Written by Catherine Raf

 

 All important concepts in life are defined by their opposite.

Close Vs. far away.
Very Vs. little.
Travel Vs. Nostos* …

Really, who appreciates “the little”, the small things in life when they've always had “a lot” or big things? Who really appreciates and loves their homeland, if they have never felt nostalgia, after long years away from home? How many of you would you choose a close holiday destination rather than a place far away, full of charm to explore, knowledge, diversity and challenge? Most of us, we would just want to go EVERYWHERE and explore as much of the world as possible! On the condition, however, that we will always return home.

As for myself, since I was a child, the same paradox has accompanied me. Ithaca (the symbol of ultimate goal and destination in life), from my home, is only half an hour away...

In the morning, I open the window and I always see her… so close, just a breath away, beguiling me with her proximity. But no...“Ithaca” is never so close. Because the opposites of “Ithaca” - the journey and adventure- are the measure of her value. Ithaca is defined by them. She is evaluated by the journey and adventure. She is idealized through them.

We travel from day to day, from experience to experience. We taste the sweet fruits of oblivion of the Lotus-eaters. We are charmed by the song of the Sirens. We are crushed between Scylla and Charybdis. We are disappointed by the storms that Poseidon throws in our way. But, above all, we always long to return to our source, to our homeland, to our Penelope-soul.

But, there are also those non-believers, who have lost the source of their existence, and because of their idleness, they dream of bloodless “Ithacas”. Uneducated, fugitives, misfits, miserable, little cowards. Why? Because they audaciously demand a life without wisdom, without the lust of nostalgia, without the satisfaction of justification and fulfillment of their highest desires. As if life owes them a good time without toil, value without reward, a degree without education. What value would “the impossible” have if it were easy for everyone, all the time? How would we define our highest goal in life if we didn't have to count the steps, one by one, until we reach it?

Every time you fall down a step, it doesn't mean you say goodbye from the top. You only say goodbye to success if you are afraid to get up again, even if caught on one leg. Even if you are tired and dressed in rags, like Odysseus was, in front of dangerous and greedy Suitors, before their defeat.

The most attractive thing about the stories of my homeland, Greece, is that, we can distinguish historical and geographical elements clothed in the mantle of Myth. Odysseus is said to have traveled from Troy to the Mediterranean, from Sicily to the coast of Africa. Still others, scientists and historians, state that he crossed the Heraklion Columns (today's Gibraltar) and reached South America. Some see him traveling even further, to the stars distinguishing, for example, behind the Sirens, the star system of Sirius and behind the ship of the Phaeacians, a remote-controlled spacecraft. Others, who believe in reincarnation, saw Odysseus' journey as the journey of the reincarnated soul. In each adventure of Odysseus they discerned a different life, a new challenge that the soul faces, until it gradually awakens and returns to its divine homeland.

There have been many who have questioned the existence of Odysseus and other heroes of the Odyssey, and even Homer himself, stating that the Odyssey herself comes from a synthesis of different, epic texts. Many thinkers look to the Odyssey for questions and answers, and will continue to do so in the future. Yes, the truth is one, but in the Orphic world it is subject to many interpretations. That is why it has many levels of reading, awakening and many secrets.

After all, Odysseus is me and you. Odysseus is everyone! The journey we will all take, sooner or later, to our true “homeland”. Until then, we are planets in the vastness of the universe, lost wanderers, like the heroes of Homer. Odyssey is the song of our nostalgia. The pain of Nostos, our longing and pain for the return to our source. The loss of our connection, to our roots, is a painful experience as such loss is connected to a fundamental loss, the loss of ourselves. Until we return, let our wish, for reunion and hope feels like those talks of soul comfort and wisdom, exchanged by immigrants who feel nostalgia for their homeland.

Eventually, we who lost,
we who forgot,
we who ate the sweet lotuses of oblivion,
we shall one day return to our Ithaca, like music, with the tender sound of our ultimate love, reunited and blessed.

Penelope Reunited with Odysseus, by Isaac Taylor, 1806, via the British Museum

* Nostos (Ancient Greek: νόστος) is a theme used in Ancient Greek literature, which includes an epic hero returning home by sea. In Ancient Greek society, it was deemed a high level of heroism or greatness for those who managed to return. This journey is usually very extensive and includes being shipwrecked in an unknown location and going through certain trials that test the hero. The return is not only about returning home physically, but also focuses on the hero retaining or elevating their identity and status upon arrival. The theme of Nostos is brought to life in Homer's The Odyssey, where the main hero Odysseus tries to return home after battling in the Trojan War. Odysseus is challenged by many temptations, such as the Sirens and the Lotus-eaters. If Odysseus had given into these temptations it would have meant certain death and thus failing to return home. Nostos is used today in many forms of literature and movies.