Spiritual OdysseyReading Homer Alongside Augustine and Julian of Norwich Fr. Christopher Justin Brophy OP (bio) We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time. t. s. eliot, "Little Gidding" In his autobiography, A Spiritual Aeneid, the estimable Ronald Knox writes of the term odyssey: Wherever your Odyssey takes you, it must involve coming back home at the end of it. I have dared to take my title from a poem even richer in associations. For an Aeneid involves not merely coming home, but coming home to a place you have never been in before—one that combines in itself all that you valued in the old home with added promises of a future that is new. In an Aeneid, as in an Odyssey, you may be driven from your course; but, to crown the sense of adventure, in an Aeneid you do not even know where your port lies; you are bidden.1 It is not my contention that the Odyssey is a poem richer in associations than Aeneid—though I believe that to be the case. Rather, I seek End Page 51 to demonstrate that the Odyssey offers to the attentive reader the same spiritual merits that Knox attributes to the Aeneid.2 More specifically, reading Homer's Odyssey, especially through the lenses of Augustine and Julian of Norwich, leads the reader to encounter three fundamental spiritual truths: that (1) human beings are political animals whose salvation is deeply connected to communion and participation; (2) real growth occurs out of the tensions that exist in every person; and (3) the highest spiritual accomplishment of the human person is to submit to God in a spirit of trust in his mercy. Of course, Homer does not have access to the truths of Revelation, but few have a surer grasp on human nature than the great poet, and the seeds of a deeper logos are present in his poems.3 It is my hope to show that reading Homer's account of our humanity alongside two of the great Christian spiritual writers offers us deep insight into our own temporary homelessness on this earthly sojourn in the form of these three spiritual truths. Homer provides us with important insights into the human condition that can be expanded in extraordinarily fruitful ways by complementing his insights with those of Augustine and Julian. Odyssey, the Polis, and Communion When the Homeric hero, Odysseus, has the opportunity to live forever on a secluded island free from material want with the beautiful goddess, Calypso, he spends his days crying on the shore longing for his home of Ithaca: But Hermes did not find Odysseus,since he was sitting by the shore as usual,sobbing in grief and pain; his heart was breaking.In tears he stared across the fruitless sea. (5.81–84)4 This may seem odd to those who identify human happiness with a certain kind of hedonism.5 In the Homeric mind, however, the satisfaction of human aspiration can only come in the context of the End Page 52 polis.6 The Odyssey is a story of homecoming. It is not only the story of a soldier returning home from the hell of war, but also the story of a man returning to that social milieu most proper to his nature. Indeed, Odysseus's journey oscillates between coming into contact with those who are too godlike for human society and those who are too bestial. Calypso's island is an example of the former. Calypso is lonely and desires the company of Odysseus, but she is self-sufficient and does not stand in need of political society. Nor do the Cyclopses who "hold no councils, have no common laws, but live in caves on lofty mountaintops, and each makes laws for his own wife and children, without concern for what the others think" (9.112–115). Interestingly, both the godlike Calypso and the bestial Cyclopses have no need for laws or the polis. Regardless of their level of sophistication, they are apolitical. Odysseus's arrival in Ithaca is not just a...
Fr. Christopher Justin Brophy (Fri,) studied this question.