Identity.
Written on the ancient Oracle at Delphi are the words, “Know Thyself.” But how do we do that? It seems easy to know yourself. You have a name, a physical appearance, movie preferences. You know whether you like Justin Bieber or not so what else is there? Why would an ancient oracle who people go to in order to have the most profound questions of life answered have that as its welcome mat?
The ancient Greeks knew a thing or two about how to philosophize and while not perfect, the idea that one’s life is a quest to know thyself is something lost on most today. So the question, “how do we know our own identity?” is so important, that I daresay the answer could be key to helping us escape from the Matrix (ah, see the connection? It always comes back the the Matrix).
I’m going to piggy back on a friend’s work today because he talks a lot about Zombies and I like Zombie stuff. (That reminds me, when does The Walking Dead start up again? It kind of ended without fulfilling the complete story arc last season) Trent has written on monsters since his near death experience at the hands of a Zombie that was stalking his childhood neighbourhood. Luckily, his quick thinking and ability to research very mundane subjects gave him an idea to defeat the monster just as it had turned several of his neighbours into mindless flesh eaters…but I’ll leave it to him to fill you in on the rest of the story.
Here is a post on how Zombies (and monsters in general) give us a clue into our own identities. Enjoy.
The Zombie Apocalypse – by Trent Dejong
The word apocalypse is often equated with downed power lines, collapsed buildings and the looting of electronics stores (which doesn’t make much sense given the downed power lines). Add a huge herd of zombies to the mayhem and you have the zombie apocalypse.
“Apocalypse” (Ἀποκάλυψις) is a Greek word meaning “revelation.” So, the “zombie apocalypse” literally means “that which zombies reveal.”
Astute zombie fans already suspect that zombies are trying to tell us something. The problem is getting past all that moaning (and grabbing and biting) in order to hear what they are saying.
