By Dr. Sandy Islands for Conch Color
Conch Talk
Let’s Look at Ourselves & Lighten Up!
Hero’s Journey
By Dr. Sandy Islands for Conch Color
Joseph Campbell wrote several books outlining the hero’s journey and no matter what our journey may be at this time, we can begin to see our lives through this lens. All of the Indiana Jones movies and ones with similar themes take us on a hero’s journey. The first stage is the “Call to Adventure.” Our life’s destiny calls us to transfer our spiritual center of gravity from the outside world to an unknown zone. Those of us who’ve had to care for sick or dying loved ones will know that this process can only be called a hero’s journey. Wherever we are called, this unknown zone will be a place of treasure and danger, a place of friends and “enemies,” torments, superhuman events and impossible delights. Some times we refuse the call, turn the other ear and try to avoid the journey. Looking back, we’ll see that this only converted the adventure into a negative experience. Fear is what stops us from taking the call and in truth, there’s nothing to fear but fear itself. All fear is an opportunity to free ourselves from illusions that have been holding us back from living the life of our heart’s desire. Fear is the signal that we are at the doorway to our healing. It’s the invisible rope attached to a mental stake that entraps us in a little circle of familiar, but meaningless security.
Fear cannot live in the face of the consciousness of Spirit. That’s why there’s always supernatural aid available when we’ve accepted the call. This protective figure, Higher Power, mentor or guide is available, always present, an angel sent by God who is pure love and has only our highest good at heart. Since we are not alone, we take the “Initiation” and cross the threshold onto the “Road of Trials.” One of the reasons that the Wizard of Oz is such a beloved story is that it epitomizes the hero’s journey. On the road we move into an almost dream-like landscape, so unfamiliar to the secure territory we’ve left to embark on the journey. We must then survive a “Succession of Trials.” We may have a goal in mind for our journey’s end, a race to finish, a chalice to obtain, but in truth the process of the journey is really the end result because this “Vision Quest” allows us to bring forth awareness into our lives that we’ve never experienced before. This awareness is ultimately more valuable than any object acquired or accomplishment performed.
Campbell names the “Boon” as the time when the hero takes the “Magic Flight” to bring the treasures of her wisdom back home. The hero returns to her world and renews the community, enlightens the nation, helps to heal the planet and perhaps the ripple effect will ultimately change the world. In the movie, Castaway, Tom Hanks’ character survives for four years on a deserted island alone after a plane crash. He turned a volley ball into his protective figure and companion, “Wilson,” and saved one FedEx package to deliver when he returned home. This gave him the hope to go on and the faith that he would be rescued. When he returned, they’d had his funeral and his wife had remarried. By delivering the package, he met a new relationship and was able to move on. As many war heroes have discovered the “Return to the Threshold” does not always deliver a hero’s welcome. As we leave the journey behind, we must survive the impact of the world. After the loved one, who’s been ill a long time, dies the caretaker re-enters an unknown world.
Whatever our journey, whether large or small ─ for an addict a day clean can be a hero’s journey to just not pick up that drug for that one day ─ we find the freedom to live our lives in a new way. We have undoubtedly stripped away some defenses and found a strength and power within that we never knew was there. Shifting our perspective from blaming the world to looking at ourselves is always miraculous hero’s journey.