Hercules and Prometheus
There are two Greek mythological stories that relate to guilt and the relinquishment of guilt. The first is about Hercules. Hercules is sentenced to complete ten impossible tasks in order to be absolved for the crime he committed of having unintentionally killed his children. Hercules, accomplishes these tasks, and while not ridden of guilt, is no longer at war with it.
The second story is about Prometheus, who steals fire from the gods and is sentenced to unending suffering, being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten every day by a vulture. The liver is healed overnight, and the vulture returns each morning. It is another metaphor for the suffering we endure by our self-inflicted guilt. If the inner critic is relentless enough, we continue to suffer long after the event that brought upon our guilt has occurred.
These stories represent aspects of our own psycho-spiritual reality. It was Hercules who freed Prometheus from his fate. In this way, Hercules may resemble the Loving Parent, who in connection with God, frees the Inner Child from unending guilt. Hercules does this by killing the vulture (i.e., the inner critic) with a bow and arrow. Guilt is a dynamic where inside us is both the one who suffers and the one who inflicts the suffering. As much as we may want to “kill” our inner critic, who may be the cause of our prolonged suffering, we come to recognize that on the psycho-spiritual level, all parts are a part of us. Our inner critic (who is an aspect of our Wounded Self) acts with the intention to “help” us. For instance, our inner critic may guilt us so we don't repeat the same mistakes. They don’t recognize however that this strategy perpetuates our suffering. We, as the Loving Parent, want to help the inner critic realize that we are capable of making healthy and loving choices without the influence of guilt. And by freeing our Inner Child from this dynamic we make space for a new story, that shows them they are not “bad” and deserving of punishment, but are worthy of unconditional love.
