In the late 40’s, Joseph J. campbell, an American professor of mythology and religious studies observed the striking similarities of “The archetypal hero” in so many of the worldwide mythologies and influenced Hollywood’s writers.
In my daily healing practice, I meet countless patients suffering from ailments related to their deep wish to transform their life entirely (usually between 35 and 50 y old): change of career, divorce, change of lifestyle, or becoming healthy again. Those transformative processes are always excruciatingly painful and take a great amount of courage. Most call it a midlife crisis, I call it the “Hero’s journey”. Healing and transforming take some real courage and the decision to face our demons, should they be physical or emotional.
The oblivious and unaware Hero usually first receives a calling that cannot be ignored or dismissed, and realises that things can no longer be as they are. This plunges the hero (or heroine!) into a first state of SEPARATION: from everything he thought he was and believed in. The calling often takes the form of synchronicities which make the change to come inevitable. The hero first resists that leap into the unknown creating more suffering to himself by questioning his relationships, his job, his foundations, his truth. And so this is obviously painful. But on the way, the hero meets helpers and like-minded spirits. If you are in a life you dont want, the universe will send you a blow to force you to take that journey into the unknown: “the snake that cannot shed its skin, must perish”. Not that the hero dies but for something new to arise, something must end.
Looking for a safe path is unfortunately not an option. The path is where nobody’s threaded before. The hero decides to no longer be the victim of his circumstances and to be responsible for his own adventure. This is the INITIATION path where the hero learns about himself trough trials and tribulations, ultimately gaining new powers or awareness. By the end, the hero can RETURN, loaded with new insight and wisdom.
Your path is what you love doing, when hours feel like minutes, or what makes you flow. Joseph Campbell calls it to “follow Your Bliss”, the Hindus call it “Sat” (just being), Chit (consciousness), Ananda (bliss). Any transformation into a higher self requires letting go “of these things we no longer need” and what we thought was “true”. The journey is difficult, yet through the learning of our very selves, we tend to remember those times as exponential growth, proud of the courage and perseverance we demonstrated faced with adversity. Changing one’s life is similar to a healing journey. Moreover and often, resisting the change that was yearning inside is the root cause of the illness.
illustration: conorneill.com
Read: The Hero With A thousand Faces, By Joseph J Campbell