It's almost eleven thirty in an Athens hotel and my cross-country trek through Europe is almost at an end. It's been pretty fun and just wonderful. There are so many things I have to write down before I forget. However, it's getting pretty late so really I can't elaborate as well as I would like. That may be a blessing in disguise since if I could, I'd type eight paragraphs worth of text and really that's just too much. There has been so much going on in my life and thinking about everything just brings chills down in my spine. We've gone and done all the touristy things like visit the landmarks like Big Ben and the Parthenon and eaten everything we could in sight. I'll have to post all the amazing, funny, and interesting things that have happened in my life thus far. Some tidbits include crashing a Scottish wedding, being ripped off by a Greek nun, and coming out to one of my cousins on the trip.
I feel like this trip has helped me mature a bit more and I've had the time of my life in addition to learning a few life lessons. The only thing I'll share today is something that was just really awesome for me since I was just very receptive and ready to hear the message that I was hearing. In the morning our tour group woke up early to head to the ruins at Delphi, where the oracle would give their prophetic messages of the future to come. The guide there was really a step above the others since she sat us down to have us really take in the nature and the ambiance of the ruins around us as we soaked in the morning sun. She told us to imagine the many huge ruins around us housing forests of bronze statues and sculptures of ivory and gold. She gave us great detail of not only the religious but political and cultural powerhouse Delphi used to be. She told us of how great generals and kings of legend would come to hear the words of the oracle. Its words being that catalyst for conflict or the salve for political quagmires.
What was interesting was how our guide delved deeper into a more philosophical dimension of these facts and really carved out some meaningful messages out of what she said. At first I was a bit put off. I wasn't expecting this nor was I that receptive at that time of day. Somehow though, her message did resonate in me when she ended her talk. She talked of how open minded the ancient peoples were and what messages we can take away today. How people from different religions would come to Delphi for religious purposes as well, and come back combining the good ideals from both Greek religion and theirs to create something better. For example, some people who believed in Amun-Ra would come back from Greece and decide to create a combination of ideals and create Amun-Zeus. Crazy. Delphi was a place of exchanging goods and ideas. Surprising how it seemed people respected each other's ideas and religions so much.
I think what was the most important message to me was how sometimes, when you went to the temple, Apollo had to decide whether he wanted to give you an oracle or not. Sometimes, you would wait all this time and wait in all these lines and you'd get rejected. It was thought that if you weren't given an oracle, you already had all the things at your disposal in order to make your own decisions. The messages from the oracle themselves would be a take it how you will sort of thing. The message may be insightful and perceptive only if you took it the right way but if you saw what you wanted in the message it was useless. In addition, Delphi was not only a sacred site for Apollo, the god of light, truth, and order, but for Dionysus, god of wine, parties, and excess. It's just a great contrast since the god of Order Apollo, who had a plaque that said "Nothing in Excess" would be worshiped next to the god of good times for all. Our guide related these things to how even though there was an oracle there was still a good amount of human will in these things. We could either take a message the way we wanted or not. We could either worship to different gods standing for different things. She said how in the end, we are still masters of our own destiny and we have choices that we take how we want. In this really ever changing part of my life, I really think this message required myself to think about where I am now. Maybe all I've just said is a load of crap. But long story short, I'm been having the time of my life, but at the same time I've been trying to soul search and really make some changes inside of me for the better. Changes that are long overdue and I need, because I'm not a child anymore. My actions have consequences. And my life is just beginning. It's exciting, scary, and full of potential. I don't want to make a bad decision and miss out. But yikes, all this adult stuff is so serious. I still have my inner child inside of me giving a bunch of good kicks. And that's good, because that's what makes my life interesting.
-C.C.
