Mything in the Lighthouse

Dr. Sexson said we could find a mythical interpretation of basically anything the book. So I've randomly selected a page, front and back, to read with a mythical interpretation. How can someone truly select a random page from a book without using random.org? I have selected the 1 page which has come loose in my copy. It must have been read heavily before it found itself in my possession because I certainly didn't put this millage on the book. So, this is as random as it gets. Here we go.

My selection begins several paragraphs into section 11 of The Lighthouse near the end of the book. This section begins with an observation about how much depends upon the ocean and then also upon distance. Now that's not on my page so I won't begin discussing Posidan and a line from the Homeric hymns at length (although that might come once I actually get to my selection).

One line in! "...she supposed, looking at the thouse, but nothing appeared there. But then, she remembered"! Nothing appears when we look for it but, once we remember, there it is! This reminds me of the mantra we keep hearing about how we already know everything we need to know and all we need to do is remember it. Those pesky Greek philosophers do better arguing the merits of vegetarianism.

Distance. Silence. Movement. These are the key words for both sides of my page which emphasis a perfect state of awareness, a "feeling of completeness perhaps which, ten eyars ago, standing almost where she stood now, had made her say that she must be in love with the place." This is as Lily is watching everyone else head to the lighthouse. In their absence, Lily experiences that quiet moment of total awareness of oneself which all of us know about. How does all of this relate to myth?

These all remind me of Odysseus and the sirens. Odysseus must pass by the sirens but he knows if he and his men hear their song they will all be lost. He orders his men to plug their ears with wax to remain immune to the siren's call. However, Odysseus wants to hear the sirens so he tells his men to chain him to the mast of the ship.I suppose this relates to Lily in that her "feeling of completeness" is followed by the length of almost five sentences (even though it's only two, can we say fragment happy?) shows her sense of love to be equal to Odysseus' sense of determination which is heroic and legendary. What Odysseus experiences with the sirens is beyond accurate description as is Lily's perception of love ("Love had a thousand shapes").