Ulysses, Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, And there, in the midst of these great heroes, is you. We are all traveling the same inner heroic journey. In which we must go through the same stages, face the same obstacles and lead us to the same psychological and spiritual transformation.
It is what Joseph Campbell called The Hero's Journey, or monomyth. In his work, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell divides this cycle of life that we all go through into three main phases. The departure or separation: where we leave behind our daily life and begin the adventure into the darkest part of ourselves.
The initiation: where we must face the trials and obstacles that these unknown forces will put in front of us. And the return: the final phase in which we return from our journey transformed, and we must share our power, our knowledge and skills with our fellow men. The starting point to understand why all human beings are psychologically and spiritually on the same path is found in the ancient myths.
In Campbell's words: “myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. ” “For the symbols of mythology are not manufactured; they cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently suppressed. They are the spontaneous productions of the psyche, and each bears within it, undamaged, the germ power of its source.
” “The source is unknown because it is the ultimate mystery, but it is the one from which everything emanates. A creative source to which we are all connected. ” “Myths are metaphors of the spiritual potentiality of the human being and the same powers that animate our life, animate the life of the world.
” The territory of myth is the territory of the unconscious. And collectively we all share the same symbols. What Carl Jung called the collective unconscious.
In our unconscious are the terrors and the treasures. The psychic forces that we resist but which, if we had the courage to integrate, would reveal our highest human potential. Going into the unconscious is the heroic adventure that all myths throughout history have described.
Using a series of common symbols, the myths of all cultures allude to the desired and feared adventure of self-discovery. A self-discovery in which that old world we had raised will be destroyed “but from which a bolder, cleaner, more spacious and fully human reconstruction of life will emerge: that is the allure, the promise, and the terror of the mythological realm within us. ” According to Campbell, the main function of mythology is to “provide the symbols that advance the human spirit.
” In the same way that our body has a nervous system that makes it move, our mind possesses spiritual forces that make it move and that have remained constant throughout human history. Lines of communication between the conscious and unconscious zones of the psyche. Briefly formulated, the universal doctrine teaches that all the visible structures of the world, things and beings, are the effects of a ubiquitous power out of which they rise, which supports and fills them during their manifestation, and back into which they must ultimately dissolve.
That power is within us, hidden in the depths of being. Waiting to be unearthed by the hero who has the boldness to embark on the adventure. So, the hero is the one who withdraws inward, searching for the peace of the inner eternal kingdom.
The secret domain of the unconscious through which we reach the other side, the metaphysical plane. There, the hero must “overcome dark resistances and revive long-forgotten and lost powers. ” And after that, he must return to us, transfigured, and teach us the lesson of renewed life.
“We have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world. ” That thread of the hero's path is what Joseph Campbell called the 3 stages of the nuclear unit of the monomyth.
Three stages that lead to a spiritual awakening. The starting point is the call to adventure. The hero is called to leave the ordinary world behind.
Something happens that presents him with a difficult decision. He takes a step back and retreats into the familiar, the usual, or he takes a step forward and enters the unknown. Luke Skywalker found his home burned down with his uncles inside.
Harry Potter received a letter of invitation to the wizarding world. Frodo discovered that the gift his uncle Bilbo gave him was actually Sauron's one ring. We all face moments like this in our lives.
An unexpected event clearly announces that it is time to go beyond the known horizons. Old concepts, ideals and emotional patterns no longer fit. It is time to cross the threshold.
If we reject that call and pretend to return to our occupations, it will be unsuccessful. Events will continue to happen with increasing force until the call can no longer be denied, and we are forced to leave behind the ordinary reality that we adore and detest at the same time. The hero's first encounter on his journey s always a protective figure.
Often a hermit, a wizard, or a wise old man who provides the adventurer with protective amulets against the dragon forces he will, eventually, have to face. This supernatural helper symbolizes the very assistance that life gives to the one who has answered the call. “One has only to know and trust, and the eternal guardians will appear.
Having answered his own call and continuing bravely as events unfold, the hero finds all the forces of the unconscious at his side. Mother Nature herself supports his powerful task. ” Our unconscious, noticing that we need its assistance to face this unsuspected new world, unlocks certain forces that come to our rescue.
Inner secrets that only become available to those who dare to start the heroic path. “Willed introversion takes us to the depths of the psychic energies and can lead to a period of neurosis or psychosis. But on the other hand, if the personality can absorb and integrate the new forces, an almost superhuman level of self-consciousness and masterful control will be experienced.
” The adventure of our lives is always taking a step beyond the known to enter the unknown unknown. And on the border between these two worlds lies the guardian of the threshold. The first monster we must face.
If the hero succeeds and achieves victory over this guardian, that is, if he manages to reconcile the forces of his own psyche, he crosses the threshold and advances in his adventure. If the hero, instead of conquering the power of the threshold, is swallowed by the unknown, like Geppetto in the belly of the whale, descends into death. It goes inward, sheds the old skin, is born again and crosses the threshold.
Once the threshold is crossed, the second stage of the journey begins: Initiation. The hero enters the realm of darkness. The deepest realms of his own being.
He must survive a succession of tests that his own unconscious throws at him. “In the vocabulary of the mystics this is the second stage of the Way, that of the ‘purification of the self,’ when the senses are ‘cleansed and humbled,’ and the energies and interests concentrated upon transcendental things”; Or in a more modern vocabulary this is the process of dissolving, transcending or transmuting the childish images of our personal past. ” These tests are a deepening of what we already experienced when we crossed the threshold and faced the guardian.
The question that underlies this stage is this: Can you allow your ego to die? Are you willing to make that sacrifice to achieve that transformation? The dragons the hero must annihilate and the impossible barriers he must overcome represent our own unconscious abyss.
That which we reject and refuse to integrate into our psychic structure and which we have pushed to the very depths. There in the depths of the dragon's cave, it had remained hidden so that we would not have to face something so terrifying about ourselves. But the hero with courage decides to conquer his fear by looking where he never wanted to look.
Entering where he never wanted to enter. “The space within the heart, the room of the inner controller, the source and end of all. ” And there, he achieves transformation.
“When the envelopment of consciousness has been annihilated, then he becomes free of all fear. This is the potential for liberation within all of us that anyone can achieve through heroism. ” When the hero's quest has been fulfilled, he receives the elixir of the imperishable being It is the power one obtains when one dares to know oneself and transmute.
So, the hero returns, but he is no longer the same as when he left. He now possesses the trophy that transforms life. “The hero now begins the work of bringing the runes of wisdom, the beautiful golden sign, or his sleeping princess back to the realm of humanity.
Where the blessing can redound in the transcendental restoration of society and the renewal of humanity. The hero has yet to confront society with his ego-destroying, life-redeeming elixir. And this will cause her problems because not many want to awaken.
Most will want to remain asleep, ignoring the truth as it threatens to take away the plastic but comfortable life they have created over the years. So, this homecoming is the hero's final test. Each individual must discover where they are on the hero's journey and use this formula to expand consciousness and overcome the trials they face.
“The goal of the myth is to achieve the reconciliation of the individual consciousness with the universal will. ” Where are your ogres and dragons? The exploration of that hidden dimension of your being, the knowledge of what is hidden there and the integration of those latent forces, is the heroic feat you secretly long for.
“The cave you are afraid to enter holds the treasure you seek.
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