Victory

Vijay woke up in the middle of the night screaming, sweating profusely; his wrists clenched, pulse racing, rage on his face.

?It was a nightmare. Gripped with some guilt and disgust, he had been running for several years to hide his face. Everywhere he went, those images hunted him down and wreaked havoc.

?While on the run, he finds himself working in a mine in the middle of nowhere. A place where no?one knows him, a place far away from `his world', where he could find penance. A place physically so demanding that evils of his mind are rendered powerless. In those deep, dark mines he finds a place to hide his fears, shame and guilt. Vijay surrenders to his fate, takes each day as it comes, braves every hardship, every trouble but still doesn’t find peace. The nightmare keeps haunting him.

?Mines are dangerous places. Life hangs by a thread. Besides the physical field of action for Vijay, the mine represents dungeons of his mind; a place where one keeps the dark secrets and memories of life. It represents the fathomless unconscious.

?We all go through a certain mine at some point in life. Our little ego faces the most threatening challenge; faces it’s biggest fear. It comes face to face with the `disowned’ or something it has always refused to see or has been running away from. In dealing with this challenge our higher self, our soul born intuitive wisdom is called forth. This is a process of `whole-making’. Our little ego integrates with the `other’; dissolving all the internal polarities. Ego experiences an expansion, merging into the soul, a home coming.

?Today, in the mine, Vijay is about to face the challenge of his lifetime, again. Will he survive or fall again this time?

?A man-made disaster had the mine flood with water from a nearby reservoir. Water has already entered the lower chambers claiming several lives. The news reaches Vijay. He realises that the ship is sinking. Several years ago in a similar disaster he came short on fulfilling his role of saving others before himself; an event that threw him in the abyss of guilt and shame. The world called him selfish and a coward. This was his rare chance to redeem himself.

?Instinctively, he jumps in. If required, he is willing to choose death over his own life. Starting from the lowest chamber, he begins to find people stuck in the debris and rescues them. He runs through the mines with a shovel in his hand, slush all over him, shouting war-cries, clearing the debris, looking for fellow workers. He endangers his life, takes huge risks, does everything possible, crosses every hurdle but saves everyone. He is the last one to come out. Victorious!

?Unlike last time, he did not take the easy way, he faced the adversity head-on and showed up fully. In the earlier disaster, he had lost everything, so this time, he had nothing to lose. But often in life, we find ourselves by losing ourselves. With each rescue, he rescued himself, his own soul. He had fully redeemed himself.

?Mines are indeed interesting places. While they hold the biggest threat, they also hold our greatest gift. Vijay recovered his pride and self-respect. He could now look himself in the mirror. The blemishes of guilt and shame completely disappeared. A brand-new Vijay goes about his mundane life, completely transformed.

?Hero’s Journey is about recovering what was lost. The recovery is the process of whole-making, of completions and integration.

What is it that you need to reclaim??

#personalgrowth #transformation

The Hero's Journey