[Photo by Christer Ehrling on Unsplash]
The Odysseus Files, Issue 1
Chaos, Collapse, & Finding Your Ithaca, Part 1
Getting Started
[Note: This is Part 1 of a miniseries within the broader Odysseus Files called “Chaos, Collapse, & Finding Your Ithaca.” These miniseries will group broad topics thematically, helping you connect the dots between them more easily.]
Bags packed? Check
Passport? Check
Anti-seasickness meds? Yeah, you’re gonna want those…
This ain’t a cruise ship, after all.
“Speak to me, Muse, of the adventurous man who wandered long after he sacked the sacred citadel of Troy. …many a pang he bore in his own breast at sea while struggling for his life and his men’s safe return.” - Homer, The Odyssey, Book 1, Lines 1-6. (G. H. Palmer, trans., 1891)
Welcome to the Odysseus Files - a newsletter about intentionally crafting a life of sustainable impact.
It’s a journey - from the shores of the ancient Near East to that corner office you’ve had your eye on, to your bank account and your children’s future.
It’ll slice and dice the threats facing you, your business, family, and community, but also help you make out the opportunities concealed within chaos and times of change.
Above all, it’s about understanding the world around you, finding your place in it, and creating an impact.
Specifically, the Odysseus Files will:
Flash back over 3,000 years ago to uncover a model for our current world and how we can respond to chaos
Explore the lack of sustainability in many of our current systems and institutions we rely on
Craft a framework for building resilience into our personal lives and communities, “hardening” us against future threats
Examine some of those future threats - and the opportunities that accompany them
Empower you to have fun building the business of your dreams, one that is sustainable and that expands your impact
Let’s get started.
Confronting Chaos
The project that your boss asked for by 5:00 PM.
Rushing out the door for the kids’ activities.
Dirty dishes in the sink.
As it is, life is chaotic. Step back, and it gets even more so:
Cost of living increasing faster than wage growth
Fears of not having enough for retirement
Fragile supply chains and energy grids
Partisan politics and constant political bickering
And that doesn’t even get into the truly big things that have the potential to rock our world:
Wars
Global pandemics
Recessions
Climate change
All of which we’ve seen the effects of in the last few years.
Kinda depressing, huh? It makes life look exhausting. What’s even the point?
(Until, of course, you look into your kiddos’ eyes, and remember how you live now will shape their future, and the future they grow up in.)
From an historical standpoint, our society is at the pinnacle of wealth and achievement for the average person. Never before in history has so many people had so much freedom, flexibility, and financial wellbeing.
And yet… as a whole, our society’s mental health issues are exploding. We’re drowning in debt. Divisiveness and violence are escalating. And we’re increasingly removed from the community bonds that have historically helped people cope with challenges - we’re all familiar with the research portraying the “epidemic of loneliness” plaguing western society.
As a society, we’re sick. Our institutions aren’t working like we expect them to. The “ways of doing things” we were taught to depend on aren’t holding up to a shifting world. We can all feel it. But how do we respond?
Digging Up Troy
There’s not a lot we know for sure about the Trojan War forever enshrined in Homer’s epic works.
(What follows is derived from George Washington University professor of ancient history & archaeology Dr. Eric Cline’s book 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed.)
We know that one level of the city of Troy (known as Wilusa to the neighboring Hittite empire and Ilios to the Mycenaean Greeks of the Bronze Age) was destroyed sometime around 1300 B.C., probably by an earthquake.
The next level was conquered around 1180 - we know because of the plethora of arrowheads at the site.
Apart from archaeology, we do have some written records from the Hittites, in central Anatolia (most of what is now Turkey). Tablets record a rebellion against the Hittites around the year 1430 B.C., by a group of small kingdoms in northwest Anatolia, including Troy. Based on mentions in some of these tablets, it seems likely that in some capacity Mycenaean Greek warriors were involved in the rebellion.
Over a century later, around 1280, another rebellion against the Hittites that was possibly supported by the king of the Mycenaeans triggered a treaty between the Hittite king and the king of Troy, a man named Alaksandu (suspiciously similar to Homer’s alternative name for Paris in The Iliad, Alexander).
All of these snippets of evidence suggest that the story of the Trojan War was derived from centuries of conflict at the periphery of empires between the Hittites and Greeks. Centuries of shifting treaties, alliances, and wars between great powers and the minor states surrounding them.
But then, something changed…
Chaos Across the Mediterranean
For 300 years, from 1500 to 1200 B.C., the great powers of the Aegean and Near East had facilitated a Golden Age. A globalized trade network, ultimately stretching from Italy to Afghanistan, propped up an international order of elites.
These elites dominated centralized economies from their palaces - centers of economic, political, military, and religious control over local populations.
Royal families across these kingdoms intermarried, forged (and broke) treaties, fought wars, and sponsored trade with each other. They communicated with each other as equals (apart from brief periods where one kingdom or another would “slip” in status).
The squabbling across western Anatolia between Hittites, local vassal states, and the Mycenaeans were a normal part of the interplay that maintained balance between these advanced, cosmopolitan kingdoms.
But suddenly, in the period from roughly 1225 to 1175, the entire system crumbled.
A blend of factors contributed to the collapse: from climate change and drought to invasions and rebellions to the disintegration of international trade. (We’ll go deeper into specific causes and effects in a later issue.)
The final three centuries leading up to the collapse were the pinnacle of nearly 2,000 years of the Bronze Age - a period that saw the rise of some of the most advanced, complex, and sophisticated civilizations in history.
And yet, in about half a century it had collapsed in ruin.
From the Bronze Age to the Information Age
The parallels between events of the 13th century B.C. and today are uncanny.
On a “global” scale, it can certainly feel like we’re heading towards some kind of collapse.
Most people respond in one of two ways:
Ignore it all
Become fearful
You have enough chaos in your day-to-day life. Paying attention to anything beyond that can be overwhelming.
But I believe there’s a third response we can have: to look for the opportunities within change.
Doing this requires two things:
That you’re aware of the world around you
And that you build the resilience into your life & business so that you can adapt to change
Awareness + resilience puts you in the best possible place to build sustainably for the future.
Because, as you’ll see throughout this newsletter, the Bronze Age collapse was just the starting point for a number of cultures, small kingdoms, and city-states - who were able to take advantage of the changing world around them to leave their own mark.
We’ll distill some of these lessons in future issues.
Takeaways
For now, here are your takeaways from this week’s issue:
Chaos - at both the micro and macro level - is part of the natural rhythm of history
There’s opportunity within change (even apparently threatening change)
Intentionally building for sustainability (awareness + resilience) is the only way to discover and take advantage of that opportunity
In next week’s issue, we’ll go deeper into the causes of the Bronze Age collapse (and the similarities with today’s world) and how we can use history to develop a clear-eyed view of (and prepare for) the future.
In the quote at the beginning of this issue, the references to pang and struggle hint at what’s to come for Odysseus on his long journey home.
The goal with this newsletter is to help you better map out your journey in advance - so you can hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls that befell Odysseus.
And, ultimately, reach your own Ithaca - a vision you create for your life, family, business, and legacy.
P.S. - If you enjoyed this issue, hit “reply.” Tell me one thing you want from your life or business that currently feels out of reach. Doesn’t have to be the complete vision; just think bigger than the next quarter or 12 months. If you tell me yours, I’ll reply with mine. Let’s have a conversation.
I want to own a self-sustaining property that we can work and live on for the next 40-50 years.
A year ago, it would have felt out of reach. Now it doesn't.