3 The Story of The Hero and Its Importance
“Mythology is to relate found truth to the living of a life.”
Reflection
In 1949, Joseph Campbell published A Hero with a Thousand Faces, an important work that outlines a pattern that he referred to as the hero’s journey. In this respected text, Campbell relates how all over the world, people are telling and have been telling the same story with the same archetypes and the same plot. Expounding on Aristotle’s “beginning and middle and end” observations, which were explored in Poetics, Campbell describes each stage which he them classifies into three movements: the departure (sometimes called the separation), the initiation, the return.
Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal, Meeting with the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold
Tests / Allies / Enemies, Approach to the Inmost Cave, Ordeal, Transformation
The Atonement, the Reward, the Return
Why is this true? Why are we as humans all over the globe, in so many various cultures, and throughout history up to today, are we telling the same stories? Because the story of the hero is our story. We are the hero in the story of our life. And sometimes even within a brief span of time, we cycle through the stages of which Campbell has made us so aware. And always, we are cycling through this journey as we progress through the days of our life.
And, the story is important in other ways too. It binds us together in community as we share the adventures of the hero. We can gather together to hear a story or to watch it. We can allude and feel comfortable knowing that when we are alluding, there is shared understanding. Stories too help our minds to understand how to process all of the events that we encounter, connecting fragments of living and creating narratives with beginnings, middles, and endings. We are comfortable with narrative—at home with narrative. And the story heals us as well. Cathartic, they help us to release stored emotions. They help us to deal with experience. As we connect with ourselves, as we connect with others, as we connect with the story - we are inspired and encouraged, and we are reminded that we are not alone. And-too - the stories remain - they are eternal - they give life to us even after death - like the hero - resurrected - we too, through the telling of it, will remain- "I think of Shakespeare’s final lines of his sonnet 18, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
So - enjoy - enjoy the story and all of of its many benefits. Celebrate the story. When you do so, you are celebrating life and your life’s journey.
Questions
Do you agree, stories are important?
Do you think stories are purely entertaining; or, do you find they have other purposes as well?
As the hero of your story, to what action is you heart directing you?
As the hero moving through your life, can you identify with any of the stages?
Blessings
Thank you for joining me today! I hope you have a beautiful day! Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you. Peace for now, and remember, stay CHARMED ~