Pandora's Box

Author's Notes

The brief myth of Pandora's Box holds its importance and influence in the legacy of human literature for being a narrative that in few words synthesizes in a simple and ephemeral manner that which all the main Religions, both Eastern and Western, seek to teach.

It is a story born in the collective unconscious of Ancient Greece, a civilization that overflowed with knowledge and ideas that taught all other peoples and ethnicities of the world the excellence and importance of Democracy, Justice, Philosophy, Art and Sports.

The mythological nature of the narrative presents to the reader Gods, Elements, Giants and Perfect Places that relate directly with the human psyche and converse with the vast spectrum of archetypes that live in the mind of each and every reader.

My version, inspired by Thomas Bulfinch's mythological collection, seeks to filter the most essential of the inspiring lesson that, together with all the secrets of the universe, dwells in the mysterious depths of Pandora's Box. It now falls to the dear reader to cultivate the curiosity to open their own box and learn what awaits them.

Pandora's Box

Before anything existed, all things inhabited the same place and had the same appearance, a substance of liquid and unstable form called Chaos that guarded within itself the seeds of everything that was necessary to create life.

In collaboration with some of the Gods of Olympus, Zeus decided one day to liberate Chaos, extracting from within it all the ingredients that were necessary to create Gaia, Mother Nature. With divine effort, air was separated from water, earth from wind, and good from evil. Thus liberating the elements that would come to shape the planet as we know it today. There emerged the plains, canyons, mountains, glaciers, mountain ranges, waterfalls, islands, rivers, volcanoes and the ocean that promptly were inhabited by plant life, fertile soils, trees, forests, flowers, fruits and plants.

Then, at Zeus's command, Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus, titans who inhabited the earth before the creation of man, descended to Earth and were designated to complete the mission of creating the most perfect of places. Soon the Sun and Moon emerged, the air cleared, the fruits ripened and the stars began to appear. Prometheus, with his toolbox, initiated the creation of animals, giving them the attributes necessary to survive, such as claws, gills, fur and fangs.

The fish took possession of the sea, the birds claimed the air and the four-legged beasts dominated the earth, but an even nobler animal was desired, so using clay and molding it with water, Prometheus made man in the image of the Gods, giving him an upright posture, so that while the other animals turned their faces downward looking at the earth, man could raise his face to the heavens and behold the stars.

At that moment, it was perceived that no attribute remained in the toolbox for all had been used on the other animals. From his pocket, Epimetheus drew a bag that held the virtues, thus beginning to distribute to man gifts such as love, honor, faith, bravery, strength, wisdom, knowledge, language and loyalty. Prometheus, determined to complete that mission, decided to ascend to Olympus and with the help of Minerva, Goddess of Arts and Wisdom and without the permission of the other Gods, lit his torch in the sun's chariot, bringing to man the gift of Fire. Giving him the possibility to create weapons to protect himself against beasts, the tools to cultivate the earth and the brushes to create art, minting coins and commerce.

Zeus, furious with Prometheus for stealing the fire from the heavens, decided to call the Gods again to create Woman with the objective of punishing the titan brothers for the presumption of stealing fire from the sky; and mankind for having accepted the gift. The first woman was called Pandora. She was made in the heavens, and each god contributed something to perfect her. Aphrodite gave her fertility, Venus gave her beauty, Artemis gave her intuition, Apollo gave her music, Gaia gave her motherhood and Athena gave her intelligence. Thus equipped she was brought to earth where she met Epimetheus, who joyfully welcomed her.

After meeting Pandora, Epimetheus received her into his home and began to grow familiar with her presence, being the first woman to inhabit the earth, Pandora was different from everything he had seen, what most caught his attention was her delicacy, the care she took with things and with herself, her dedication to always being beautiful, smelling of floral fragrances and having on her skin the softness of a rose petal. Time passed and when Epimetheus was away, finishing the creation, Pandora would appreciate nature, paint, sculpt and care for the animals and plants, nourishing them and giving them affection.

Epimetheus had in his home a box in which he kept certain powerful articles, things that he had not yet used in the process of preparing man for his new dwelling. Epimetheus had always made it clear to Pandora that the box contained very important things for the creation of the universe and that she could not open it under any circumstances without his presence, but on a certain day, Pandora was seized by an impatient curiosity to discover what was finally the content of that box.

Epimetheus was far away and Pandora had already completed her daily activities, seized by boredom she concluded that a quick peek would do no harm to anyone. She opened the lid to see what was inside but was immediately thrown backward as there escaped from the box myriad plagues upon men, such as anxiety, fever, rheumatism, smallpox and colic for women, other things also escaped in the blink of an eye, such as war, lies, violence, envy, adultery, revenge, misery, evil, rage, disease, hunger, poverty and death. Everything that could be worse on earth found in that moment the path to freedom and spread far and wide.

Pandora, very worried, hurried to get up and put the lid back on the box, but unfortunately the entire contents had already escaped and the box seemed empty, but approaching to close it, she perceived that something remained there inside, shining like the light of the Sun deep in the box. Immediately Pandora was seized by the feeling of the purest joy and comfort as a tear rolled down her face, for she realized that what had remained was the only thing necessary for an uncertain and frightening future.

Hope.