century have
developed it. Adams work, in order to do this has defined mind and
soul from a purely materialist point of view yet results in something
that closely approaches the belief structures of many of the world's
faiths. The work has quite a bit in commom with the writings of
Hammeroff and Penrose, and the books Robot by Professor Hans Moravec,
and Physics of Immortality, by Physicist Frank Tipler. Interestingly
enough, the work echos some of the philosphy by Philosopher Peter
Forrest, in Australia. Adams goes beyond Forrest and provides a
susincint possibility for post mortem existence. I like way Dr. Adams
focuses on some comparative religions and how his theory compares

His basic hyptothesis is that our memory is saved. Memory, he
proposes, is transferred continuously to a point outside of our
physical body where it is preserved. He suggests that this memory
receptacal is an unseen world governed by quantum mehancial rinciples
(he spares us the respective equations). His hypotheseis concerns
itself not only with memory but with that essential ingredient,
onsciousness, which is or can be available at the new site of
transplanted memory.

http://www.explorefaith.org/Homily_kolb06.16.02.html

Death is where the rubber hits the road. Christianity is all about
surviving death. Christianity hinges on the promise of eternal life.
The main product of our faith is the promise and the hope that death
is not the end of things. The promise of eternal life is, you might
say, the main stock in trade of Christianity. We are promised that if
we are part of the body of Christ, our membership assures us that we
will survive death; our spirit will live on and someday our body will
be resurrected. That's the promise.

New Testament Reading: Romans 5:1-8

5:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:2 through whom we have obtained
access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of
sharing the glory of God. 5:3 And not only that, but we also boast in
our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 5:4 and
endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5:5 and
hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into
ourhearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 5:6

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly. 5:7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--
though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.
5:8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were
sinners Christ died for us. NRSV

Bigelow · Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:18 pm Post subject: Eternal Life

It is impossible for me to believe that any man died to take on the sins of the whole world. We pay for our sins one way or another through the law of cause and effect or karma. Only GOD could give us a master key to escape the full effects of wrong actions.
And even then we will suffer some. Millions suffer right here on earth for wrong action. When I was a bit younger our minister tolds us that salvation was still up to us no matter what Jesus did because for us to be saved we would have to become a Christian, turn our life around and not sin as best we could. That after all is said and done we would have to pick up our own cross and follow Jesus to be saved.
When we speak of Christ who died for our sins, is that a person or principal? Is it a man or spirit? Is it Jesus The Christ?, Jesus Christ? or Jesus a Christ? There are different beliefs about this. Some call Krisna the Christ of the East. There have been 16 or more crucified savior types. HP Blavatsky says Christ was a title given to many in Egypt when a person reached a certain spiritual level. Horus was the Christ or Krest of Egypt. Gerald Massey covers this in"Ancient Egypt." The Horus story came before Jesus. He was born of a virgin who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. He performed all the same acts. He was the only begotten son killed and raised up from the dead to sit with his father in judgement of the world. The Horus story is so identicle to the Jesus story it seems to me early church fathers had to lift it for thier Jesus story. We really don't know much about Jesus as he never wrote anything down. It is always someone else speaking for Jesus. At least one of the Gospels left out of the Bible quotes Jesus as calling the Holy Spirit "His Mother." The crucifixion of Jesus mirrored exactly what happed to the Bible. It has been crucified. History is mixed with myth. Almost all the stories come from older religions and therefore they are not original. It would be nice if someone really could rightly divide the word of truth so we could see the Bible in it's more pure form. Bigelow

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Thanks for posting. I am at work now. I shall study your post carefully later.

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