Day 41: How weakness became a virtue

 

The war on meritocracy begins within you

Life is an existential crisis. Ever since man became aware of his own mortality, we have been faced with the dilemma of giving life eternal meaning. Even the most devout atheist does not wish to face the future without finding some purpose which would allow their memory to live on as a legacy. The nature of the legacy we leave behind us completely depends on whether we have come to grips with ourselves. This is where the hero myth was born, the hero archetype represents the person who is able to face adversity while overcoming the challenges they encounter nobly. These myths exist in mankind’s collective unconscious. Since they form the basis for our oldest collective psychic memories, they appear to be eternal. And it is in the eternal that we need to find the meaning which will permit us to mitigate the existential crisis our finite life inevitably creates.  

 "The Hero with A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell, is ostensibly about myths and mythology. But the lessons in this book can help us identify and navigate the paths we take to better ourselves and the changes in our lives, in order to become better at change, and better people in general.

Campbell, a professor at Sara Lawrence College, studied lore from every conceivable culture; he looked at everything from the ancient religions of antiquity to the mythology of more modern religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Campbell’s research led him to focus on comparative mythology; specifically, he looked at what myths from different cultures had in common, rather than what they didn’t. Everywhere Campbell searched, he found it: a single story-telling arc, the ubiquitous story that every culture from Mesopotamia to our modern Western Society uses to pass along information, tradition, and worldly perception. Collectively, Campbell put this information into his seminal and most influential work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

The Hero’s Journey and Why It’s Important

The monomyth begins with the main character, or Hero, in one place, and ends with him in another — both physically and emotionally. Campbell asserts that this Hero is the same regardless of the story, and that he appears in different forms. This is important because the hero can be the star quarterback or he can be the accountant in cubicle nine. The paths are different but the journey is the same.

 Within each journey, the Hero will encounter other characters that play an essential role in growth. Campbell labeled these archetypes (the Herald, the Mentor, the Goddess, the Trickster, etc.), and they appear in the vast majority of stories. It’s easy to spot an archetype once you know what you’re looking for. So whether the hero is Harry Potter or King Arthur or Frodo, his path is always very similar. Whether the mentor is Dumbledore or Merlin or Gandalf, his role is always to guide the hero.

 This structure appears everywhere, but is most easily recognized in movies and books. Luke Skywalker starts his journey by leaving his home on Tatooine, having grand adventures, and fulfilling his potential as a Jedi. The events might be different, but the journey is the same one King Arthur takes. And this is the same exact course that prominent figures in religious stories all follow. Campbell shows us just how accurate this concept is, and how it replays over and over again. And it’s happening right now in your life, too.

 

 

Now, looking at that picture, as well as chart below, you’ll probably get a good idea of what each stage signifies based on the name; the examples will drive home that all of this is applicable to every story you have ever heard.

 

Stage of the Journey	Description	Example
The Ordinary World	The Hero’s starting point	Dorothy Gale living on her farm (The Wizard of Oz)
The Call to Adventure	The Hero realizes that there is a larger world that he can be a part of	Harry Potter gets a letter from Hogwarts (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)
Refusal of the Call	In a moment of doubt, the Hero decides not to undertake the quest	Luke Skywalker tells Obi-Wan Kenobi that he can’t go to Alderaan (Star Wars)
Meeting with the Mentor	Either the first encounter with the Mentor figure, or the moment when the Mentor encourages the Hero to take on the Quest	Daniel LaRusso meets Mr. Miyagi (The Karate Kid)
Crossing the First Threshold	The Hero moves from the Ordinary World to the Special World, and sees the difference between the two	The Narrator walks into Tyler Durden’s house for the first time (Fight Club)
Tests, Allies, and Enemies	The Hero begins to undertake tasks that will help him prepare for the road ahead; he also meets friends who will aid him, and foes who will try to stop him	Frodo leaves Rivendell with the Fellowship of the Ring, and has to learn how to be on the road as he goes (The Lord of the Rings)
Approach	Internal and external preparation; usually includes an imposing destination	Neo and Trinity gather an arsenal before heading off to rescue Morpheus (The Matrix)
The Ordeal	The central conflict in the story, the big boss fight, where the possibility of death is imminent	Dorothy and her friends battle the Wicked Witch in her castle (The Wizard of Oz)
Seizing the Sword/Reward	Having slain the enemy, the Hero is free to take the treasure; sometimes this is an item of great value, like the Holy Grail, or a person, but very often it’s something more abstract, like the end to a war	After the death of the dragon Smaug, Bilbo and the dwarves are free to help themselves to his treasure (The Hobbit)
Apotheosis and Resurrection	Often, the Hero needs for all of his growth to come to a head and manifest itself all at once in a moment of enlightenment called apotheosis; this realization is the death blow to the old self and beliefs, and the embracing of the new; this is punctuated by a symbolic (sometimes literal) death and resurrection	The Narrator realizes that in order for him to stop Tyler Durden, he must kill himself — by making peace with his own death he accepts mortality, and is, for a moment, truly at peace; he shoots himself and lives, though Tyler is dead (Fight Club)
The Road Back	The Special World, with all of its lessons and adventures, may have become more comfortable than the Ordinary World, and for some Heroes, returning can be harder than the initial departure.	After the One Ring is destroyed, Frodo has a hard time adapting to life as a normal Hobbit in the Shire (Return of the King)
Return with the Elixir and the Master of Two Worlds	The Hero returns home changed, and uses the gifts he received and lessons he learned on the journey to better others; at the same time, the Hero must come to terms with all of the personal changes he’s undergone; he must reconcile who he was with who he has become	Luke, now a Jedi, restores balance to the Force, helping bring peace to the galaxy; concurrently, he is able to resolve his relationship with his father and move on (Return of the Jedi)

But Campbell’s thesis is not simply that nearly every culture in history has found an identical and effective way to tell stories; it’s that the commonalities in storytelling exist because they are a fundamental part of the human experience. The monomyth isn’t only the structure of how we tell the undertakings of heroes and characters in stories, it’s also how we relate those stories to ourselves, and, in a very real way, how we understand the things that are happening to us.

 I would take it a step further.

I believe that while the monomyth is exceptional for storytelling, and therefore exceptional for exploring cultural ideas, it can have just as great an impact when applied to an individual — when applied to you. Put somewhat more directly, the Hero’s Journey is the perfect lens through which to view any change in your life — whatever new journey you’re taking, you will go through all of the phases of the monomyth as you grow, adapt, and ultimately fulfill your goal.

 Of course, I’m not the only one who suggests this. For years, the Campbellian model has been used by people in various fields to help people advance; for example, some therapists use it with their patients to help structure psychoanalysis. Similarly, it’s used to help people deal with the grieving process — after all, the 5 stages are grief each have their mirror in the monomyth. Still others use it for mindset or success coaching — helping people understand where they are in the journey not only provides a sense of comfort and control, but also a clear path, making it easier, conceptually, to get to the next phase.

 Because all changes in your life can fit into this structure, whether you realize it or not, at any given time you’re going through at least one such journey — and mastering the ideology of the monomyth will make you more successful. Because not only is the Hero’s Journey a lens for viewing change, but it’s also an excellent operating thesis for propelling change forward."

~ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/heros-journey/

 

As I have oft stated any fool can tell you what is wrong, but it takes an expert to tell you why and what to do about it. What is wrong is not so difficult to address for we live in an age where the state in all if its manifestations has assumed far too great a role in our lives. It serves the state’s purposes to keep us weak and dependent. As the dividend, you will be able to receive benefits in the form of money and special rights. Those who administer these schemes (politicians and bureaucrats) profit from this continuing "class struggle". In our current system it is important to be adamant about defining yourself as weak or part of an exploited group to maintain this status. The welfare state lives by this thinking and there is no end to the injustices it can claim to be suitable for the state to resolve. And the fewer injustices that are solved the better because then you will need more money and assistance from the state run collective.

Therefore, socialism is where the hero myth goes to die as its acolytes in training sit around playing video games or engaging in other trivial pursuits which are shallow imitations of the hero myth while living lives which have little lasting merit or meaning. Now there is irony for you!