May the Winds of Heaven Blow Softly: Wind and Spirituality in World Masterpieces Marissa Polodna College

In many cultures, wind has taken on its own personal identity. Through story telling wind has been given power of the supernatural in order to be used by the gods to influence or punish the heroes of Earth. The supernatural power of wind can be found within works across the world, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hong Gildong. In these stories and several others, wind plays the part of God. While the wind holds supernatural powers it is how the heroes in these works confront the wind that brings them closer to true divinity; heaven or hell. The heroes in these works either follow a path of righteousness, such as Hong Gildong, or a path of ungodliness, such as Gilgamesh. It is dependent upon the characters’ actions towards the gods and loyalty toward the spiritual elements on Earth whether they will be punished by the supernatural or protected by it. In the works of Gilgamesh and Hong Gildong, the wind has three functions; a supernatural guide toward the spiritual world, protector of the righteous, and punisher of the ungodly. Through these acts of justice, the supernatural entity of the wind is able to expose the heroes to a larger entity, either the gods or God, Himself.

First as seen in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the wind...