The Gift of Uncertainty
Excerpt from the novel-in-progress We Met in Ithaca.
Prometheus, not Zeus, created man. And he gave man fire. And he gave man speech. And some think he gave man writing as well. He acted alone without consulting other gods and without permission from Zeus.
When Zeus learned what Prometheus had done, he was angered most by his last gift, the gift of certain knowledge about the future. “How could Prometheus be so reckless?” he asked Athena. “Unless I put a stop to this, he’ll be the downfall of all of us. Man will know what is certain and what is possible and will know how to turn possibilities into realities. That’s a level of knowledge that even we gods don’t have. I don’t know and don’t care how he did it. But he has to put an end to it now. Otherwise, man could challenge us for dominion over the world.”
Zeus didn’t want to punish Prometheus. He took no pleasure in inflicting pain. Rather, he wanted Prometheus to do away with man, or at least to cancel his gifts to man.
But Prometheus had anticipated this move. He let himself be tortured for a few centuries, with an eagle feeding on his liver. He could endure pain. And as he expected, his suffering convinced Zeus of his sincerity and improved his bargaining position.
Finally, he told Zeus he’d take back the gift of certain knowledge about the future, if man could keep his other gifts.
Zeus agreed, delighted to have gotten what mattered most to him. And Prometheus got what he wanted, for he knew that knowledge of the future would be a curse to man. Thanks to Prometheus, we can think the future is in our control and that we are responsible for it. And thanks to him, we don’t know when we will die, so we can act as if we might live forever. That uncertainty was Prometheus’ greatest gift to man.
