The Mercurial Quotient

Tales of Mystic Poets : VI

 

 

 

 

The Greek and Roman philosophers brought many legends to us through the relationships of the Zeus family. In that, man came to an early education about family, our love lives and the challenges that we were encouraged to face. Of these, one curious character stands out as the defining standard of the family. This is Hermes or Mercury, in the Roman version.

 

He was called the messenger of the gods and acted as the liaison between man and the gods. It couldn't have been an easy job. The scope and size of the creation experience is so enormous that, it has come as a natural assumption to many that it ought to be the proper work of the gods. Man, it seems is an assistant and is part beneficiary of such an administration.

 

The name of the liaison, Mercury, is taken from the metals, wherein lies the strength and mettle of such a vocation. Mercury is reported by science to have the narrowest gap between melting and freezing properties of all the metals. It makes mercury a metal constituent in the body that reacts very quickly to situations.

 

One wonders of course about the way both man and the gods integrate with the mercurial experience in the search for glory of the most high. At which point do they separate and call their actions their own?

 

At heart is the issue of human rationality and the fundamental instrument of the gods, love. In relation to each other, love has a broader scope of experience about itself and is the basis of faith and relationships. In contrast, the reasoning mind is simply a guide to the workings of love.

 

Viewed this way, the work of man is to cultivate the reasoning qualities of his mind for the sake of love in the life of the family and society. In that, he preserves the life of the world and the heart of the universe.