Are we human? Or are we...

It's very much sad that the nation of Greece is at the constant heart of unrest as it's economy struggles through such turmoil.

Greece - the birthplace of theatre, civilisation's very heartbeat.

And, it is true, the notion of democracy and politics - as we know it - also have Greece at their peak of their historical point of lineage.

Then, of course, they also have handed down - to the scholarly or those with still active imaginations full of the wonder of life - the beautiful Greek myths and the tales of their Olympian Gods and Goddesses.

Much of the nature of the Greek myths can be summarised in one sentence: allegories to the rites of passage for mortal life and explanation of the possibilities of a spiritual life.

The curiosity comes in examining Greek mythology.

For a swathe of tales which describe the very essence of the meaning of living, much of what is described seems impossible in modern times.

To assemble a motley crew and go off on a free-spirited quest for the golden fleece? Couldn't happen today. Think of how many bureaucrats and health & safety regulators would put a stop to such a desire.

The spirit of human adventure appears to have been regulated into non-existence.

Though should we be surprised?

The fact that the modern Olympics are coming to London 2012 is impressed upon us all the time.

But they could never bear resemblance to the Games of our Ancient Greek forefathers.

For a start, the athletic sportsmen who participated would have been naked in the sporting events.

See, back then, the human body was not something that had been treated as an object of revulsion and disgust.

Through a warped sense of morality, we have even deemed our own very physical construction to be sinful.

...unless the State wants to take sneaky pervy photographs of our naked bodies at an airport, of course.

And when one thinks about the necessity of our regimented lives - work, sleep, paying bills, adhering to legislation and statute all over the place...

...one thinks back to the Ancient Greeks myths and archetypes.

They described the very nature of existence for the human animal.

Yet we would not be allowed to engage in many of the very human rites of passage that the old myths of Greece allude to.

We have been out-Governed to the point where, our fat arsed, beer swilling, Sky Sports watching non-lives seem so removed from the human condition detailed in Greek mythology that one wonders whether we are human at all.

And before people think of The Killers song, we're not 'dancer' either. We seem to be headed to a point where we are so culturally sterilised that even a waltz seems like an activity too ambitious to contemplate for a majority.

How did we come to this?

Over-regulation and over-Government. Ignorant petty rules and laws. Busy-bodying, interfering do-gooders with too little personal wonder for the world that they had to ruin everybody else's.

Oh, great Zeus, if only you could set us free to be human again...