Joseph Campbell spent much of his professional life working with stories. Not just any stories – he was a cultural historian with a fascination for mythology, so the stories he was moved to study were of the archetypal variety, with roots deep in ancestral culture. Campbell discovered that most cultures have a version of the story he called “The Hero’s Journey”. Think of Theseus and the Minotaur, the legends of King Arthur, or, in Norwegian mythology, of Askeladden. There are strong echoes too in modern myths such as The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings.
According to Campbell the components of the hero’s journey are strikingly consistent across cultures. The story begins with the protagonist in a state of blissful, harmonious innocence. But then something happens which knocks him or her into a new reality, into unfamiliar and forbidding territory. The only way back is by going forwards - by embarking on a journey, usually through a dark place inhabited by ghouls and impossible to navigate unaided. Think of the minotaur’s labyrinth, the underworld, or the Mirkwood. Heroism begins with the decision to take that first step into the unknown.
Pushed into the darkness, our nascent hero can only blunder ahead with no sense of direction, at the mercy of half-seen malign forces. But just when the darkness seems deepest, the fog thickest or the forest densest, a kind of miracle happens. The hero discovers some magical device or some vital secret knowledge. Or a benign force of nature comes to his or her aid. Through this “enlightenment” a pathway suddenly becomes evident, a pathway back towards the everyday world. With new-found strength and resolve the hero battles onwards, soon to emerge from the darkness into a transformed, brighter, more colourful land. And the hero carries precious gifts discovered along the way to share with those to whom he or she has returned – resilience, deep insight, clarity, maturity.
It’s a stirring story, and it seems to touch some deep inner psychic chord. Joseph Campbell was convinced of its continuing relevance despite our irrevocable embrace of new technology and our tilt towards globalisation.
So it’s worth asking…What’s your journey? What are the biggest challenges you are facing in life or career? And where in the geography of the Hero’s Journey do you find yourself today?
