The Myths around Death and Disease 

This week our group discussed the mythologies surrounding death and disease. The myth that came up a lot surrounded Greek Mythology and Zeus. Zeus was a powerful God in Greek mythology and he symbolizes power. One myth that was discussed in our group that I found particularly interesting was the  myth of the Greek God Asclepius ( https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Asklepios.html). Asclepius was trained in medicine and healing and tried to resurrect the dead. This angered the Greek God Zeus and he struck Asclepius dead. In many folklore and myths there is talk of resurrecting the dead, however in many beliefs that if it happens the resurrected dead come back with evil intentions. Personally, I feel that death is simply unavoidable and that is why there is much belief around a higher power and an afterlife. Once one has died, they may not be resurrected. Some religions have the belief in reincarnation, in which a soul enters a new life form on earth. In this belief the physical human body dies, but the soul lives forever. Some believe, souls are meant to be on earth to learn important life lessons, once the lessons are learned they may stay in the afterlife forever.

Another interesting myth that came up in our group was the myth of Pandora’s Box. In this myth Pandora was handed a box by Zeus in which all the evil of the world was stored. Zeus told Pandora to never open the box, however Pandora let curiosity get the best of her and so she opened the box. Once opened all the evils of the world were released, such as death and disease. Pandora quickly shut the box, however the only thing trapped in the box was hope. A quote by one of my peers in the discussion, I found inspiring and has a great impact. The quote is “life is not hopeless, but each of us is hopelessly human” (Wikipedia, 2020) That humans do indeed have hope in life, however we are susceptible to things such as death, disease, and greed due to the nature of human mortality.

Human life is a gift, and each religion has a belief in the good and bad of humanity as well as death and afterlife. In many religions, it is the belief that as humans we must strive to remain true to ourselves and remain good rather than evil. Goodness, love, and light leads to a peaceful and glorious afterlife, whereas evil, corruption and darkness lead to an afterlife filled with hate, pain, and suffering. The theme among most religious myths is death is unavoidable, to cherish life to live it to the fullest. The belief is a higher power is also common in many religions, as well as healing and suffering. Humanity is a glorious thing filled with good and bad, to lead us to the ultimate ending of death and an after life.

References:

Wikepedia. (2020). Pandora’s Box. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box#Difficulties_of_interpretation

Greek Mythology Encyclopedia. Asklepios. Retrieved from: https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Asklepios.html