Don't look back!

mathman

Valued Senior Member
Greek mythology has the story of Orpheus, where his music so enchants Hades that Orpheus is allowed to rescue his wife. However he is told not to look back as they emerge. He does look back and loses her.
Genesis has the story of Lot and his family, being the only good people in Sodom. They are told to leave before God destroys the city, but are told not to look back. Lot's wife does look back and is turned into a pillar of salt.
Are there similar stories in other cultures?
 
Greek mythology has the story of Orpheus, where his music so enchants Hades that Orpheus is allowed to rescue his wife. However he is told not to look back as they emerge. He does look back and loses her.
Genesis has the story of Lot and his family, being the only good people in Sodom. They are told to leave before God destroys the city, but are told not to look back. Lot's wife does look back and is turned into a pillar of salt.
Are there similar stories in other cultures?

never go back
never look back
always move forward
always look ahead

always look to the future not the past

always be positive & dont dwell on the past

there are soo many different messages inside the simple term "don't look back"

a pillar of salt is interesting if it is factually correct
salt would be quite valuable
i wonder what relationship the salt has to anything

if you are looking for strikingly pronounced behaviors
you could compare to adventurers who would burn their boats on arrival to prevent anyone from running away
the ritual act of burning a fire & the reality of no chance of escaping back into the past life
dont look sail back

is also used as a cultural practice of fire ritual in many cultures for thousands of years.

having a fire might also be interpreted as a "dont look back" physical symbology
 
[...] Are there similar stories in other cultures?

In one of the accounts of Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu, there's a parallel of the latter paying the price for not heeding general warnings, but it doesn't seem to involve a specific rule of "don't look back".

Enkidu ignores instructions about how to act in the Netherworld (when he journeys there to retrieve some items). As a result of that, Enkidu is condemned to stay there. Gilgamesh pleads with the gods, and they allow the ghost of Enkidu to temporarily rejoin Gilgamesh. There is some kind of questioning session between the two that commences, but from there the text on the rest of the tablet is lost.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkidu#"Gilgamesh,_Enkidu,_and_the_Netherworld"

_
 
from burns
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see, I guess an’ fear!

...........................
and the rest of it
Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
’S a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss ’t!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see, I guess an’ fear!
 
Salt of the earth rings a bell from a Christian perspective. I think becoming pillars of community is another positive aspect of looking back. The don't look back mindset I would assume is about moving forward and about accepting change as part of the process. Another story or rather Christian relevance is written in the new testament. Something about leaving everything behind in our homes and not returning for anything, but again, I have to assume there are benefits either way, although doing so is often thought to be a "don't do". All things working together for the good of those who love God is the premise in this view.
 
Are there similar stories in other cultures?

From the Boston culture comes Tom Scholz's take on this:

Don't look back, a new day is breaking
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is calling - today is the day

I can see that it took so long just to realize
I'm much too strong not to compromise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around - Oh, yes, I will

I finally see the dawn arriving
I see beyond the road I'm driving

It's a bright horizon and I'm awake
I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shining, the clouds are breaking
I can't lose now, there's no game to play
 
Destruction by fire and brimstone seems harsh but I might understand the why, at least as the why pertains to a place like Sodom and Gomorrah. It was a type of sin that cannot be tolerated. The thought sickens me and makes me angry. Rape is nothing to be light handed about.
 
I just went through the text again. A few red flags popped up. 1. Lot was at the gate to greet new comers. 2. He implored the two angels to come under his roof instead of venturing into the city. 3. They all came and surrounded his home. All of them ... 4. He offered his daughters to go in their sted who had never known men before. 5. When speaking to son in laws about the coming destruction of the city, they found it to more mockery than severe

The point, I would assume is that Sodom and Gomorrah was an extremely foul place and dangerous, worthy of being destroyed. 6. Incest came after the departure which had far less severe consequences than those faced by the people in the city.

It must have been one hell of a messed up city. Rape very likely just one piece of the puzzle making it worthy of being destroyed.

Don't look back? Are you kidding me. RUN!!!
 
Was the city destroyed though for certain? It was the mockery suggestion that intrigues me on that point. I'm curious. It was a gated community and guarded apparently. Why were the angels so controversial to the citizens? That's the biggy. What made them so contraversial?

Did Sarah become a pillar of a guarded community or did she actually turn into a pillar of salt or was it a metaphor for being consumed for dinner or were they getting rid of Lot the gate guard and his daughters?

Too vague a story to make a lot of sense of it with certainty.
 
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Why was Lot guarding the gate and implore the two newcomers to come into his home?

Moab and Ammon

Was he the resident pimp and his two daughters those needing offspring?

Maybe the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah were tired of it and Sarah too. Maybe they became some of the first to be ousted by counter culture tactics and Sarah and the others, as well as the two new comers lived happily ever after- after the trio settled in Moab.
 
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In any case, stories like these were told and passed on until later when they started to create written accounts of them. The missing pieces, the events leading up to, the situational realities that provoked the telling of all relevancies to the facts, and veiled via lack of disclosure or variance between story tellers. You asked if there were other stories similar, which is a great inquiry imo.
 
Where I stand at the moment on Sodom and Gomorrah:

Lot was a drinker, his daughters liked men, so they decided to create a business of it. Lot manned the entrance to net new comers for monetary gain - to sleep with his daughters. Sarah liked the money, but hated Lot and so the new (not so new to Sarah) new comers devised a plan to rid the city of Lot and maybe even the two daughters. The whole city got involved . The men anyway because neither of the daughters were interested in marriage - sex and money were the motivators and the mammon worth the forsaking of marriage to the men they took money from.

The towns people surrounded the home because they were so accustomed to Lot pimping out his daughters and they played like they figured he'd pimp the two new comers also. The town wasn't destroyed. The towns people and Sarah were just fed up with it and ousted Lot for certain. The daughters followed Lot because they knew he would need them for money or they knew they were no longer welcome (a woman's intuition maybe) , but with no men around, they seduced him after Sarah said - screw you guys .... I'm going home.

She became a pillar of the community for going through with the plan. The men of the city were free from the telling of the transgressions and were one day able to marry legitimately instead of just paying for sex and making Lot a bunch of mammon (money)....the rich man that he must have been to be able to man the gate of the city.
 
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Are you giving your opinion on the historical accuracy of bible stuffs?

Was Jesus, execution all politics? :leaf:
 
Are you giving your opinion on the historical accuracy of bible stuffs?

Was Jesus, execution all politics? :leaf:

I'm playing bible detective and trying to make sense of it. Jesus crucifixion I o think was due to him being a threat to the authorities at that time. He was definitely viewed as an antagonist and it must have been political. He was becoming too popular and too many of the ruling class we're looking really bad. He was a political target, viewed as a rebel antagonist and a threat, and he likewise viewed as a rabbi or teacher, things those in authority should have been more influential and faithful in, but alas ... They had apparently lost their way to some extent becoming hard of heart... apparently.

Btw, was Sarah the name of Lots wife or was I mistaken?
 
[...] Btw, was Sarah the name of Lots wife or was I mistaken?

Technically, no name was given.

But if going by the extracanonical traditions[1] that likewise gave Jewish culture manuscripts like the "Book of Enoch"... Her moniker would have been Ado or variations like Erith and Edith ("Oh, Aaaaaaaaaah-chie!" ..... "Dingbat.")

- - - footnote - - -

[1] Kind of think of it like everything that IDW comics published about the applicable vampire character following issue #17 of "Angel: After the Fall", that no longer received any input from Joss Whedon.
_
 
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Technically, no name was given.

But if going by the extracanonical traditions[1] that likewise gave Jewish culture manuscripts like the "Book of Enoch"... Her moniker would have been Ado or variations like Erith and Edith ("Oh, Aaaaaaaaaah-chie!" ..... "Dingbat.")

- - - footnote - - -

[1] Kind of think of it like everything that IDW comics published about the applicable vampire character following issue #17 of "Angel: After the Fall", that no longer received any input from Joss Whedon.
_

Yeah, I read read something similar, Edith being a possible ... Although ado sounds unfamiliar.
 
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