The Odyssey by Homer

 The Odyssey by Homer

From a Positive Psychology Perspective

Based on The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky

 

Let’s see: We have Flow, Goals, Religion, some Socializing, less forgiving and some acts of kindness…I’ll try to look in here at the Happiness outlook on the most famous journeys of all.

The Odyssey is one of the best known, rated, analyzed masterpieces. It even inspired Ulysses, placed at the top of the pyramid of 20^th century literature.

I went through it as a teenager, although it must have been an abridged, adapted version. I do not remember the words, the style but I find it difficult to accept that I could enjoy the original back then. The story is overwhelming and it reads as a thriller, an action packed modern saga…it has given ideas to Hollywood producers, artists ever since Homer has written it.

How about thinking at it from a different angle:

Ulysses and Penelope as role models, overlooking their faults and finding or the merits, or, perhaps better- learning from their mistakes

“Learn to fail or fail to learn “

-in the words of Tal Ben-Shahar from Harvard.

 

The extraordinary qualities of our heroine and hero include resilience, bravery, strength of character, high self-esteem, leadership, excellent EQ- Emotional Intelligence

 

From The How of Happiness Perspective, if we were to look at the “Happiness Activities „tested and recommended by Sonja Lyubomirsky  

1.       “Happiness Activity No 4: Practicing Acts of Kindness- doing good things for others either friends or strangers, either directly or anonymously, either spontaneously or planned

2.       Happiness Activity No 5: Nurturing Social Relationships-picking a relationship in need of strengthening and investing time and energy in heeling, cultivating affirming and enjoying it

3.       Happiness Activity No 6: Developing Strategies for Coping-practicing ways to endure or surmount hardship or trauma

4.       Happiness Activity No 8: Increasing FLOW Experiences-increasing the number of experiences at home and working which you LOSE YOURSELF, which are challenging, absorbing

5.       Happiness Activity No 9: Savoring Life’s Joys-paying close attention, taking delight in life’s momentary pleasures and wonders, through thinking, writing, drawing or sharing with another

6.       Happiness Activity No 10: Committing to Your Goals-picking one, two or three significant goals that are meaningful to you and devoting time and effort to pursue them

7.       Happiness Activity No 11: Practicing Religion and Spirituality- becoming more involved in your church, temple or mosque or reading and pondering spiritually themed books

8.       Happiness Activity No 12: Taking care of Your Body- engaging in physical activity, meditating and smiling and laughing”

I think we have eight happiness activities out of twelve quite well represented, even if at times, I had a feeling of unease when contemplating the cruelty and indifference with which adversaries were killed, maimed, dismembered.

If we are to compare Western cultural values to Eastern ones, it is interesting to take The Iliad and The Odyssey and compare it with fundamental Eastern works -were compassion seems to be the basis, enlightenment, giving up desires, negative emotions such as envy, jealousy.

On the whole, the Iliad and Odyssey have as a starting point: jealousy, vengeance.

 

Be a merit finder, not a fault finder:

Ulysses is the quintessence of values, at least Western ones:

1.       coped with trauma and adversity –happiness activity number 6

2.       was kind to some folks (if merciless with others) –happiness activity number 4

3.       nurtured social relationships with Penelope, albeit after some twenty years- happiness activity number 5

4.       had flow experiences, he was very engaged in the middle of battle, slaughtering opponents and losing the sense of time and space- happiness activity number 8

5.       enjoyed the moments of life- this how Homer described it – happiness activity number 9

6.       this is the strongest point _ Commitment to Goals (happiness activity number 10) Ulysses was determined to get back home, to Penelope and his son, and went through the whole ordeal  of fighting Cyclops, resisting temptations, weakness, fatigue, frailty to achieve his goal

7.       Practicing religion (or spirituality) Ulysses was in a constant communication with the Gods, who helped him very often- showing up in person, to give advice or solutions- he was so good with people’s skills that he was sought after by Athens herself.

8.       What more can we say about the last, but nor least happiness activity- taking care of your body: I bet having to slaughter so many well prepared Trojans counts for a good workout.

 

In a more ambiguous note: Ulysses is the ultimate hero, but Being Human, he does have a number of failings.

Even doing his homework and all the activities punched up above, sometimes there is a feeling of distaste- I bet he burned a lot of calories while beheading enemies and the result was a great body, but think of all that blood and the sweat…is it moral, hygienic?

I have no qualms to say that I am not comfortable with thousands of deaths, a few hundred…well., maybe in the name of the theory that war purifies and is necessary once in a while, although people die even in undeclared conflicts, like the one next door in the Ukraine (of today, perhaps Russia of tomorrow) where there is no “hot “war, at least they have not declared war on each other, but they still use the military…

By the way, this is funny:

Putin had declared repeatedly that he did not send troops in the Ukraine, it is the locals…but in one city, these “local people” have occupied some theater thinking it is the town hall…so, yeah, right, they were local people, but from the region of Siberia…that’s why they could not tell one building from the other…

In the days of Ulysses, the times were even harsher, but it still seems a bit barbaric, if I am not using a Russian standard;

I have been shocked to read in The Economist that only 3% of the Russians think that what happened with the Crimea is wrong and less than 1% feels ashamed.

When Ulysses gets home: we can’t expect a Buddhist attitude of compassion, forgiveness and empathy with the suitors who wanted Penelope and her fortune, but death to all of them seems a bit harsh. True, they all talk about peace after all the killing spree, but they could have been more forgiving.

One added pleasure, for this re-reading of The Odyssey was the fact that I listened to a version where the story teller is George Constantin a man who had the magnificence of Ulysses, the humor of Monty Python, the presence of Zeus and the magic of Houdini.