Published in the Idaho State Journal and Blackfoot Morning News week of October 2, 2011
It is my hope that with the release
of the film “Finding Joe” by Patrick Takaya Solomon starting on September 30,
more people will be able to find themselves.
Joseph Campbell, the subject of “Finding Joe,” found for us the common
thread that leads the way to a better life and our most authentic selves.
Joseph Campbell explored and
explained the blueprint for the human condition; the words, diagrams, dreams,
stories, legends, religions that interconnect every individual human being on
the planet. That map, within our
collective psychological hard-drive, he called the Hero’s Journey.
As a writer, speaker, consultant,
and professor of Comparative Religion at Sarah Lawrence College, Campbell drew
up the basic story, or “Monomyth,” that is the Hero’s Journey. Which, once you understand it, you see
everywhere. Because it’s the story we
see in most films, fiction, religion, comic books, myths and legends, with the
same central character—you.
We are the person at the center of
all those stories. Those adventures
happen to us. Those challenges happen to
us. We encounter the same roadblocks and
villains. We are the hero in our own
story—so how do you want your story to end?
Campbell describes the formula,
which is really pretty simple. Follow
the path that is the scariest one imaginable for you, if you haven’t already
been forced upon it. Which is the road
that leads into the darkest and creepiest parts of the forest? That’s the one you take. There is a reason why these roads are
typically the ones less traveled; who wants to die from fear?
But Campell also shows us what
happens next. We meet allies. We are greeted at the gates of the
unknown. Whether it’s wand-shopping in Diagon Alley,
finding a ride at Mos Eisley Cantina, or tap-dancing with Munchkins at the
start of the Yellow Brick Road, we are quickly shown we are not on the journey
alone.
Not that it’s ultimately any less
terrifying. After the Prancing Pony is
Mount Doom. And how do you survive the
journey, to make it where you want to go?
In the story of our lives, how do we leave our abusive partner? Start that business? Cope with losing a job? Follow your bliss, as Campbell said?
Through “ trials and revelations,”
Campbell states in his interviews with Bill Moyers in “The Power of Myth.” We have experiences along the way, good and
bad, that teach us something about ourselves.
We learn we have hidden strengths.
We learn we’re smarter than we thought.
We grow stronger and more resilient every time we pick ourselves off the
floor, no matter how hard we fell.
“Where you stumble, there lies your treasure,” Campbell says.
There’s great reward in getting to
the end of the journey and claiming our treasure, except there’s usually a huge
dragon guarding it. That smelly, snarly,
lethal animal is our ego. It’s us
getting in our own way. So, how do we evolve
emotionally to claim what we deserve?
Letting go, building trust, asking for help, making important
changes. And, having faith.
As long as we are alive, there is
light at the end of every darkness. And
that light, often times, is coming from a disco ball at the huge party of your better,
bigger life that waits on the other side of your scariest thing
imaginable. Campbell explains we all
have the strength and stamina for our own heroic journeys, and we can rely on
stories of humankind to point the way.
Onward!
Nancy Goodman is a licensed
counselor with an emphasis on life and career coaching. Nancy can be reached at 406-3234 or goodnanc@yahoo.com. http://vocatusidaho.blogspot.com.
