Pandora

"Pandora had been given a large jar and instruction by Zeus to keep it closed, but she had also been given the gift of curiosity, and ultimately opened it. When she opened it, all of the evils, ills, diseases, and burdensome labor that mankind had not known previously, escaped from the jar, but it is said, that at the very bottom of her box, there lay hope." Wikipedia, 14/12/09, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box)

When I was younger I had curiousity enough to go searching through my sister's room while she was away overseas and find amongst other treasures her Tarot cards with a book with about 26 tales of Greek mythology. Of all of the stories I read none touched me more than the story of Pandora. Although my recollection of the tale differs from Wikipedia because inside the alternate Pandora's Jar was hundreds of wasps. The wasps stung all of the humans alive at that time infecting them with burdens such as: old age, impotency, cancer, heart disease, plague, disease, greed, envy lust and all of the physical and spiritual ailments we know of today. In my version she closed the jar before the last wasp could escape, this wasp was to kill off hope.

Why would Zeus do such a thing to humanity?

Because Zeus was jealous and scared of humanity. We were too clever, too wise, too powerful. Zeus foresaw a day when the human race might one day ascend Mount Olympus and drive the gods out of the world. But if he merely slaughtered the human race outright in their infancy his weakness of character would be apparent to all. So instead he gave the jar to Pandora with all of these evils and told her not to open it. Knowing that human curiousity would drive her to open it and thus Zeus could claim that he was innocent and did not intend to cause the extermination of humankind but rather that they had brought it upon themselves through their curiousity.

However, the moral of this story was that Pandora had closed that jar just in time to prevent the loss of hope. In effect the human race had just had their development pushed back thousands of years as the things they had taken for granted were now taken away from them. Yet, despite all of the harm Zeus had inflicted, because the human race still had hope they would one day cure all of the ailments and burdens unleashed onto them and scale Mount Olympus to take their rightful place as guardians of the world.

Now, it might seem very odd that a scientist, such as myself, finds this story to be the source of so much of my inspiration in life. I mean, the idea the wasps could infect people with genetic diseases and limitations isn't very good medicine much less science. But the idea that all of the diseases and hardships in our lives actually serve a purpose. The idea that overcoming obstables, curing diseases and healing our psychological wounds is actually a divine act of human nature is what fascinates me. Invention, science and philosophy are human beings expressing what comes naturally to them. Even it is as simple as fixing a shelf in the bathroom with a few nails and a bit of timber this simple act is for me human divinity in action.

Further more, as an atheist I'm firmly of the opinion the gods are merely ideas in the minds of human beings and therefore the gods in this story symbolise our self-doubt, our self-denial and our self-contempt. They sit there on Mount Olympus or in heaven laughing and mocking at our pathetic struggles in a difficult, cruel and dangerous universe. But as assuredly as we crossed the oceans, built cities, mastered electricity, took to the skies and then to outer space... we are conquering our limitations and one by one putting those wasps back into the jar.

For me, working as a scientist trying to understand disease processes and develop cures, this is what inspires me. I do not believe there is any pride to be found in submitting to a god, only in being better than a god. See, the gods were born into glory, but we must rise to glory through blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice. Unlike the gods, we will deserve our glory.

Now, really, the whole point of this post wasn't to convert you all into followers of a new Pandoran philosophy. Rather to point out how literature can change and affect our lives. Different people need to different stories to inspire them but in the end, unless you don't have feelings, literature is a excellent source of wisdom, inspiration and finding meaning in this often difficult and troubling life. You don't even need to believe it is literally true. The heart is flexible when it comes to the truth, although I don't think your mind should be so flexible.

It isn't just atheists who seek solace and meaning through reading literature and then reliving in ones imagination and/or life. Millions of theists, deists and polytheists do too.