Oct 277 min read

Bliss, Sacrifice and KAOS

Updated: Nov 19

A man in a colorful shirt with sunglasses walking through a town square, with a bag with a cat in it, across his chest. — Dionysus, as played by Nabhaan Rizwan, from KAOS. © Netflix

“Celestis, Divinitus, Insania, Vero.” Maybe, like me, you’ve also recently devoured the mythological black comedy TV series KAOS on Netflix where the deities of the Greek pantheon are revealed to be the ones who originally put the “funk” into the term “dysfunctional family.” And, like me, maybe you too have thoroughly enjoyed the Greek myths being reimagined, with Hera shown to be as calculating and ruthless as Zeus, Eurydice seemingly content in the underworld and not particularly desiring a rescue by Orpheus, and Persephone adoringly doting on Hades and willingly being married to him.

This month the MythBlasts have focused on unpacking the term bliss, and I want to do this via the Dionysus character in KAOS (played by Nabhaan Rizwan). In doing so, I’m mindful of the following Joseph Campbell quotation. He wrote in The Hero’s Journey: “If your bliss is just your fun and your excitement, you’re on the wrong track. I mean, you need instruction. Know where your bliss is. And that involves coming down to a deep place in yourself” (253). These words and this sentiment will become apparent in the course of my commentary.

Spoilers ahead

We find Dionysus in Episode 1 bored with being the god of pleasure, madness, and wild frenzy. Tired of being perceived as a lightweight and a disappointment, he wants a promotion. At the Fate of Falafel food truck, Dionysus innocently asks the vendor if he likes his job because he says he’s bored of his.

Vendor: What do you do?

Dionysus: I work for my dad. But he doesn’t take me seriously. I could do more with the humans.

Vendor: Huh?

Dionysus: The ... people. I’m good with them. I like them. I just want to get more involved. I want more responsibility.

Vendor: You mean like moving to HR or something?

Dionysus: HR, exactly. Yes.

Vendor: Well, tell him how you feel.

Dionysus: Yeah, it doesn’t really work like that with him. He doesn’t really do emotions.

So Dionysus heads up to Mount Olympus and asks his father, Zeus (Jeff Goldblum) for a promotion, “Just make me the god of love, or ... or, uh, war. Wisdom. I don’t know. Something serious. Something proper with influence.” But he’s sharply rebuked and finds himself back at the falafel cart. Complaining about Zeus’ attitude towards him, Dionysus receives these words of wisdom from the vendor: “Find a purpose for yourself, not your father.”

Soon after at a concert by Orpheus (Killian Scott), Dionysus is utterly moved by the performance of his song “Eurydice,” the musician’s passionate offering to his muse that professes his absolute undying love for her. He then appears bereft and heartbroken at Eurydice’s funeral when we then hear a voiceover from Prometheus (Stephen Dillane), “Dionysus has found his purpose. Helping Orpheus.”

So what may we take from this? Well, “true” bliss is never solely self-seeking. Dionysus discovering a purpose–wanting to help Orpheus be the first mortal to bring someone out of the underworld because he feels how Orpheus’ love for Eurydice is greater than death–is him following his bliss. Though Dionysus eventually needs to explain his decision to his furious father. “I gave your watch to the Fates so that a mortal could get his wife back from the dead. … And he failed the quiz, but he loved his wife. I’ve never seen anything like it. … the more I saw of him, of his love, the more I just ... I wanted him to be able to get her back.”

Bliss is a state of a co-existence

Genuine bliss always involves an element of service because our potential can only become fully actualized when it’s in service to something greater than ourselves. But bliss isn’t just about existing in selfless service. It’s also present when the psyche has arrived at a state of integration, harmony, and wholeness. Campbell’s invitation of “coming down to a deep place in yourself” won’t–on its own–automatically lead you to bliss, because service to others, or to a noble ideal or even self-sacrifice, are essential elements of bliss too.

Furthermore, bliss can’t just self-generate or exist on its own. It mostly often emerges through being in enriching relationships with other people, or with the Divine, or with animals. Bliss can also be felt when we’re in a sacred relationship with our own creativity, or when we’re steeped in prayer, or immersed in nature. And yes, human relationships often include a lot of messiness, despair, and sorrow, but the potential for bliss exists even there ... and indeed everywhere.

Service to others, or to a noble ideal or even self-sacrifice, are essential elements of bliss

Ethical hedonism

Seeking bliss isn’t the craving for it as a peak state. It’s also not about fixating on bliss as an end goal while dismissing the process and ignoring who you’re becoming (character development) along the way. Also, bliss is not a pass for selfish, reckless, hedonistic behavior with absolutely no regard of the consequences for oneself or for others. But it doesn’t need to be boring or moralistic. Following your bliss in a more rounded sense can be a highly exalted, explorative process. A euphoric inner quest can be as rapturous as any experience in the outer world. Either way, inner or outer bliss in this richer context is not simply given to us on a silver platter (as much as we sometimes wish it were!).

Pathways to bliss

We each have our own path to bliss. The most important thing to remember though is that we are all on a path. And this path is not just a journey; it’s a process of becoming. In this, it isn’t the mere exhilaration of simply feeling blissful (i.e. the naïveté of a “bliss bunny”). The vibrant resonance of bliss cries out for multi-dimensional depths, profound embodiment, and relational capacities. It’s also a state of being that requires commitment, nurture, and work, but it’s not about the hustle culture with its endless “rise and grind” attitude. Yes, an ongoing focused attentiveness is required for cultivating this state. Yet on some occasions, bliss is miraculously and graciously bestowed on us as if from the realm of the gods or from one’s Higher Self or Daimon.

Following your calling

In an interview on netflix.com describing the character of Dionysus, Rizwan states, “He’s kind of not got a life. He’s just out here partying and everyone else has gone off and got proper jobs. The god version of proper jobs, which is part of Dionysus’ dilemma. He wants something real to do in the world. He feels something deeper.” As I alluded to earlier, our genius gets expressed when it’s in service (or even sacrifice) to others, so when Dionysus turns his back on partying to help someone else, his genius– his Daimon–is awakened, and therefore his capacity for bliss awakens too. We could also note that in this respect the word sacrifice derives etymologically from a Latin term meaning “make sacred.” And as Moyers succinctly states in Episode 4 of Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, “From death comes life; from sacrifice, bliss.” Bliss co-exists with sacrifice, not outside of it.

All the best things are human

In the final KAOS episode, Zeus berates his son with this tongue lashing: “... human love, that needy, cloying, unsophisticated stuff that they experience, it’s not somethin’ to be admired. … It’s ... It’s weakness. … You’re a god. We’re gods. We don’t bleed. We don’t die. And, uh, we don’t love anything lesser than ourselves.” The gods who do not love anything lesser than themselves can never progress because they can never self-actualize into a higher level of their being or potential.

In all of this, we should remember that human beings aren’t one-dimensional. We contain multitudes: love and indifference, trust and betrayal, light and shadow, order and chaos, death, rebirth, and renewal. And precisely through experiencing and feeling these multitudes, we evolve. Returning now to Zeus’ words above, human love is not a weakness. Not in the slightest. And as Persephone (Rakie Ayola) comfortingly says to Dionysus after the tirade from the king of the gods, “Maybe the better part of you is human.” Being human means being willing to experience all the blissful perfections, imperfections, contradictions, and sacrifices that a mortal life and journey holds. Let us be thankful to the gods for this. “Vero!”

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MythBlast authored by:

Kristina Dryža is an ex-futurist, author, TEDx speaker, archetypal consultant, one of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Editorial Advisory Group, and a steward for The Fifth Direction. Based between Australia and Lithuania, her work focuses less on the future and more on the unknown. Presence. Not prediction. What’s sacred? Not only what’s next. Kristina is passionate about helping people to perceive mythically and sense archetypally to better understand our shared humanity, yet honor the diverse ways we all live and make meaning. To learn more about Kristina, you can view her TEDx talk: Archetypes and Mythology. Why They Matter Even More So Today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o4PYNroZBY&t=525s

This MythBlast was inspired by The Power of Myth Episode 4, and Myth and Meaning

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