GAVDIA MINOTAVRI - The Joys of the Minotaur
Man, ever a chimerical creature, is trapped in the most illustrious prison to have ever been fashioned. But the only question worth asking is whether the creature is more Daedalus or the minotaur? Our species has debased the act of entrapment in and of itself into a kindness. Billions of would be Daedaluses have built many millions of facsimiles of Knossos to trap minotaurs into worlds they may comprehend. Into struggles they may endure. For in a world built on understanding, the unknown is uncomfortable and the unfathomable is violently divine.
The minotaur is ever the imposing beast when trapped within the labyrinth. When the world outside seems so very distant and its whims are catered to as long as it cannot leave. Mankind is much the same. The minotaur had no conception of Theseus until he materialized, and unable to glimpse the world beyond the walls of Knossos, he never sat to question his unnatural place in this world. He was content. But we, who have by the powers of our ingenuity glimpsed beyond those walls, now envy the minotaur. Mankind sees the larger freedom and reenacts the smaller instead. It seeks chains and collars such as "purpose" and "meaning" to pretend the freedom is smaller than it truly is.
And one might ask - what of that minotaur who, whether by guile or by luck, finally glimpsed the splendors of the stars and the sun?
(Explanations:
Being bedridden for a week, I had nothing but time to think. I wrote The Joys of the Minotaur for two reasons. The first was practical. You know those Metal songs that use like a small speech before the actual song? These are usually from books or television etc but I've always wanted to write one of those.
As I was doodling on that, I found myself thinking about what to say. I thought about the philosophical texts that I find most inspirational. In this case Plato's Allegory of the Cave came to mind. I am a big believer in that, that mankind not only fears what it doesn't understand but that it will happily jump into chains to feel in control. That it will pretend to be more impotent than it is because the freedom of choice is unnerving to the human condition. That the fear of failure is less scary than the fear of blame.
This observation is, of course, nothing new. It's a mix of the existentialist concepts of bad faith and authenticity (which you can find in Kierkegaard, Sartre and Heidigger et al) with the Allegory of the Cave. It has more nuance than I relay here but even I know this is getting long. But the second reason was that I enjoyed how the imagery came together.
I chose the minotaur because of its very specific type of captivity, as well as how Minos fed Asterion (which, fun fact, is the name of the specific Cretan minotaur) until Theseus killed him. In its little labyrinth at Knossos the minotaur was king. Or at least, so it believed.)
