PROMETHEUS BOUND OR MANKIND BOUND?

PROMETHEUS BOUND OR MANKIND BOUND?

Greek tragedy was one of my course papers both in graduation as well as post graduation. It was my favorite subject. Of all the tragedies the ones that touched me were Prometheus Bound and Oedipus Rex. Prometheus defies Zeus, the king of gods, steals fire and gives it to mankind. Zeus strikes him with his thunderbolt and plunges him into abyss where he is chained and tormented. The tragedy of Oedipus is that he fulfilled the prophecy of the oracles… he kills his father and marries his mother, unknowingly.

In ancient Greece gods acted capriciously, frivolously and even immorally. They were not like the god of Judeo Christian where god is all- knowing, all -seeing, all- powerful, someone who is a source of moral goodness. They fought amongst themselves, were jealous of mankind as well as of each other and sided with mankind against their own. Greek gods were hostile; they toyed with mankind and had to be appeased with rites and sacrifices. Their most distinctive quality was power and not goodness which they time and again exercised on mankind. These gods were everywhere and it was not safe for mankind to neglect any of them. Mankind was a pawn in their hands.

Oedipus is a classic example of this. The gods knew everything and they could have prevented this from happening to Oedipus but they don’t and in the process Oedipus and his family are destroyed after the truth is found out. That was the fate that the gods doomed Oedipus to. Prometheus on the other hand being a god knew what he was doing. He could not bear to have mankind toiling and suffering so he tried to help mankind and had to incur Zeus’s wrath. He also knew he would not be chained for eternity. Thirteen generations later he is freed by Hercules.

Mankind still suffers and toils and we still accept this as our fate. But do we blame god for all the pain and suffering? Most of us don’t. I think we have evolved in many ways to realize that we suffer because of the consequences of our action not only in this lifetime but also other lifetimes. We are merely paying off our negative karmic debts in this lifetime. But how often do we say “Why me God?” Is our god indifferent to our suffering and is he merely a spectator? Or have we brought it upon ourselves for there is something called free will. God can only show us the paths we can choose and the rest is up to us which course we take in this life. But sometimes we can’t help blaming god for all the hurt and pain that befalls us. We say “Why did this have to happen to me God, I didn’t hurt anyone?” We are so overwrought with pain that we need to blame someone and it is often god, who seems to us as an indifferent supreme head who just watches and does nothing. A more evolved person will disagree, he or she will take responsibility for all that happens and accept it as fate, as something that was fated. When someone is taken away from us before we think it is time we comfort ourselves saying it was time for him or her to go, no matter how young. Life seems so unfair and yet we have to accept all that comes our way. Why are we tested time and again? Do we finally taste the fruit of our undying faith in god at the end? How many of us are like that who believes there is a reason for all that happens? And how many cuss and curse god for their fate, believing they are like pawns in the hand of god?