Usually I end up posting on the thing we discussed in class that I can't stop thinking about, and this week it has been the concept of Time. Coupled with these C. S. Lewis lines that I keep reading to everyone:
It is well that there are palaces of peace,
and discipline and dreaming and desire
Lest we forget our heritage and cease
The Spirit's work; to hunger and aspire.
As I finished the Odyssey I was struck again and again with their sense of order and place. Odysseus had absolutely no tolerance for any of the suitors, and neither did Achilles for the Trojans, and yet in other times both men are seen as gracious, forgiving and loving. For them, this is not a double standard but an issue of timing.
Same thing with how many women Odysseus slept with. I mean that night with Penelope in the last chapter- that's different. In a sense, that is the real thing while all the other goddesses were just a means to that end. In our culture we would call that definite chauvinism, and maybe it is, but I am beginning to understand how it works for the story. As much as I would like to argue that sex is sex, I do understand how it's totally different for him to be with Penelope than with Circe.
And of course, what we discussed in class, the picture of two men telling their stories late into the night while the rest of the world sleeps. We, as people, have to be intentional about these times of intentional clock stopping. That is, I think, the true essence of honors. That is why the best students will tell you there are times to skip your homework for conversation, for relationship. Yesterday I didn't get some homework done because I sat and talked to my family for an hour and a half, and I know without a doubt that I made the right decision. And also, that I was influenced by Odysseus.
I really do think there is a season for everything, a time and place for war and for peace. The Greeks valued Temperance, which is just this, the moderation of all things.
I think Odysseus would like what C. S. Lewis had to say about the 'Palaces of Peace", he just might also add 'it is well that there are windstorms of war.'
Great post! I loved your use of the C.S. Lewis quote and you're definitely right about taking time out from our busy schedules for relationships and conversations. After all, at the end of the day, relationships are the things that hold us together, not homework.
ReplyDeleteMallory, I love this post! I hadn't thought about it in that persecutive before. Timing is everything in these stories. You can even link timing back to them all worrying about their fate...they know that time isn't up to them and the amount they have is precious and should be used wisely. I also agree with you completely that the relations between Odysseus and Penelope at the end were different in a sense then his relations with the other women. At the end, we see the picture of his total happiness, being back in the arms of his faithful wife. He isn't doing anything out of chore, or necessity.
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