Things Betwixt

[sdi]

For ah! what is there, of inferior birth,
That breathes or creeps upon the dust of earth,
What wretched creature of what wretched kind,
Than man more weak, calamitous, and blind?

(Zeus speaking. Homer, Iliad XVII, as translated by Alexander Pope.)

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In the meanwhile you will have two kinds of animals, Gods very much differing from men, in sublimity of place, in perpetuity of life, in perfection of nature, and having no proximate communication with them; since those supreme are separated from the lowest habitations by such an interval of altitude; and the life there is eternal and never-failing, but is here decaying and interrupted; and the natures there are elevated to beatitude, but those that are here are depressed to calamity. What then? Does nature connect itself by no bond, but leave itself separated into the divine and human part, and suffer itself to be interrupted, and as it were debile? [... No,] there are certain middle powers, [...] called by the Greek name dæmons.

(Apuleius, On the God of Socrates, as translated by Thomas Taylor.)

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Many occult schools seem teach that humanity is in the middle of the universe—that above us is happiness, below us is misery, and we are poised on the balance between them, partaking of both. I can't see that, at all, at all: it seems to me that, as Homer says, humans have only misery as their lot. Consequently, if the gods are happy, then it must fall to dæmons who partake of both natures.

Just as the highest dæmons are like gods, the highest humans are like dæmons. So, even if you attain—and blessed indeed are you who do!—the work does not end here, and the rewards is, perhaps, only a partial respite from your labors.

I am anxious for a respite, of course, but that mustn't be the reason why we strive.

Comments

[sdi]

Perhaps it would help if I mentioned that, due to various health crises, I've almost completely lost my senses of taste and smell? Food does, in fact, taste like dust :)

[thinking_turtle]

Sorry to hear that your health crises took away most of your sense of taste and smell. As I grow older, I feel my senses dull as well, although I've been spared a health crisis.

What keeps you from enjoying the senses that remain?

[sdi]

Physically speaking: severe pain, severe fatigue, severe mental fog, and severe allergies! For example, I'm unable to get outside at all during the summer months since the pollen and pesticides in the air are enough to trigger an autoimmune attack; but even if I could, I could hardly get around the house this last week, anyway. So there's just many layers of physical impediments to such things.

But more generally, it depends on what you mean by "enjoy." I spend what time and energy I'm able on my kids and on reading and things like that, but I think joy is more like a Muse than something one can attain by effort—it comes upon you and inspires you as it will. So I do what I can to allow for the opportunity, but opportunities are nonetheless few.

Nonetheless, if I could have chosen to trade my senses for wisdom, I would have gladly done so—it's hard to be too upset when the trade was made for me!

[thinking_turtle]

Thanks for your reply! I like your analogy of the Muse. For me, enjoyment often comes with effort, although not reliably so, and certainly not in a way I control.

The concept of "autoimmune" reminds me of modern medicine which nowadays frightens me.

[sdi]

Yes, my health problems are medically-caused.