2.3 Myth and the Spiritual
One aspect of religion is communal: the question of a communal people’s relationship to the divine. Another is The Spiritual: a dimension of the arts which evokes a mysterious human inwardness that yearns to transcend life & death and connect with forces of creation. The tale of Gilgamesh takes a decided turn in Tablet VIII as the great warrior comes face to face with mortality in the death of his great friend, Enkidu.
from Tablet VIII
Just as day began to dawn
Gilgamesh addressed his friend, saying:
“Enkidu, your mother, the gazelle,
and your father, the wild donkey, engendered you,
four wild asses raised you on their milk,
and the herds taught you all the grazing lands.
May the Roads of Enkidu to the Cedar Forest mourn you
and not fall silent night or day.
May the Elders of the broad city of Uruk-Haven mourn you.
May the peoples who gave their blessing after us mourn you.
May the men of the mountains and hills mourn you. …
May the pasture lands shriek in mourning as if it were your mother. …
“Hear me, O Elders of Uruk, hear me, O men!
I mourn for Enkidu, my friend,
I shriek in anguish like a mourner. …
Enkidu, my friend, the swift mule, fleet wild ass of the mountain,
panther of the wilderness …
Now what is this sleep which has seized you?
You have turned dark and do not hear me!”
But his (Enkidu’s) eyes do not move,
he touched his heart, but it beats no longer. …
He shears off his curls and heaps them onto the ground,
ripping off his finery and casting it away as an abomination.
Gilgamesh mourns his friend’s death as we all might do. But the outpouring of grief probes spiritual depths as he understands its implications:
from Tablets IX, X
Over his friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh cried bitterly, roaming the wilderness.
“I am going to die!–am I not like Enkidu?!
Deep sadness penetrates my core,
I fear death, and now roam the wilderness. …
How can I stay silent, how can I be still!
My friend whom I love has turned to clay;
Enkidu, my friend whom I love, has turned to clay!
Am I not like him! Will I lie down, never to get up again!”
In the grief and unease of Gilgamesh, we encounter the existential melancholy that shades all human awareness. His grief for Enkidu is heartfelt and genuine. But he also sees in that tragedy the foretaste of his own mortal destiny. This is a core spiritual insight: the yearning to transcend life & death. And like spiritual humans of all times and places, Gilgamesh seeks to connect with forces of creation. As do heroes in countless mythic tales, he sets out on a journey to find the gateway to the gods and immortality.
From Tablet IX
I will set out to the region of Utanapishtim, son of Ubartutu,
and will go with utmost dispatch! …
Then he reached Mount Mashu,
which daily guards the rising and setting of the Sun,
above which only the dome of the heavens reaches,
and whose flank reaches as far as the Netherworld below.
There were Scorpion-beings watching over its gate.
Trembling terror they inspire, the sight of them is death. …
The male scorpion-being called out,
saying to the offspring of the gods:
“Why have you traveled so distant a journey?
Why have you come here to me,
over rivers whose crossing is treacherous!” …
“I have come on account of my ancestor Utanapishtim,
who joined the Assembly of the Gods, and was given eternal life.
About Death and Life I must ask him!”
The scorpion-being spoke to Gilgamesh …, saying:
“Never has there been, Gilgamesh, a mortal man who could do that(?).
No one has crossed through the mountains.”
[67 lines are missing: Gilgamesh convinces the scorpion-being to allow him passage.]
The scorpion-being spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:
“Go on, Gilgamesh, fear not!
The Mashu mountains I give to you freely (!),
the mountains, the ranges, you may traverse …
In safety may your feet carry you.”
His journey brings Gilgamesh to a tavern whose keepers try to discourage him from his journey. He explains the purpose and desperation of his journey.
from Tablet X
“Enkidu, whom I love deeply, who went through every hardship with me,
the fate of mankind has overtaken him.
Six days and seven nights I mourned over him
and would not allow him to be buried
until a maggot fell out of his nose.
I was terrified by his appearance,
I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness. …
“So now, tavern-keeper, what is the way to Utanapishtim!
What are its markers Give them to me! Give me the markers!
If possible, I will cross the sea;
if not, I will roam through the wilderness.”
The tavern keeper sends Gilgamesh to Urshanabi, the ferryman who carries him across deadly waters to meet Utanapishtim the Faraway. Gilgamesh is amazed at the humanity of this apparently mortal man who has found immortality.
“I have been looking at you,
but your appearance is not strange–you are like me!
You yourself are not different–you are like me! …
Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods,
and have found life!”
Utanapishtim explains that conflict among the gods led to a great flood intended to destroy all living beings. As was Noah, he was divinely led by the god Ea to build a large boat and preserve survivors. His obedience and sacrifices led to a unique gift:
Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:
“I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden,
a secret of the gods I will tell you!
“Previously Utanapishtim was a human being.
But now let Utanapishtim and his wife become like us, the gods!
Let Utanapishtim reside far away, at the Mouth of the Rivers.”
Unfortunately, Utanapishtim warns Gilgamesh that the gift cannot be shared by others.
“Now then, [Gilgamesh,] who will convene the gods on your behalf,
that you may find the life that you are seeking! …
Gilgamesh said to Utanapishtim the Faraway:
“O woe! What shall I do, Utanapishtim, where shall I go!
The Snatcher has taken hold of my flesh,
in my bedroom Death dwells,
and wherever I set foot there too is Death!”
After failing a series of tests, Gilgamesh returns to the ferryman and seeks Urshanabi’s counsel:
“Counsel me, O ferryman Urshanabi!
For whom have my arms labored, Urshanabi!
For whom has my heart’s blood roiled!
I have not secured any good deed for myself. …
What can I find (to serve) as a marker(?) for me!
I will turn back (from the journey by sea) and leave the boat by the shore!”
Gilgamesh has failed in his quest, for who can triumph over mortality. But he returns to the cultural joys of Uruk after having shared a revelation of the divine.