The Odyssey Cyclops Circe Land of the Dead

The Odyssey Cyclops, Circe, Land of the Dead

Cyclops = Overblown Ego

Cyclops = Overblown Ego No society, brutish, unchecked self-obsession. (Greek culture= Hospitality to strangers= cardinal virtue…the giving up of oneself. )

Violence of Over-Ego Odysseus battles Over. Ego by becoming “NOBODY”… He survives by, giving up of “the self”, abolishing ego – his hamartia, his tragic flaw…but he still struggles

Lotus Eaters, Circe, Sirens =Temptation

What is Temptation?

Temptation Those things that lure us away from the things we care about the most.

Land of the Dead

Land of Sacrifice, Grief, Buried Past… Odysseus’s Past…(Your Past!) O Meets past relationships, his Mother…How does he feel seeing her there?

Land of the Dead – Tiresias-Prophesy(p 126)

Land of the Dead Agamemnon – O’s Alternate Reality (p 132 -133). Achilles – A hero in life, humbled in death(p. 134). Odysseus – Grieves, seeks and gains forgiveness…grows less fearful of death

Our Land of the Dead… We live and die every day. We breathe in each present moment …The land of the living…(for each inhale is a rebirth, the exact same as your first breath at birth) And we breathe out…the land of the dead…(for each exhale is a death to the present moment…it is and will be exactly the same as your final breath.

Homer’s Lesson Be not afraid of death, but think, study and meditate on its impending reality…for it will come… These meditations will inform your life and make each moment sacred…in the land of the living…

Sirens Why does Odysseus choose to hear them?

Present Moment…Wonderful Moment!