Humanities

      Utnapishtim's declaration that "There is no permanence" means for humans that our world is never constant, and we are always forced to adjust to it. This is because nature is always changing (this can be seen with the ice ages and the climate change that enabled agriculture to develop), and we need to adjust to nature or else we will die off as a species. As people our minds are always developing and our bodies are always changing to fit the new demands of our environment. Our world illustrates this impermanence in big ways like the consistent changing of language and in smaller ones like how no two days are exactly the same. Even Enkidu, who was created by the gods as the only creature who could challenge part-deity Gilgamesh, had to leave the earth and die.     How people get up and go about their business with this knowledge of impermanence is certainly not an easy question to answer. I think a lot of people consciously ignore the fact that they will di...

     While I have not read all of the literature mentioned in this question, there does seem to be a common thread among the stories that I am familiar with. In stories like The Odyssey  and Star Wars  (glad I finally have an excuse to reference these next to each other) the lead character or characters that the audience follows is in search of some sort of peace. Whether it's getting home after a hard fought war, to fight a war for freedom against an evil empire, or even to find and acquire the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis ( Raiders of the Lost Ark ), they are all seeking some concept in their minds they think is worth fighting for. Even when it is something physical like in Raiders of the Lost Ark , it represents something much bigger like a direct connection to God. They are also fighting against a mostly invisible, indominable force who is always present in the minds of the characters and audience. The force is not often in contact with the character...