Summary The Hero\'s Journey PDF

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Linked to the book The Hero's Journey (ISBN 9781577314042)....

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FINDING JOE Tag Line “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” First Quote “I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”  Thailand: Golden Buddha Start of Film: Who is Joseph Campbell and why should we care?  One story within all the stories – called The Hero’s Journey. Circle Graphic: o Wasteland o The call o Reluctant hero 1. Separation: a. Fear b. Threshold Crossing c. Magical Helper d. Road of Trials e. Night Sea Journey f. Adventure 2. Initiation: a. Threshold Crossing b. Apotheosis c. Enter the Cave d. Courage e. Helpers f. Belly of the Whale g. Threshold Crossing h. Rescue i. Tests j. Magical Flight k. Dragon Battle 3. Return: a. Treasure  Examples from contemporary film and from various commentators – story in all stories – philosophy, religion, history as well as fiction  Hero’s Journey is a pattern or algorithm  Storytelling is generally about people learning things  If there is one map we should be able to use it in our own lives  We like heroes in movies because they speak to the seed within us that wants to pursue our calling  An iconography for how to live life

Second Quote

“The function of mythological symbols is to give you a sense of Aha! Yes. I know what it is, it’s myself.”  The most important thing that the myths teach us is to go beyond the presumed limits of ourselves  Campbell thought that myth was a narrative about the psyche  Problem: many of us are metaphorically impaired  It’s better to have a story in order to look at life than an explanation – the story is richer  Story: tiger cub among a flock of sheep – the food we get from the culture around us Third Quote “Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.”          

You have to capture the spark of what your life is supposed to be If it is so simple, why don’t more people pay attention? Keeping people happy and tranced-out “Most people think it is a luxury and a great privilege to stay home and watch television” Without time to think we become bundles of conditioned responses The Trance = the Wasteland What you should and should not do Items that provide instant gratification in order to make up for the fact that you are not actually doing what you want In heroic journeys the hero always finds out that what they believed was real is not real at all What is reality? Potential.

Fourth Quote “The call to adventure signifies that destiny has summoned the hero...”              

There is almost a phone ringing... If you refuse to answer the call will continue to come Eventually they will come like a sledge hammer Chinese symbol for crisis = danger + opportunity When bad things happen things get better! You step over a threshold...sometimes you’re shoved... Problem – we are afraid We tend to become the hero of our life at the point when we are sick of being the victim of your own life Hero: you are responsible for your own adventure Metaphoric death: Death in myth roughly equates to change The snake that cannot shed its skin must perish No death - no life, no death - no transformation, no death - no change The Phoenix The terrible things that have happened to you are actually what allows you to become a hero

 The Grail – your own entry in the dark forest  Your personal quest Fifth Quote “Follow your bliss.”  Your authentic journey  Upanishads – three paths to enlightenment – beingness, consciousness, enlightenment  Bliss is not pleasure or escapism  How do we find our bliss?  What are you passionate about?  What activities when you do them cause time to fly?  What do you most love to do? Find out and do more of that thing.  What was it that made me different as a child?  What made me cry at night because I did not fit in  “Go back and find it”  If you did not have to worry about time or money what would you do  Joseph Campbell’s advice to graduating students “don’t do what daddy says”  Daddy has only one wish for you – security – if you barter away your life for security you will never find your bliss  Do what makes you happy. When you look at successful people they don’t succeed because they are in it for the money – they are following their bliss  The fact that you are looking for your bliss means that you are on the journey  We don’t find our resources because we have not looked – Ken Robinson – we all have deep talents – “go looking” – do things you’ve never done before. Stretch yourself Sixth Quote “The universe will open doors where there were only walls.”  If you take the step of faith unseen forces will move to accommodate  Write until you get lucky – you work until you get lucky – luck won’t come to your house  Why do most people not follow their bliss? Fear. Seventh Quote “What will they think of me must be put aside for bliss?”      

Friends and family collude to create a story that is hard to get out of We are our own biggest inhibitors Two roads in life – the red road and the black road The red road is tough – lots of challenges The black road is easy – straight – no challenges The storyteller always says the same thing – they don’t tell you which road

to take the say, “the choice is yours” Eighth Quote “Find a place where there is joy and the joy will burn out the pain”  Plane crash story Ninth Quote “Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging”  Dragons  The most challenging, fierce creature in mythology  A beast that is covered with scales – each scale says either “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not” – it is a creature made of all of the sociocultural information that has been defining your life  You must use everything you have learned to beat the dragon  What is the one thing that keeps people from their mountaintop? Fear.  What is the one thing that keeps people small? Fear.  Fear = Dragon  Fear that is unfaced will creep through your life and toxify your views  Ken Robinson “love is what we’re born with and fear is what we learn”  Tony Hawk and the first 360 loop (*habitas)  Fear is an inherent part of the human experience  Courage is not a lack of fear – it is dealing with your fear  Courage is when you know what to do and lack of courage is when you know what to do and you don’t do it  Courage is exploring the unknown  It is just like a muscle – you have to train – courage gym  There is some power that monsters get by being dark and in the closet  There is some power they lose when you face them head on  Slaying dragons  Is that what we do – or do we run from challenges / tough moments?  Do we do the things that scare us?  What is outside is in fact inside  It is a projection  Star Wars example  The struggle between good and evil that is going on inside of us  The great obstacle is ourselves  We don’t want to see ourselves as bad, so we see it outside ourselves  The hero encounters obstacles and flails at them – how do I get out of this?  You have to surrender  Stop fighting the dragon  Slaying the dragon is coming to terms with an inner part of yourself  You grow  The dragon steps out of the way and you are rewarded  Loving your dragon  The soul’s journey is about facing fear and going beyond them and growing

as a result  Our most rewarding moments come after a struggle  What we do with our lives is what makes us heroes or not – there is grace in knowing that and there is a gift in believing that  Finally it is about you loving yourself as you are – there is no more war going on within yourself Tenth Quote “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are”               

The hero’s journey tells us that life is circular, not linear What did you bring back? Gilgamesh and the plant of immortality The telling of the story is the invitation for the next person to begin their journey – we return in order to complete the circle The ultimate end to the hero’s journey is giving back the essence of the journey Giving back If you speak to a person through your mind, you will reach their mind If you speak to a person through your heart, you will reach their heart If you speak through your life, you will change lives My story, my truth – may have an effect on you I am taking the internal and making it external in order to share an experience Life is short – all that matters in the end is how big we showed up – how courageous we were We will not regret the silly things we did, but the risks we did not take The choice between give up or not give up is a story you are telling yourself that makes you feel immortal, like you can do anything...transcendent And that’s all we got.

Formal Elements       

Colour Music Children acting out scenes Interviews Quotes Clips of success A journey...