#87 | The Wisdom of the Odyssey - Phil Cosineau

Fresh off the first Cascadia Men’s Conference, I’m pleased to share my first long-form podcast episode in some months.

Right now, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is storming around the world, a $1.3 billion phenomenon that has returned one of humanity’s oldest stories to the center of our cultural conversation.

My guest today is a man who has been steeping in this epic for years. Phil Cousineau is the author of newly published ‘The Wisdom of the Odyssey: Twenty-four Life Lessons from Homer’s Epic’ and more than forty other books, including the bestselling The Art of Pilgrimage and The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work.

He is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who has consulted on myth and story for Warner Brothers, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, led mythology travel programs to Greece for more than three decades, and hosted the PBS television series Global Spirit.

In our conversation, Phil invites us to look at why The Odyssey has risen once again. He suggests the epic poem is Western culture’s first articulated case of PTSD and the consequence of war and conquest. We speak of the women who guide Odysseus back to himself, the terror of crossing your own threshold after twenty years away, and what it means when love rather than fame becomes the gravity that pulls a man home.

Phil reminds us that the Odyssey is everybody’s story, and the courage required to bend down and kiss the earth in gratitude for the chance to begin again.

Here in full is the Rumi poem I reference (translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)

LOVE, YOUR waters, your melodieswhirl me and whirl me.I'm the wheel in a mill.Whirl me forever.When my heart is troubled,when my heart has fled,keep me close.No branch, no leaf, no piece of straw drawn to amberwill move without a breeze.Unless desire stirs it, nothing in this world will dance.Every element, every particle of every elementis a whirling lover, drunk on union.The generous host lays out a feast.Animals graze the sweet grass.Didn't the ants tell secrets to Solomon?Didn't the mountains singwhen David sang his songs of praise?The sky is your lover.Lay your head on its peaceful chest.The sun is your lover. Drink its light.Love moves through every mountain and field.How else would green grow from earth's dark body?

LINKS

* Phil Cousineau - Official Website

* The Wisdom of the Odyessy - Book

Heads up, if you are a man seeking to explore the mythopoetic path, you are invited to check out The Archetypal Compass. This mini-guide is designed to help you navigate the internal archetypes of the soul, providing a map for those ready to move beyond personal inquiry and toward a more conscious stewardship of their lives and the world.