e pluribus, unum

Latin for “Out of many, one” was chosen as the title for our “About Us” section as it explains that out of many group members, we are individuals. We can work together on a common goal, the ISU, but ultimately it is our individuality and our own ideas that we brought to the group that made the project what it is. This section is to highlight each one of the Acolytes of Prometheus. Enjoy!

E Pluribus, Unum.

Click on their picture to look at their portfolio.

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213204

Ayomide Badejoh

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213233

Jacob Costa

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213195

Talon De Freitas

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213234

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213210

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213214

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST2020012213222

Alexander

Dela Cruz

Domenico

Didiano

Jimmy

Huynh

Connor

Waite

ACOLYTES OF PROMETHEUS

Ac·o·lyte: an assistant or follower.

Pro·me·the·us: from Greek mythology a titan credited with creating humanity. Also known for his creation of art and science.

We as a group fell in love with the Greek myths surrounding Prometheus.

There was a great war over whom should own the universe fought between the titans of Mount Othrys and Olympians of Mount Olympia, where the Olympians led by Zeus won. During the war Prometheus, a titan, betrayed his people to side with the Olympians and once they were victorious Prometheus was gifted with creating man. He created them in the image of the Olympians but Zeus was set on them being lesser beings who could only worship and depend on the Olympians. Zeus later got angry with Prometheus and took out this anger on the creation Prometheus loved the most, humanity, by taking away their fire. Prometheus then stole fire away from one of the Olympians and returned it to the humans, through fire they were able to create weapons, build societies and cement themselves as the head of the pecking order / food chain. Zeus found out about this and hung him to a mountain where he would have his liver eaten by a crow for eternity, but Prometheus never regretted his actions.

We named ourselves acolytes of Prometheus because we hope to be just that, followers of his ways. We are attempting to use the knowledge gained in this English class to enrich humanity albeit not on as grand a scale as Prometheus. We hope that people can come to our blog and hear about some great stories through fun and interactive ways. We want to introduce them to works that were in a way taken away from them like fire was from humans, to dispel the stigma around books like Waiting for Godot or The Great Gatsby. By inspiring people to read works like these we are furthering mankind by creating a new generation of critical thinkers, just as Prometheus would have wanted.

Plato's Cave

There lives an age-old story known as “ the allegory of the cave”. It tells the story of three prisoners chained in a cave from birth and forced to stare at only one wall of the cave. People walk through the cave on a pathway behind the prisoners, sometimes carrying objects, and as they pass by, their shadow is projected onto the wall the prisoners are starring at. The prisoners have known only the shadows and noises caused by the passersby. To them, this is “reality”. One day, one of the prisoners is set free and leaves the cave. He is shocked by what he finds outside and is taken back by the fact that everything he has ever known was a lie; or an incomplete/ poor representation of what is. The prisoner returns to the cave to tell his friends what life is like beyond the cave. His friends think he has become stupid after leaving the cave and violently oppose their friend’s attempt to free them and teach them.

Plato, the Greek philosopher, introduces this allegory some 2400 years ago to explain what it is like to teach the masses as a philosopher. As arrogant as one may thinks he sounds, seeing things from his perspective is not too difficult. I am sure we know of people who are not only content with their ignorance but also belligerent to the thought of changing. Plato wanted to highlight the effect of education and a lack of one has on the population. Many of us live in the darkness and few dares to venture out into the light. Those who try to discover the true nature of the world are ridiculed and outcast for their unorthodox and “harmful” ideas. Socrates, Plato’s teacher, was put to death by the Athenian government for this exact reason. Galileo, Darwin, and Socrates are some prominent examples of intellectuals/ visionaries that were being shut down by the uneducated masses. The allegory shows the danger an uneducated populous poses and the hardships intelligent people face.

The Allegory of the Cave also forces us to think hard about what we know. How do we know that everything we know isn’t some illusion? There could be (there is) so much we are unaware of or just don’t know about the universe. It is impossible for us to know what we don’t know. After knowing this, can we ever be confident in what we think we know? We may never know. But what is important is that we first recognize that we are in a cave and then stumble towards the light. This is the goal of humanity. Stumbling towards the light outside the cave is what enabled humanity to get out of the mud. Working on this ISU and being in the ENG 4P class has led us to recognize we were shrouded in darkness. We now hope to continue to reach the cave’s mouth even at the cost of being deemed crazy. Knowledge and Truth are worthy enough to sacrifice the bliss of ignorance.