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As you set out for Ithaca hope that your journey is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon – do not be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare sensation touches your spirit and your body.  Laistrygonians, and Cyclops, wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you…

Socrates said, ‘To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom’; to become more aware you must first search out your unique abilities, capabilities, talents or gifts and then nurture them to fullness and enlist them to make a difference for the greater good. Don’t miss your journey. Get out there and live your life. Stop simply ‘looking at things’.

Hope that your journey is a long one. May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you come to harbors seen for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind – as many sensual perfumes as you can;

Find time for quietness at least once a day. Feed your mind with the myriads of wonders found in the Bible, books and poems. Become LOVE and finally experience your freedom.

Be a part of events that ‘gild’ the world so that you create a private lexicon of beauty from today’s journey. Tell that journey – not with words, but with how you act – to someone who knows you well, and to those who would LIKE to know you well.

– and may you visit many Egyptian cities to learn and learn again from those who know. Keep Ithaca always in your mind. Arriving there is what you’re destined for. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so that you’re old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Observe those you meet as they cock an eye, lift a sleeve and catch a tear. That is your Ithaca. Don’t wait for your funeral to do this. The ‘Ithaca’ within and of us all, awaits to be brought out for all to see – the all-in-all within and without.

Become the journey … Ithaca!

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. And if you find her poor, Ithaca won’t have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you will have understood by then what these Ithaca’s mean.

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Source C.P. Cavafy – Ithaca

H/T Gerard Vanderleun for inspiration and American Digest

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Face of Jesus by Richard Hook

Soli Deo Gloria!