The Journey of Ulysses as Inner Transformation and Personal Growth
Homer’s epic is the fundamental pillar of our culture, the opening beacon that illuminated the path towards knowledge. The Odyssey is the first story that describes and denotes the moral and spiritual evolution of an individual: Ulysses’ journey leads us through the transformation and purification of the human soul.
Ulysses, the hero of the Odyssey and archetype of the man/woman on a journey, embodies the universal desire to discover one’s identity and destiny. In his wanderings, he faces obstacles and challenges that test his strength of character and wisdom, teaching us that the true value of experience lies in overcoming obstacles and the learning that comes from it. In every era, humanity faces new trials and new boundaries to overcome.
The story of Ulysses reminds us that, despite difficulties, we can always find the courage to face the unknown and overcome the obstacles that stand in our way. Through the strength of our intelligence, perseverance, and loyalty to our values, we can embark on a journey of inner growth and knowledge, following in the footsteps of Ulysses and charting a new path for future generations.
Ulysses’ journey is a warning and an inspiration to us all: an invitation to not fear the unknown and to continue to seek the deeper meaning of our existence. His story urges us to never give up, to fight for what we believe in, and to seek the truth, even when the path is difficult and full of pitfalls.
Dante and the Condemnation of Ulysses
Our reflection continues with another great masterpiece of world literature: Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.
Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” is a monumental piece of literature, a journey through the realms of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
Written in the early 14th century, this epic poem is not only a reflection of the medieval worldview but also a deep exploration of human emotions, ethics, and the quest for divine justice. Dante himself, both author and protagonist, is guided by the Roman poet Virgil through Hell and Purgatory, encountering various historical and mythical figures along the way, each suffering or rejoicing in accordance with their earthly lives’ virtues or sins.
In this rich reign of moral and theological inquiry, Dante, the greatest Italian poet, condemned Ulysses.
It’s crucial to understand that Dante’s engagement with classical characters was shaped significantly by the literary and scholarly context of his time. First of all, it must be emphasized that Dante did not know “The Odyssey” of Homer directly. Despite Homer being the master of his beloved guide, Virgil, Dante had access to only a handful of verses from the Greek epic, relayed secondhand by other authors. As a result, the Ulysses that appears in the “Divine Comedy” is not the Homeric hero known from “The Odyssey”, but rather a character reconstructed through the interpretations and transcriptions that had reached Dante. This indirect acquaintance did not lead Dante to an understanding of Ulysses that was absurd or entirely alien to Homer’s depiction. Instead, it allowed him to craft a version of Ulysses that fit the moral and allegorical framework of his poem, while still echoing the essence of the ancient Greek hero as best as he could from the fragments he knew.
However, a fundamental element is missing: The Odyssey is a journey into sin to obtain redemption, just as the Divine Comedy itself is. Ulysses, like Dante himself, crosses the dark forest and manages to overcome the pitfalls of temptation and vice. In his wanderings, we feel all the tension of man towards the search for the divine and purification from evil.
In Homer’s world, despite being in an era far removed from the events of the Comedy, some themes of the Odyssey are very close to the Dantean spirit: respect for the gods, the struggle against the temptations of the flesh, the sacredness of the family, benevolence towards guests.
Similarly, courage and the desire to return home are the oars of Ulysses’ journey. Ulysses’ cleverness is a powerful weapon that allows him to emerge victorious from the most difficult challenges.
Dante would say that Ulisses’ intelligence is not used in an ethical way: in the perspective of victory, what counts is only the end and not the means.
Although the poet Homer does not give explicit moral judgments, he is not at all ignorant of the conduct of the man Ulysses. The journey, or rather, the return is a purgatory:
the deceiving and fabulating Ulysses must pay for the sins committed. The formidable and powerful obstacles that the multifaceted man of ingenuity encountered on his journey were materialized by his own soul in the external world. He was forced to cross the inner “shadow” to regain the light.
Ulysses in his wanderings seeks redemption. And after redemption, the return home is a return to purity, it is reclaiming oneself: it is knowing oneself.
Condemning Ulysses means condemning humanity. That humanity that seeks, that questions, that grows spiritually, that solves problems, that fights against temptations.
The old Ulysses is now wise, he has seen life in its essence, he has known the lights and shadows of the human soul and would never have left Ithaca again: the journey has been completed, there is nothing left that can drag him out of his city.
Thus, finally, he can abandon himself to pity for the old father and the “duty of love that Penelope had to make her happy.”
Going even further, it must be noted that Ulysses neither left enthusiastically for the Trojan War (to which he was forced to participate by more powerful kings than him) nor would he have wanted to wander for years before returning home. He is a victim of circumstances that, in part, were caused by his misdeeds, the dark side of his soul, and an innate and uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, but predominantly, they are the fruit of forces more powerful than him.
The wandering Ulysses often has no control and is simply an unwitting victim who uses everything nature has given him to stay afloat in a stormy sea. Although we are far from the wisdom of Socrates, Ulysses’ cunning, intelligence, and tension towards his search (his not being brutish) are the potential Socratic wisdom. Socrates manages to welcome and transform what in Ulysses was only in the embryonic state.
Thus, the battle becomes higher: it moves from earth to heaven, from sword to thought, from multifaceted ingenuity to philosophical and spiritual wisdom. But without going through Ulysses, there would be no Socrates, wisdom would not be born.
Dante’s condemnation is the residue of the blindness of medieval culture, essential for the development of our civilization, but which no longer belongs to us.
Translated from italian article “Il viaggio di Ulisse come trasformazione interiore e accettazione dell’ignoto” with the help of ChatGPT — English & Italian Translator
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