Why Greek mythology is important to read

Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash

Over Christmas I was attempting to read – not Twitter Feeds or Memes, but Books. We all know the theory. But the practice is a different matter. 

You get out of the habit and you lose the taste for reading. There are always other things that need to be done - more urgent and important -  and people who need our time and attention. 

Busy doing as opposed to pondering.   

To read is a project that takes time and commitment, and that is often something busy women -married or single-  have in short supply.   

Recently when I picked up a book on Greek mythology (not an obvious place to start), I realised that something more is needed.    

 It whetted my appetite. It answered some of my deep-seated questions. The ones that nag at you and irk you. 

The questions you don’t even know you have until the answer stares you in the face.  

This book spoke to me in a way that no other book had done for quite a while.

Often we satisfy ourselves with the latest Covid figures, or data, or even interesting stories and narratives. Nothing is wrong with any of these things.

But what about a book which answers your questions? The ones that are yours because they are personal to you, wherever you are on your journey. 

To start with, what about the “Why am I here?”, and “What can I do under Level 5 etc. etc.?” 

Questions which Covid lockdowns have relentlessly presented to all of us.  

Questions we find hard to answer since our freedom of movement is limited. 

We cannot do much. 

Does that mean it is useless to hanker after more in life, because we cannot do much about the outcome right now? 

Enter the Greeks….

Prometheus, that powerful, Greek mythical figure,  was someone who thought ahead. He was a “creature of distance.” He was constantly scanning the future and pondering it. 

And because he knew that life is short and our time is allotted in advance, he could not prevent himself from asking how he was to make use of it.

In many ways we resemble Prometheus. The image of each of us “scanning the future” alongside Prometheus is a reminder that a lot of our apparent worries, frustrations are simply good old human desires for better or more good things,  and they should be encouraged and nurtured!

This space of seeing ahead, imagining, can feel exposed, even fantastical at times, and at other times quite lonely. 

But vision is precisely that -  “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others”, Johnathan Swift. 

And without positive vision, positive action is sorely limited. Taking the time to build or rediscover our vision during Covid lockdowns is time well spent, as the Greeks would tell us.

You are probably thinking that it is all very easy for Greeks like Prometheus to take a long term vision on things, marooned (as they are)  on their idyllic Greek islands. 

But living in a 21st-century pandemic is a different story. Well not completely so.

In case we think the Greeks had the luxury of a peaceful, prosperous existence, all we need do is read the story of Odysseus. It reads more like a thriller, and a soap opera rolled into one.

After 10 long years fighting the Trojans, Odysseus seems to have won the day with the infamous wooden horse of Troy. As he looks forward to a little bit of family bliss, another war of more disastrous repercussions awaits him at the hands of Eris.  

Eris is the Greek version of the wicked Stepmother in the Sleeping Beauty, uninvited to a marriage feast, and feeling affronted as a result. The goddess of division and disunity – so hardly surprising she is left off the wedding list! After many twists and turns Odysseus finds himself on a Greek island. He has the possibility of eternal youth, and the love of Calypso a seductress. But Odysseus rejects Calypso’s offer.  

The conviction of Odysseus is that life lived far from home, estranged from oneself, and therefore without structure —is worse than death itself. 

What Odysseus’s refusal contains, in a nutshell, is a definition of the life well-lived. He refuses a life of luxury with a woman of outstanding beauty, but who nonetheless is not the woman he loves. He refuses a life of bliss that feels empty for him, but instead craves and chooses a  life that is filled with meaning for him.

If we are to take a leaf out of Odysseus’ book, we too could learn to prefer our human condition- limited and mortal as it is-to maybe the easy way out.

A life lived well, practising good habits,  is one that is imbued with meaning, as against a perfect, airbrushed life without any frustration, uncertainty or pain.  

Odysseus rejects the notion that the ultimate end of life is to achieve eternal bliss by whatever means, which includes selfish and self-satisfying motives.  

On the contrary, a life well lived is worth far more than a senseless immortality!

Like Odysseus, we are called to accept what we are, and what lies beyond us.  We cannot control certain things about our existence, we are called simply to accept them. 

But we can become the best version of ourselves; or a better sibling, friend, mother or work colleague. This is worth far more than immortality, or perfection in a vacuum. 

The great women philosopher Hannah Arendt reminds us

“Nobody is the author or producer of his own life story ... somebody began it, and is its subject in the twofold sense, namely, its actor and sufferer ... but nobody is the author ...”.  

We are the lead actors in our own dramas. We have only one script with its unique blend of family, work, relationships and temperaments. It is through accepting this uniqueness that we are enabled to discover our true greatness, and also that which others have, and apply ourselves to living it out to the full.