Ithaca
Obviously, it is not just a story about a fantastic voyage and a guy overcoming some imaginary difficulties and going back home. It is an inner-self quest for rediscovering who you really are; a philosophical strategy of life.
Ithaca exists for each and everyone of us, but in a different way. All of us set some goals that they want to achieve in their lifetime and they strive hard throughout their lives to reach these goals. As a result, we can all relate to Odysseus’ quest to reach Ithaca as being our own journey in our lives to reach the goals we set before we start this long voyage. Just like Odysseus, we will all face difficulties and problems while we try to achieve what we want. Reaching the island of Ithaca is Odysseus’ optimal achievement. That is what keeps him alive while he faces all these dangers. Consequently, the quest for reaching Ithaca it can now be thought as everybody’s quest in their lives to make their dreams come true. The first question now arises…whether we have the strength and patience to remain focused on achieving our goals when we come face to face with the extreme difficulties of life - the capability of achieving our goals, even if it means that we have to go through the most difficult and unexpected obstacles to reach those goals.
And the second question arises… what happens if we do not achieve all our goals when we finally reach our “Ithaca”? Should we be considered unsuccessful? Should we feel that we have failed in our lives? The answer is definitely not. For instance, Odysseus’ one goal was undoubtedly not to lose his men; but, he did. That does not mean that he was unsuccessful, even though he failed in achieving all his goals. The reason for this is that the objective is not to actually achieve all the goals that you set before you started your journey in life. The actual objective lies in making the voyage itself; to overcome the difficulties in life and gain experience while you are out making the voyage....
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