Hello Jos,

Some interesting posts on this thread.

After reading Homer's "The Odyssey" I learned that the story of Odysseus was penned by Homer somewhere around 700BC, and that the "actual" exploits were "supposed" to have taken place around 1200BC, nearly 500 years earlier. So let's see, 500 years of stories via word of mouth, songs around campfires, embelishments, why, it just CAN'T be an accurate account of what actually happened!!! Er....um....right. So why do we read such stories? I've been looking for Calypso's Island since I was 17 but never found it!!! But, I didn't read "The Odyssey" until after I reached 50 years of age. How is it that a young man's fantasy was penned by someone 2700 years earlier?....hmmmmm.....maybe History has less to do with the Time and Events of the World than it has to do with the Time and Events inside each Man who walks as Odysseus walked...through a life of knowledge and uncertainty, gods and demons, pleasures and pain, virtue and corruption, trial and error. "Is that what REALLY happened?" Absolutely. Is it "just a story"?....Absolutely.

It appears that the studies of History and Psychology are the "Children of the Twilight Zone", a place that can NEVER be scientifically validated, but nonetheless holds what may well be the richest rewards for the Traveller who is not confused or intimidated by the ambiguities of the Thinking Life. It would seem that Psychology endeavors to uncover the Personal History of an individual, while History seeks to uncover the Personal Psychology of a Culture.

Thanks for the Seed!

David