Introduction
to The Odyssey of Heart . . .
Welcome to the introduction of "The Odyssey of Heart." It’s an odd proposition to attempt an introduction to a poetic work as every serious reader here would understand the more intimate involvement required for the full appreciation of poetry. Introductions to poetic works, which are chiefly written for the decidedly sensitive soul, seem as condescending to the intelligence of the devout as a ‘how to’ manual would be to the carpenter for the use of measuring tape and level. However, because there is a close relationship between the "Paradigm Shift" and "Perception" diagram to The Odyssey of Heart it seems appropriate to offer a partial explanation of certain principles at work here, more fully though gradually explained in the various sections of the site. Step by step we round the universe. The Paradigm Shift and Perception diagram and "Phoenix" of our "Religious Traditions" are original drawings of the site’s Author and serve as icons and trademarks of Being Quest.
Briefly, the red of the Paradigm Shift and Perception diagrams represent the objective aspect of our experience; the yellow represents the subjective aspect; the green represents a transcendental synthetic formal aspect; the blue represents the absolute aspect.
The objective paradigm is evident in The Odyssey of Heart through the literal means it employs to convey the ideals of the work, though the ideals are not the proper realm of concern for the objective paradigm. This utility of the objective paradigm can be understood as the historic record on myth and legend, the very grammar of the English language, though with some poetic license, and the literary tradition and criticism in which the writings have been nourished.
The subjective paradigm is evident in The Odyssey of Heart through those ideals and sentiments of the heart that are expressed, intuitions and motives of certain character types (sacred and demonic), and the thoroughgoing ethical importance that informs The Odyssey. Just as the expressions of the face can indicate the inner thoughts and sentiments of one, so the sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious shifts of intellective and emotive value in the poems are key for appreciating the dramatic execution of the Odyssey. Careful attention to these shifting values and voices really goes without saying when recommending poems to the readers’ attention. However, the following will help to illustrate why this respect of the reader is especially necessary when following the development of The Odyssey as the subjective paradigm relates to transpersonal and social interests of our existential Condition as reflected throughout the site.
The goal of The Odyssey is a unity of heart and a perfect, though ideal, personal integrity. The poet is employed with the many apparent disparate elements of personal sentiment, perception, intuition, and reflection to grapple with the corruption of experience ‘in the world’. The poet strains throughout The Odyssey to live at peace with certain humanistic/spiritual ideals, seeking a way to unite the best hopes of humanity with the interests of perception, the usefulness of intuition, and the urgency of just affections. The whole gamut of experience here relates to the evolving personality and character of the poet and so reflects a dramatic tribulation of the Heart. The poet is seeking a very meaningful place in the order/disorder of things, as it were, and refuses to abandon certain original and primary intuitions of the good of life and humanity. And yet, as the character of the individual attempts to mature their being, the contradictions of the world’s systems are seen to clash with and obstructs this aspiration, causing grief and sorrow approaching despair. This is the poet’s experience in quest of integrity and is wholly, though largely metaphorically, worked out in the course of The Odyssey.
The trials of aspiration toward unity are exemplified in the several Voice-shifts which the reader will discern in The Odyssey and which indicate an encounter with certain aspects of the poet’s potential or actual character. These shifts are evident in the demonic and sacred dispositions that the poet is awakening in the heart and expressing throughout the work. These confrontations are milestones of generation for the poet’s personality as the work progresses.
Beside the objective and subjective elements reflected in the Odyssey, there is the transcendental dynamic that plays a couple key roles. This transcendental 'green' of the Paradigm Shift corresponds to the synthesis of the objective and subjective elements of experience, obtaining a state that is both one with and greater than the other two aspects, just as we say "The sum is greater than the parts." In the demonic aspect of personality in the first part of the work, it is a matter of hurt and disappointment and judgment verging on vengeance and wrath for certain injustices in the systems of the world which the poet recognizes. However, being true to experience as an immediate perception of these systems and their conflict with the poet’s hoped-for integrity, this personality foreshadows the need for a transcendental synthesis of the outer and inner of the poet’s experience untoward the aspired-to character of the poet. The reader is left to discern for themselves what is the conceptual difference between personality and character. Herein is the ‘Odyssey’. Shall we reign in hell or serve in heaven; pursue the back or front of existence?
Once this demonic aspect of personality has its way, it must draw closer in synthesis with the poet’s avowed aspiration to merge with and be reconciled to a greater disposition. Such is the challenge of the poet, being tossed to and fro on the waves of existential contradiction: "That vex my wearied soul..." The alternative is either cynicism or fanaticism, though the poet hopes for grace instead, the principle of which twinkles throughout the work to shine brightest in the last. After enduring the judgment and resentment of the demonic disposition, the poet renews the quest and unleashes the sacred voice that speaks directly to the aspiration of the poet, which aspiration the poet secretly maintained and was largely the source of tribulation in the demonic, a kind of homesick resentment of the pilgrim from heaven among the denizens of hell. Here the poet begins an encounter with the sacred and thence another cycle of recognition and synthesis to arrive at something greater than, though not absolutely different from, that character with which the poet began The Odyssey. The ultimate goal is an integrity of the individual with the issues of existence as a person struggling to defend certain ideals of humanity, the justification of which ideals is obtained in that very character aspired-to.
The scheme of Voice-shift, in order as it appears in The Odyssey, is as follows:
Poet’s voice…Principles …Poet’s voice…Demonic voice…Transition/Synthesis…Reflections…Sacred voice... Transition/Synthesis…Reflections
The last element of the Paradigm Shift that represents "Poetic Works" is the blue of our diagrams, the Absolute of Reality that underlies, overshadows, and circumscribes in Perception all other paradigms. It is not the result of synthesis as the 'green' transcendental is the pinnacle of the aspired-to unity and maturity of the self in the ways of existence; whereas the absolute is the very reality in which all aspects of life move about and have their being. The absolute is so much more than the others that it may be considered the Root, Trunk, Branch, Flower of Being. As such, the Paradigm Shift diagram is the "Paradigmatic Nature of Reality," reflecting the complex orientations involved in the substantiation of experience. The Perception diagram is its functional, dynamic equivalent.