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We live in a complicated world, but has it ever been any different in the past? The course of history is an expression of human nature, marked by greed, arrogance and brutality, along with compassion, heroism, and empathy. Author AK Patch is here to tell you in three part series about three timeless lessons from the ancient world to guide you through our lives today.
Why are their examples important to us?
Ancient people thought deeply about nature, their relationship to it, and each other. Maybe expressed in terms of religion, philosophy, or mythology, we see ourselves in their experiences. So what has changed. Not much, so their truths are ours. We are more familiar with the lessons and mythology of the Greek ancient world, so bring forward examples from that time.
What is the first lesson in the series
Be confident, but overbearing arrogance can come back to bite you.
.The ancient Greeks believed that the Olympian gods did not approve of overbearing arrogance or pride. They called that hubris. After all, you are mortal. You are not a god, and thus must realize that while you have great promise, you also have limitations. This makes sense today also.
The tiny Greek city-states were dwarfed by the man-god empires of the east like Egypt and Persia, and threatened especially by mighty Persia. Absolute power in the hands of one man would offend the gods and bring about his downfall. As so it happened with Persia when Greek intellect and valor managed to defeat the Persian Empire and preserve much of what became our art, philosophy, government and science.
How about an example from mythology?
Remember these stories reveal all facets of human nature- including heroism and folly.
Odysseus is the sea-faring hero of the Odyssey, considered one of the great works of literature in history. He fights ten years at Troy, but then wanders ten years getting home. He has a number of misadventures trying to return to his wife, Penelope and their son.
He made a mistake of great arrogance that offended the God of the Sea, Poseidon. When trapped in the Cyclops cave, he told the single-eyed monster that his name was No Man. After he put out the Cyclops with a hot stake, he escaped from the cave with the remainder of his men. Blinded and enraged, the cyclops tries to kill them by throwing an enormous rock onto their ship but misses.
Odysseus makes the mistake of Hubris. He boasts that his name isn’t No Man, but Odysseus. Cyclops prays to his father, the God Poseidon to curse Odysseus and his ship. And it all goes to the bottom of the sea. He loses his ship and crew until he gets home.
What’s our takeaway for our lives today?
Look for people who are confident, and those with overbearing arrogance. It’s best to have a portion of humility. See if those with too much hubris suffer the fate of Odysseus and his crew? At some point, hubris is likely to backfire.
So be humble, or the gods will smack you with the giant fly-swatter and bring you back down to earthly status. Simply use your gifts for the betterment of all, and you will succeed.
History has an unending string of compelling stories- they inspired me to write an time travel adventure that involves the past, present, and future. BOOK ONE -PASSAGE AT DELPHI- BEGINS THE SERIES. It’s about a professor couple who go thru Hell to survive in the ancient world and struggle to return home. They don’t understand they’ve drafted to help save the future of the United States. IN BOOK TWO, they begin to understand what disaster they might face in our time and they become volunteers rather than draftees.
In BOOK Three of my Series JOURNEY FROM DELPHI- The whole plot orchestrated from within, and from foreign shores, explodes. it. It’s an exciting, gritty, and entertaining story. Who will be willing to fight, and who will survive?
Go to Amazon today and begin the series. Summer is time. Time to pull a good book and get lost in the adventure.
START on Amazon with PASSAGE AT DELPHI!!!!