We conclude the Odyssey today and as we discussed uh last lecture, the Odyssey is really about a homecoming about three members of a family uh Odysius Penaltz who after 20 years separation must come together again and rediscover their love for each other. And as we discussed last class, all three suffer from depression. Um, Odysius suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because war has shattered his identity, his sense of self, his worldview, his purpose. Penelpi um is depressed because the love of her life has disappeared and she doesn't know if uh he's dead or alive. Tamakz is a teenager, a young man who cannot inherit his father's legacy or his mother's wealth.
Okay. So all three are depressed. And today we will discuss how love uh brings the three together and resurrects all three. All right. Okay.
So a major topic that we will discuss throughout the semester is the idea of love. What is love? How does it manifest itself and why is it so important? Okay. So remember that consciousness is the universe.
Okay? And our consciousness is uh infinite. But we don't know that because in order to navigate our reality, we hallucinate time and space. And time and space makes us believe that we are separate from everyone else when in reality we are unified with everyone else. Okay.
So the reality that we see is a a hallucination created by our ego. Okay. And our ego makes us believe that we are separate from each other. And love is the force. Okay.
Love is the monad god or love that burns in us and compels us to return to the monad and which is which reminds us that we are all interconnected. Okay. So love is the force that compels us into unity. And when we meet someone that we truly love, we move together back to the monad. And within the monad, our love is imprinted.
And this love um becomes a force onto itself that compels us back into it. All right? So in other words, um, Penelopey and Odysius are in love with each other and they and as a result, no matter how far away they are, they still are drawn back to each other because they complete each other. Right? So another way of saying this is that because our consciousness is infinite, okay?
It exists in even dimensions. We can break our conscious into three planes. Okay, there's a plane of the mind. Okay, our conscious subconscious mind. Okay, and we are aware of this.
But then there's the spirit, okay, which is basically the heart, our emotions, how we feel. And then at at the very core of our conscious is the soul. And all three planes exist at the same time. And when all three align or correspond, we are happy. We know who we are.
We know what we should do. But when all three split apart or they are in conflict with each other, this creates the idea of cognitive dissonance. And this leads to trauma and depression. And that's the issue that uh Odysius, Penelpi, and Tamakas face where they're in their soul, okay? They know that they're all alive and they will all return to each other one day, okay?
But in their spirit they because of the distance they have a sense of depression because they are away from each other and in their mind they logically believe that uh auditions is dead and audition believes that I can never return home. Okay. So there is a disunityity of these three things and for the family to reunite they also must combine all three together. Okay, does that make sense? Right now these three different planes believe different things.
There's a different narrative and they must combine this narrative into one complete worldview if they are to come together as a family. That is the struggle uh within the Odyssey. That is the journey of the Odyssey. All right. Okay.
So, um the main idea that I want you to understand is that love is a unity of all three and love is the burning of the soul. Okay? In other words, what love ultimately is is intimacy. How do you know if you love someone? You love someone not because you think about this person all the time.
Not because you obsess about this person. You want to possess this person. You love this person. uh you know you love this person if you understand this person intimately. Okay.
So in other words, you're able to communicate um and understand each other in an intimate language with code words and secrets. You understand secrets. Okay? Does that make sense? All right.
So let's look at this concretely. Now, last class we read um uh Tamakus visiting Sparta where Helen Troy and her husband King Manalas live. We discuss how the two don't actually love each other. We know because they don't speak to each other. They say words, they tell stories, but they don't really hear each other.
Okay? So for example, the example is that uh Helen, Menelas, and Tamarakus, they all get drunk and Helen is telling stories of Troy and she tells a story of how Odysius infiltrates Troy and he's disguised as a beggar but but because Helen is the smartest person in the world, she sees through his disguise. She bathes him and then Odysius tells her about the chosen horse and then she helps the Greeks implement their plan. And so she's a real hero of the story. Okay, this is a story she tells herself.
Um she doesn't really think about the reaction of Menalos who's lost um his brother Egamenon and his friend Achilles and other many other Greeks because of the children of war. Okay. She doesn't really care about his feelings. She doesn't really hear him and he doesn't really hear her. Okay.
So, after she tells the story, remember menas tell tells a different story which is Helen, you almost got us killed because when the children horse came into Troy, you came and you tried to trick us into revealing ourselves by calling names of our wives in their voices. And it was only Odysius who saved us but because he clapped our mouths. Okay. So basically they are shouting at each other but they don't really hear each other and when is telling the story Helen just drifts away. Okay.
So this is not love. They are together because they're stuck together. Okay. Now what what now we're going to see a different version. Okay.
We're going to see what love really is like. And so what's what's hap what happened is that Adysius is disguised as a stranger and returns to Ithaca and he um he plots with his son Tamakus. Tamakus actually knows who he is but no one else knows who he is. And right now in his house it is overrun by suitors. Okay, there's dozens of them who are trying to wait for Penelopey's uh hand.
But Pump doesn't really tell them anything. So they just sit around and eat all the food that they can. Okay? They get drunk. They sleep with a servants.
They um they make a mess of things. Okay. And Odysius goes as a beggar and they just and they abuse him as well. But Penelopey hears that there's a stranger in the house and he she also hears that um um he's he knows that her husband Odysius is still alive. So she's curious and she asks the beggar Adysius to come to her apartment so that they can discuss.
Now the problem is this. The problem is that the house is full of servants and some of them are spies to the suitors and this is is disguise has disguised himself because he's afraid that the suitors if they knew um who he really was it would kill him but he also doesn't really trust Penelope. Okay. He doesn't really know how she feels about him after 20 years because really he abandoned her, right? So, um they have a conversation, but it it's a conversation that happens on three different planes, right?
The mind, the spirit, and the soul. At the soul level, they both know who each other are right away. Okay? Okay? Because they've been communicating um multi-dimensionally.
So at the soul level, they know the truth. At the spirit level, they are afraid of each other, but they long for each other. At the mind level, okay, this is really important. At the mind level, they don't know who who each other um are because if they did, they all be dead. Okay, the suitors discover who Adysius really is, they would kill Adysius.
Okay. So, this conversation between Penelope and Odysius is the first conversation they've had in 20 years. And this conversation is going to happen at three different levels. Okay? So, you need to analyze um the conversation at these three different levels to understand how love works.
All right? So, remember they're talking each other, but they're are servants. And these servants, some of them are spies for the suitors. Okay? So there's an public public language and there's a private language all in the same time.
Okay. So um Penipley asked the stranger Odysius, prove to me that you actually know my husband. Okay. So uh can you read uh Ivory? Yeah.
Uh good woman Adysius the great master of subtlety returned. How hard it is to speak after so much time apart. Why, some 20 years have passed since he let my left my house and put my land behind him. Even so, imagine a man as I portray him. I can see him now.
King Adysius. He was wearing a heavy len cape, sea purple. Okay, stop. Okay. Um, keep going.
In double f fold with a a golden brooch to clap it. Twin sheets for the pins on the face. A work of art. A hound clenching a dapsel fawn in its front paws. Slashing it as it rifts.
All marvel to see it. Solid gold as it was. The hound slashing, throttling the fawn in its death throws. Hooves failing to break free. I noticed his glossy tunic too, clinging to his skin like this, like the thin glistening skin of a dried onion.
Silky, soft, the glint of the sun itself. Women galore would gaze on it with relish. And this, too. Bear it in mind, won't you? I have no idea if Adysius wore these things at home, or a comrade gave him, as he boarded ship, or a host perhaps.
The man was loved by many. There were a few aans to equal him. And I I gave him a bronze sword myself, a lined cloak, elegant, deep red, and a fringe shirt as well. And I saw him off in his long bench ship of war in the lordly style. Something else.
He kept a herald beside him, a man a little older than himself. I'll try to describe him to you best I can. Round shouldered. He was sworthy, curly, curlyhaired. His name, Eurabates, and Adysius prized him most of all his men.
Their minds worked as one. His words renewed her deep desire to weep. Okay. Her words renewed her deep desire to weep. Okay?
Meaning that he her his words moved her spirit, moved her heart. Okay. Now, you read this and you have absolutely no idea what's going on. And in fact, no one know what's going on. The servants, the suitors, they might overhear this, but they have absolutely no idea what's being talked about.
But these words are able to move Penelope to tears because she now feels her heart stirring. She now feels as though her heart is alive again after 20 years of being dormant. Okay. Why? The answer is that in this language there is a code.
There is a great secret that only Adysius and Pelpy know. Okay? And you you can't actually find it yourself. But I'll tell you what it is and it's the word brooch. Golden brooch.
Okay. This reveals that this person speaking must be auditious. And the end and the reason why is look at the detail uh on the face of work of art a hound clinging a double film. It goes on and on and on and on. And what does this poetry reveal?
This poetry reveals that this brooch is prized. This brooch is embedded in the imagination of Odysius. So what is this thing? This is a thing that 20 years ago Adysius is about to set sail to Troy right says says to Adysius the prophecy says you'll be gone for 20 years 10 years in Troy 10 years lost at sea now says I know and prophe says take this with you it's a golden it's a golden brooch okay take this with you and promise you that you'll return this to me and what He says yes. Okay.
Now he get lost at sea and he loses the boat. But what does he bring back? He brings back the memory of their departure together. And this is what the words reveal. Okay?
It's impossible to see. All right? And it's something that you will have to discover for yourself. But I'm telling you right now what this is, right? So this is an example of the mind, the spirit, and the soul, the language working together.
Okay? And now Penelopey in her spirit knows this must be Odysius. Okay, not the mind. The mind is still stuck in the present but her soul has always known. Now her spirit knows.
All right. And then after this conversation where Penelopey is moved by her spirit to acknowledge that her husband is still alive, they can call a plan to kill all the suitors. And the plan is this. Penelopey will announce to the suitors, listen, it's been 20 years and it's about time I get married and get out of the household. So, I'm going to have a competition.
Whoever wins this competition, I will marry. Okay? And the competition is this. Now, this is has a bowl. Um, if you're able to string together this bowl and shoot a target, then I will marry you.
Okay? And the great secret of course is that there's only one person in the whole universe who can string together this bow and that of course is Odysius. No one else can do this. So the shooters don't know this. So uh there's a competition.
All the shooters try their best but they can't do it. And then Odysius who still disguises the beggar says let me try. Okay. And the shooters are like what are you talking about? You're just a stupid beggar.
Get out of here. But somehow this is is able to try and of course he strings together the bull. Okay. And this is the climax of the epic the Odyssey. Okay.
So we'll read it together. All right. Can can you um read it Ivory? So they mocked mastermind in action. Once he'd handled a great bow and scanned every inch.
Then like an expert singer skilled at liar and song, who strains a string to a new peg with ease, making the pliant sheep gut fast at either end. So with his with his virtuoso ease, Adysius strung his mighty bow. Quickly his right hand plugged the string to test his pitch, and under his touch, it sang out clear and sharp as a swallow's cry. Horror swept through the suitors, faces blanching white, and Zeus cracked the sky with a bolt, his blazing sign, and the great man who had borne so much rejoiced at last that the that the son of cutting cronis flung that omen down for him. "Okay, keep on reading." He snatched a winged arrow lying bare on the board.
The rest still bristled deep inside the quiver soon to be tasted by all the feasters there. Setting shaft on the hand gripped drawing the notch and bow string back right from his stool just as he sat but aiming straight and true. He let fly and never missing an axe from the first ax handle clean on through the last and out the shaft with with his wade raised headsh shot free. My son. Adysius looked to Telamacus and said, "Your guest sitting here in your house has not disgraced you.
No missing the mark. Look, and no long labor spent to string the bow. My strings not broken yet. Not quite so frail as the mocking suitors thought. But the hour has come to serve our master's right.
Supper in broad daylight. Then to other rebels, song and dancing, all that crowns a feast." Okay. So remember the main um problem uh conflict in the Odyssey is that Odysius his worldview is shattered. His sense of identity purpose is shattered. He went to Troy to fight for justice to fight for family to leave a legacy for his son.
But instead he he ends up destroying families. He ends up causing a war cry and he's too ashamed now to face his son. Okay. So this passage where Odysius uh assembles his bow and shoots a target, what it represents metaphorically is a resurrection of his soul, his worldview. Okay?
The alignment of his mind, his soul and his spirit which makes him invincible. now. And what allows him to assemble the bowl? What allows him to resurrect his his identity, the love of his son and the love of his wife, right? Because he first needs to um know if Penipe still loves him or not.
And he knows because they when they talk they're able to understand each other intimately. Okay. So now what's what will happen is it's almost as though um a normal person is now transforming into a Superman. Okay. And because um he knows he's fighting for right, Zeus um gave him a blazing sign.
Okay. So now that he has resurrected himself, the gods look down and rejoice and smile upon him and he knows that finally he will fight for justice, for family, for his son. Okay? And and even though uh he and Tomas are heavily outnumbered, they basically kill everyone. Okay?
All right. So now after the su are dead uh Adysius has a problem which is he now has to reveal himself to Penelope. Okay. So in the soul level they are together again. At the spirit level they're still together.
They're now together again. The mind at the mind level it's harder. It's hard. Okay. Because how does Odysius explain to her why he was gone for 20 years?
How does he explain to her that he was in disguise all this time? Okay. So, um let's read this passage to see how they reconcile themselves. Okay. All right.
So, this is Penoli um who who is still distant. Okay. This is has revealed himself but Penelope has got conness. Okay. She's still depressed and she doesn't yet want to admit to in her heart that her husband is still alive.
Okay. All right. So, she's keeping distance from him. So, he basically tells um her maid uh your to make a bed for for Adysius. She's still not comfortable with him.
So, they'll sleep in different chambers tonight. Okay. Come your move this sturdy bedstat out of our bridal chamber. That room the master built with his own hands. Take it out now.
Sturdy bed that it is. And spread it deep with fleece blankets and lesser throws to keep him warm. Okay. So, you know, I'm you know you it's all a shock to me. Odysius.
I know you're my husband, but you've been gone away for 20 years. So, I would feel much more comfortable tonight if you slept somewhere else. Okay. So, we're going to move your bed and move it uh move it out outside and and we'll cover with nice blankets. All right, keep on going.
Putting her husband to the proof, but Adysius blazed up in fury, lashing out at his loyal wife. Woman, your words, they cut me to the core. Who can move my bed? Impossible task, even for some skilled craftsman. Unless a god came down in person, quick to lend a hand, lifted it out with ease, and moved it elsewhere.
Not a man on earth, not even at peak strength, would find it easy to prize it up and shift it. No, a great sign, a hallmark lies in its construction. I know. I built it myself. No one else.
There was a branching olive tree inside our court, grown to its full prime. The bowl like a column, thick set around it. I built my bedroom, finished off the walls with good, tight stonework, roofed it over soundly, and added doors. hung well and stuck sugly wedged. Then I chopp I lopped the leafy crown of the of the olive clean cutting the sun bear from roots up.
Okay, keep on going. Pling it round with a bronze smoothing ads. I had the skill. I shaped it plum to the line to make my bed posts. Bored the holes it needed with an with an augur.
Working from there, I built my bed start to finish. I gave it ivory inlays, gold and silver fittings, wo the straps across it all gleaming red. There's our secret sign. I tell you our life story. Does the bed my lady still sandplanted firm?
I don't know. Or has someone chopped away that olive trunk and hold our bed set off? Living proof. Peneli felt her knees go slack. Her heart surrender.
Recognizing the strong clear signs Odysius offered. She dissolved in tears. rushed to Odysius, flung her arms around his neck, and kissed his head and cried out. Cried out, "Adysius, don't flare up at me now. Not you.
Always the most understanding man alive, the gods. It was the gods who sent in sorrow. They grudge us both alive in each other's arms, from the heady zest of youth to the soup of old age. But don't fault me. Angry with me now because I failed at the first glimpse to greet you, hold you so." In my heart of hearts, I always cringe with fear some fraud might come beguile me with his talk.
Okay, so again, this is a secret language. This is an intimate language between Odysius and Penelpi. On the surface, it seems as though Penelope is just testing Adysius. Are you really my husband? Do you really know that this bed is something that can't be moved?
And this says, "Yes, I know." Okay, that's the public. Okay. But at the subconscious level, at the spirit level, what what this conversation really is about is Penelopey is saying to Adysius, you know, 20 years ago, you abandoned us for glory in war. How do I know that if we let you back into our life, you won't seek adventure again? You just won't run off and uh go to war to seek eternal glory.
Now this is says that this bed is my heart. This bed is something that I worked really hard to create with loving care for years and years and years. And this is where my heart is. The bed is my love for you and it cannot be moved and it's something that is the foundation of who I am. So I will never ever leave you again.
I will make my home here with you for all eternity. Okay. All right. And so what we now see is f finally the alignment in Penelope between mind, spirit, and soul. And that makes her alive again.
Okay. All right. Now she's happy. She flings herself around Adysius and acknowledges the love of her life has returned. Okay.
So the last thing I want to discuss with you is what really is the purpose of life. So um while on his journey, Odysius travels to the underworld and he meets Agamenon and Achilles. Okay. And Adysius and Achilles have a conversation. Okay.
Okay. Can you read? Uh I agree. Yeah. But you Achilles, there's not a man in the world more blessed than you.
There never has been, never will be one. Time was when you were alive. We argues honor you like a god. And now down here, I see you lorded over the dead in all your power. So grieve no more a dying great Achilles.
Okay, so this brings us back to the Iliad, right? Remember in the Iliad um the Iliad is about Achilles and Achilles tells everyone that I came to I came to Troy because I was giving a prophecy. I could either die um an old man who no one knows back at home or I could die young as a great hero in the shorts of Troy. And of course that's not really a choice. Of course I want I want to be famous.
Of course, I want people to celebrate me. Okay, so he he goes to Troy. He kills Hector, proves he's the greatest warrior in the world. The Greeks celebrate him and then he dies. Uh and the source of Troy as is prophesized.
Okay. And so Adysius meets Achilles and Adysius says to Achilles, Achilles, you must be so happy down here because everyone worships you. And just as everyone worships you back in our world, you've accomplished everything that you've set out to accomplish, Achilles. You must be so happy with yourself, right? And then Achilles says, I reassured the ghost, but he broke out protesting.
No winning words about death to me, shining Adysius. By God, I'd rather slave on earth for another man, some dirt poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive, than rule down here over all the breathless dead. But come tell me the news about my gallant son. Did he make his way to the wars? Did the boy beame become a champion?
Yes or no? Tell me of noble Pelus. Any word you've heard, still holding pride of place among his meron hordes? Or do they despise the man in Helis and Inia because old age has lamed his arms and legs? For I no longer stand in the light of day, the man I was comrade in arms to help my father as once I helped my our armies, killing the best fighters Troy could field in the wild wide world up there.
Okay. So Achilles responds and says, "Adysius, I'm dead now. So now I can look at my life in its entirety. I can now for attorney consider what is what is important, what is purposeful, what gives us meaning and purpose. And I discovered like you know what I regret my life because I should have died an old man my family rather than go die young in the shores of Troy because being dead I asked myself what makes me happy and what makes me happy are the memories of my father the memories of my son that's what I care about that's the purpose of life that is what gives life meaning Okay.
So that is the ultimate sto the ultimate moral of the story of the Odyssey which is to say that we are here to seek love because love is what gives meaning and purpose to our our um lives. So to construct a family to build a family that you can love is much more important. It will give you much more happiness than building an empire than being the most famous person in the world. And this story, this legacy is what will become the foundation of Greek civilization, which is humanity's greatest civilization. Okay.