A lesson from Tantalus: endless distraction from the surroundings
If you are not enthusiastic about those Greek mythology, you might not be familiar with the
character called “Tantalus” but you might encounter the term “Tantalize” somewhere.
Tantalize means torment or tease (someone) with the sight or promise of something that is
unobtainable. Basically, the term was derived from one of the character, called Tantalus.
Tantalus was punished by Zeus to be tantalized and suffer in hell for the eternity.
Interesting?? The storyline of the mythology is a little bit confusing and there are many fancy
wordings that would give you a headache but no worry, I’ll try to add some simple
explanation to those fancy words. My intention of writing this is to share what I learnt from
the book “Indistractable”. The book highlighted the punishment on Tantalus and it really
impressed me and whenever something sparks my interest like this, I always spread the story
to my surrounding but this time, I want to do a revolution by putting everything into words.
How did Tantalus got punished?
So, I do not really have much knowledge about Tantalus as well but my curiosity pushed me
into doing a little bit of reading and research on the internet since I’m on quarantine as well.
Tantalus was the son of the great god, Zeus with a nymph (a mythological spirit of nature
imagined as a beautiful maiden). Tantalus was the king of Lydia. One day, Tantalus was
invited to join a dinner reception with the gods at Mount. Olympus. However, on the way
back home from Olympus, Tantalus stole ambrosia and nectar (the foods and drinks of the
Olympian gods that will bring long life and immortality to anyone who consumed it). He
wanted the people in his kingdom to avoid death and live forever like the gods. This marked
his first crime against the gods.
Later on, Tantalus wanted to test if the gods really know everything. He decided to invite the
gods to a gala dinner at his palace. Tantalus killed one of his son, Pelops and cooked him up
in a stew to serve to the gods. When the reception came, all gods realized immediately that
the food served must be forbidden but there was a god, Demeter, whose daughter was
kidnapped, she was too upset so she ate a bit of the food, which was the shoulder of Pelops.
Having committed the second crime, Zeus was no longer tolerant even though, Tantalus was
one of his sons. Therefore, Zeus was punished to suffer in hell by standing in a pot of water
under a tree of fruits. He was cursed to always have the hunger and thirst. However,
whenever he tries to reach for the fruit, the branch always moved away so he can never grasp
the fruits. When he felt thirsty and tried to bend down to drink the water from the pot, the
water always drained. Therefore, his hunger and thirst were always with him for eternity in
the hell.
So what’s the lesson from that punishment?
Let’s put this into picture. A man reaching for something then the next minute he bends down
to drink something but he still looks desperate and anxious. It seems like he has endless
desire to reach for something all the time but at the end of the day, he couldn’t do anything.
Tantalus’s punishment is that he will have to endure the pain of wanting something that is in
front of him but he can never grasp.
Actually, if we do a quick research when you’re in hell, there’s no more Maslow Hierarchy of
needs. You no longer need food or water to survive but Tantalus was still distracted by the
hunger and thirst. Therefore, Tantalus’s punishment was not the endless hunger and thirst.
Hunger and thirst were no longer the things that he needed. Let’s make a quick reflection on
our daily habits. We all want praise, money, happiness…(the list will forever goes on).
Therefore, each day we strive so hard to do many things that we thought we need but actually
don’t. We do not need to refresh our Instagram feed every minute to see if your post got
enough likes or if your celebrity crush updates his/her story yet. Do not be blinded by the
