The Promethean Ritual

The Origins of Human Consciousness

My house has two balconies. 

The south one overlooks the grove. If you turn your head to the right, you'll see the tall mountains looming over you. Only birds and cats will bother you. The perfect spot to read or sunbathe during the summer.

The north one is the city's ceiling. I can see everyone and they can see me. The heart of my little town, on top of a hill, right before the road leads you away from the lights. That's where I smoke.

Every summer, from 2 am to 4 am, I go out for a cigarette. It's always windy so I only manage to inhale half of it. 

A few cars disturb the, otherwise, peaceful night. I can see my neighbors, next to me and on the other side of the road, idly staring at a distance. Perhaps they're also trying to escape their mad thoughts.

Buildings scrape the skyline. Their lights, like twinkling stars, confess where humans live. They eat, drink, and fuck every night. They have, whether through their own powers or the blessings of their ancestors, achieved an existence that comes close to divinity.

As I'm taking a drag from my Marlboro Gold, I feel the smoke burning my lungs. ‘Minus 2 minutes’, I say to myself. That's about how much life each inhalation is taking away from me. But it's a small price to pay, isn't it? In fact, it's necessary to pay. 

I observe the fire slowly touching my finger. It doesn't matter. I let it burn me. The smoke, like a ghostly emanation, shapeshifts to its own accord. Instead of choking, I can now breathe freely. 

Smoking is the Promethean Ritual. A celebratory and operational tradition, a grand rite. It represents the willful sacrifice of humans to pursue episteme, gnosis, and expand consciousness through all means necessary. We honor the Titan that gifted us divine power, the spark of creation, by giving away a little bit of our lives.

The moment of raising the blazing torch up in the sky signifies the origins of consciousness. The violent separation of man from nature. From wild beasts to nous.

We often forget how much we've sacrificed to be where we are today. Like any other species, we could've let nature take its course. Devolve or evolve depending on the needs of a collective force, sans agency, that seems to direct the fate of all living creatures and inanimate objects.

Yet, for some unknown reason, we were bestowed with a creative power that seeks to overcome the natural order. We inherited fire.

All civilizations share the mythos of a trickster figure, a champion of humanity, stealing the fire from the Gods. Call him Prometheus, Enki or Mātariśvan. He is your demiurge, not of your flesh but your mind. 

Origins of Fire

I light up another one, seeking the insight that will connect everything together. My eyes meet the horizon, the Sun still hiding from the silver light of the moon. For one moment, one moment alone, I can feel the presence of all; oneness.

It quickly vanishes as I exhale. 

The discovery of fire is the event horizon of consciousness. It's not the function of fire. It's the leap from fear or ignorance of nature to engaging with it to control or alter our environment. We became humans.

"The others, still blind, yet in it see all the divine graces"

If we are humans now, what were we before? Animals. Part of nature. Maybe. Now we are more than that. Not without a price, not without a reward.

Ignoramus et Ignorabimus

The philosophical battle between the a priori and experienced belief underlines the mythology of Prometheus. The symbolism behind the suffering of the Titan represents the price we have to pay for scientific knowledge.

In many cases, it can be abstract, intangible. Greeks called it “hubris” for it disrespects the divine order. But isn’t that what makes us humans after all?

The Age of Enlightenment saw a marked shift from dogmatism and religious thinking to the critique of reasoning. With Kantian philosophy and German idealism focusing on the conditions that enable us to perceive reality, we realized that the ultimate truth lies in knowledge and endless curiosity.

At the same time, we had to sacrifice the comfort of unquestionable faith. The framework that allows us to escape the shelter of our primitive logos is anathema to religion.

Prometheus represents human striving, the pursuit and experience of knowledge, and our insatiable desire to lift the veil of the unknown. He’s the Fire that allows us to see. But at the same time, he’s our dark side.

The part of us that created the weapons, the atomic bomb, and the power to subdue nations. The unintended consequences we seldom take into account when we embark on a new journey,  οur half-brother Epimetheus ("Afterthought") that foolishly let Pandora open her little box. 

The question is, how are we going to reconcile these two sides? How are we gonna bear the divine fire without burning ourselves?

“I gave them hope, and so turned away their eyes from death”

We are the Fallen. Fallen from the grace of God, the communion with the divine. Mortals in a world that never dies. 

In "Paradise Lost '', Lucifer is transformed from a corpulent abomination to an elegant, beautiful angel, a rebel equipped with Promethean qualities. The offering of Gnosis, defying the νόμος of the One, damns him. 

The subtitle to the famous book “Frankenstein” reads “The Modern Prometheus”, with Shelley adopting the Pythagorean perspective that the Titan was an “evil” God seducing humanity to hunt and cook meat with his fire.

Last cigarette

The secession of spirit from matter doesn't come freely. It requires the symbolic destruction of the body so the spirit can be free.

"To travel in silence by a long and circuitous route, to brave the arrows of misfortune, to fear neither noose nor fire, to play the greatest of all games, and win, foregoing no expense is to walk the vicissitudes of fate, and gain at last the key that will unlock the ninth gate."

In Polanski's 1999 movie "The 9th Gate", we see how the unpurified soul is denied entrance to the Luciferian planes, where the ultimate knowledge lies. Instead of liberation, Balkan is sacrificed on the altar of Greed and Arrogance.

The naivete, the curiosity for the sake of curiosity, grants Corso access. 

Like the Kundalini serpent rising from its nest, destroying blocks and purifying your body, fire will destroy you if you aren't careful or respectful of its power. 

So, if you're going to perform the Promethean Ritual, you better be ready to face the consequences. 

Remember, there's no path, the destination is beyond the horizon. 

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