I came across Joseph Campbell when I was about fifteen. My Mom was reading this book with Luke Skywalker on the front so of course I was intrigued. I asked her what it was about, and she gave it to me straight. “Pete, this book is about our journey. The trials and tests that help us explain our culture and myths.” At the time, I was like “uhhh, what?”
In college Joseph Campbell showed up all over the place. In Jungian Psychology he was quoted regarding the collective unconscious, and then in Social Psychology he was again quoted for his work studying indigenous people and their oral tradition of storytelling and myth. I finally asked my Mom if I could borrow the original copy she was reading almost ten years before. It came full circle for me in 2007 when I was studying writing at the University of Washington. Pam Binder the instructor modeled the class around Joesph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.
His book, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces,” is a comprehensive exploration into the human condition and how we as human beings are more similar than different. The Writing Workshop’s aren’t trying to create a synthetic formula for writing a successful best seller, but JC surely had his hand in some deep research into the stories that have survived centuries. Joseph Campbell investigated cultures and genesis myths of natives all around the world and distilled similarities amongst all of them and basically came up with a roadmap for the bards and storytellers going back several thousands of years.
Disney movies such as Finding Nemo, Alladin, and Frozen (just to name a few) follow this same road map. I challenge anyone who is reading this to watch these movies, or any movie for that matter and see how the map fits the story. The most classic example is Star Wars, Luke Skywalker’s story is commonly used to track the Hero’s Journey. Here is my distillation and summation of the journey from Joesph Campbell’s book, A Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Joseph Campbell
At the onset of any story, the hero isn’t a hero yet. He or she is a plain person in an identifiable ordinary world. The world could be Tatooine or it could be the land of mermaids under the sea, or a clerk at a post office. The ordinary world makes a shift that requires the hero to choose a path. The hero doesn’t want to but life forces their actions. This call to adventure is also introduced often by a herald who usually provides a gift or something to aide them on their adventure.
The hero refuses the call to adventure but circumstances outside their control force him or her to partake whether they like it or not. The hero then crosses a threshold. The character’s arc has now begun to be woven, changed, they’ve walked off of a cliff in which barring gravity boots there is no turning back.
At this point the hero is swallowed by the transformation already begun. Joseph Campbell calls this stage the Belly of The Whale, in which they are torn into a chaotic stream of external conflicts. This is the arena of tests - the road of trials also known as the ordeal.
The road of trials is the meat of the story, in which the character meets several allies, enemies as well as begins to change into the hero they are becoming. He must prove he is worth to make a new skin for himself. The gist of these ordeals are necessary for the hero to change, learn from his mistakes as he prepares for the inner most cave, the culmination of his internal conflicts as they begin to meet the external conflicts. This all builds to the ultimate boon and the reward for defeating the dragon. Once he is successful at the ultimate test it is fleeting for the hero for he is a long way from home, a home no longer holding the comfort of the hearth because the hero has changed and what was comforting and safe no longer interests him. But the story isn’t over - he must return home and face the remaining demons of his past. The road back, like Odysseus is as daunting as the initial crossing. The hero refuses to return. Why not stay in the cave where can relish in the treasure and the pride of his success? The road back includes challenges very similar to his earlier feats culminating in the crossing back over the threshold through which he originally departed.
The final stage is his resurrection. The face-to-face confrontation with the previous reflection of himself and the inevitable vanquishing of his previous skin now shed like a snake.
Joseph Campbell references the Bible, The Koran, the Tibetan teachings of the Buddha, the Dead Sea Scrolls; all major religions and oral traditions from all over the world. The phases of the journey - the birth, death, rebirth, they are all part of our language and myths we all come to turn to in our own journeys of understanding why we are here.
There is something special about this deconstruction of the hero and his journey. It isn’t manufactured. It is the natural instincts of all story tellers but are based in the truths of all adventurers alike.
Here’s my bottom line and the reason I am writing this. Every single person has a story to tell. Judgement aside, no prejudice nor files that preclude a person from being truly heard - if you and everyone you know sat down to write your story or 100 of your stories, or songs or poems - I guarantee it would be awesome, interesting and carry a theme that we’d all want to read from beginning to end. We get stuck in our fear, distraction, procrastination from our true life’s callings - our dharma. But if we had the chance to dictate our journey, it would be filled with gold!
Joesph Campbell’s “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” is a canvas to help the individual as well as our culture speak our truth. I can’t wait to read your story, so what are you waiting for.
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