The Hero's Journey: The Story of All Stories

What is the meaning of life? This is usually the question that we all ask ourselves when times in our lives start to get really difficult, and maybe there are times in our lives that get difficult for a very good reason that most of us cannot explain just yet.

What if all that you are going through is simply there to introduce you to your real self?

What if the very reason for what appears in the form of “adversity,” is for you to ask that very essential question, “Who AM I?” The answer to that question lies at the heart of every living being and can only be found when the Seeker is truly ready to look.

This world is meant to be confusing and very challenging for a specific reason. It is not meant for everyone to understand and figure out so quickly.

We all grew up with Stories, tales of truth and justice, journeys of discovery, fights for survival and not forgetting the endless fight between good and evil, but where did they come from originally?

They derive from every human being who had the courage not to run when faced with their deepest fears and who consequently had to face their worst enemy and the greatest battle of their lives.

Think back to your childhood. Which movies inspired you the most, which of them moved you and which characters did you identify yourself as?

Sometimes we come across a character in a story that uplifts us and helps us to understand a little bit more about ourselves. It can help us look at things differently, in ways that can challenge us to overcome our greatest fears and inspire us to do things that we always dreamed of doing. Maybe these stories have been written for that very reason. To help us discover our true purpose in life, overcome our greatest fears and inspire us to do great things.

The very reason movies such as: Lord of the rings, Divergent, Hunger games, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, The Truman Show, the Matrix, Wizard of Oz, James Bond, The Lion King, Star Wars etc.… are so enticing, is because we see the highest version of ourselves in some of these characters. It draws us into these stories emotionally & mentally and can help us through our own journey.

To let go of the known and embark on a quest unlike one you have ever experienced before.
One that will take you into the depths of your own soul and will lead you to unmask the answer to the question on everyone’s lips, “Who am I?”

Every human being on the planet is looking for that very answer, but disarmed by society’s conformities and expectations and distracted by its means of entertainment, most people have been enticed into searching for commodities on the outside, rather than the potential hidden on the inside.

Until the seeker faces their own shadow, they will never discover their true potential and their reason for being.

“Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.”

~ The Gospel according to Thomas: Verse 2

The only way out is IN and the only way forward is BACKWARDS.

“As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…”

~ Hermes Trismegistus

Meaning: That which has been, will return again. As in heaven, so on earth.
When we are faced with difficulties, it could be that trouble is calling us to a change something in our lives. We need to conquer the serpent within that holds us back.

If we didn’t have trouble in our lives, then there would be no reason to change anything. When things get difficult, we find ourselves having to find new ways of doing things.

Any experience we have been facing, is something that has happened to others before us and we learn from their mistakes. We can see the guidance that has been left behind for us from those who came this way before and it is interpreted primarily through imagery.

Joseph Campbell’s concept of monomyth (one myth) refers to the theory that sees all mythic narratives as variations of a single great story regardless of their origin or time of creation.

Campbell called it “The Hero’s Journey.” A story of a man or woman, who through great suffering, reached an experience of the eternal source and returned home with gifts powerful enough to set their society free.

“I don’t believe that people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

~ Joseph Campbell

The hero’s journey was first described in Campbell’s book: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) and became a bestseller, with a particular impact on George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars and he has credited the book with shaping his thoughts about the saga and Luke Skywalker’s thrilling adventures follow almost every stage laid out by the hero’s journey.

What Joseph Campbell referred to as “the calling” is usually bad news of some kind. Something goes wrong in your life.

It could be anything from a divorce, to financial problems or an illness.

In a collective community, it could be a natural disaster, or a pandemic of some kind.

Something happens that makes us realize that we need to go looking for new answers.
The movie the Matrix is a great example of The Hero’s Journey.

Neo is guided to follow the white rabbit which inevitably leads him into his own hero’s journey. Neo finds out the hard way that he is the chosen one to save the world from the evil A.I. controlled Matrix system.

Gnosticism has the idea of a Demiurge, a demigod who created the flawed Matrix system in which we try to find ourselves, while a higher truth of knowledge and way of being exists beyond that structure. The Gnostics also emphasized knowledge as the key to spirituality and paint ignorance as humankind’s major obstacle.

“You must be willing to get rid of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

~ Joseph Campbell

The movie The Truman Show in particular relates to many people who are awake seeking the truth, because sometimes it feels like we are living in a movie set and we are surrounded by actors.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.”

~ William Shakespeare

Mythical stories are the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.

For the symbols of mythology are not manufactured; they cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous productions of the psyche, and each bears within it, undamaged, the germ power of its source.

It is the realm that we enter in sleep. We carry it within ourselves forever.
When you hear the calling, you embark on an adventure that might take you away from your ordinary life, where you will cross a threshold into a place you have not been before.

There will be companions, allies, mentors, and opponents. There will be obstacles that you need to face and there might be a good deal of suffering, but that is what’s necessary in order for you to realize what needs to be done.

Being the hero of your journey is something that we all must face at some point in our lives and it is completely up to you to accept your mission. It is where you have to make a choice in life to face your fears, take a stand for what you believe in and conquer the serpent with you.

It is the beginning of what could only ever be, the greatest adventure of them all; it is the story of all stories, it is the Hero’s journey of YOU.

Do you Hear the Calling?

“Who looks outside, Dreams, who looks inside, awakens.”

~ Carl Jung

Source: https://garylite.com/2021/10/05/heros-journey-the-story-of-all-stories/