“I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here. I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.”
― Richard P. Feynman
Midas, King of Phrygia, was a very wealthy king. One day he came across the satyr Silenus and he decided to capture him to learn from his wisdom. He gave him food and something to drink and returned him to Dionysos, the god of wine. In return he asked for the ability to turn everything he touched into gold.
The beauty of Greek mythology is that it is still so relatable. Humans continue to do stupid things for stupid reasons while still believing they sounded like good ideas at the time.
I had to fight my way through my high school degree because at the time I did not know how to speak German. We had moved here a few years earlier, and try to learn physics – a subject that I did not have before – using a language you do not understand. Nevertheless, I did it. I got my hard-fought diploma and like King Midas I went for a walk in the job industry and shortly after, I decided I had to capture wisdom. I started university two years after high school and after I had gained enough wisdom, I returned Silenus to Dionysos: I got my degree. Now I was not very wealthy, but I succeeded in finishing without debts: No student loans or any other help whatsoever. You might say I was a very happy queen of my tiny apartment. But what I had was not enough. I did not ask for the ability to turn everything into gold – mainly because I did not get the chance – but I took a job offer without even thinking about it. The idea sounded good at the time.
Finishing university during the pandemic might have been the worst timing in history. Ever. My job offer shrank in size; funding got cut, hence my hours went from a full-time job to not even 10 hours a week. With the promise of more hours after a month. The month has passed now and my tiny job has shrunk to “we can’t fund your entire PhD, only tiny bits of it” meaning that I now have to decide whether or not I really want to torment myself another three to four years with studying and working; no holidays, no free time, no social life. And because, like Midas, I was so eager to get more out of my situation I am stuck now. I already enrolled in university, I do not have a job because I thought I would have one there and now I have debts, and everything is falling apart. So much for life gets better when you finish university.
You probably know how Midas’ story continues: he washed away his curse but, like all other stories in Greek mythology, you do not get a happy ending. He got the honour to judge a contest between the god Pan and Apollo. But Apollo was a sore loser and he gave Midas ass ears with which the king got stuck until his death.
Midas had a great and interesting life. Not many humans get to encounter so many Gods in their lifetime. However, the combination of these great experiences and his bad decisions ruined his life which poses the question: was it worth it?
Aromatic deception 