Circe's Island

In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus must rescue his crew from the the charms of the wily goddess and sorceress, Circe, who has turned his men into swine. After resisting Circe's "magic" (i.e. withstanding her powerful drugs, chewing the sacred moly that Hermes has provided, and avoiding the  fate of emasculation that might have befallen him) Odysseus finally capitulates to her charms, and ends up spending an entire year with her, languishing in her pleasure palace, enervated by rest and idleness until once again he is reminded of his prime directive to return home. Compared to his previous encounters with giants and cannibals (the Cyclops, the Laistrygonians) offering harrowing examples of savage inhospitality, this episode represents the opposite extreme of danger via seduction. A much needed respite, some would say, when compared with the earlier narrow escapes, but nevertheless, a form of refuge/languor which in retrospect seems like a waste of time. What to make of all this? Does not this visit to Circe's island remain for us modern readers a potent symbol... of human frailty (always choosing the easy path)... a lesson on sloth... complacency... addiction to the status quo? A warning against growing prosperous and stale? A parable about how time waits for no man; there is no stopping, no slowing down in life. Indeed. Perhaps. We all know about "endless summer," "extended holiday" and "being on sabbatical."  I can't help but wonder, nevertheless, about this constant temptation-to-vegetate and how prevalent (even all-pervasive) it is without our realizing it - under the guise of some productive "routine" or "outlet." What follows next may appear on first glance as an exercise in sheer hyperbole on my part or else I had a really bad day yesterday and I'm just venting, but tell me if at least part of it doesn't ring true or at least echo within the realm of plausibility...At such a time as now, when the old opinions, customs and traditions continue to fade, when the normal rules don't so much apply anymore and our somewhat open-ended, "anything goes," "let's-play-tennis-without-a-net" morality is slowly but surely unraveling the fabric of our common quilt... in this crazy mixed up 24/7 hall-of-mirrors (news-cycle that is) where up is down, left is right, the center cannot hold, the tragic is comical, the comical is tragical, where essentials are forgotten and trivia remembered, where publicity hounds are fawned over and the wise remain silent, where millions (of average folks and celebrities alike) are hyped-up or strung-out on some aspect of life (nothing unfamiliar here) depending on the season or else take medication as prescribed by their physician...where magic is sought for not only in pills, but in diets, in clothing, in homes, in vacations, in shopping channels, in food mags, in gold, in stocks, on Facebook, on cruise ships, through oracular pronouncements by trendy motivational speakers, in gadgetry, in flashy "online connections"; in such a world where "work," "labor" and especially "toil" have become passe - unless they bring with them big perks, where people keep pace with their relentless schedules by living vicariously through their children or else go in search of R&R in a demi-monde of their own making, (with emphasis here on the aforementioned artifice) then do restless, aimless, albeit exquisite pleasure-seeking and hedonism become the sine qua non, the  sole raison-d'etre of individuals who resist more austere, demanding, ascetic-minded quests, who conceive for themselves no higher, arduous elusive spiritual goals. In such a milieu, the mildest inconveniences are experienced as excruciating pains. Our collective sensitivity index evokes howls and shrieks of outrage as long as there remains some iota of difficulty that is not being dealt with, that is not shrinking, subsiding, fading from view. Even amid the ongoing shake-up (the lay-offs, the displacements, the downsizings) within the general economy, with people struggling to find work or maintain their old career paths, I discern an attitude of lethargy, torpor, fatigue, distraction, stupefaction mingled with levity in the general discourse (ruled over as it is by stand-up comedians) which I hence refer to as the "Circe's island" of culture. Here on this island, people stretch out, yawn, recline and whisper to themselves "oh what's the use....let just stay numb." The more serious and dire our situation becomes, the more desperately people cling to the glitter, the facade, the confetti of the circus tent. Okay. I'm done. Life goes on. Tomorrow is another day.