- Departurece.
- The
call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first
given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or
not.
- Often
when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be
from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of
inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in
his or her current circumstances.
- Once
the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or
her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.
- This
is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of
adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into
an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.
- The
belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known
world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point,
but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning
between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made,
or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the
potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new
world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this
experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and
frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to
undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.
B Inititation- The
road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person
must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or
more of these tests, which often occur in threes.
- The
meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the
person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful,
all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may
experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the "hieros
gamos", or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take
place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see
him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in
the process and is often represented by the person finding the other
person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes
this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self
unification does not have to be represented by a woman.
- At one
level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to
abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the
Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For
Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male
hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent
attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor
for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight
was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
- In
this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the
ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the
father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the
center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to
this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is
most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not
have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the
transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be
"killed" so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this
killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either
over or moves into a different realm.
- To
apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to
the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites
to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a
god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more
mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace
and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.
- The
ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the
person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare
and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is
something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that
supplies immortality, or the holy grail.
C Return- So
why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have
conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares
and woes?
- Sometimes
the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have
been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous
returning from the journey as it was to go on it.
- .Just
as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often
times he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back
to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by
the experience. Or perhaps the person doesn't realize that it is time to
return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.
- The
trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to
integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to
share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely
difficult.
- In
myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus
or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the
material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in
both the inner and outer worlds.
- Mastery
leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to
live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither
anticipating the future nor regretting the past.
- The
call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first
given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or
not.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Joseph Campell's Hero's Journey
Here is the break down I found online and what I used as my guide.
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