Antaeus

Perhaps it would not be untimely to retell the story of Antaeus, the giant of mythology, whose strength was unconquerable so long as he remained in contact with his mother, Earth. Those who came to his country were compelled to wrestle with him, and many such, not knowing the source of his strength, would throw him to earth, from which he would gain greater power, and rise stronger than he fell. But Hercules, so runs the story, forewarned of these things, avoided throwing the giant down, but lifted him high above the strength-giving earth, where Antaeus weakened and was strangled in mid-air. There are inferences to be drawn from this classic myth. One is the reminder that close living to the good earth is a source of physical and moral and spiritual strength. This is the verdict of history as far back as it goes, and those peoples and those nations and those civilizations who have forgotten it have not fared well in times of crises. Being too far removed from the soil has often caused loss of security, living from hand to mouth, weakening of moral force, distortion of the sense of values, a weaning away from self-dependence, and even failure to survive. There is another application of this ancient story, less tangible but fully as important. Sometimes men, in the ignorance of their small wisdom, presume themselves to be all-sufficient in matters of mind and of spirit and withdraw themselves from that God and Father in whose image they were made. A dwarfing of mentality and a blighting of the spirit within are the result, and what follows is worse than physical failure, because it affects that part of man which is immortal—his spirit and intelligence. These inferences from the story of Antaeus teach timeless truths: men who remove themselves too far from the fundamental source of physical and spiritual strength, whose way of life does not quite touch heaven or earth, run the risk, like Antaeus, of weakening and withering. For safety we must keep our feet on the ground, and our thoughts and lives in touch with higher things—or we shall be stripped both of physical and spiritual reserves.