Have you ever wanted something so bad you could taste it? I’m sure many of us have experienced an intense desire for something: more wealth, more love, more fame, and so on. Quite often, however, the things we desire aren’t what they seem, and they can leave a bad taste in our mouths.
In the cautionary tale of King Midas, his desires left him with no taste at all—literally. Despite his suffering, however, he eventually recovered.
How might we recover from the bad consequences of our extreme desires?
The Midas Touch
King Midas was a character in Greco-Roman mythology who was filled with greed. As the story goes, Midas showed great hospitality to the wise satyr Silenus, mentor to the god Dionysus. When Dionysus discovered that Midas was kind, he granted him a wish. Midas, without thinking clearly or rationally, let his desire for massive wealth take him over, and he wished that everything he touched would turn to gold….