the hero with a thousand faces

roya has been cajoling me for days and days now - "where is your new blog post. i've been waiting forever for it - i'll give you some candy if you do...hmmmmm".

so, i'll take a moment, while i drink my hot apple cider, to write about something that came up last night at my Tabernacle of Unity class. so steven was talking, explaining some metaphysical thing...what was it?...oh yeah, he was discussing a question posed concerning the nature of the journey of the Manifestations - that there seems to be a pattern where they momentarily leave their community to go into isolation and then return.

he then cited the work of joseph campbell. i was sitting there, and it momentarily washed over me. and then something woke up in my mind and said "hey! i recognize that name". so i thought and i thought, and then it came to me. when i was in nashville living with nafeh and katrina, nafeh had rented this taped interview of joseph campbell. campbell's widest popular recognition followed his collaboration with bill moyers on this pbs series titiled "the power of myth", which was first broadcast in 1988, the year following campbell's death. the series exposed his ideas concerning mythological, religious, and psychological archetypes.

basic premise:

campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world that have survived for thousands of years all share a fundamental structure, which campbell called the monomyth.

this fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which include (1) a call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline, (2) a road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails, (3) achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge, (4) a return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail, and finally, (5) application of the boon in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world.

in a well-known quote from the introduction to the hero with a thousand faces, campbell wrote:

“ A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

the classic examples of the monomyth relied upon by campbell and other scholars include the Buddha, Moses, and Christ stories, although campbell cites many other classic myths from many cultures which rely upon this basic structure.

so there...roya, stop cajoling.