“And the sun set, and all the journeying ways were darkened.” ~ The Odyssey
“It struck me that Homer’s tales of Odysseus were not only colorful, foundational myths of ancient Greek and therefore of Western culture; they were also spiritual teachings, metaphors of the inner life. It occurred to me that since these tales are so encoded in the Western mind, they might be clearer, more personal and straightforward for us than the Buddha’s story. Odysseus is, after all, like most of us, a householder. Like us, he loves his home and his family above all. Yet, like every working man and woman, he can’t remain at home; he must go forth to do battle with the world. Only then has he earned the right to return…
But to go out and come back isn’t so easy. Going out takes its toll, and coming back is a struggle involving many hardships and trials. With courage, guile, and strength, with love and loyalty, Odysseus finally does return. His tale includes much of the stuff that we experience, and that the Buddha gave up: intimate relationships, passionate emotions, worldly skills and worldly goods, enemies, ambiguous and deceptive words and deeds… The more I read and reread The Odyssey, the deeper and more suggestive its details became. The Odyssey’s metaphors helped me and my students to understand the Buddhist path, and our own progress on it, in ways we had not considered before…
Now, without a grand army or a high purpose, and with no dreams of honor, conquest, or greatness, he is struggling to return to his wife Penelope and to Ithaca, the home he left twenty years before.
Odysseus’ journey home is not without its hair-raising escapes and disastrous reversals. This is not because Odysseus is a thrill-seeker or a risk-taker. With all his heart he wants to come home, and all that befalls him is simply the unavoidable consequence of that desire. Many of the worst things that happen to him are the result of his own foolishness or passion. Once or twice, just at the point of return (even within sight of the Ithacan shore!), Odysseus does or says something so stupid and so consequential that the blowback of his words or deeds sends him off again far out to sea, prolonging the agony and the longing. Yet Odysseus is no fool, nor is he without resources. Though no longer young, he is still strong and courageous. But now instead of sword and spear he relies on emotional and mental skills as his weapons: improvisation, tale-telling, guile, charm. His powerful forbearance, his undying loyalty, and his ability to hold his emotion in check sometimes also stand him in good stead. Above all, he has an unerring focus on his goal. (True, he is now and then overcome by despair or distraction, and weeps bitter tears, unable to go on, but he always comes back to his senses, and resumes the struggle.)
All this may sound familiar. The Odyssey has remained alive for us these thousands of years because its metaphors are so astonishingly true to life. We are Odysseus. Having made mighty efforts in our youthful days of bright hope, we eventually become tired out to the point of becoming realistic about our prospects. We realize we are not heroes. Yet we must go on with the journey, see it through until the end, even if, from time to time, we have to stop by the side of the road and weep. Why go on? Because love and loyalty require it. Besides, the emotional pull of home is compelling, no matter what we may think of it. We’ve got to get home…
Maybe, like Odysseus, we are finally ready simply to return home to what we are, to our beauty and strength as well as our limitations. Maybe we are ready to see that what’s wanted and needed is what was there all along, our animal life, our love and our presence. Maybe we’re ready finally to become the creatures that our deepest stories and metaphors have always described: half heavenly, half stupidly earthbound, full of wonder and awe, powerful and vulnerable. Maybe the point of our life’s journey, our spiritual odyssey, is not conquest or perfection, whether spiritual or worldly, but rather the simple transformation into what we have been all along: flesh-and-blood people in a flesh-and-blood world, feeling what people feel and doing what people do. Returning home to what we are. Could this be enough?”
~ Norman Fischer, Sailing Home: Using Homer's Odyssey to Navigate Life's Perils and Pitfalls
"I'm always talking about how what it means to be human is to have a spiritual life regardless of whether you're religious, not religious, or whatever you're interested in. In 'The Odyssey,' it's about the spiritual journey as a journey home. I use many of the events in 'The Odyssey' in my book to talk about that journey and make it relevant now. I now see that in the first half of our lives, we're really taking our places. Coming to maturity can happen when we're 30 or when we're 60. Odysseus is a middle-aged person. Both of Homer's epics are about him. 'The Iliad' is when he comes of age, 'The Odyssey' is when he comes home. The whole idea of coming home is more characteristic of the second half of our lives. People who are 60 and older are retiring from careers and starting new careers with whole different characteristics than when they were younger. They're mentoring. They're becoming quieter, more reflective, more spiritual. I'm hoping our society will begin to see people at this stage of life as a resource. Wisdom isn't a concept automatically associated with age. But it is if you take the journey and do the work."
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