In countless myths from all traditional cultures of the world, strong, fair heroes do battle with vile and deformed beasts. Sometimes the heroes are remarkable mortals, sometimes the gods themselves, the villains also varying in power. These tales have endured in popularity, even to the modern day, although their true meaning is no longer widely understood. It is often assumed that these tales serve to show the triumph of good over evil and to serve as an inspiration to act in a similar manner. While this is an accurate interpretation, it is not the most profound level of understanding, and one must not neglect the metaphysical significance, the meaning of the tales that can be applied to internal spiritual realization.
The characters in these myths represent the eternal metaphysical principles that govern the world and the life of man. The “battle” that takes places represents the struggle in manifested things that exist suspended between the beauty and order of the divine and the shadow existence of matter. These things can either hold fast to the divine and thereby stabilize their existence (that is, the heroes can be triumphant), or they can veer towards matter and dissolution (that is, the villains can be triumphant). The Greek philosopher Proclus describes it thus, referencing the myth of Athena doing battle with the giants:
“The true warfare with the giants takes place in souls: whenever reason and intellect rule in them, the goods of the Olympians and Athena prevail, and the entire life is kingly and philosophical; but whenever the passions reign, or in general the worse and earth-born elements, then the constitution within them is tyranny.” ¹
Many of those who deplore modernity lament that the glorious struggles of past legends are absent from a world that has been reduced by technology and quantitative valuations, and they long for an age when a man can exert all of his energies in a struggle for the good. While such external conditions are indeed desirable, a yearning for such an external struggle must not obscure the true battle. If the true battle is in our souls, then good men must be more fervent in this battle; they must crave victory and sacrifice in this struggle just as assiduously as they would with swords in their hands. Unlike the physical battle, this inner battle does not end, at least not for any but the most advanced spiritual masters. Consider, then, how hard you would fight and strain when facing enemies on the field, and make that thought present in your mind when the worse elements within yourself begin to assert themselves.
¹Proclus. Proclus’ Commentary on Plato’s “Parmenides” Trans. Glenn R. Morrow and John M. Dillon. New York: Princeton UP, 1992. Print, 71.