Chapter 236: Man, Birth
This feeling caused a heavy stone to inexplicably weigh upon His impassioned thoughts, an indistinct ominous premonition that made His mood heavy as well.
This God of Foresight suddenly realized that above His head, at some unknown time, a patch of not particularly thick dark clouds had appeared.
‘Is it going to rain?’
He thought to himself, and subconsciously, He abruptly looked toward the direction of Olympus.
However, atop Mount Olympus, it was still enveloped by that boundless golden sea of clouds.
Sacred and solemn radiance continued to illuminate the entire world, with no anomalies whatsoever.
Only then did He quietly set His mind at ease.
‘Your Majesty must still be immersed in the tenderness of Goddess Eurynome. Since the Goddess of Wisdom has already agreed, this matter has no issues whatsoever! This is the best opportunity; it must be seized!’
Even though Prometheus was still troubled by this inexplicable feeling, He would not waver in the slightest.
The scheme that had long been decided upon would absolutely not stop because of this.
No matter what, He would resolutely carry out the planned matter!
The established scheme would not halt.
And after Prometheus said that sentence “I am certain,” Metis had already extended her arms.
In an instant, she revealed her brand-new divine body of wisdom after attaining “Supreme Wisdom”!
With the gentle unfolding of Metis’s arms, a silent murmur of creation, as if originating from the beginning of the universe’s birth, quietly arose at this moment in the deepest spirituality of all existences throughout the entire universe.
There was no sound at all, yet it had already directly awakened “meaning.”
The divine body of “wisdom,” at this moment, reigned over the world!
This was a sacred body, supreme and beyond measure by any material scale!
Its height was nearly equal to that of heaven and earth!
Her silhouette blurred the boundaries between heaven and earth, making the entire vast starry sky the backdrop to her magnificent divine robe.
Billions of bright stars were merely the sparkling embellishments that inadvertently shimmered on her robe.
The sea of galactic systems slowly flowing across the heavens transformed into the cosmic shawl draping from her divine body’s shoulders.
However, such a grand and boundless existence did not seem terrifying or oppressive in the slightest, nor did it harm the world at all, as if independent of the material world.
It even gave the feeling that the entire world had become more vast and profound.
Metis’s divine body of wisdom showed no major changes in face or figure; it remained peerlessly beautiful.
But its essence was no longer any material existence.
Her “wisdom” law origin, after deeply uniting with Zeus’s divinity origin and undergoing repeated evolutions, was already utterly different from its initial form.
Her current divine body of wisdom was condensed from that boundless, unimpeded, pure in myriad laws, formless supreme wisdom divine light; all phenomena converge, one mind clear and bright.
That was the radiance of “understanding,” “thought,” and “rationality” itself—not blazing, only clear.
Cool, limpid, pure, shining, absolutely flawless.
It was the ultimate crystal condensed from the purest order and most primordial laws in this universe.
And the most spectacular was behind her head, that massive “truth light wheel” that rotated slowly without cease.
This multicolored radiant wheel was larger than any star.
It was not the seven colors of mortal cognition, but a chaotic yet harmonious halo containing all knowable and unknowable colors of this world.
Within that light wheel, infinite arcane runes and axioms representing the universe’s ultimate mysteries swam like fish or stars, ceaselessly arising, extinguishing, and transforming.
They constantly collided, fused, and gave rise to entirely new, even more profound mysteries.
That was the “living fossil” of all thoughts since the universe’s birth; the ultimate condensation of all wisdom in every civilization.
When her gaze descended from the sky dome, it was not mere “observation,” but the most thorough “insight”!
Under the illumination of this gaze, all disguises, all chaos, all confusion melted away like thin winter ice under the warm spring sun.
Endless gentle radiance poured down from this boundless grand divine body.
That radiance was so warm, so clear, carrying a powerful enlightening force capable of penetrating all divine souls.
This light did not bring scorching heat to the world, but brought “clarity” to all things!
Wisdom and thought selflessly permeated to the deepest spirituality of all lives possessing spirituality.
Allowing the lost to see the path ahead; allowing the perplexed to find answers.
She caused every living being to sprout from their innermost depths a tender bud of wisdom yearning to grow and understand.
She brought inner tranquility and clear wisdom to all life.
She stood quietly between heaven and earth, uttering no words.
But the entire world had already understood her existence—”I think, therefore all things are.”
After a long time, having fully scattered the radiance of “wisdom” across the entire world, the sacred and majestic voice of the Goddess of Wisdom finally resounded slowly between heaven and earth.
“Venerable Mother Goddess of All Things, You are the root of all existence in this universe. All existence owes its being to Your bounty.”
“I, the first wife of Supreme God King Zeus—the Goddess of Wisdom Metis—here earnestly request that You bestow Your blessing upon the Sons of Iapetus.”
“Great Mother Goddess of All Things, please aid Them in creating great life that can bring true prosperity to this universe!”
At the instant Metis’s words fell, the patch of earth before Prometheus and Epimetheus suddenly seemed to gain its own life.
It abruptly began vigorous growth brimming with endless vitality!
A large mass of “primordial matter” emitting tenfold radiance—the most precious material origin in this universe capable of creating all things—appeared out of thin air before Them.
At the same time, that wisp of dark clouds at the horizon finally broke its silence, sprinkling misty fine rain.
The rain threads were gentle, a continuous sweet dew drifting down, soaking into that mass of “primordial matter” and slowly merging within.
The distant blessing from the high heavens quietly sealed into the life about to be born.
Accomplishing the creative origin substance for creating all things.
Metis overlooked the two gods, speaking slowly in a sacred, majestic, supreme tone devoid of any emotion:
“Sons of Iapetus, the supreme King of the Gods, God Above Gods, Lord of the Universe—Great Zeus Your Majesty—commands you to jointly create the life that will bring prosperity to the world.”
“Now, you may begin.”
The two gods acknowledged in unison.
They exchanged a glance, and all distracting thoughts and selfishness were instantly swept away in that momentary gaze.
Subsequently, they too manifested their unique divine bodies of law!
This was the second time since Their birth in the universe that They had simultaneously manifested Their divine bodies together.
The first time was when They were gestated into being.
That was when all phenomena were undivided.
The void between heaven and earth seemed to be bisected by an invisible, absolutely vertical straight line.
On one side of this straight line, countless stars materialized out of the void.
In silence, the condensation of rationality was born, condensing a sea of stars of future possibilities shining with star tracks and axioms.
They formed a massive, precise star disk, slowly rotating in a cold, indisputable trajectory.
All unborn civilizations, all unimagined miracles, all forthcoming causes and choices.
Blueprints of every future were all upon this boundless star map, ceaselessly deducing and shining.
A divine body filled with absolute rationality and cool radiance calmly stepped forth from this future vista.
He was the God of Foresight—Prometheus.
His divine body was pure and bright, precise yet illusory, dazzling radiance illuminating all.
This was woven from endless brilliant free imaginings, the brilliant crystals and pure light from countless “future possibilities,” and that supremely cool absolute rationality.
Its structure was perfect, lines distinct, filled with the ultimate design thought and all-seeing foresight—this was a translucent crystalline divine body as perfect and rational as mathematics.
In His eyes flickered forever the scenes of all that was to come.
Within were filled calculations, planning, and weighing of “things yet to happen.”
As Prometheus manifested His divine body, on the other side of this straight line, the void began an illusory burning, igniting a sea of past experiences flowing with molten gold and ice soul.
All vanished civilizations, all forgotten deeds, all past loves, hatreds, joys, and sorrows.
Embers of all the past were in this vast sea of light, ceaselessly surging and shining.
A divine body filled with endless power and heat slowly rose from these embers of yore.
He was the God of Hindsight—Epimetheus.
His body was heavy and solid.
This was forged from the cold clay and hard rock of countless “accomplished facts,” and the intensely hot experience.
His muscles bulged, lines rugged, filled with the most primal creative impulse and eternally unquenchable passion.
In His eyes was reflected forever only the scene that had just occurred.
Within were filled regret, ecstasy, and reminiscence for “things already done.”
His skin bore countless scars.
His entire body was covered in deep cracks left from every failed attempt, and fresh imprints added after every correction of errors.
These were all past scars and glories since the universe’s birth!
These two great deities stood back-to-back, spines connected, ultimately fusing into one at the world’s center.
Their two faces, front and back, faced “future” and “past” respectively.
They became the two different faces of the same deity oriented toward “future” and “past.”
Where the two deities’ spines sacredly connected was neither matter nor energy.
But a rift that mortal spirits could not behold directly—blinding yet void.
That was—”present.”
After They appeared simultaneously and fully adhered together, that vertical invisible straight line began to slowly change.
The sky did not split because of it; the earth did not tremble.
All reality seemed utterly unchanged.
Only that one vertical line that had bisected the void was slowly bent by an invisible, gentle yet irresistibly great force into a complete ring, huge and eternally flowing, ends joined.
At this moment, the “God of Foresight and Hindsight” descended upon the world!
The original divine bodies of Prometheus and Epimetheus, if compared separately to Metis’s divine body of wisdom, were no different from ants.
But now fused as one, They immediately underwent an unimaginable massive transformation!
This deity’s stature, even compared to Metis’s divine body of wisdom, was already equivalent to a child!
This deity was the dialectical unity of “creation” and “reflection,” “thought” and “action,” “imagination” and “reality,” “rationality” and “emotion.”
It was the “arrow of time’s manifestation” simultaneously at both ends—arrow and target appearing together.
Even more, it was the most essential eternal embodiment of the great behavior “thought” in this universe.
Prometheus cast the “seeds of planning”—His mature thoughts envisioning the future—onto the earth named “reality.”
Most seeds shattered in reality, yet a few took root and sprouted; this was the forward-probing trial full of courage!
Epimetheus, upon the earth of “reality,” gathered the “fruits of breakage” from these “seeds of planning,” refining them a thousand times into “cornerstones of growth.”
This was the profound reflection and correction full of experience!
And those “cornerstones of growth,” recast by precious experience—though no longer perfect, yet more resilient—slowly ascended along this ring’s trajectory.
Ultimately flowing back to Prometheus’s feet, becoming indispensable new cognition and foresight for conceiving the next, more perfect “seeds of planning.”
They were inherently one deity.
A great deity inevitably split in the universe’s “dualistic” development process!
They were the children of the “Cyclical Recycler.”
They were the two indispensable spokes allowing the great chariot of “civilization” to roll ever forward.
Even more, the eternal incarnations of “knowledge” and “action” in unity of opposites!
Prometheus represented civilization’s thought, rationality, foresight, forward vision, transcendence, new cognition, design, and planning.
Epimetheus represented civilization’s ignorance, attempts, experience, reflection, limitations, action, humility, and awe.
Civilization inherently involves using current cognition to think, envision the future, design and plan.
Then boldly act, reflect on errors in action, summarize precious experience, and ultimately gain new understanding.
Thereafter, correct errors, continue designing and planning an even better future.
Thus forming a virtuous cycle, recurring endlessly, ultimately driving all civilization to continual progress.
The two oppose yet unite, contradict yet coexist.
Lose either, and civilization inevitably heads toward ultimate extinction.
Only by adhering and balancing each other does civilization have a future!
This is the true “foresight” and “hindsight”!
The great deity finally achieved once more His brief yet complete unified whole.
With backs against each other, the forward-facing Prometheus extended His hands, grasping the mass of creative origin substance on the ground—personally bestowed by the Mother Goddess of All Things and infused with sweet dew, capable of creating all things.
Then, He began that craziest, most arrogant, yet most anticipated great creation.
Meanwhile, the backward-facing Epimetheus also extended a hand toward the vast world.
He gathered into His hand all mutually opposing yet coexisting traits from the spirituality of all life previously created by the two brothers—”good” and “evil,” “fine” and “poor,” “pure” and “turbid,” “true” and “false,” “right” and “wrong”—kneading and fusing them entirely!
Audaciously, Prometheus strictly modeled after the gods’ image, applying the sacred “divine form” template!
After exquisite modifications from His countless deductions, He shaped the first mortal spirit resembling the gods—”human.”
That was a man.
“Human” possessed a noble image almost identical to the gods!
He had a physique capable of walking upright with a straight spine!
Thus, he could gaze upon the vast starry sky from birth, not like beasts forever looking only at the earth below.
Though the form was shaped, it remained a cold, lifeless dead thing—a mere clay sculpture.
Prometheus did not stop His actions; He gently blew a breath toward the clay man’s head.
The most exalted “rationality” was thus bestowed by Him, deeply integrating into “human’s” mind.
And Epimetheus finally kneaded all those mutually opposing yet coexisting traits into a formless chaotic light sphere.
He took the clay man from Prometheus’s hand, and with a flick of His fingertips, split open its chest.
He cast that chaotic light sphere into it.
Immediately after, He too blew a breath into the clay man’s chest.
The split-open chest instantly healed.
Apart from traits of all spiritual lives, that precious “emotion” was eternally left in “human’s” body with this breath, forever pulsing in that scorching heart!
Henceforth, “emotion” and “rationality” would forever coexist in the world.
And forever imprinted in “human’s” nature.
They would sharpen each other, contend, and mutually illuminate unto eternity.
The Goddess of Wisdom merely quietly watched Prometheus’s boldest, most transgressive act.
His desire to create truly wise life was not wrongdoing.
But He had done the boldest, most transgressive, and maddest thing.
Mortal spirits resembling gods!
Yet Metis’s peerlessly beautiful face showed no change.
Because this was the will of her beloved God King, the greatest of gods—Zeus!
When Prometheus’s gaze full of earnest request and expectation turned to her, she, with the supreme honor and authority of the God King’s first wife, cast the most precious “spirituality” into this clay sculpture.
And simultaneously shaped a resilient soul to protect this still faint and vulnerable “spirituality.”
“Human” finally lived.
But this newborn life’s eyes remained a chaos of ignorance.
Metis looked at this still bewildered little figure and gently parted her lips.
A wisp of pure energy containing endless vitality and life force emanated from her mouth, fully enveloping this nascent human.
“Free wisdom,” “potential for growth,” and “inquiry of thought” were thus delivered into “human’s” body by her.
This “human’s” originally ignorant gaze underwent earth-shaking change at this moment!
He now possessed the “observation” and “thought” ability.
He possessed wisdom for free growth.
This newly created living being, apart from lacking immortal “divinity,” was no different from a true deity.
And at that very moment, a sudden change occurred!
From the supreme Mount Olympus, a swiftest and most magnificent golden thunderbolt suddenly flew!
This thunderbolt tore through endless space-time, unerringly striking this newborn man!
Instantly cleaving his flesh and blood, spirit and soul thoroughly in two!
Accompanied by a contradictory whimper of pain and nascent joy, the severed bones, blood, and soul scattered under the sacred thunderbolt’s envelopment onto the remaining creative origin substance.
Simultaneously, from atop Mount Olympus, Goddess Dione—symbol of the universe’s extreme yin—hurled from afar a mass of “pure water” containing her divinity origin toward that substance mingled with the man’s bones, blood, and soul.
Thus, the first woman was born from that substance.
The God King used thunder as scale to differentiate yin and yang, allowing “one” to reproduce.
And Goddess Dione bestowed upon “woman” the virtues unique to yin.
Under that sacred golden thunderbolt, the first man, having suffered “grave injury,” rapidly recovered in this creation thunder’s sacred tempering.
His cleaved flesh and blood, spirit and soul visibly rejoined at a speed perceptible to the naked eye.
Thus, among the mortal spirits of this world, the true wise race finally appeared!
And the attributes of “yin” and “yang” now coexisted simultaneously.
Prometheus fell silent.
He fully understood that everything He had done was under the acquiescence—even arrangement—of that supreme God King.
