In ‘The Odyssey’ (2026), the sirens’ songs were warned to lure sailors towards rocky deaths. But Odysseus ordered his men to block their ears, to protect them, and to tie him to the mast unblocked, to protect himself. While hearing the singing, he winces in ecstasy and agony, entranced yet tortured. As he later poetically relates on what was heard…
‘All the things you want it to be.
Then, all things you wish
you never wished for.’
[1] Un/fulfilment: Be careful what you wish for — as suffering arises from regretting unfulfilled desires and regretfully fulfilled desires.
‘It was the delicious itch you go to scratch,
and find it’s under the skin, you can’t reach it.
So the delicious itch becomes unbearable.’
[2] Clinging: Be careful what you wish for — as suffering arises from clinging to unfulfillable desires.
‘Told you what you most want
is what you most can’t have.
And what you most can’t have
is what you already had and lost.’
[3] Suffering: Be careful what you wish for — as the greatest suffering arises from greatly desiring the unfulfillable and lost.
‘It was the song of all the promises I’ve failed to keep.
And it told me I don’t really want to go home.’
[4] Mindfulness: Be mindful when hearing what you should know — on how you caused suffering, when you let others down, and on what you hide from yourself, which let yourself down.
[5] Māra: Suffering does not arise from any sirens, but from your own desires, which can prove deadly. (‘Māra’, the evil tempter of even Buddhas-to-be, means ‘desire’ and ‘death.’)
[6] Reflection And Projection: Māra’s siren-like daughters hold up mirrors to show your desires, while they project more to make you desire more too.
[7] Certainty: Never mistake what you can desire as what you can definitely attain, as what surely brings True Happiness.
[8] Uncertainty: Never mistake what you do not desire as what you should not strive for, as what does not bring True Happiness.
[9] Contradiction: Odysseus desired to experience the alluring, while desiring to keep his life too, but being seductively tempted yet forcibly restrained proved unbearable.
[10] Reality: Rather than wondering if the sirens are merely mythical, do wonder about what your equivalent sirens really are, so as to not be lured by them.
Related Reviews:
A Missing Pivoting Point In ‘The Odyssey’ Movie
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2026/10/a-missing-pivoting-point-in-the-odyssey-movie
On ‘The Odyssey’ Towards Moral Truths
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2026/09/on-the-odyssey-towards-moral-truths
