Legend tells of a woman, gifted a box from the gods. When she opened the lid, out poured all the evils of the world.
Hatred, greed, envy, pain, poverty, disease, sickness and even death.
Once the lid had been opened, they escaped into the world. Never more to be contained.
I see that box. Pandora’s box.
I see the evils that befall the world. They have affected Arcadia in a variety of ways, but the sheep are too blind to see the truth.
Each affected by Pandora’s gifts in their own right.
Jackson Cade seeks answers for horrors that have befallen him. But it is anger that drives him. An avenging hatred to vanquish those responsible for the Red District bombing.
Jinx exhibits a hunger of her own. Not for bread, but to fill the void in her soul created by the loss of her brother. That hunger fuels her search.
Felix Foley knows of poverty. Not in a physical sense, but a poverty of loss. The loss of his show, his friendships. A poverty of relationships creates a lonely life for a troubled soul like poor Foley.
Boswick experiences the impact of disease every day in his eyes. That which befouls Arcadia before him, that which must be cleansed.
As for The Burned Man, he burns with envy. An envy of a life that he lost. A wife he couldn’t save and a relationship with his son that can only be described as strained. Every memory of his former life fuels that envy within.
It is only human nature to see the horrors that escaped that box and look no further. But when we focus on the evils alone, we miss the point entirely.
We forget that Pandora’s Box was a gift, opened willingly. Of all that was released from that box, the horrors that befell the world were a necessary evil.
We ignore the box, and forget that Pandora’s Box inscribed with three simple words… ‘I love you.’
Because every gift contained within Pandora’s box exists to teach us a lesson. Jackson Cade’s hatred exists so that he may know love. Jinx’s hunger exists to that she may know the feeling of being sated. The Poverty and loss Felix Foley faces exists so that he may understand abundance in its own time. Maxwell’s envy exists so that he may know of humility.
These are not evils, Arcadia. They are gifts. It is all a matter of perspective, and whether you can truly see what is before your eyes.
If you would spend a little time checking, you would see that one gift remained in the box, hidden under the lid.
Hope remains.
The Third Eye reveals that hope. A promise of a better world through a path seldom walked. Free of pain, free of war, free of loss and envy.
The Third Eye is the hope that is Pandora’s gift, and I am its ambassador. Hope, a prism of possibility that if you only look, you will see. My eyes are open to that hope.
Embrace the hope of the Third Eye.