By Ken Ward The king of the Ancient Greek Gods, Zeus gave
Pandora a box, with instructions never to open it. She was also
given the gift of curiosity, which made her unable to resist
opening the box and releasing the miseries and perils of
Mankind. This story is told in many forms in many cultures,
including the story of Eve and the Serpent in Genesis. The
common denominator of these stories may be the universal
unconscious mind. In some way we keep our miseries trapped in a
box so they cannot hurt us. And we try to push any negative
thoughts and experiences into this box so they cannot affect us.
This is a negative view of the unconscious mind, typical of the
Ancient Greeks, but even here, we are told that opening the box
also released hope, suggesting the box also contained items of
great value to humanity. The Ancient Greeks seemed to be
somewhat ignorant about the mind, as we think of it. For
instance, in writing about thinking, they would refer to it as a
conversation with the Gods. In the Iliad, Homer n