The Hero’s Journey – A Roadmap for Transformation
The Hero’s Journey – A Roadmap for Transformation
If you’ve read some of what I’ve written here, it should come as no surprise that I firmly believe in the value and importance of personal transformation to improve life.
The Power of Mythology
Many writers and thinkers have informed my thinking on this. I’d like to share the thoughts of one of them with you here: the writer and philosopher Joseph Campbell.
Campbell published ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ in 1949, which articulated the concept of a ‘monomyth’ – the idea that all mythic narratives, spanning cultures and civilizations around the world and across time, are all variations of the same essential story. Later in his career, he applied this thinking to the idea of people pursuing their ‘bliss’ – their passion – to achieve true fulfillment. While this certainly has spiritual connotations, pursuing happiness in this way simply leads to a happier and more fulfilling life.
The Hero’s Journey – A Roadmap For Transformation
While there are some variations, the journey, as Campbell saw it, generally moves through stages from the hero’s typical life, through the frightening and unknown where the transformation takes place, and then back into the everyday life, with the hero returning to their normal life with the reward.
Beginning with the hero’s everyday life, they are called to the journey. There’s some refusal, a resistance to start. Ultimately the hero crosses into the unknown, where they meet a mentor who guides them onto the path. The hero endures tests of their strength and resolve, challenged at the hands of their foes but also aided by allies they meet along the way. There is then one final ordeal, a turning point that brings them to the brink of the abyss. This point can be thought of as a form of death and rebirth because it is through this test that the hero is truly transformed. The hero then begins the trek home, bringing back the ‘boon’ or treasure hard-won through the transformation. If being happy is the ultimate goal in life, the boon is bliss.
The mythology of almost every culture throughout time echoes this same narrative. If this series of events sounds familiar, you don’t have to look too deeply into the past. You might recognize Luke Skywalker as a relatively modern-day archetypal hero. George Lucas credited Campbell’s work as an inspiration for the plot of the Star Wars movies.
Today’s Hero’s Journey – A Roadmap For Transformation
What, you might ask, does this have to do with real life?
Any change is difficult. Transformational change is – for some – nearly impossible. Some people don’t achieve what they aspire to in life because they’re not willing to go through the process of transformation that this mythical narrative describes.
Particularly difficult is the idea of being tested in the abyss; some part of us dying and being reborn through that challenge. And yet this is the key. To truly transform, we must be willing to leave behind some aspects that we no longer need – some that may prevent the transformation.
What do you want to achieve, and what will you encounter on your journey? What will you find in the abyss, and what are you ready and willing to leave there to transform? These questions are worth asking because your bliss is worth achieving.
I’m not labeling myself as a hero, but we are all the heroes of our own lives. I feel as though I have gone through the hero’s journey several times. During the pandemic, the past couple of years have forced many people onto the hero’s journey. Many have experienced some sort of transformation on this side of the journey through the pandemic. One of my goals during the pandemic was to provide emotional support through my Daily Positive Thoughts blogs, which are now posted weekly on Thursdays. I wanted to be the person who supported your journey while taking my own.
I highly recommend reading any of Joseph Campbell’s works; hope you find them as inspiring as I do.