21stcenturyphilosophy.in

	The male in his dual aspect is in one hand Prometheus, who inspired the mortals to win over the gods, and Orpheus, the musician of Heaven, on the other hand

	TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR:

	Email: anup.rej@c2i.net

Similar to the contradictions between the orphean and the promethean nature in the male character, which bring dynamics to the wheel of life and death, the females, whom he meets, appear in their dual aspects too: In one way she is the goddess of life and love and in other she is the killing-witch. She appears as the moon-goddess, who brings unsurpassable destiny along the path of the sun-heroes who are engaged in wars, and sailing over a tumultuous sea in search of immortality. This contradiction between the killing-forces and the life-forces, that lies behind all existence, which comes and goes, is another core idea of the book. In her destructive aspect, the female beauty is the seducer, who draws the heroes to the path of wars, deceptions, and treacheries. In this realm she is Pandora, whom the gods had sent to the mortal realm to punish the creatures of Prometheus. After decorating Pandora with all jewels, gods had sent her as a bride for the mortal hero. Prometheus was clever enough to refuse her hands. However, his brother Epimetheus could not hold the temptations of the wealth that the gods had sent as marriage gifts, and took Pandora as his bride. After the marriage, when Epimetheus opened the jar filled with gifts, hatred and spites flew out, which since then have been afflicting the world. Helen, the wife of Menelaus, who is the brother of Agamemnon, the Greek commander-in-chief of the war against Troy, is another aspect of the seductive Pandora. She had seduced the prince of Troy, who had taken her away to his Trojan home. This had led to war. In this aspect the beauty appears as the force flaming wars and deaths.

In contrast to the rebellious Prometheus, who led human beings to defy the Heaven, Orpheus was the Heavenly musician, whose music could enthral the living world as well as the world of the dead. When Orpheus played his lyre, the whole nature danced in joy, and even the fiercest animals in the forest could be tamed. After his beloved Eurydice died of serpent bite he went to the underworld to get her life back. With the power of his music he could enthral the queen of the dead and bring Eurydice back to life. But he could not keep the promise made to the queen of the dead that he won’t look back to check if Eurydice was following him or not from the underworld. Eurydice had to return to the underworld again. After the loss of the beloved, Orpheus drew himself in a meditative world. The women, who liked sense-bound ecstasies in dance and revel, and sought love of Orpheus, decapitated him at the end and scattered his flesh and blood in nature. Nature regenerated from the heavenly musician’s blood and flesh.

Being torn between these two contradictory urges of the mind, the universal journeyman wanders through different realms in search of love, beauty, meaning and home.

	The female beauty appears in life’s journey both as goddess of love and life and witch who brings death and destruction


	Sample Mp3 file: Orpheus brings back beauty from the world of the dead