Odysseus absconditus

For those who attend to our episodic blog posts it might be expected that now in July following two previous themes of ‘Pentecostal Fire’ and the ‘The Fire of Desire’ we would be featuring Hell Fire…but that will have to wait for another day. The big news currently is the release of the movie The Odyssey. Recently we received an inquiry regarding a series of talks Gil Bailie gave in the 1980’s on Homer’s Oydessy that were originally recorded on cassette tape, asking if a digital version were available. We replied that the master tapes were still extant but due to constraints on our resources (as well as the author’s reticence to exhume this very early piece of the Temenos/Florilegia Institute/Cornerstone Forum project) it might be a while before we could provide a digital audio version of this material.

Now, by clicking on the image above, we are making available the first of the eight part series on the Odyssey wherein the theme of fatherlessness and its attendant spiritual paralysis is explored via both Homer’s epic poem and in our cultural moment. The rest of the series will be made available in the coming months as time and resources allow.

Prior to Gil Bailie’s first exposure to the work of René Girard in the mid-1980’s the influence of Carl Jung was a dominant feature in Gil’s work (and in true mimetic fashion so was the influence of that era for all those who came of age in the heady days of the ‘60s). In these early talks one can hear the psychological jargon so characteristic of that late 20th century perspective.

(An added bonus in this first part of the eight part series are a couple of original Gil Bailie poems.)

If one were to trace the trajectory from these early presentations on various literary themes through Gil’s 1996 book Violence Unveiled, to God’s Gamble (2016), and his latest book Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self (2023) it would become clear that the seed of Girard’s mimetic theory has been nurtured in the rich soil of Catholic theological and anthropological thought and has grown to bear fruit that we hope provides nourishment for those facing the challenges of 21st century and beyond.

Today Gil Bailie continues to labor under the constraints of health challenges that allow precious little time for writing. However, the grace of his reading and research sheds light on insights that he hopes will find expression in his current manuscript project.

Please keep Gil Bailie and the rest of the Cornerstone Forum team in your prayers.

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The Cornerstone Forum remains committed to making this work available on our website, audio podcasts, and Substack venues. We are grateful for all who find this work of value and who help sustain our efforts. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.