Sarah: Journal Entry (Chapters 1-2)

One: Hermes as the internet
Hermes is the messenger of the gods, traveling between the human and god world and in Hermetica he is the messenger of the word of god. He displays the power of held by gatekeepers and how access to such information allows for innovation. He displays modern human characteristics, such as the pursuit of serving self intentions through being an inventor or trickster.

Hermes is seen to exist on the mythical culture side of the great divide, where as the internet is deemed a tool existing to serve the nature side. However Davis believes the two are more related:  
“Indeed, the mythic attraction of the Net turns on some of the very same qualities associated with the youth ful trickster: speed, profit, innovative interconnection, the overturning of established orders”(16).

In the modern era the use of the great divide prevents us from accepting the existence of hybrids and in doing so we deny that the internet impacts all realms of reality, we do not just shape it, but it also works to shape us and the cultural ways of our existence.
In a sense stories of Hermes work to present the “moral of the story,” a larger warning or message that is applicable to the world around us, however the great divide prevents us from applying these ideas to what we see as nature. When we fail to acknowledge these hybrids, we just go on to continue inventing them without considering their total impacts. As we become more reliant on technology we end up impairing our ability to evolve as humans, rather, that evolution is handed over to technology.       
Two:
The reading discussed the rejection of bioenergy healing within today’s western medicine. Bioenergy refers the the energy both within and emitted by one’s body, allowing it to renew and be a“conscious life”, thus linking the soul and physical body.

The reading discusses acupuncture as one form of bioenergy medical field, in which energy movement or “lines of force” within one’s body has been mapped and is realigned through accessing and releasing issues with the energy, such as blockage, through needle pricking.
Acupuncturist have said that electricity is the energy keeping us alive:“application of electrodes to the body sending electrical vibratory frequencies via electricity, to try and “kick start” the heart.” http://www.heal.ie/alternative-healing.html And and this electricity is healed and repaired through acupuncture,
The reading explores the idea that electricity, “ultimately may be the very source of life, light, and consciousness, the divine power and mover of all that exists”(40). Thus, the relationship between the body and electricity, and specifically bioelectricity, may again be a place where the great divide prevents use from holding a complete perspective, as acupuncture and other alternative medicine is viewed as more culture, rather than also nature.  


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