It’s almost banal to say that Homer’s Odyssey is about one man trying to make his way home. How has a story with such an ordinary premise persisted for so long? In part, the answer lies in the drama between the things that Odysseus can control and the things he cannot. Odysseus’ road back home is winding and tangential, and yet sometimes it seems like Odysseus himself is the cause of the delays. But Odysseus does want to make it back to his wife, his son, and his kingdom. Though he strives to make it home, there are forces in Odysseus’ life that impede him from reaching his destination. Whether it be cyclops, man-eating giants, shipwrecks, or witches, many obstacles stand between Odysseus and his goal.
Eventually, Odysseus arrives at Ithaca after so long an exile. But how? In Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, the answer lies in the harmony between forces which Odysseus seems to control (his free will) and forces which Odysseus cannot control (the plan of the gods). The film indicates that Odysseus eventually makes it home because he freely submits to the plan of the gods. To put it in terms that we would use: Odysseus makes it to his true home, his true happiness, by freely embracing God’s providence. In this respect, the film provides a lesson for those who follow the one true God: our way to heaven lies in choosing to follow God’s providence. In this essay, I hope to illustrate the themes of free will and providence in Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, and then show what the Catholic understanding of these principles means for bringing us home to heaven.
In Nolan’s film, three central points are made regarding free will and providence. The first point is that the gods are always in control. When Odysseus enters the underworld, Tiresias, a prophet, reveals to Odysseus a horrifying future: all of his crewmates will die. Only Odysseus will make it home to Ithaca. As a leader who loves his men, Odysseus ardently opposes this prophecy. But Tiresias insists: six of Odysseus’ men will die at the hands of Charybdis, and the rest will be punished with death for eating the sun god’s cattle. Furthermore, throughout the film, Odysseus’ crewmates push him to honor the gods rather than defy them. But in the world of the gods, only Odysseus will make it home. Tiresias puts the dilemma to Odysseus in a pointed way: “Your men don’t want you to defy the gods. But the gods say only you make it home.” Odysseus replies with hubris: “Then I defy the gods.” At this point in the film, Odysseus labors under the illusion of the supremacy of his own will, but Tiresias goes to great length to emphasize the primacy of the gods.
None of this should be construed as determinism. The film goes to great lengths to make a second point, which is that Odysseus and his men still exercise their freedom. There comes a dramatic moment in the film where Odysseus and his men have to make a choice on the high seas: they can either sail through a whirlpool or down a narrow strait. The film clearly emphasizes the choice—the camera constantly alternates between each option—and the men choose to go down the narrow strait. They encounter Charybdis, and six of them die. The consequences for such a course are brutal, but it does not mean that it was not chosen. It is on the subject of consequences that one of the film’s clearest affirmations of freedom comes. When Odysseus and his men reach the island of the sun god, Odysseus warns them not to eat the deity’s cattle or they will be punished. At first the crew agrees, but eventually the men choose to disobey and eat. Odysseus complains to Athena when he discovers their transgression: “Why can’t gods speak in ways we understand?” Odysseus and Athena’s interaction is worth quoting at length:
ATHENA: When you watch your men die do you see chance? Or do you see consequence?
ODYSSEUS: I see consequence. I see my failure.
ATHENA: What if their deaths aren’t your failing but theirs?
ODYSSEUS: I lead them. I led them here.
ATHENA: And who led you? Why do you put yourself above the gods? Why do you claim responsibility? Why don’t you want to go home?
Both Athena and Odysseus agree that man is truly free. Odysseus feels guilty because he thought he used his freedom poorly. Athena tries to comfort him by pointing out that his men freely chose to dishonor the sun god. They used their freedom irresponsibly. That is why the crew’s death is their “failing”—they abused their freedom, and the consequences came.
The real highlight of Athena’s conversation with Odysseus is how it affirms things apparently in tension. Athena acknowledges both human freedom and the supremacy of the gods. Furthermore, she implies that Odysseus is not home yet because he has not freely submitted to the plan of the gods. Odysseus is defying the gods. The film then cuts to Odysseus back on Calypso’s island, where we discover that he has been on the island for seven years. Odysseus realizes he needs to get home. But how? Calypso gives him the answer: “You’re a man who needs to control his fate. But you cannot control this. You must give yourself to the storm, give yourself to Poseidon. And take your punishment. Give up the fight, give up control and live. It is a leap of faith you haven’t yet made, Odysseus.” Odysseus then does something radical: he chooses to make a leap of faith and submit to the plan of the gods, who willed that he would be the only one to make it home. Odysseus freely submits to the stormy sea. The next shot is of him on a beach—he is back home. Here, the film makes its third and most important point on the harmony between free will and the plan of the gods. The message is clear: Odysseus finally makes it home by freely submitting to the plan of the gods.
Although The Odyssey takes place in a fictional world full of capricious and vengeful gods, there are lessons in this film for those who wish to follow the one true God. Nolan’s work emphasizes the harmony between what Catholics would call free-will and providence. It is worth reflecting on this harmony in sacred theology.
In the film, Tiresias argues that the plan of the gods reigns supreme in the world. There is an analogous truth in Catholic theology: everything in the world is governed by God. Nothing is outside the plan of the all-powerful and all-loving God. When we speak of God’s providence, we are speaking of God’s divine knowing and willing, which orders all things to their proper ends. Providence exists in God eternally and without mediation. The governance of God is the actual working out and realization of God’s providence in the world, which exists in time and through the mediation of creatures. But it is God who reigns supreme. His will is accomplished without exception. Even the presence of evil, which is a privation of a good proper to one’s nature, is permitted, not caused, by God, who draws a greater good from it. God orders all things to himself and he is the cause of all that is good. Truly, it is his world—we are merely living in it.
But if this is God’s world, how are we free? Though God created the universe and actively sustains all of it in being through his power, none of that eliminates the possibility of real human freedom. Like Odysseus and his men, we are truly free—we can make choices, and those choices have consequences. God himself is supremely free from coercion—he was not forced to create the universe, for example—and he made us in his image and likeness. Like God, we have an intellect and will, which gives us the ability to make free choices. Freedom flows from our rational nature, of which God is the source. God knows us and loves us as free creatures. Furthermore, God is the cause of all that is good in our life, but he enables us to live according to our nature—that is, precisely as rational creatures that can exercise freedom. An analogy from D.Q. McInerny’s book, Natural Theology, might serve to illustrate the point. To be used, a vacuum cleaner must be plugged into an outlet. But the person operating the vacuum cleaner can still choose where to use the vacuum. The fact that the vacuum cleaner must be plugged in does not force one to vacuum a particular room. Although imperfect, this analogy helps us to understand our freedom and dependency on God. Though we are dependent on God to exercise our freedom, that dependency does not take away our freedom—it enables it. God is the cause of all that is good in the world, including our human freedom.
God is the source of creation, and he orders all of creation back to himself, including free human creatures. But how does our freedom relate to our final goal of getting back to God, of getting to heaven? Like Odysseus who only got back home when he submitted to the will of the gods, we too must freely choose to follow the one true God to reach our ultimate end. Our freedom is not pointless. Its purpose is to reach our final end and be with God. Our freedom is real: we can either choose to be with God for all eternity (heaven) or reject him for all eternity (hell). Choosing hell is a defective choice on the part of the free human creature. It is a resistance to or even outright refusal of God’s grace. Because we are free, if we choose to reject God’s grace, it means that we alone are responsible for our eternal separation from God. But the same responsibility cannot be attributed to us in choosing God. All that is good in the human person comes from God, and that includes our choice to cooperate with the grace of God. In the words of Fr. Thomas Joseph White, God’s “gifts of grace precede all works of cooperation on the part of the free human creature . . . God is the effective cause of [predestination] to divine glory” (Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., “Catholic Predestination,” in Thomism and Predestination). God wants us to be with him in heaven, but only in a way that is compatible with our human freedom.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus freely submits to the gods, and in so doing, he is brought home. A free choice was really made. If Odysseus had still chosen to defy the gods, he would not have made it home. Yet the film also highlights the fact that it was the gods who brought Odysseus home. Odysseus’ works were not the cause of his going home—the gods were. Here, we see the harmony between freedom and God’s providence. All of us should take this lesson to heart. Our freedom is real. We can reject God or cooperate with him. But the right use of our freedom is to cooperate with God, who wishes to bring us back to himself. As Scripture says, God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). The deck is stacked in our favor. God governs the world, and everything in our life is for our good, including the things which are beyond our control. Our sufferings, our duties, our joys, our victories—the purpose of all of it is to bring us home. Odysseus suffered much on his travels, but it was all worth it just to come home. We too should submit to our Providential Father, trusting that throughout stormy seas he is in control, guiding us back to himself.
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Image: Giuseppe Bottani, Athena Appearing to Odysseus to Reveal the Island of Ithaca
