Prometheus, The Fire In The Fog of Conscious Purgatory

To restrict himself, is to allow man a safety net. Albert Camus' main character in The Plague Bernard Rieux became so obsessed with writing the right sentence, that he did not move his manuscript forward for a year. By doing this, he was not accepting failure, but in a negative sense he was stopping himself from accepting victory, he was just accepting mediocrity. This is prevalent in modern society. As mentioned in my previous essay on conscious purgatory, children in schools are often told that they are destined for success but instead often end up living average lives. This is one of many reasons that the average person lives in conscious purgatory today, if my last essay seeked to propose the question of. “What is conscious purgatory?” This essay argues that modern society conditions the individual to fear failure so much that they cling to comfort and certainty. Trapping them in what I call “conscious purgatory”. A state of suspended ambition, dulled lives and spiritual limbo. Through the lens of IQ tests and diagnostic labels, I will explore how external circumstances reinforce this passivity and why like Prometheus, humanity must reclaim its willingness to suffer in pursuit of true freedom. To conclude this intro, the same way “The False Lives We Live” was concluded. If we do not choose to take risks again, then we may as well never live at all. 

conscious purgatory, although a concept that anyone in our inclusive capitalist society has surely felt, is quite a personal one to me. Because of this, as in my prior essay there will be personal stories to explain my findings. In one of my last years of high school before university, I had a teacher. This teacher clearly did not care much for the curriculum that the government provided and instead spent his time entertaining us with his life stories instead. One story he told has forever stayed in my mind. He began by listing all his achievements, once he finished this he stated the fact that the coming weekend he was going to take an I.Q test. Naturally we all wished him luck and said we hoped that he achieved a high score. He laughed and said, “I hope I have an I.Q of 80 or else I have wasted my life away.” Although a witty remark, there is something philosophically deeper to it. As humans we often put our lives in the hands of numbers. Now, of course I.Q is a useful tool to measure one's intelligence but why do we take it? The I.Q test is administered in early childhood. The reasoning behind this is to find outliers, children who are more intelligent than others and children that are less intelligent. In a capitalist society this is a useful practice, it gives the capitalist early access to see who is more suited for work, but it is flawed. When you test a kid so young, you decide his fate for him. There is something in our present society known as “gifted kid burnout”. To use Nikki Farnham's definition of gifted burnout. “Plainly put, it refers to students who were placed in advanced-level classes early in their educational careers, only to discover that they can’t maintain the same degree of academic excellence as they get older” (Farnham, 2023). By telling a kid how intelligent he is, you are forcing an expectation of him, instead of allowing him fate, you are forcing him to have a destiny. He must achieve what you expect of him, or else he is not living up to your expectations. This puts the child in a sorry position, where he loses his personal identity and seeps into conscious purgatory, rather throwing himself at achieving what people expect of him, or losing his identity.

Now to look at the other side of the spectrum, it is quite uncommon for someone to be told that they have low I.Q but is extremely common to tell a kid that he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. ADHD is something that has impacted my generation more than any other. Now there are some positives that ADHD is more commonly diagnosed such as reduced stigma, more resources and letting a child understand himself better. However, it seems that ADHD is overdiagnosed in my generation. According to Luise Kazada. “ADHD is overdiagnosed in children and adolescents. For individuals with milder symptoms in particular, the harms associated with an ADHD diagnosis may often outweigh the benefits” (Kazada, 2021). Now, as stated early there are great things that a diagnosis can provide, but as well many harm, Kazada points this out in her finding “First, in 22 studies, a biomedical view of difficulties was shown to be associated with disempowerment. By providing an excuse for problems, a decrease in responsibility by all involved can occur” (Kazada, 2021). I would like to explore that point. Many people have told me like many boys from my generation that I have ADHD. Being frank, there is a strong chance I have it. I fit all medical standards to have it, yet my mom for my entire life refused to be diagnosed as she did not want me to be “labelled”, as a kid I yearned for the label. The label would provide the comfort of conscious purgatory, it is the opposite side of the spectrum of the gifted kid. Let alone, a kid with ADHD is not expected to be intelligent, he is actually expected to be delayed due to a lack of interest or lack of focus. This is a dangerous precedent to set, especially if we are diagnosing kids with mild ADHD. This diagnostic is not helpful, instead it is giving the child the ability to have an excuse for anything that he does not want to do. A person, especially a young kid, must experience uncomfort, to grow. You learn through mistakes, if we give kids the excuse to not make these mistakes by always allowing them to escape them, then we are doing them more harm than good. Rather through praise or pettiness by telling a kid that he is a genius or telling him that he is just not suited for a higher standard, our society has allowed us the path of conscious purgatory since youth. We are rather labelled and through our label thrown into conscious purgatory as we will never be anything more, or told that we are a genesis and overwork ourselves until we fall into conscious purgatory to be able to live.

Prometheus, is the patron saint of rejecting conscious purgatory. According to an Ancient Greek myth humans were not afforded fire by the Gods, as Zeus decided to keep it for himself. To give humans fire would be to allow them too much power. Here we can see the actor and other dynamics at play yet again with Zeus being the actor. According to the ancient poet Hesoid, Prometheus played a trick on Zeus. Humans were to have a sacrificial meal, marking the settling of accounts between mortals and immortals. “Because Prometheus matched wits with mighty Cronion. That happened when the gods and mortal men were negotiating At Mecone. Prometheus cheerfully butchered a great ox And served it up, trying to befuddle Zeus’ wits” (Hesoid, 535). Prometheus' trick begins with him butchering an Ox, the trick continues “For Zeus he set out flesh and innards rich with fat Laid out on the oxhide and covered with its paunch. But for the others he set out the animal’s white bones

Artfully dressed out and covered with shining fat” (Hesiod, 540). The trick was that he set out the animal's white bones and covered it with shining fat, something that is appealing on the outside and gross on the inside. Then he did the opposite, he set the delicious beef inside paunch, which is the animal's stomach, something that is delicious on the inside and disgusting on the outside. He presented the two sacrifices to Zeus on the behalf of humans. Zeus fell for the trick “ But Zeus, eternally wise, Recognized the fraud and began to rumble in his heart Trouble for mortals, and it would be fulfilled. With both his hands he picked up the gleaming fat. Anger seethed in his lungs and bile rose to his heart When he saw the ox’s white bones artfully tricked out” (Hesiod, 555). Zeus was not pleased with this trick. “Thus Zeus, angry, whose wisdom never wears out. From then on he always remembered this trick

And wouldn’t give the power of weariless fire To the ashwood mortals who live on the earth (Hesiod, 565).  Prometheus had already escaped conscious purgatory, anyone who has the ability, confidence and acceptance of fate, to challenge Zeus has taken down their safety net. Prometheus did not believe in destiny by pulling this trick, he had no idea which one Zeus was going to pick, instead he had accepted his fate. By accepting the fact that Zeus was bound to pick one, instead of having the predetermined belief of which one, he had taken the choice that the 21st century western man is too afraid to take. To accept victory by accepting the chance of failure.

Prometheus was not done with his defence of humanity. Zeus had stripped humanity of fire, Prometheus the son of Iapetos had one last trick. “But that fine son of Iapetos outwitted him And stole the far-seen gleam of weariless fire In a hollow fennel stalk, and so bit deeply the heart Of Zeus, the high lord of thunder, who was angry When he saw the distant gleam of fire among men, And straight off he gave them trouble to pay for the fire” (Hesiod, 565-570). Prometheus ran up Mount Olympus and stole the fire back to humanity, from Zeus by doing this act, he had not accepted his fate. When kids are told that they are gifted or hyperactive their fire is stolen from them. Like Zeus, an adult is telling them what they are allowed to possess, sending them to conscious purgatory, Prometheus is the destroyer of conscious purgatory because he simply refuses it and instead looks for another way to achieve his goals.

 Now, Prometheus was to be punished by Zeus “Prometheus with ineluctable fetters, Painful bonds, and drove a shaft through his middle, And set a long-winged eagle on him that kept gnawing His undying liver, but whatever the long-winged bird and the whole night through, would grow back by night” (Hesiod, 525). This is the thing that the 21st century western man must learn to accept, not some label that he is given, we must learn from Prometheus that the fire can be won back, but we must learn to accept the cause. Prometheus, was sentenced to a horrible torture, but this by no means was not expected by him, he knew he was going against Zeus. Yet his need for freedom, need for dignity triumphs the risks associated with his task. Oftentimes, we are faced with great opportunities but hold ourselves back because of the risks associated with them, therefore sentencing ourselves to conscious purgatory. We must reject our fears and instead be like Premetheus. 

To end the story Hesiod informs us that “That bird, the mighty son of pretty-ankled Alcmene, Heracles, killed, drove off the evil affliction From Iapetos’ son and freed him from his misery” (Hesiod, 530).  The son of Iapetos accepted the danger that accompanied his victory, we must learn to accept this danger. If we are not as smart as our gifted diagnoses may have told us, we must not fall into the trap of conscious purgatory, and instead accept that we are not defined by numbers and continue to be the best versions of our humanity. If we are labelled with ADHD or any label that western society throws at us we must understand that there might be subtle differences but that this does not form our humanity, instead like Prometheus shows us, we form it. Prometheus is the fire in the fog for the 21st century man, meanwhile we keep ourselves in this fog like state of conscious purgatory to avoid discomfort, we must accept the sacrifices required of us to return to the fire that has shaped humanity so far. Humanity has not only been built off the backs of victors but also on the consciousness of failures like Prometheus, we must learn to fail again. To escape conscious purgatory is not easy, but one of the first steps is to start forming yourself, instead of allowing others to form you.  Whenever we allow our to boss to form us, or to allow our children to be diagnosed with adhd, or with a high I.Q we unknowingly play into the hands of the conscious purgatory, the 21st century man must reject these notions and instead play into the hands of his own liberty. 

References

Hesiod, H. (2018). The Theogony. Wilder Publications, Incorporated.

https://georgetownvoice.com/2023/03/22/gifted-kid-burnout-is-very-real/. (2023, 22 March). The Georgetown Voice. https://georgetownvoice.com/2023/03/22/gifted-kid-burnout-is-very-real/

Kazda, L. (2021, 21 April). Overdiagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents. Jama Network. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2778451