The talk for the inaugural Soulday Thursday was on the Iliad by Oliver Trace. He discussed how influential this ancient text is, even today. Looked at some of the storytelling techniques Homer employed. And put the values of the Greeks side by side against the modern imagination, illuminating both. One of the points that struck a chord with the audience was around fate and destiny. Today, the terms tend to be used interchangeably. The Greeks, however, were more aware of the distinction between the two: fate is something that we don’t have freedom over, and it tends to be a bad thing; whereas destiny is where we find our free will. 

Olivia Jageurs joined us to give a fantastic live performance on the Harp. Olivia graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2013 and has since gone on to play with the UK’s preeminent orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic. She was supported by beautiful animated visuals, by Angelica Lena, Art Director at Sentio Space. The visuals and music combined created an immersive storytelling experience, where the audience was taken on a dreamy train ride along the coastline.

Finally, we had a discussion about some of the themes that arose during the talk, which was broadcast on the LiveStream. We spoke about how the Greek imagination, which doesn’t have a heaven and a hell, only a hades, is not far away from the mindset of an atheist. Both don’t believe in being rewarded after life with a heaven, if a good life has been lived. One reviewer described the discussion as a ‘slightly better version of a 6-am-chat at a party where everyone goes “ah, man, that was so deep.”‘ Well, that sounds about right.