Saturday 21 June 2003

Pic of the day: Out of the dark of night - the gift of fire.

Prometheus!

You only wanted the best for them. Or so you told yourself. You saw them huddling in the cold, in the dark, through the long nights, not even knowing that there was another way. You saw them stumbling blindly without the light of fire, confined to the day. You saw them helpless without crafts and tools, dependent on the whims of gods. The gods provided, the gods let starve, and there was nothing to do about it except worship the gods. And anger started to smolder in your heart. For you were the spirit of fire, and the fire of spirit.

And one stormy night, you came down with a crack of lightning, stolen from Zeus. And you turned a dead tree to fire, and you showed men how to keep and gather fire, and the many uses it could be turned to. You then taught them to make their own sparks so they could always have the shining servant at hand. And you taught them how to smelt ores and forge metal into tools and weapons for hunting, and how to build a kiln to fire bricks so they could make stone from clay. And you taught them to take what they needed, and to banish the gods to the cracks between what we learned yesterday and what we will learn tomorrow. And they grew strong.

And the messenger of the gods came to you, and he led you to a high mountain. He said: "Behold! Men, who you have raised up – now watch their downfall." And you saw their fire rage, consuming homes and those that lived in them. And you saw their weapons turned against one another, butchering men like animals. And the gods chained you there, to the cliff in the high mountains, where you could watch them every day. And men's fire burned your heart and their weapons slashed your soul. How your foresight had failed you, the wisest of the celestial crowd! You had walked among fiery jewels on the mountain of the gods; now you were cast down and chained to a rock by the heaviness of your heart.

Must you always hurt those you try to help? Must the fire that burns so strongly in you, eternally torment those who accepted your gift?

And yet, there is the strangest solace: The gods themselves did not undo your work, did not take back your gift. Once a man has been free, his heart can not fully be enslaved. Once he has learned, he can not completely forget. You gave them a choice; and though they will forever curse you for it, they will wield the freedom you gave them.