Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
January 22, 2021
The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Story of Humanity’s Failures and Successes
We are both human and divine; we are humans striving to become divine. Like Gilgamesh, daily we set out to realize our divinity. The story of Gilgamesh offers us several lessons on how we can achieve this divinity.
For reasons still unknown then, the story of Gilgamesh has fascinated me ever since I laid my hands on it. So rich and powerful is the epic that I felt its intense gravitational force pulling me into it, as if to coax me into believing that we are really part of the story and that we are the Gilgamesh and the rest of the supporting characters of the legendary account.
It is as if the Epic of Gilgamesh is laid down on a cosmic stage to convey to us the saga of the entire humanity. It tells us who we are in the entire cosmic landscape, why we are here, and what our destiny is. But what holds me back from reading it any further at first was the knowledge that Gilgamesh was just one of the legends of the ancient past whose veracity cannot still be ascertained.
I felt that it would just be too presumptuous and fanciful for me to entertain it so seriously. After all, the story was told thousands of years ago and merely retold to us many times by the storytellers who embellished its content to keep it alive and burning from one generation to another. There is no way to verify its accuracy and authenticity. Until now, doubts persist whether such a story, much less its main character Gilgamesh, existed at all.
The Epic of Gilgamesh may not be true at all since their accounts could not be proven scientifically either through anthropological explorations of fossil remains or artifacts that date back during those times. But, on further reflection, I realized that this is also the same about the story of the origin of the Cosmos, our Solar System, and the appearance of humanity as narrated in the Enuma Elish thousands of years ago.
And so are the stories told in the Old Testament: the turning of Moses’s rod into a snake, the changing of water into blood, the parting of the seas to give way to the fleeing Israelites, the consequent drowning and retreat of Pharaoh’s surviving soldiers, the manna that fell from heaven for forty days, the Ark of the Covenant, the burning bush, the appearance of Yahweh whose brilliance transformed the countenance of Moses, the chariots of fire that took Elijah to the skies above, and the many other baffling events narrated in this ancient script. Did they really happen?
Even the New Testament speaks of the parables or legends told or done by Jesus Himself: the Sower of the seeds, the five foolish virgins, the three brothers who were given five talents each, the prodigal son, the Sower and the seeds, the case of Peter walking on the water, the calming down of the tempest, the multiplication of the five loaves of bread to feed a multitude of people, the restoration of the sight of the blind, making the deaf talk and the lame walk, the resurrection of Lazarus who has been dead for three days, and the so many other tales.
All this was told to us, and nobody dares even to investigate whether they really happened or not. The same can be said in the case of the story narrated in the Hindu sacred scripture about Arjuna who at first refused to participate in a bloody war against his brothers. These stories are, by the standards of modern science, simply myths, legends, or parables.
Coincidentally or not, the fact that the story of Gilgamesh was handed down from generation to generation in the form of 12 clay tablets, the same number of duration that the creation stories of Enuma Elish narrates, indicates that the Epic of Gilgamesh stands on equal footing as the creation stories of ancient Sumeria and the Bible and should thus be given the same respect and recognition insofar as conveying a message is concerned.
Whether they really happened or not, no longer matters because of the significance and meaning that their messages convey to us as individual human beings and as a collective species. The Epic of Gilgamesh has something to communicate to us today. And this is all that matters—the lessons that we can learn from its story. It is this conviction that I delved for days on reflecting the story of Gilgamesh and its relevance to our life and existence.
We are the Gilgamesh or the characters portrayed in the epic. The conditions during the last three years (2020-2022) have changed drastically, making us even worse than what Gilgamesh had passed through in his life. We are thrown into a situation that forces us to behave more like animals than human beings.
Today, we are even struggling how to become just plain human beings. To become divine is almost becoming an impossible dream. But while Gilgamesh failed in the way he structured his life to achieve his divinity, he was transformed in the end.
How Gilgamesh transformed his life was so enlightening and transforming to me.
We can still restructure the path of our life's past failures by changing our mindsets, lifestyles, ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Only we can change that path, not religion, not science, not the politicians and Church leaders.
Change ought to primarily come from within each one of us, not from the outside, because it concerns our own life. We alone are responsible to our life in times of judgement.
Let's join together in this alternative path of self-transformation and this process of self-enlightenment.
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If you’re interested to know his struggles and learn the lessons that can be drawn from his story, you can proceed reading my summary of his life below, otherwise, you can just stop here.
As the story goes ...
Once upon a time, in a far, far away place there lived a King named Gilgamesh, who was conscious of his nature as two-thirds human and one-third god for he was born out of a divine and human parenthood. To realize this legacy in him, he courageously engaged in a long epic journey to claim and realize his birthright as a divine being, so he could be as immortal as the gods and goddesses in heaven.
Even at an early age, he was already aware of who he was and what his destiny was. Rightfully or not, he took it upon himself the mission to engage in a perilous voyage on land and at sea prepared to confront whatever challenges that this journey of his may bring. The risk and challenge was just incomparable to realizing his full divinity and immortality and being finally counted as one among the gods and goddesses.
Though he was a celebrated King, he lived his whole life realizing who he was and what his mission was. Fully convinced that he was more divine than human, Gilgamesh tried to prove his prowess to his people; but, in ruling his kingdom, he had no compassion over his subjects and followers; instead of serving them as a shepherd to his flock, he killed their sons and brutalized the women. In spite of his Kingship, he did not depend much on his soldiers, preferring to confront his enemies alone.
Unknown still to Gilgamesh, the gods and goddesses had their hidden agenda. His partly divine being was in fact designed to lead and protect his people. But so brutal was his rule that the people, who were supposed to be provided with their needs as his subjects, began to grieve and cry for help.
Seeing the lamentations of the people in the city, the gods and goddesses from above created an equally powerful and ruthless Enkidu from clay and water and dropped him in the wilderness to fight and subdue King Gilgamesh. Enkidu was a man of wisdom and pure of heart, sent to save and tame the nefarious ambitions of Gilgamesh.
His mission was to trap Gilgamesh away from his evil ways and bring him out of the forces of darkness. But at the beginning, Enkidu was unaware of the mission set for him by his creators. Gilgamesh and Enkidu indeed engaged in a series of brutal matches, but Enkidu succumbed to the wiles of Gilgamesh. In the end, the two embraced each other and became intimate friends. What was once two personalities, became one.
The gods and goddesses refused defeat. Another creature was created, Humbaba, to confront the violent duo and, from then on, the struggle to live, fight, and avoid death went on and on. This almost endless battle and war triggered Gilgamesh to realize that both violence and death are simply part of life. To survive, one has to be strong and to compete with the other. Enkidu had not yet been fully conscious of the role and mission for which he was created. He became just like Gilgamesh, brutal and violent.
Alone in the wilderness and getting very weak and hungry, a dark force in the guise of a harlot seduced him: “You are wise, Enkidu, and now you have become like a god. Why do you want to run wild with the beasts in the hills?" She tempted him of the great power he will have in the stone walled city, adorned with imposing temples and monumental structures; she told him of a beautiful place that is heaven. He fell to the serpent’s wiles and cunning wits, but only to realize later also of his perverted and corrupt nature. But while Enkidu cursed his temptress, he also succumbed even more deeply to worldly enticements and allures.
As a sign of his love to humanity, the Sun God Shamash appeared and told Enkidu that his loss of innocence has its restitution. The Sun God admonished him of his good deeds to which Enkidu became encouraged to turn away from his evil ways. Before his death, Enkidu had the chance to talk to Gilgamesh and confided to him that in the end human divinity can only be realized by facing death triumphantly and with great dignity.
Pursuing his God-given mission, he taught Gilgamesh what it means to be truly human, to be poor, to be sick, to grow in old age, to die, and to be mortal, as if to instill upon Gilgamesh’s mind that all this is a sine qua non for divinity and immortality. To put him in the right path, Enkidu enlightened Gilgamesh on what it means to love and to be compassionate with his people.
As if this was not enough, the gods and goddesses sent to Gilgamesh the “woman of the vine, the maker of wine," who likewise reminded him of the significance of what it means to be human. She revealed to Gilgamesh that humans were really destined to die, and that life was only for God’s keeping, and that his life is not only human, but also already divine and immortal.
But Gilgamesh, obstinate and persistent as he was, refused to mend his ways on the belief that he was more of a divine than a human being. He became more convinced that only through his own efforts and devices could he fully attend total immortality and divinity. Feeling restless and in a hurry to achieve his dream, Gilgamesh journeyed to a far, far away land, known to be inhabited by immortal gods and goddesses.
Crossing treacherous waters and confronting a lot of death-defying obstacles along the way, he arrived at the place of the gods and goddesses, to whom he then asked Utnapishtim: "How shall I find the life for which I am searching?"
To this question, Utnapishtim could only reveal to Gilgamesh the secret of the gods and goddesses that deep under water in a big ocean he can find a growing plant that could bring his youthfulness back. But while Gilgamesh was able to find and pick the plant, a serpent suddenly appeared snatching the plant away from his hands before he could go back to his kingdom, taking away from him the only chance that he could have become immortal, fully divine, and be among the gods and goddesses in heaven, even while still on earth.
In the end, Gilgamesh returned to his city empty handed, with no other recourse save on what he must devise for himself. Aware that everlasting life was not yet his destiny, while at the same time aware that the way to achieve eternal life was not through violence and bloodshed, he accepted the admonition of Enkidu and the “woman of the vine” and abandoned all his personal desires and ambitions, and instead devoted his time and effort to working wholeheartedly for the benefit of his people in his city for the remaining days of his life.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Aug 14, 2016
EPIC OF GILGAMESH: SUPPORTING ACTOR: ENKIDU ... SPECIAL APPEARANCE: UTNAPISHTIM (ONCE HUMAN BUT BECAME GOD)
MYTH AND LEGEND? OR TRUE ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST, TOLD IN STORIES? ... THE "ONCE-UPON-TIME-IN-A-FAR-FAR-AWAY-LAND" TYPE. FOLLOWED BY, "THEN, THERE LIVED A KING ..."
I HAVE POSTED IN THIS SITE WHAT THIS STORY MEANS TO ME AND THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY. IF YOU WANT THE WHOLE TEXT OF THE EPIC, YOU MAY DOWNLOAD IT BELOW. WRITTEN ORIGINALLY IN AKKADIAN, THE EPIC IS WRITTEN IN 12 TABLETS ...
The Half-Human, Half-Divine
July 6, 2021
Gilgamesh journeyed to the abodes of the gods to claim his right as immortal. But as a King, his style of leadership and governance was ferociously brutal and fiercely violent. He was denied. He underwent several tests, but still failed. Dejected, he journeyed back home, resigned to the fact that he was mortal and that he would die anytime. But his life also changed.