While watching “Cloak and Dagger” last night I was reminded of the Hero’s Journey when one of the scenes referred to it. The term was coined in a biography describing Joseph Campbell’s works and in particular his book, Hero with a Thousand Faces. The story arc evident in writings back to ancient Greece, and probably beyond, is a great reminder for facing difficulties.
As in almost every religion, in order to grow in any significant way we must experience hardships. This always struck me as a bit sadistic but in facing my own challenges, and my own personal abyss, this idea is comforting. Of course you always have the choice of staying in the abyss, of not transforming and not pushing through to the other side but at least there always IS the other side. Placing this responsibility of climbing out squarely in the hero’s hands is liberating and terrifying. While we can blame many people and things for getting us there only we can get us out.
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