The Problems of Life as the 12 Labours of Hercules

The Puzzle, Game, and Oracle of Life

Life is always posing problems for us. Many a times, they are painful problems. We are familiar with that. However, what we did not see within those painful experience is the game it wants us to solve. Life is not less Herculean to us mortals than the game of fate that the gods of Olympia has to solve. Yet within their tales, such as the parable of the Herculean Labors or the Dodekathlon (δωδέκαθλον), are we able to derive the lessons they are teaching us?

The problems in life constantly taunts us as an Oracle for solutions.

The 1st Labour: Nemean lion

The Nemean Lion was a legendary creature in Greek mythology that ravaged the area of Nemea. Its fur was impenetrable by the weapons of humans and hence, was unstoppable. It was considered to be the child of Typhon and Echidna, father and mother of all monsters.
Slaying the Nemean Lion was the first task that King Eurystheus asked of Hercules in the legend of the 12 Labours of Hercules. One version has it that the lion kidnapped women from Nemea and kept them in its lair, in order to lure warriors. When the brave warrior would see the woman, she would turn into a lion and kill him.
Hercules tracked down the…