Recently a friend related a tragic story to me: an acquaintance had been struck dead while in the act of teaching in Africa. "What does that mean?" she asked me, I suppose rhetorically.

To a steely materialist like myself, one answer is that this event has no meaning. As human animals, we are so skilled at determining intent that we often seek it where it does not exist. And while this explanation has the advantage of being true, as a method of consolation it is clearly lacking. Using another definition of the word, indeed we can find meaning in our lives and our deaths without resorting to solipsism or sacrificing our rationality.

I have always found the story of Prometheus to be more attractive and encouraging than the creation myths with which I was raised. As a motif for contemplating our deepest questions, is it not more uplifting to consider that humans have stolen something of the divine than it is to suppose that we are created sick, only to be commanded to be sound?

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Unlike that of his serpentine counterpart, the Prometheus' gift of knowledge is not an underhanded one. It is precious and won at great cost. This is where I find encouragement in a world that can punish the innocent and bless the wicked with longevity. This is how my sober senses are consoled in the face of a tragedy like this one: knowledge is a pursuit worthy of sacrifice, and a death suffered teaching others is not in vain.

P. B. Shelley, the author of Prometheus Unbound, understood that there is no cause for despair, writing, "[f]or my part I had rather be damned with Plato and Lord Bacon than go to Heaven with Paley and Malthus." Would we trade our knowledge for blissful ignorance, or choose nonexistence over the suffering in our lives? Mercury poses this question directly to Prometheus and his answer is a proud one.

Mercury.
If thou might'st dwell among the Gods the while Lapped in voluptuous joy?

Prometheus.
I would not quit
This bleak ravine, these unrepentant pains.
...
Pity the self-despising slaves of Heaven,
Not me, within whose mind sits peace serene
...
I laugh your power, and his who sent you here,
To lowest scorn. Pour forth the cup of pain.

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I am the eye and mind through which the universe understands itself, and of all of the endeavors of man and woman-kind, this is the noblest. Personified in the Hellenic gods, nature is physically beautiful, yet capricious, cruel, and amoral. But the fire of the gods is ours to wield—whatsoever spirit exists, whatsoever motives there are that are beautiful and true and divine are to be found within us.

Many thanks to triplemilled for the inspiration.

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