Blog #4 - Children of Echo and Narcissus

What in an Echo?

-         An echo is an acoustic phenomenon wherein a reflection of the original sound reaches the listener some time after the original sound.

-         What I mean by an echo is a more important question though; I shall explain that a little later. Patience my child :P

Who was Echo?

-         Echo was a Nymph. A Nymph, not A Nympho ;)

-         Echo was in love with her voice, and was a real glib talker.

-         The story of Echo begins with Zeus (King of Greek gods, firangi Indra devta baba)

-         Zeus, even though he was a god loved to “come down” to earth for a little *wink, wink* *Men :P *.

-         People make gods; our gods are only an exaggerated image of ourselves. There were no Movie stars/ Rock stars/ Saas-Bahu serials at that time so this was like universal gossip J .

-         So, Zeus liked to “come down” to earth. But obviously Hera, his wife, didn’t like this. Would you like your partner sniffing around here and there? So she followed Zeus *pink panther theme song*

-         Echo, being a slick talker, tricked Hera into an engaging conversation, thus distracting her. There is a moral here, but it’s not the one I am writing about today. Let’s see if you can pick it up.

-         Hera on realizing this curtailed Echo’s power to repeating only the words of others

What do I mean by Echo?

-         Echoes are people. People who only repeat the words of others

-       They have nothing to say of their own, yet they love to talk. They just like to hear their voice and make it heard

-         There is a little Echo is every one of us... where we just want to agree & get along

-         Do you often hear things in your head which others have said and even end up saying them the exact same way? Hello….. ello.. llo.. You are an Echo buddy.

Who was Narcissus?

-         Narcissus was the son of a Nymph, Lyriope

-         He was an exceptionally beautiful boy. Movie star style.

-         Liriope was often worried about Narcissus, so she went to a prophet, Teiresias

-         He predicted that Narcissus would live to a ripe old age, as long as “he never knew himself”.

How was Narcissus related to Echo?

-         Now, we are talking

-         Well, Narcissus went hunting once, there Echo saw him, and immediately fell in love with him. She wanted to express her love to him but all she could do now was repeating the words of others

-         So, when Narcissus finally saw her, all she could do was to repeat what Narcissus had just said. Not a very good way to make someone fall in love with you. I would have been irritated too.

-         So, there she was in love in Narcissus, rejected because she had no words of her own. Tells you something doesn’t it?

Where did this story lead to then?

-      Yes, there is more. Well there are different versions actually on how the story goes on. There are always so many versions to everything in mythology. Gossip, I am telling you.

-         I am going to take the one which is slightly more apt here.

-         After this, Narcissus comes upon a calm stream, he bent down to drink some water and sees his reflection in water

-       The boy finally found himself. In his sixteenth year, the boy fell in love with himself. Mythology is just so beautiful.

-         So there was Echo pining for Narcissus’s love could now repeat the words he said to himself “I Love You”. But it was a bit too late.

-         And there was Narcissus, in love with himself

-         What happened to both of them, well I am more of a big happy Punjabi wedding ending kind of guy, so I will skip that. There is always Google though J

            

 Why am I Discussing this?

-         Hmm, well one reason is that there are so many Echoes & Narcissuses out there

-         Second, there is a bit of them in all of us and we need to realize that before the fate of Echo and Narcissus is repeated for us too.

-         I am not saying that appreciating the great things others have said or liking yourself is bad. But excess of everything is bad. So this is like a public disclaimer

When am I an Echo?

-         Well a clue, I dropped earlier, that you often end up repeating the words of others

-         You quote established authorities when their quotes are in favor of your argument, or just to show off.

-         You talk in clichés. Totally, awesome, dude J

-         There are times when these clichés aren’t bad, when they show to others that you speak the exact same language. You feel about things in a manner they do, your thinking pattern is like theirs

-         But be very beware of overdoing it, because then you are only an Echo. A mere repeater. You, like Echo will lose out on things which require real thought. You will think like millions others do, hence gullible to the men who know how you work

When am I a Narcissus?

-         Hmm, this is a bit tougher. See loving yourself isn’t bad, but being self-obsessed is. The thin line between the two, you will have to spot.

-         Do you think you are the best there is, was or ever will be? If the answer is yes, there is your clue buddy.

-         You do different things, just because you don’t want to be part of the crowd whether they do any good or not. You just like to do “your own thing”

-         You are the best and you love yourself, what is there not to love, you are absolutely perfect

-         And those who don’t, well what good are they, fools, they will realise one day how spectacular you are.

-         Hmm, we have a problem buddy, and I know you are the kind of person who will be very hard to convince on this too, because once you have made a decision, it’s final. You made it, after all. And accepting that this is a problem is a bit against your values.

-         Well, there is a price you pay for everything and you just better be prepared

Where does one end and other start?

-         I know, I know, by now many of you must be thinking that the two of these are exactly opposite. One is a person who only repeats what others say and other is a person who thinks for himself and thus does “his own thing”

-         Well, they aren’t actually, often you will find the same person having both of these in them and Boy, are they common!

-         They do their own thing which a million other people are already doing. They don’t want to get their hands dirty doing little things. That is for other mortals. They are the best, thus only the best will do for them.

-         The best though is the one that everyone else has proclaimed to be the best. For therein lies the Echo.

-         Echo might not have been able to make Narcissus fall in love with him, but there are millions out there, may even billions, who seem like a result of the consummation of the love of the two.

What is my advice to people around them?

-         None, Don’t try to do anything

-         And please do not try to change them. They can’t be changed by you. People only change for the people they love and they only love themselves. They are the only ones who can change themselves. You can if you are smart enough, show them that changing will be good for them

-         Another reason why you shouldn’t do anything is because you never know; you never know when one of them evolves into a god. The one that makes the path to a better future or builds a better world for all of us.

Never underestimate the power of Ego, don’t try to control it for it will only unleash itself with full vengeance, sooner or later. If possible, deflect it to something positive. Loads of hungry kids to be fed out there, Loads of dark lives to be enlightened.