Wisdom from the Netherworld
One of the standard ways of seeking guidance from the past is called a katábasis, literally “descent.” This term refers to a journey to the netherworld, often enough for the purpose of “interviewing” people who lived in the past and who are, therefore, presumed to be better informed about all things, especially things mysterious and arcane. These journeys to the lower region have proved especially appealing to philosophers and poets. If we can credit those who write about it, there is a lot of deep thinking going on down there.
Socrates, as he calmly drank his dram of hemlock, spoke confidently of the netherworld as a fine place to continue the pursuit of philosophy. It is hardly surprising, then, that later visitors were careful to consult Socrates in their own journeys to the netherworld. Thus, when the newly arrived Dante raised his gaze to see the filosofica famiglia sitting around, the first thinker he mentioned was Socrates. And then there was a more recent visitor, Michel de Montaigne, who made the same descent to consult with Socrates.
Long before Socrates’ own arrival there, however, sundry other travelers had ventured to the nether regions in pursuit of wisdom in one form or another. Odysseus, for instance, went down to consult the blind soothsayer Tiresias. In this case, the venture was concerned less with philosophy than with prophecy; Odysseus wanted information about the future, specifically his own nostos (homecoming) from the Trojan War. As all readers of Sophocles know, blind Tiresias could see well beyond the ken of mortals.
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Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
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