There's quite a lot going on in "The Myth of Er". It is a beautiful story, rich with imagery and symbolism. It is essentially a description of the afterlife and all that one can expect to find there upon dying. The story is supposed to have been told to the world by a man named Er, who died but then was sent back to Earth as a messenger to the people.

The initial "station" in the afterlife was a room, a sort of entryway with multiple doors leading to and from Earth, the heavens, and hell. People were constantly coming and going, congregating with one another, and describing experiences from their respective pasts in their respective locations. They traveled then in group to determine which life they would have next.

Er described the way in which unjust people were punished for their past crimes. According to him, they were forced to endure ten times the amount of pain and wrongdoing that they had inflicted upon others in their lives. A tyrant, for example, might be stuck in hell for next to eternity if he had caused much pain and suffering. The souls coming up from hell seemed to have an interesting, unsettling experience. As they approached the doorway leading back up to the portal of the afterlife, if they were greeting with a roar, that meant that their suffering was not yet through. The opening would not let them through and they would be dragged back down. If, on the other hand, they were met with silence, then their suffering was over and they were allowed to leave.

The groups each spent several days in a meadow and then embarked on a journey to the "spindle of Necessity" where they would decide their fate. They were met there by several Sirens as well as by the daughters of Necessity, the Fates: Lachesis (past), Clotho (present), and Atropos (future). Each soul was essentially given a number, and in that order they could choose what life they wanted to live next from an assortment of lives. Some lives were good, some bad, some just, unjusts, etc. The souls were encouraged not to choose to quickly and to thinks things through, but some were rash and chose unwisely. The souls that chose unjust lives without thinking were often the ones who had come from heaven and had no understanding of suffering and pain. Those who chose most wisely and chose lives of just, simple people were often the ones who had experienced horrors and suffering. Some, of course, chose lives of animals, and there were animal souls who made the switch over to humanity as well.

This is the big section of the myth, the one that we will undoubtedly want to focus on first and foremost. The choosing of a life; how to chose the most just life; how to recognize and lead a virtuous life. It seems, against intuition, that some do not wish to lead a virtuous life. They are overpowered by greed and the hunger for power, and they have no conscious understanding of the necessity of virtue. Others let such greed and ignorant passions get in the way so that by the time they realize that they have chosen an unjust life they are overcome by rage, regret, and despair. Choosing the most virtuous life takes thought, inspection, and rationality.

After choosing their lives, the souls traveled to the barren Plain of Forgetfulness, to the River of Unheeding, where they drank the water that would make them forget all that had passed and where they were eventually sent up to Earth to be reborn. This barren, desolate land seems like a horrible place to end the experience in the afterlife. It is empty and desolate, and they drink water to become, themselves, empty of memory and emotions.

More Interpretation and Adaptation

Back to the Myth of Er