Journey Into old Age (part 4)

 Last time, I offered the third part of the workshop based on the work of Helen Luke in her study of the journey into old age which draws on a number of classic stories.  Luke’s writing on this subject is found in her book – Old Age; Journey Into Simplicity.  Here is the final fourth part of that material.

 

III The Story: Odysseus awakes with realization of the path he must take.  He now knows the journey that he must take – a journey that is now not by water as is his want, but by land.  It is a journey he must undergo with a familiar token of his past voyages - an oar, which is now his only companion. Our hero then began this unfamiliar final journey until he came to a crossroads.   At this place he encounters a stranger who repeated words that had been prophesied so long ago.  The stranger did inquire after his well-formed oar, naming it as it was first so long ago – a winnowing fan.

 

Odysseus now is given the clarity vision to see the folly of his former years.  With eyes now clear and sight now freed he looked to what lay ahead and not behind.  His heart’s yearning was to go home.  However, he knew and the stranger’s words confirmed that would only lead folly to follow folly.  He must now face his fate so that he would not condemn his son to follow him in folly renewed.  

 

The stranger continues to tell Odysseus of the effect that oar - now winnowing fan will have on those that see it.  With the taste of that apple, they will be awakened to the possibilities they were not previously conscious of.  And so, a journey now beckons and begins.  Odysseus now plants the oar at the centre of the crossroad.  There it will grow as if alive - for so it is.  Its root will seek the depths of Hades – the Unconscious - and its new-formed branches – now sprouting leaves will reach the heavens.  This axis mundi will bear the fruit of Odysseus’ life work.  And there a carne was laid to mark this monument.    

 

 

Here the symbol of his former life – the oar which cut the water and propelled him through the hero’s journey of his youth – has now taken on a new symbolic meaning – a winnowing fan.  The winnowing fan that separates the wheat from the chaff will enable us to see clearly and differentiate the wheat, which provides the bread of heaven to nourish our souls from the chaff, which feeds our egos with empty calories.

 

The journey of growing old is one of increasing humility - where we see clearly the folly of youth - the striving and the conquests that youth is inevitably err to.  Will we give in to the temptation to hold onto the dream of recapturing our fading youth or will we seek the new way in which our oars will become winnowing fans. Again we face a challenge – to plant the oar of our last journey in a new land that will grow as we continue to explore the new land of our growing old.

 

Exercise: Identify an aspect of your youth - a symbol which propelled you through your journey in life. How can that symbol be transformed into a new symbol for your journey into Old Age? 

 

I will complete our journey with the final part of the material next time.  Blessings on your journey.