You are the Hero of Your Own Story
Myths from many eras and cultures share fundamental elements
Mythological story-telling is common across all cultures
Stories from around the globe and from many eras share a fundamental structure, themes and meanings
Joseph Campbell called this phenomenon the “Monomyth”
Myths from many ages and cultures deal with the spiritual evolution of an individual using archetypes, allegory and symbolism
From The Odyssey to Star Wars to Sleeping Beauty, from Congo to China, India to Ireland, the hero goes through common archetypal experiences as they achieve their goals
The great variety of symbolism in these stories refers to the universal inner journey towards Deepest Truth and the various landmarks and stages involved in that journey
Stories typically follow a three-stage process, each stage comprising some or all sub-stages:
The Leaving or Separation
There is a change in the hero’s usual mundane life
A call to adventure, a trauma, perhaps a supernatural message
The hero departs, sometimes reluctantly, their familiar surroundings, and finds themselves fully, inescapably, in a new life, a new world of adventure
The Initiation
Our hero passes through a number of challenges, trials and tests
We may see the search for a physical object, such as a Holy Grail, Herculean-type tests of physical or mental strength, traps and pitfalls to overcome, meetings with supernatural beings or gods
A transformation of some kind comes, such as slaying the dragon, marriage to the princess, or even death and rebirth
At last they achieve their goal
The Return
The hero returns to his previous world, but changed, whole, a master of life
They are free of previous limitations and are qualified to show others the way of the hero
The theory of a Monomyth reveals a method of story-telling that is innate to all cultures depicting the universal evolutionary challenges for all humans as they traverse life
Every human, whether they are aware of it or not, is on their own hero’s quest
By studying myths, and enjoying stories, we can better understand the tests and trials of our own life, as we relate to the heroes that have passed along the path before us
Sources;
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell 1949