Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7: "Think of an event in your life- past, present or future. You are going to create a commemorative ritual for this event. First, describe the ..."

Becoming a part of the Family reunion

My personal commemoration day would be the day I will buy my guitar. Recently, I have been very interested in playing guitar after I saw a singer singing with her guitar in a Korean show program. I think it would be amazing to play the guitar. I think it would be impossible to learn how to play guitar now since I would be very busy for next two or three years while I am in high school. I promised to myself to buy a guitar and practice it right after my high school graduation. Playing guitar would stay as my main hobby after graduation. Playing guitar, carrying the guitar, and singing with my guitar would be my dream. The day I will buy my guitar would be the personal commemoration day. The guitar would be the way I connect with my family for informal family reunions.

Every year on that day, I would come up with two or three songs to play in front of my family for the family reunion. This would happen every summer vacation I come back from the States. Before we greet each other and talk about what happened in both countries, I would play my guitar as an introduction. I would also play the first song I practiced, some family songs, or some hymns for my family.

Although the commemoration is informal since it is not a religious event, the event itself does not take longer than a few hours or so. Learning all of the songs and practicing until becoming an expert would take quite a long time, however.

I would say before my performance, ““I hope that I will help the family in times of trouble, and be a source of joy during times of happiness.”

                                                              Hera and Zeus

In the last Modern Religious Experience class, we performed one of the Greek myths for more understanding of Greek beliefs and its moral lessons. Our group performed the second half of the Cupid and Psyche story, and I had the role of Hera, the goddess of family, and Zeus, the god of the sky.

People worship the beauty of the princess Psyche so deeply that they forget about the goddess Aphrodite. Angry, Aphrodite sends her son Cupid to punish her, but he falls in love with Psyche. Psyche, curious about her husband’s identity, lights a lamp to see his face, even though he warns her not to do so. After Psyche’s continuous hardships with the three tasks assigned by Aphrodite as punishment, Psyche finally meets Cupid and becomes immortal.

The moral lesson in the Greek myth, Cupid and Psyche, is that trust between two people is absolutely necessary to protect their love. Psyche’s distrust and curiosity causes their heartache and the separation between them.