Having a High at Delphi

This summer I had an opportunity to visit the bellybutton of the ancient world. My wife and I took a trip to Greece which included several days on the mainland and three days cruising to some of the lovely Greek Isles. Our trip began and ended in Athens where we explored the ruins of the Parthenon on the Acropolis one day and then spent another day walking around the fabulous Museum of Ancient Archaeology. We took day trips to see some of the other sites in the capital city. Then we bordered a Louis Cruise ship to sail the Aegean Sea and stop at the ports of Crete, Mykonos, and Santorini. Each of these islands was extraordinarily beautiful and rich in historical content.

Greece is the country that originated many of the concepts and procedures that we take for granted today. The notions of representative government and democracy began in Greece. Such famous thinkers as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato gave the world the first and most powerful understandings of philosophy. The field of medicine was propelled by Hippocrates and other Greek healers of ancient time. Believing as they did in "a healthy mind in a healthy body," the Greeks were among the first to recognize mental illness as a medical condition that also influences physical health. But what interests me most of all is the fact that psychology had its roots in Greece. The very name of the field derives from the Greek letter Psy or the symbol ψ which is used even today. Even our word for “therapy” derives from the Greek word therapeia, which relates to treatment or cure.

We know for a fact that people in the time of ancient Greece turned to specialists who helped them to solve problems in their life. I had even heard reports that there was one shrine, in particular, that dated back to 1400 B.C.E. and was, for over 1000 years, a place where Greeks came for advice. I also heard that even kings and rulers flocked to the site. Amazingly, I heard, this place was only in business for nine days of the year - something it seems insurance companies are trying to do today by cutting back on services for which they have to pay! But despite these restrictions, visitors from all over the world trekked to this site and left troves of gold, silver and other treasures for the privilege of dropping in.

Why I wondered, were those psychologists of ancient times so different and seemingly so more successful than any psychologist in our times? They certainly didn't have to go through the rigorous training that we go through; yet from whence sprang their expertise? I tried to imagine the equivalent of a superstar shrink of our day living and operating in ancient times, but I just couldn't see Dr. Phil McGraw decked out in a toga and holding court without a TV crew around him. I couldn't even picture Sigmund Freud himself as being able to pull off such a phenomenal performance. Then I began to think that maybe it had more to do with location, that these specialists must have practiced in the heart of Athens itself, with the beautiful Parthenon visible nearby creating a powerful and breathtaking backdrop for life altering moments. Whoever these former-day shrinks were, I was convinced that they had to be men since women and slaves were not granted citizenship. My best guess was that they must have had the vitality and resourcefulness of Zorba the Greek. Sure, I reasoned, an Anthony Quinn clone must have been the Oracle of old.

So I set off in Greece to try to find where it was that this magical counseling took place and to find out more about the men who I thought were able to pull it off.

 Boy, was I in for a surprise. The shrine that I was seeking was not in the powerful city state of Athens or even the other major centers of Greece such as Corinth, Sparta, or Thebes. Instead, the center of the world at that time was located in the city of Delphi which is about 180 km or 112 miles from Athens. It is a spot located on the south slope of Mount Parnassus, surrounded by high cliffs. Getting to Delphi is not easy even today. In ancient times it required a long trek across the mountains or a sea voyage to the North Shore of the Gulf of Corinth. Notwithstanding the difficult journey, thousands of visitors came to this one spot. Greek legend has it that Zeus, king of the gods, released two eagles, one from the West and the other from the East, and they met in the sky above Delphi. This location was dedicated to Apollo, the son of Zeus who just happened to be the god of revelation and inspiration. So a temple was erected there so that supplicants could come to seek guidance or prophecies from Apollo. The god would never speak directly but spoke through a virgin priestess who was known as Pythia. Ironically, in the male-dominated classical Greek society, the most influential voice, the Delphic Oracle, belonged to a woman.

I took a long bus ride to the slope of Mount Parnassus. Once there, I walked along the Sacred Way, a steep path snaking up through the sanctuary toward the excavated ruins of the Temple of Apollo. In ancient times there would be priests and temple attendants who would line up the petitioners in rank order, giving priority to diplomats, military commanders, athletes, poets, and, last of all, mere heads of families. I doubt if I would've even qualified for professional courtesy. Then, as now, the procession took us past bronze statues, war monuments, and treasure houses dedicated in the past by grateful visitors. We could also see the remains of the terrace of the temple where had been inscribed the famous slogans, "Know Thyself" and "Nothing in Excess." From there we continued up the ramp where we could see the remains of Doric columns of the temple. In ancient times, visitors would be ushered through double doors into the temple itself where there burned a constant pinewood fire attended by women of Delphi. The final dramatic approach to the Oracle would lead downward into a sunken space below the level of the temple floor where the visitor would find a gold statue of Apollo and the omphalos (meaning "navel" in Greek lore) stone that marked the sacred spot. The Pythian priestess who would be on duty would sit in a recessed inner sanctum, called the adyton, a Greek word meaning "not to be entered." So visitors would stand outside the sanctum, ask their questions, and await a response.

How, you're probably wondering, could a mere mortal, an uneducated girl for that matter, command such respect? Was this some kind of a monumental hoax? Was the Oracle merely telling people what they wanted to hear or even giving alternate answers if more gold was provided? And weren’t visitors bothered by the fact that the Oracle spoke as if in a trance, communicating in strange tones and with cryptic and hard to understand answers?

Notwithstanding, to the ancient world, the word of the Oracle was accepted as the god's honest truth. No King, citizen, or private person could afford to make any major decision without first consulting the Pythia. She even told Oedipus that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother, and we all know, thanks to Freud, how that complex story turned out. But, unfortunately, after a long and glorious run, the Pythian Psychology Practice had to close down. There was a major earthquake in that area in 373 B.C.E., and after that time the Oracle's powers seemed to diminish. Delphi was no longer the prestigious place it once had been.

It's only since modern times, the 1980s to be exact, that archaeologists and geologists were able to figure out what was going on back in the high days of Delphi. I say "high" instead of "hey" because modern evidence points to the fact that the Pythia was literally in a chemically induced trance state. Geological surveys conducted in this century prove conclusively that there was an exposed fault line both East and West of the Temple of Apollo. These intersecting fault lines ran under the Temple. Where they met there was a fissure in the rock over which the Pythia sat. Roughly nine times a year gases would rise up along the intersection of the two fault lines and would enter the private sanctum over which the Oracle sat. Writers at that time, such as Plutarch, reported smelling an intoxicating aroma, like expensive perfume. Scientists have now figured out that the Oracle was probably high on a gas known as ethylene which works twice as fast as laughing gas and achieves similar effects with only half the quantity. In low concentrations, it can induce a trance state; in high concentrations, ethylene can produce complete unconsciousness. My anesthesiologist daughter Suzanne, who jokes that she passes gas for a living, notes that many writers and poets of the 18th century created their crafts while under the influence of ether - so the influence of gas was (and is) profound and even magical.

Fast forward to the present where the cynics among us might say that all psychologizing is a gas! But I believe that we, the modern priests and priestesses of the healing arts, can learn a lesson from the Oracle. Centuries later, the dicta "Know Thyself" and "Nothing in Excess” still have resonance. People face challenges better if they non-judgmentally become more aware of their skills and limitations, and if they take moderate rather than excessive steps to change. As therapists, we need to use whatever legitimate means at our disposal to energize, to inspire, to motivate, to enchant our supplicants to pursue that sacred path.
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This summer I was also inspired to write an essay in response to some articles in the New York Times about a psychologist in Gaza. This extra newsletter can be available off-line if you send me a personal e-mail requesting to read it.