Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound”: Where Is Meaning to be Found?

“Aeschylus’ tragedy represents the most elemental aspects of our human condition: all human flourishing comes with a cost.”

It is a sweet thing to draw out
a long, long life in cheerful hopes,
and feed the spirit in the bright
benignity of happiness:
but I shiver when I see you
wasted with ten thousand pains,
all because you did not tremble
at the name of Zeus…
— Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound

Above all else, the human mind seeks meaning. We live our day-to-day lives by generating meaning. Out of what William James calls “the blooming, buzzing confusion” of reality, we generate some kind of order, structure, and harmony as we go about our daily activities. We get dressed; we cook breakfast; we drive our cars. Even when we tie our shoes, we are creating a precise and meaningful relationship between laces and shoes. We don’t randomly wander about like zombies, nor are we programed like robots; we participate in the world around us in meaningful ways.

We, human beings, are enveloped by forces, which can either kill us or sustain us. All of our technologies, conventions, and institutions have arisen over time as means of transforming suffering and conflict. Enveloped by a modern world dedicated to comfort and convenience, we tend to forget that all the human arts (how we produce food, how we clothe and shelter ourselves etc.) evolved as meaningful forms in response to suffering and conflict. Generating meaning is how we adapt to the world around us.