"And a Man sat alone, drenched deep in sadness. And all the animals drew near to him and said, "We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it." The Man said, "I want to have good sight." The vulture replied, "You shall have mine." The Man said, "I want to be strong." The jaguar said, "You shall be strong like me." Then the Man said, "I long to know the secrets of the earth." The serpent replied, "I will show them to you." And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals, "Now the Man knows much, he'll be able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid." The deer said, "The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop." But the owl replied, "No. I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give."
~ Apocalypto
6
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4 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I got away from such essentially pessimistic views of humanity and human nature when I left fundamentalist Christianity. I'm no Polyanna, but I don't think the human condition has anything to do with some awful, unfillable void. It has to do with our unique self-awareness of our own mortality -- our ability to conceptualize the story arc of our lives. That, and our hunger for "meaning" that often gets rather overdetermined. Mature people learn to manage this, even to make peace with it.
mordant
Level 8
June 10, 2019
0
Very moving. Similar to the Cree prophecy :-
When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted
, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money. ~ Cree prophecy
Moravian
Level 8
June 9, 2019
2
Sublime, and sad at the same time.
The question is: Why is there "a hole in the [human being], a deep like a hunger he will never fill..."?
COGITOERGOSUM
Level 6
June 9, 2019
0
i think it's the awareness of mortality.
The false "truth" programmed in to people from birth that things will make you happy, things make you better than other people and that things define your worth as a person.
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