Gyges

Somehow I keep returning to a topic that has interested me for many years. That of the “link” between cause and effect; or, you reap what you sow; or, more colloquially, what goes around comes around.

This is more accurately stated in what is, I believe, a Spanish proverb, “Take what you want from life,” says God. “Take it, and pay.”

It is a common human failing for people, particularly those in high office, to assume that they can control events. But then we all like to imagine that we can, and have, control over our lives. This hubris is always, always, fraught and always, always, results in unforeseen consequences, good, bad or indifferent.

Because the “effects” are not always immediately apparent, this is something we tend to ignore, forget or consider of little importance.

What follows is an old tale, from ancient Greece, that is I think as relevant today as it ever was. 

In ancient Lydia (now part of Western Turkey facing the Aegean Sea across from Greece) about 3 000 years ago there was a king called Candaules. This king was greatly in love with his wife. In fact obsessively so – he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. 

Now Candaules had had a favourite bodyguard called Gyges with whom Candaules was in the habit of sharing is inner-most thoughts. Candaules suspected that Gyges, while having to agree with him, didn’t really believe what he said about his wife. So he proposed that Gyges hide himself in their bedroom so that he could see her naked and thereby affirm that the queen was, indeed, the most beautiful woman in the world. There would be moments when Gyges could slip away undetected.

Gyges was horrified at this proposal and feared for the consequences if the queen saw him. Candaules persisted with his plan and so it eventuated. The queen, however, did see Gyges as he slipped away but made no comment. She knew, immediately, that this was the work of her husband and determined to make him pay for the outrage and her humiliation of being seen naked by another man. 

The next day she called the unsuspecting Gyges and told him what she suspected and that someone had to pay for what he did. Her proposal was that either he, Gyges, would be killed there and then, or he was to kill Candaules, marry her, and so become king himself.

Dumbfounded by being found out and by the queen’s proposal Gyges decided to live and with the queen’s connivance, killed Candaules and so became king of Lydia.

The populace was stunned and outraged at such a violent change in leadership. They agreed, however to consult the Oracle of Delphi. If she agreed then Gyges would be king.

And so it was, with the warning prediction that retribution would be visited upon the fifth generation of Gyges’ descendants. Over the years this was forgotten. The prediction was however fulfilled when the fourth descendant was killed and the Lydians defeated, when they were attacked by the Persians under Cyrus the Great.

Hubris seems always to invite Nemesis, the Goddess of retribution and undeserved good fortune and who is implacable in her pursuit of tracking every wrong back to its doer. 

Whatever course of action is started must be completed, no matter how long it takes. 

“Take what you want from Life,” says God. “Take it, and pay”. 

Indeed!

Polarities and a gotcha moment!

Polarities – diametric opposites are part of our life, indeed part of our individuality. We need the knowledge and understanding that they give us – awake and asleep; light and dark; short and tall; left and right, up and down; love and hate; remembering and forgetting; then a big one – male and female; but the biggest of all polarities is life and death.

These polarities shape us because we cannot know the one without at least some knowledge of the other.

Because we (at least I don’t) know what life actually is – is it just the reaction of chemicals, or is it something that only quantum physics will reveal? – we need to be careful about how we treat or react to events in life.

We are unable to reach a position so removed from daily events to witness the interplay of the various threads (the warp and woof) that link all humans and in fact all life in one vast and unimaginably complex pattern. If we pull or cut one “thread” what effect will this have on our life, on the future or on the life of others? We can never know – all we can ever know is that there will most definitely be an effect. We don’t know what it is but it will certainly affect us in ways we cannot foresee. And we might not like the consequences!

The ancients called this Fate. Many legends warn us not to “play” with Fate. Playing with Fate was/is a human vanity and begets Hubris (the ancient Greeks used this term to describe a person’s attempt to equate themselves with the “Gods” who control events – not a good idea!). Now Hubris, as I have commented on before, seems to invite Nemesis (another ancient Greek term and name of the “Goddess” who is implacable in the pursuit of her cause, to track the effects of every action back to its doer). 

I came across a simple little (if bitter sweet) tale of the complexities of Life and our narrow minded, sometimes selfish, views on what we want and our imagined “control” of Fate and the events that influence our lives.

The tale goes something like this:

A young man is smitten with love for a girl. But it is an unrequited love – she does not reciprocate. However he cannot get her out of his mind.

Someone tells him that there is a “forgetting tree” – go to sleep in its shade and you will forget. The boy somehow finds this tree and goes to sleep in its shade. But when he wakes up he still remembers all about this girl.

He had forgotten how to forget!

Gotcha!!

Don’t try and outsmart Fate – or Life.