The Hero’s Journey (Your Life) Basic Lesson #4 by Danielle Sainte-Marie In Lesson 3 we learned that the hero must be able to individuate and leave home to begin his or her journey. This is not always easy and one can get stuck in the negative aspect of it, and it can lead to a downfall. This is exemplified in the figure of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, Episode 1 and Episode 3, who was always torn apart by leaving home and beginning his journey without his mother and his subsequent inability to come back and free her before she was killed. Because he couldn’t let go of her and because he felt responsible for her death, he then translates his journey into a manifestation of the negative aspects of personality. So, it is very important that when the hero leaves home, that he or she is able to see it in a positive light, if not in the beginning, then at least eventually. The next part of the hero’s journey is the interaction with the outer boundaries. The hero will now encounter the edge; this is the interface between the hero’s world and the world beyond his or her previous experiences. This is where the hero gets to see all the people that have been out there on their own journeys already. This is seen in many a classic novel and film as the old, crusty sailors in the seaport, telling tales of what they have seen on their adventures (Marco Polo); this is the bar scene in Star Wars, Episode IV, and the bar scene in The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings. It is in The Matrix when Neo wakes up on the hover-craft The Nebuchadnezzar and meets the crew of the ship in “the real world.” It is the kitchen/dinner scene in Reina’s house where Carlitos in Under the Same Moon meets all the tough, hardened, illegal-alien workers; in To Kill a Mockingbird, the hero in the form of Jem (not Jim; Jem is his name) goes to the other side of town with his father and meets all the poor African-American families, and encounters a boy much like himself. The reason why this is important is that this represents the beginning of the mystery of life; it is the cinching allure of the journey. It beckons the hero even further into finding their authenticity. Those that have been “out there,” seem to show in the nature of their characters, that life has been tough, but meaningful. These are the people that appear to be living in the moment, and not living mundane, ordinary lives. This is what the hero wants for his or her life too. Now, in our real lives, we find our boundaries are not just physical, but also psychological and spring forth from our unconscious mind in the form of dreams. In our dreams we travel outward to the inner most part of our beings. They reveal to us exactly what is lacking or what is being repressed and not realized. These are what Carl Jung referred to as “Shadows.” They are meant to teach us. This is where poetry and writing, in-part, come from. It is a connection of brain hemispheres that feels like the divine is speaking through us. This is why I, and many other poets, often arise in the early morning hours to write: it is when the shadow-realm is at its zenith. But, we also encounter the physical side of the boundaries on our heroes’ journeys (if we have heeded the call and turned away from The System that wants to control us and make us a servant, and instead have decided to blaze our trail authentic and true). In the last article I will discuss one of my own such journeys and show each phase of the journey as it relates to what I have been writing about. The edge of these boundaries presents a question to our lives and helps reveal to us what we truly want: do we want to travel and have the wild, tough, untamed experiences as did all these others that we have met, or do we want to go back home,and return to the farm and reject the adventure of the hero’s journey? Can you recall a time at the beginning of your own journey when you met the people that had been “out there?” What was your response to them? Were you afraid and/or curious, and did you accept the adventure and the mysterious allure of the call of the hero at that moment, or did you leave and decide it wasn’t for you? The outer edge of our world is where the action really begins.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 15:35:25 +0000
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