Pandora's Box, or May Peace Be Upon You

In Greek mythology, there was once a woman called Pandora. In fact, as the story goes, she was the first woman to be created by the Gods. Pandora was given a jar by Zeus and told that she should not open it under any circumstances. The jar, unknown to Pandora, contained all the evils of this world – plagues, diseases, hatred, anger, jealousy, lust, arrogance, and so on - and also at the bottom was hope, the antidote to all those evils.

Now there are few temptations worth giving into guiltily that give more pleasure than farting on a leather sofa and perhaps, female curiosity. Well, Pandora too couldn’t help but give in to the temptation and opened the box to see what was inside. Thereupon, out flew all the evils. Pandora, seeing them flying out, panicked and closed the lid back. Hope, being heavier (duh!) was at the bottom and was hence the last in line to get out. When Pandora closed the lid back, she trapped hope inside and only a little bit of it could fly out.

Unbeknownst to Pandora, with that one act of opening the lid, she had unleashed upon the world evil and disease. Before that the world was a good place. And since of hope only a little could fly out before the lid was put back on, it would always stand feeble when put up against evil. And that is the Greek explanation for all the evil in the world!

Now it’s easy to blame a mythological woman for the evils that plague the world. But the point that this myth makes is that it shows that hope always stands feeble when faced against adversity. That anger, depression, all the other negative emotions can easily prevail without caution, whereas hope and the gentler feelings have to fight hard to remain alive. They have to keep fighting an endless losing battle even if they have been victorious for a while, because Pandora let only a small portion of hope out.

Even in ancient times, people were aware that good things were being overpowered by the not good. Pandora’s story is just an explanation but highlights the acceptance by the people of the fact the good is fleeting in nature and evil is prevalent. Whether Pandora is to blame for this or whether it’s the way life is, is what we may consider.

The world as we experience it and all its greatness and opportunities are transitory. Indeed, such is the design of this world that good is just like a firecracker, with the not good as the black background of the night it goes off against.

Happiness is pretty fleet-footed too. Can you stay happy for long? The first bite you taste when you’re hungry tastes the best, but thereafter you only eat to take your fill. The best of luxuries are gotten used to. People are started to be taken for granted. The joy that ten bucks brought to you as a kid cannot be compared to any of the thousands you spend now. Shopping becomes an addiction. Do-good becomes an occupation. The happiness of victory becomes a burden to repeat the victories to maintain your societal status. Memories of the time we experienced happiness start to bring tears to the eyes. Even beauty gets replaced by old age and wrinkles!

Think about it, even the coral reef are losing their color due to global warming. Population growth is crowding people into the most untouched parts of our Earth. And your city is not as beautiful as it was when you were small. Food is not as pure! Society is worse!

Happiness, it comes, gives you a glimpse of what it is and beauty it holds, and then disappears. You can laugh for hours, but you can’t be happy that long. When you’re happy, a high hits you and then it goes away. Leaving behind the afterglow, a neutral feeling, a memory of that happiness.

Love too is fleeting. You feel it for some time, and then it becomes routine. Peacefulness takes over that love and the high that it once gave you is gone. The visual atmosphere in which the birds chirped and red colored hearts floated around in space, becomes one of either calm and peace, or perpetual unrest. People may repeat the acts of love that once made their world shine, but it will never be the same.

On the other hand, the bad feelings, like anger, jealousy, depression, and so on, can retain their flavor for any length of time, and even grow stronger in aroma the more we practice their recipe.

To bring happiness to others is not the same as being happy yourself. To be ambitious and to keep seeking new adventures is not the same as being content and happy. Indeed, the chronic adventurer may be trying to plug a bigger gap in his soul than the rest of us. The good feelings, hope, happiness, love, are feeble when put up against time, no matter how much we fight to make them prevail…

And that is why, I think, we are told in the Quran that a peace awaits the believers in the Garden of Eden, that on Lailatul Qadr, there is peace till the morning. That is why I think Muslims are asked to greet each other with the Salaam “may peace be upon you”. Because it is only peace that we can wish for while we do our time on this Earth. It is the only non-negative feeling that can stay with us for long.

Allah bestows upon us some of the good things of this world, and causes us to experience happiness and love in them, so that we may realize what those feelings are. And He made them transitory so that the rich and the poor, the fortunate and the unfortunate alike may strive for Paradise, where the goodness would be permanent. While alive, we may hope that what we are left with after any happiness or love evaporates is peace. Wishing for anything else is futile. Peace, because is a neutral feeling. Above the negative ones. And there are no permanent positive ones in this life anyway.

May Peace be upon you too! J