The Epic Of The Odyssey - 1192 Words

Nice, friendly, bad, fake, dependable, spacy, independent, passionate. As I sift through the layers of adjectives I have been labeled throughout my adolescent life, I pose myself the question: who the hell am I? Too easily, I resort to answering that question with a list of things I have accomplished or partake in, replying with I am a runner or I sing in the choir. While both facts may be true, they fail to truly answer the original question. Now I am fully aware that I am not the only person in the world that goes through a daily existential crisis; I personally wait and panic around 5:30 in the evening. Nonetheless, the question in figuring out one’s own identity has plagued humanity from the beginning of time and continues to affect even the culture of today. Found in the Greek epic The Odyssey, the title character’s son Telemachus confronts a multitude of outside difficulties, which in turn progresses his journey to find himself. In extension, more recent works inc luding â€Å"Living with Integrity†, an essay by Bob Barret, encapsulates this same idea of finding one’s true identity, however in the context of a gay man discerning his sexuality. Innately, both these examples relate to my own personal goal in finding myself. My obstacles, both external and internal, correspond to those of Telemachus and Bob Barret. For it is through our shared odysseys of the mind that I am ultimately able to reach my apex; I am able to find myself. To begin, Telemachus encounters aShow MoreRelatedThe Epic Of The Odyssey Essay942 Words   |  4 Pageswith adversity in order to get there. However, compared to Odysseus in The Odyssey, who is strong, but untrusting, we will soon see that Sunjata is not only a man but a hero. In both texts we see each man adored by many and even compared to Gods like Odysseus in The Odyssey. However, when we break down the words of each epic we are faced to confront the truths of what a hero really is. This claim expl ains why The Odyssey expresses a false sense of heroism whereas Sunjata gives the audience and exampleRead MoreThe Epic Of The Odyssey1694 Words   |  7 PagesThe Odyssey is a epic Greek poem written by the poet Homer. The poem takes place after the ten year Trojan war, and the main hero of the poem is the war hero Odyssey, King of Ithaca, and his long, perilous journey home to his wife and son. The poem takes place ten years after the Trojan war, and Odysseus hasn’t returned home from the war where he had successfully fought.   Odysseus son  Telemachus is a bright, brave, 20 years old who is living in his father s house on the island of  Ithaca  withRead MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Odyssey1636 Words   |  7 PagesThe Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odysseus both are poems that have since early times been viewed as stories that teach the reader valuable life lessons, almost like a self-help book in today’s society. They both teach a lot of the same general lessons but there are some key similarities and differences throughout both works. Such as perseverance, and the inevitability of death are both lessons that are taught in each poem but they are presented to the reader through different interpretations. In theRead MoreEssay An Epic Odyssey1544 Words   |  7 PagesThe stories of epic heroes remain important to many cultures, the Greeks in particular. These tales of heroic men not only entertain, but they teach people about morals and values that most epic heroes exemplify, such as intelligence and bravery. To be an epic hero, characters are usually highly born, favored by the gods, perform great deeds, and have flaws. These tales are told in heightened style and occur in grand settings. Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, meets these traits and is considered a primeRead MoreThe Odyssey And The Epic Of Gilgamesh Essay1193 Words   |  5 PagesWhen it comes to the realm of epic poetry, and hero-like characters in literature, the two works The Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh can be compared and contrasted in different ways. The Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh can be compared as expressions of searches for the meaning of life through knowledge. The two stories are somewhat mirrors in this manner. Throughout each story, the characters Odysseus and Gilgamesh show growth and change. The Odyssey can be summed up by stating how the greatRead MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Odyssey Essay790 Words   |  4 Pagesadventures taken by characters as a tool to exhibit the alteration of the character’s nature. Examples of such can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey. The journeys undertaken in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey were transformative experiences for the characters in each and provided valuable cultural insights to the audience. At the start of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is the arrogant ruler of the city Uruk. He is obsessed with immortality, which can be seen in the descriptionRead MoreThe Odyssey An Epic Poem1418 Words   |  6 PagesThe Odyssey an epic poem that has stood the test of time as history is made. Homer made a story as raptured almost everyone who reads it. Even the most trivial characters seem to serve some important role later in the epic poem. Yet it seems that the meaning of this great piece of fiction changes with the changing desires of society. Yet one thing that Homer puts in every corner of the book stays the same with the test of time. The misfortune that hangs like the sword of Damocles over each characters’Read MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Odyssey1487 Words   |  6 Pagessecrets and mysterious unknowns. It is because water can mean so many different things that it used so much to symbolize important things in literary pieces. In both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey, water is used as a symbol that represents complex ideas, and it plays a significant role throughout both literary pieces. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, water is mainly used to symbolize life and death as well as rebirth or baptism. In several of Gilgamesh’s dreams water is used as a symbol that representsRead MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Odyssey1765 Words   |  8 Pagesand how their values have been passed down and evolved over time. The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey are both considerable representations of not only their unique cultures that set the very foundation of both civilization and storytelling, but also for their similar and different aspects of what they considered to be a hero. The most familiar structure to mythological stories such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey is that of a â€Å"tragic plot†. A tragic plot is a perfect plot that is connectedRead MoreThe Epic Poem The Odyssey 1459 Words   |  6 PagesHospitality has been around and important to cultures for almost forever. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, there are many themes, but the theme of hospitality reoccurs throughout the entire epic. This epic takes place in Ancient Greece after the Trojan War. The main character, Odysseus, is on a journey back home to Ithaca after being away for ten years. Along the way, he must make stops and stays in the homes of the different people during his journey. The individuals that are hosting the stranger

Core Concepts and Theory in the Transpersonal Approach to Counselling free essay sample

What are some of the core concepts and theory when considering the transpersonal approach? The work of the transpersonal draws largely from mainstream psychological concepts and theory in order to ground its practice in science. However, unlike mainstream psychological paradigms, the transpersonal acknowledges that â€Å"our essential nature is spiritual† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012) and that as human beings we have â€Å"valid urges towards the spiritual† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012). The transpersonal approach is based on this notion of the spiritual self as the foundation for our psychological structure of the self and therefore proposes that we exist simultaneously in a multitude of realities, including but not limited to the body, mind, spirit, feeling, fantasy and science. Similarly the transpersonal view of consciousness considers our ordinary, everyday experience of reality as one of many states of consciousness accessible to us at any given time through a variety of methods. It is these fundamental notions which allow the transpersonal approach to transcend time and culture. We will write a custom essay sample on Core Concepts and Theory in the Transpersonal Approach to Counselling or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is seen in the way the practitioner can be likened to the ancient shaman as both practically engage with the â€Å"full spectrum of consciousness† becoming â€Å"technicians and navigators† of the multiple states and realities able to be experienced by the human being. The transpersonal approach also considers life as a journey with an origin, landscape and destination or end, â€Å"framed by a cosmic background, a canopy of meaning which arches across our lives from birth to after death† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012) and the intuition as a serious indicator and tool for navigating the world. Ultimately the transpersonal aims to transform the individual through integration of experiences that go beyond the ego and ultimately provide â€Å"a more satisfying or valuable condition† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012). Whilst grounded in science and psychology, the transpersonal approach is unique in its effort to synthesize ideas from schools of thought, which have been in opposition at various times throughout history, into an integrative and holistic method. It includes mystical, spiritual and religious experiences as well as sharing much common ground with consciousness studies and humanistic psychology. Transpersonal experiences can be interpreted either religiously or non-religiously according to individual preference† (Walsh, 1993). Founder of Humanistic and later Transpersonal Psychology Abraham Maslow theorized that the approach of the transpersonal does not oppose that of Freud; it offers a complementary viewpoint, which assists in recognizing  "the full range and variety of transpersonal experience† (Daniels, 2005) and focuses on â€Å"the human origins, significance and value of transpersonal phenomena† (Daniels, 2005). Whilst psychoanalysis was part of a biomedical, reductionist model which did not encompass the full spectrum of states of consciousness, nor did it acknowledge the spiritual self, it provided a basic framework for the psychological structure of the self, later understood by the transpersonal to rest on the foundations of the spiritual self. The notion of the psychological self and the spiritual self stems from the assumption of the transpersonal that we exist simultaneously in multiple realities. The realities of the body, the mind, the spirit, emotion, imagination and science are all part of a rich tapestry, which inform and shape our life-story or journey. Transpersonal work uses this understanding of everyday reality to engage with the whole person and discover resources that offer â€Å"potentialities of self-healing, self-development and self-realization (self-transcendence)† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012). Similarly the transpersonal approach does not consider consciousness to be fixed to the every day waking experience of life. Instead, there exists a variety of states of consciousness outside our every day experience or ‘Ordinary Waking State (OWS)’ (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012) which may be accessed via ‘induction methods’ and contain alternate potentialities that cannot be realized in the OWS. It is this way in which the transpersonal recognizes and integrates the notion of altered states that shapes the transpersonal view of health as a positive state, not the absence of disease. It is the acceptance and integration of altered states of consciousness synthesized with a biomedical understanding of the psychological self which allows the transpersonal to transcend time and culture. This synthesis is visible in Fischers model of ASC’s and Arousal States as it describes a symbiotic relationship between the central nervous system and altered states of consciousness whereby the two are co-dependent and mutually influential. The transcendence of time and culture can be seen in the ability to compare the visionary practices of the ancient shaman with those of the modern transpersonal practitioner. It could be said that the transpersonal practitioner adopts a ‘shamanic’ approach to altered states of consciousness, considering such states as being â€Å"not bounded by bodily space or physical conditions† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012). This is not seen in the psychological paradigm, which operates on the assumption that nothing exists external to us. This notion has great implications for the transpersonal ‘modus operandi’ and often places the transpersonal practitioner more in the realms of the shamanic than the realms of its roots in traditional psychology. When comparing the shaman, the analyst and the transpersonal practitioner, it becomes apparent that the methods and practices of the shamanic and the transpersonal often stand in stark contrast to those of the psychoanalyst. Traditional roles of the therapist and patient dissolve and the patient assumes the role of the healer, creator and author of their story. The practitioner becomes a â€Å"technician and navigator of consciousness† (Phoenix Institute of Australia, 2012) as they join and work with their clients, often facilitating the induction of altered states and entering into the clients landscape empathetically and assisting them to access and retrieve the resources associated with the altered state.