Oh my! I don't know Corialanus and can't recall any details of Malvolio, but Hamlet - my teacher for A level couldn't account for his inaction and proposed depression, which seemed to be the prevailing diagnosis at the time among academia. Looking back, ND seems a better option. As for Hesiod - I'd say he was clearly ND and his bad relationship with his brother was caused by an ND/NT clash. His tales of Pandora (whose name means All-Gifts) seems rather misogynistic, although he will probably be putting his own spin on a tale that was already in existance. at least in Boaetia, where he settled. (As an aside, by the 5th century, Boetia was synonymous with 'country bumpkin' to the Athenians).

Hesiod makes it clear (Works and Days) that Pandora was sent to Promotheus' brother as punishment for Promotheus stealing fire from the gods to give to mankind. The gifts the gods betowed on her were to ensure the brother kept her. In his earlier Theogony, it seems plain it was Pandora (the first woman) who was the evil visited on mankind, and he keeps an element of that in his later Works & Days, although with the additional detail that Pandora opened one of Zeus' two jars (see Homer Illiad 24). 100-200 years later, Theognis had all the good spirits escape from the jar, apart from Hope, while Aesop reckoned it was Prometheus' brother who opened the jar. But that's all mere detail triggered by your mention of Hesiod. 

Post-diagnosis, I would say that Hope has released me from all the various evils I had come to believe afflicted me. Where I attributed failure A to one cause, I'd use a different one to explain failure B, and so on. Now, I only have one cause and the medicine (a word applied to Pandora's hope mopre than a millenium after Hesiod) relieves me of a shedload of guilt. I am no longer mankind afflicted by many curses, but a different thing, fashioned by other - but not lesser - gods. Hope, though trapped herself, has released me. I view my life under a different sky and am freed to explain myself or request support in another language, should I wish to do so.

I'm not sure what class I am either, or not now anyway, it's not something I think about except when confronted with anothers perceptions. But I'm another accent chameleon, only I've kept my long southern vowels so I have baarths and paarths

Not being in the top English group I didn't do Shakespeare. I remember at primary school we had a troupe of actors come in do a stage version of Pinocchio that really scared me and I wasn't allowed to leave. I think that was my one and only experience of theatre until being dragged to a performance of The Rocky Horror Show, by friends, I didn't know what it was, why all these people were dressed up and didn't enjoy it because I felt so overwhelmed. I think theatre is a whole different language and one I don't speak, I think it's one of those things you need early exposure too.

No, I have never enjoyed being the centre of attention, so did my best to avoid school theatricals, except doing technical things like lighting and practical things like scene painting. There was a very active 'youth theatre' in my home town, but I only did a bit of scene painting there. I was quite erudite and could put cadence  and expression into reading aloud from plays in class at school, so I tended to get big parts to read in Shakespeare, like Brutus in 'Julius Caesar'. My actor friends did try to get me to perform in school, and out of school, productions, but I always ducked out.

I have no idea what class I am. I never had a very pronounced local accent and the rough edges that were still evident were smoothed off at university. I am a bit of an accent chameleon, tending to subconsciously adapt how I speak towards the speech of whoever I am around. However, my baths and paths still have unaffected short Northern vowels, even after 30 years of marriage to a Southerner..

I'm really bad at acting, I think it maybe because I don't understand NT's enough to be able to authentically recreate a character? It's the same with many books, anything like Jane Austen, Dickens and family saga's in general and most "mainstream" fiction, I just don't get it, maybe its why I can't reproduce it in drama nor can I make a mask to deal with those sort of situations.

Did you do a lot of drama at school? My primary school only did the xmas nativity play and I don't think we did drama at all at secondary school, I think it was seen as "showing off". But I suspect these are class and gender based biases.

Thinking about it I wonder how much social class plays into autism, many of the people I've met who are supposed to help autistic people seem to have a very similar mindset to the teachers at school. It's like theres an expectation that there are things you won't understand or be able to do because you're working class rather than middle class, so they settle on you being at a lower level, or less deserving or something I can't quite put my finger on, that they don't do with other middle class people. Maybe I notice it more as I come from a working class background, but I have a degree and these people often look at your educational background, see a degree and make assumptions, that when they talk to me for a bit they realise are wrong, so they readjust downwards. It's totally unfair that in the 21stC things are still so class based, its often subtle but its still there 

Perhaps both Martin  :-)

hehe "moon river", flashing that is crossing things in style TheCatWoman 

I love the practical suggestion of developing "THE LOOK" .

Personally I don't enjoy watching suffering of any sort - I'm all for enabling the mouse to realise how to get itself out of the misery.

Maybe inspired by watching Tom and Jerry cartoons when I was a lot younger.

It is not directly relevant, but lately has struck me as somewhat odd. In junior school and again in 'upper school' (ages 14-16) my best friends in each time period were both to go on the become professional actors. Perhaps there is some deep psychological insight to be gleaned, or perhaps I'm just a very good audience.

I can think of other things to flash, but we won't go there and there's a lunar eclipse tonight that I won't see because of rain.

I think developing THE LOOK, is an important likfe skill, you know the look that answers the stupid question you've just been asked and any of a dozen or so more than may follow it.

I think with many NT's theres a presumption of stupidity when they encounter someone with autism, if I have time and am in the mood I play with them, like a cat with a mouse, I wind them up and watch them scurry about not knowing what to say or do. I guess it's a bit cruel really, but I've never suffered fools gladly, whilst I'll gladly watch fools suffer.

A vote for flashing one's belly as how to rebuild hope post-diagnosis.

I second that TheCatWoman 

I'm not really into Shakespeare apart from Henry V and my Greek mythology is a bit rusty.

But I don't know who writes these scripts, but I wish they'd change thier tune, this one's got old and boring. I think some of the worst ones are written for us autistics, often by those who are supposed to help us, they seem to want to put limits on us, to define what we can and can't see, think and do and what's worse is we internalise those scripts and beat ourselves or others up for not being able to follow them.

I think I mostly deal with it by being thrawn, and asking questions of the scripts and thier writers and generally refusing to allow myself to be bounded by what the deem as acceptable and doing what I want to do in the way I want to do it. Some many of the ways I've been told I MUST do things are wrong, like being told I was wrong for getting the right answer in a maths question at school, because I didn't do it the way they wanted me too.

It all reminds me of the maternity tents that women used to be forced into wearing, as if pregnancy was a sign of sin or sex, I guess they're interchangeable in this instance, that could be covered up by a very large dress in floral material with lots of lace and ruffles. I'm all for flashing your belly, there life in there, why be ashamed?

Glad you like the image - kind of an adaptaion of "bubble meditation".

Hope emerges.  It's just under the lid of the jar / the first thing I find when I go there.

Likewise ArchaeC 

Best wishes :-)  -/\- 

Phased said:

The balloon is allowed to float, catch the wind, and feel the full intensity of the emotional weather. But because it is firmly tethered by our structural practices—like Yin receptivity and meditation—it never flies away into a chaotic, untethered shutdown. We can process the data, use the energy, and then let the balloon of anger float away. The tether keeps us safe while letting us feel.

That’s a powerful image of the mind and doable to observe its reactions to external forces. 

I hope that hope emerges for you.

I’m not surprised that a warning sign flashed when you saw the worlds ‘Catholic Church’. I experience something similar when I read Catholic literature on the ‘state of women’.

I must admit, your Pandora’s Box metaphor was like a red rag to a bull, only because I’ve spent years fighting the Catholic Church system and its misogynistic views, many of which rely on the ‘Eve’ account when describing ‘fallen’ women. The similarities to Pandora’s Box cannot be ignored. My relationship with the Church ended years ago following an assault by a priest. The matter has been dealt with.  My reaction was unfair on you because the story is an ancient myth and its meaning in the modern context has changed, and more importantly, your intention was benevolent.

It’s interesting to learn how one can listen without immediate judgement or defence. You describe a state that is worthy but can be unachievable when performing a social script. Outwardly, one can give the appearance of detachment, yet inwardly a dialogue of things that may include judgement is taking place. I think anger can be healthy and justified if it leads to a positive action, eg., a service to others or self-compassion. I don’t think anyone can attain a totally detached attitude all the time, but perhaps your practice of Yin receptivity and meditation allows a little space in the day for detachment to emerge.

I would like to take that box and throw it at Zeus (and at Hesiod) because he instructed Hephaestus to create Pandora and the gods endowed her with good and evil attributes. Pandora disobeys instructions not to open the forbidden jar (box). Her disobedience causes countless plagues to be relaeased upon the earth and humankind is cursed with physical and emotional afflictions.

Parallels can be seen in the Biblical narrative of Eve taking the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, and in the historical Catholic Church’s justification of treating women as less than human.

Having said that, spiritual detachment acquired through contemplation via the church in the past, has stood me in good stead in the present. I am not a person of religious faith any more but I continue to meditate and contemplate, prioritising detachment (not desiring one thing more than another/living in the present etc.) Over the years, hope has evaded me for long periods and my energy is depleted much of the time, but shoots of hope pop up here and there.  Noticing these things, but not trying to change things, helps stabilise my mood. I do what I can and leave what I can’t, knowing things aren’t solely up to me. It sounds simple, and in some ways it is, but the results of meditation aren’t instant. I have learned that meditation (in layperson’s language) changes the brain pathways and creates new ones which enable more positive thoughts. I’m holding onto that hope.