Mastering a confused personality and transforming chaotic instincts
After Hercules had thoroughly purified his subconscious, he was given a task that seemed simple on the surface but had a profound initiatory depth. King Minos of Crete had a bull given to him by Poseidon, the god of the sea, which he was supposed to sacrifice. Minos, blinded by attachment and desire for power, refused to sacrifice it, and as a result, the bull was seized by madness and began to ravage the island.
Hercules is sent to capture this bull alive and bring it to King Eurystheus. And he succeeds, through strength and self-control, without killing it, without blind violence.
What does this bull symbolize?
The bull of Crete represents the confused and chaotic human personality, which, instead of being subject to the Soul and divine reason, becomes dominated by material desires, instinctive emotions and attachments. It is the personality that refuses to submit to the Divine Plan, rejects sacrifice and chooses its own selfish will. Then, like the bull, it goes mad and becomes dangerous to itself and others.
Poseidon, the god of the seas, symbolises the element of water, i.e. the emotional matter and subjective thinking of the being. The bull is a material force available to humans, but if humans do not rise above their instincts, that force will dominate them.
Minos and Eurystheus symbolise aspects of material authority, the physical world and the ego.
Hercules – the Soul-Ego Self – must not kill the personality, but capture it, i.e. bring it under control, teach it obedience to the higher Self. It is a subtle and delicate task: we do not repress the personality, we do not deny it, but educate and guide it.
This work comes after cleansing the subconscious, because only a cleansed personality can be mastered with gentleness and firmness.
At this stage, the seeker of Truth is invited to observe within himself the areas of inner chaos: uncontrolled impulses, sudden decisions, contradictory thoughts, mood swings without apparent cause. These are the echoes of the Cretan bull – the instinct and personality that have not learned to listen to the Divine Self.
This work teaches us the art of discernment: the personality must not be destroyed, but transformed into an ally of the Soul.
In this work, we are not dealing with killing a monster, but with taming a natural force. It is a stage of refinement, in which the seeker begins to feel the difference between the voice of the ego and the voice of the Self, between reaction and conscious response.
When the bull was captured and brought before the material authority (Eurystheus), it was defeated not by force, but by superior will, clarity and inner stability.
This work offers the seeker an invaluable gift: balance between instinct and conscience, between vital force and divine wisdom. Only an inner Hercules, that is, an awakened and active Self, can bring about this order.