No matter how deep, no matter how true and profound, everything we can talk about is a story, an approximation using words and concepts. Let me tell you a very old story that is part of your cultural legacy even if you have never heard it before.

Once upon a time there was a king. He was young, strong and handsome, and a royal pain for his subjects. If he saw something he liked, he took it. When the king wanted to amuse himself with sex and violence, they were available to him, up close and personal, in real time. So the gods decided to distract him and give his subjects some peace. They created a friend for him and the king and his friend left the city together to pursue heroic adventures. But after a few of these adventures, the king caught the eye of the goddess of love. The king turned down her sexual advances because she was known to be brutal with her lovers when she tired of them. She sent down a divine bull to punish him. The king and his friend killed the bull. The gods weren’t going to let that happen without setting the record straight, so they executed the king’s friend. The king couldn’t fathom the death of his friend. Killing monsters and wreaking havoc on his kingdom was one thing, but the death of his friend? And the very idea of his own death! That was not in any way acceptable. It just couldn’t be. He couldn’t abide the thought of it. So after a long journey he found the plant that would give him immortality, but a snake took it while he was swimming (I suppose there is an immortal snake somewhere). Continue reading →