Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love
When reading Julian of Norwich, from Revelations of Divine Love, many interesting ideas were touched on regarding God’s influence on man.
The first quote that stood out to me stated, “He made us all at once; and in our making He knit us and oned us to Himself: by which oneing we are kept as clear and as noble as we were made. By the virtue of the same precious oneing, we love our Maker and seek Him, praise Him and thank Him, and endlessly enjoy Him.” I pulled this quote because I thought it was very interesting how it explains how God made us but also kept a part of Him in us, along with a part of us in Him. Whether or not the author meant this literally or figuratively, it sparked thought in my head about why so many people are religious and how they believe that God is with them at all times.
The second quote that I thought was interesting from this reading stated, “The Mother may lay the child tenderly to her breast, but our tender Mother, Jesus, He may homely lead us into His blessed breast, by His sweet open side, and shew therein part of the Godhead and the joys of Heaven, with spiritual sureness of endless bliss.” I am not entirely sure if how I interpreted this is the way the author intended for, but I understood this as your birth mother and God work together to create you and continue to stay with you throughout life in order to teach you life lessons. Your birth mother, here on Earth, created you as a physical human, and God assisted in making you an actual being. In this, He left part of himself, as I described previously, which is an explanation of how religion and tangible life come together.
Julian of Norwich gave rise to my thoughts on God and how He has an impact on so many people’s lives, even today.
Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Norwich.
I absolutly agree and love your first quote. The idea that everyone is the same bring the idea of unity and the idea that evryone has a piece of god shows a stronger connection between god and mankind. What does this mean for religion? Do we think that if god kept a piece of him in everyone then the people that are more religous have found that part within them. For the second quote I also interpreted it the same as you when I read it. You are put together for many reasons and all of your qualities are unique and diffrent then others. Religion crosses through todays world very easily and it is important for us to be aware of literature and the presence of God and roles of women.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis for this blog post was spot on! I also was heavily amazed of how the connection between Julian and God was thoroughly displayed in this text. The first quote you chose was actually one of the more prominent quotes in the early stages of the story because it dives right into how we have a part of God in us and but he also has a part of us in him. There are several quotes that show that connection and I feel as though you hit the jackpot by choosing that one in particular. In addition, the more amazing thing is how all these different quotes can be interpreted in several ways and it seems like you understood that when you said "I am not entirely sure if how I interpreted this is the way the author intended for." I as well had the same thought cross my mind when reading, but I feel as though that since the main theme of this reading is religion and religion in general can be interpreted in a variety of ways, that any sort of critical thinking and guess of what the author is trying to get across is valid for this specific kind of story! That whole mother and god sequence was most certainly an important part of the text and that is interesting you see it as the birth mother and God working together to keep the child alive and teach them lessons, that was certainly a unique approach you thought of. There is no denial that the connection between God and the mother is strong, so that is why I saw it as God resembling a second birth mother of some sort because he was described as having similar qualities as her. Lastly, your last sentence of your blog, although it was short in words, it provided a lot of meaning into your blog. You described how it made your thoughts on God rise and the massive impact he has had on the lives of numerous people in society and those were very similar to the certain aspects that I took away from the text. Awesome job!
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