‘Narrative may be regarded as a primary act of mind’, as someone once said, and so it proves true in all great stories: they tell us the primary truths about ourselves, and often what seems to be only an objective narrative is also an internal account of what is going on in the soul of mankind. Nowhere more so than in the really great stories: all sacred literature, and add to that Shakespeare and Homer.
In the latter case, of course, the word ‘odyssey’ has come to mean a journey, and one of the most difficult and profound sort. Heroes – and heroines – can only become so by overcoming immense difficulties like those depicted in Homer’s Odyssey.
If Personal Development is a journey, is an odyssey, then what can we learn from Homer about it?
Firstly, that Odysseus himself is on a mission. Simply put, he wants to get home again and re-join his wife. But the interior mission is much deeper: it is to find the true and real Self, the Self that has been hidden and repressed by ages of civilisation and warfare; it is to be ‘home’ again where home is not just an address on the door, but where you should be and where all life is comfortable and beautiful; and it is where you find again and love ‘Penelope’, who is in reality not just your wife (or husband) but your faithful soul. Finally, it is where you destroy the ‘Suitors’ – the forces of indiscipline and chaos that have been dogging your heels ever since you left home.
There are nine core dangers you will face, and there are nine key tools at your disposal to help you diffuse them. Let me outline a couple of dangers.
The Sirens are a well-known feature of the Odyssey – their fatal song shipwrecks all mariners who pass and hear it. They were, quite literally, the fatal attractions of their day. All of us have experienced fatal attractions and been driven of course as a result. The result of too many fatal attractions is a
surfeit of experience – often expressed as knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing.
What is the cure for the Sirens? Binding – Odysseus bound the ears of his mariners with wax so that they could not hear the temptation, and got them to bind him to the mast so that he could hear, but not respond. In fact he was almost driven mad by desire, as he heard but could not move. This 'binding’ is very similar to the Christian notion of ‘lead us not into temptation’ – avoidance is the key. And along with it the use of friendship – Odysseus could not have succeeded without explaining his plan and gaining the consent of friends on board who could be relied upon not to ‘break’ the pact. So self-limitation and friendship can enable us to survive the Sirens!
A less well-known danger in the Odyssey is the Laestrygonians, who are giants that nearly destroy Odysseus and his men – in fact several of his ships and their crew perish as a result of their rock-throwing. This kind of ‘giant’ meets us in real life in the form of problems: problems too big to handle. Often we valiantly battle on, trying to get a grip on the problem, when any analysis, SWOT or otherwise, would conclude that we should run – escape the problem by exiting it altogether. In other words, not making the mistake of thinking that continued persistence in tackling the ‘giant’ is finally going to wear the giant down; it’s not, get real, and get out!
There are seven other dangers, and there nine key tools that enable us to realise our mission in life, and to get home. I shall be exploring all of this on my Personal Development course on the 24th February, 2012: http://personaldevelopmentmentoring.webs.com
I hope to see some of you there and re-committing to your mission, your odyssey in life.
The Mapping Motivation Series 
great man 😀
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