Big Idea Daily | The Hero's Journey
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Joseph Campbell on His Life and Workby Joseph Campbell |
“They thought that it would be a disgrace to go forth as a group. Each entered the forest at a point that he himself had chosen, where it was the darkest and there was no path. Where there’s a way or path, it is someone else’s path; each human being is a unique phenomenon."JOSEPH CAMPBELL |
BIG IDEA #1
The Call to Adventure
FROM THE BOOK"The call to adventure signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown.
This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be variously represented: as a distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state; but it is always a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible delights.”
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Brian's Notes
The book is organized by various facets of the Hero’s Journey: The Call to Adventure, The Road of Trials, The Vision Quest, The Meeting with the Goddess, The Boon, The Magic Flight, The Return Threshold, and The Master of Two Worlds.
That passage is from chapter #1: “The Call to Adventure.”
It’s an excerpt from Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. He published that book in 1949—when he was 45 years old. That book has become THE Bible for creative artists ever since. George Lucas was a student of Campbell and based Star Wars on his Hero’s Journey.
Note: Campbell lived from 1904 to 1987. He and another one of my heroes, Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), were working on their separate pieces of the human puzzle at roughly the same time.
Now... Here’s THE MOST IMPORTANT THING (!) you need to know. Well, actually there at last a couple “most important” things you need to know.
First, YOU (yes, YOU!) are the Hero we’ve been waiting for. I mean that literally. Why we are ALL inspired by the Heroic acts we see—whether that’s in the movies or in the sports arenas or in everyday life—is because those demonstrations of Heroic excellence remind us of what WE are capable of and who WE are capable of being. Period.
I repeat: YOU are the Hero we’ve been waiting for.
That’s the first most important thing you need to know. The second most important thing you need to know is this. NOTHING happens (and by nothing I mean nothing good happens!) until YOU, the Hero of the story, ANSWER THE CALL to be your best self.
There’s the “big” call to adventure you might be feeling right now. Perhaps it’s to start a business, or start a relationship, or get in better shape, or conquer a health crisis or any number of other “Heroic” challenges.
Then there are the little “micro” calls to adventure we’re all getting all day, every day.
You gotta know that EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT of EVERY. SINGLE. DAY you are being called to an adventure to be your best self—to close the gap between who you’re capable of being and who you’re actually being. Moment to moment to moment. All day. Every day. Especially TODAY.
You know what happens when you REFUSE that big call and those micro calls? Well... That’s when regret, anxiety, disillusionment and, if you do it long enough, anxiety, hopelessness, and depression come in.
Let’s take a moment RIGHT NOW to slow down. Take a deep breath. Relax your body. Assume the physical posture of you at your best. For me, that’s always with my chest up, my chin down as I strive to sit or stand with dignity.
Shake out any tension that might be present. Slow down your breathing. Breathe in through your nose. Nice and low and slow. Exhale slightly longer than your inhale. Smile. Now focus your attention on living with more wisdom, discipline, love and courage.
Ask yourself: What call to adventure am I receiving in my life right now?
Pro tip: ANSWER THAT CALL.
P.S. In Finding Joe, I tell the story about the importance of answering the call. I reference Campbell’s wisdom I share in our Notes on A Joseph Campbell Companion: “To refuse the call means stagnation. What you don’t experience positively you will experience negatively.”
Big Ideas
01: THE CALL TO ADVENTURE
02: CAMPBELL’S PATH TO MASTERY
03: RELATIONSHIPS
04: YOUR EGO
05: THE GOATS & THE TIGER
“What is it we are questing for? It is the fulfillment of that which is potential in each of us. Questing for it is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself."JOSEPH CAMPBELL |
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