In 1949, Joseph Campbell wrote The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell was a professor of Literature. In his work, he studied writings spanning of culture, distance and time. Erudite, he steeped himself in mythology and theology, gaining wisdom from epic tales of heroes and monsters, good and evil.
What intrigues me is that in these stories, he found something no one else discovered.
He found a pattern.
In every myth, in every story, from every culture and every century - people were telling the same story. The very same story!! The story of The Hero's Journey.
This discovery is a revelation to me, in that it proves what I already believe. It confirms for me the fact that all humanity is interconnected and that all humanity shares the same interior landscape. All cultures, all humans, have been telling the exact same stories since the dawn of time. How can that be unless the journey of the hero was intrinsic to our human nature?
Mic drop.
Sharing this wisdom, Campbell applies the journey of the hero as metaphor to illuminate modern complex problems, for indeed, modern problems are no different from ancient ones. We all have trials, we all want to be happy, to understand life's riddles, to have abundance, to not suffer, to become the best version of ourselves.
Throw your own life's story into bas relief. Can you see how your current challenges could be alleviated by learning how to slay your own dragons? Within its pages Joseph Campbell's book is the very template to becoming the hero of your own life.
One of my favorite steps of The Hero's Journey is the Call To Adventure. The call to adventure comes from an outsider, someone on the outskirts of your life. Think of Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars telling Luke he needs to save Princess Leia. Or Gandalf in The Hobbit pulling Bilbo out of his comfortable hobbit hole and into the world of dragons and dwarves. The outsider pulls you away from your status quo, into a new experience of life that shows you who you are as a person. New aspects of your personality come forward to meet the challenges before you. These are parts of you that you haven't explored yet, because, before the journey, you didn't know yet that these parts of you existed! On this adventure new skills emerge and the intrepid hero achieves desired outcomes and inner grace.
In my work, I am the one who beckons others onto the hero's road. Some people refuse the call, some people are brave and join in quickly to experience their own inner transformations, yet others are biding their time, waiting and seeing. Teaching personal development work is my version of being Obi Wan, Gandalf, Morpheus, and is as exciting. I am on the fringe of your life, here on the internet, and I am calling you to step out of your comfort zone and GROW. And when you heed the call and begin your personal development adventure, I have the incredible honour of watching your hidden talents and wisdom emerge. It is a joyous experience for us both.
I call upon you now: Sign up for personal development work with me. We'll go on an 8-week journey together that is for you, and all about you, so that you can be the best version of yourself - the you that you want to be.
"C'mon Neo, take the red pill!! Katniss, bring your bow and quiver!"
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