Curiosity: And Its Twelve Rules for Life by Buckley F. H

Author:Buckley F. H. [H., Buckley F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: art, popular culture, Art & Politics, Biography & Autobiography, Adventurers & Explorers
ISBN: 9781641771849
Google: khSczQEACAAJ
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: 2021-11-15T23:36:44.616520+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DON’T OVERREACH

IF YOU’RE NOT HAPPY about the way things are, it wasn’t always so bad. Our first age was golden, wrote Ovid, and then we lived in peace and didn’t have to work. The earth gave us all the food we needed, and we feasted on rivers of milk and nectar. But that ended, and what succeeded were painful new ages, of silver and bronze, and finally a hard age of iron when all was wickedness, fraud, and covetousness. Piety lay prostrate, stepmothers poisoned their children, and the earth dripped with slaughter.

In Works and Days, Hesiod explained what had happened. It was a woman, Pandora, who did it. When Prometheus stole the fire from the gods to give it to man, Zeus was angered and vowed revenge. He ordered Hephaistos to fashion a woman, beautiful as a goddess, out of clay. Athena dressed her and taught her how to weave, Aphrodite gave her all her charms, and the Graces adorned her with golden necklaces. When they were finished, they named her Pandora, meaning “the gift of all things.”

Hermes brought her to the brother of Prometheus. With her came a jar, which Prometheus said must be kept closed. But, being curious, Pandora opened the lid, and all the evils of the world quickly flew out. She tried to close it, but it was too late, and they could not be recaptured. So if we must break our backs in labor and fall prey to disease, blame Pandora’s curiosity.

The point of the story, like that of Eve in the Bible, is that curiosity should sometimes be resisted, that knowledge isn’t always good for us. There are good and bad risks. Before indulging our curiosity, we need to look for warning signs that tell us to stay away. Don’t overreach, when this looks like presumption or hubris. And don’t be a voyeur and look at things you’re not supposed to see.

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