In Homer’s Odyssey our
hero, Odysseus, struggles on a long journey home to his family in
Ithaca after having spent ten years in a foreign land fighting the Trojan War.
The ten year journey home is replete with trial and tribulation. Odysseus
did reunite with his family, and most modern storytellers would have
left it there and sold the movie rights. Yet, Homer does not. Odysseus
is called forth again to fulfill the prophecy uttered by the ghost of
the blind seer Tiresias.
Odysseus
must take a well made oar and carry it inland to a country where the
people have never heard of the sea. Upon arrival in this new country, a
wayfarer will greet Odysseus and comment on Odysseus’ “winnowing
shovel”, since boats and oars would not be familiar to people in this
foreign land. Upon hearing this, Odysseus will plant his oar in the
ground and make appropriate sacrifices to the gods.
Odysseus’s
life story falls into a category of universal hero myths that can be
found in cultures and civilizations spanning history. The key points of
the story include the hero venturing forth seeking adventure, fame, and
fortune in the early part of life, returning home, and then being
called forth again in the latter part of life with a new purpose. The
burying of the oar and the sacrifices to the gods are wonderful metaphors
illustrating that the journey into the latter part of life cannot
be accompanied by the tools which helped navigate the early part of
life. Fr. Richard Rohr beautifully describes this shift his book Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.
The Odyssey resonates
with me as metaphor for my own life. Many of you who know me recognize
that I am often fond of saying that “I’m on the return journey.” As
with Odysseus, I grew up on an island by the sea, ventured forth in the
early part of life seeking adventure and fortune, and returned home to
be with family. To extend the metaphor, I can share that I am now
setting out on another journey (both inner and outer) with winnowing
fork in hand, seeking to separate the wheat from the chaff before my
bones return to the earth. And, what an adventure it will be!
For those of you who find yourselves in similar circumstances, what are you being called forth to be or do in the second half of life?
