The Odyssey.
Some myths choose you. Perhaps fate was never written in the stars but was subtly guided by them.
I had never been able to fully account for my fascination with The Odyssey, and my proclivities toward fighting, Medusa, art, sport, and the hero worship of athletes like Kobe. All I needed to do was look up. Turns out the sky had been telling this story since the day I was born. Quite frankly, I used to shit on astrology until I learned to read the stars through the archetypally predictive lens of symbolism and metaphor rather than the concrete predictiveness of literalization, which mistakes cosmic constellation for destiny.
If you are here, you probably know me through MMA, and will most likely leave if you are only interested in MMA. But if you know me truly, you know I like to take people on wild rides across the psyche, and what will come over the next few years will be a trip to Wonderland mixed with sport, art, and a dash of scholarship. I've taken a break from social media because I haven't had anything to say that isn't already in the zeitgeist. Yet, as I near the end of my master's program, my voice is returning—as is my soul.
My mission has remained faithful: cultivate vitality through creating and inspiring growth
What follows is a paper on creative destruction and the solar myth, written for a course in archetypal astrology in my Depth Psychology graduate program at Pacifica. It's the closest I've come to explaining, to myself and anyone paying attention, why I am the way I am. With any luck, it may help you better understand yourself and give grace to others who are going through some shit…because aren’t we all?
I finished this paper a month ago to the day. Today I'm watching The Odyssey in IMAX on its opening day…the 17th, one of my favorite numbers. The stars align once more.