The Hero's Journey
​The Hero's Journey focuses on how generative trance supports life as a great hero's / heroine's journey.
One of the hallmarks of successful and effective people is a deep sense of purpose and intention. Without this deep sense, it is easy to get lost in the infinite dramas of everyday life, to be pulled by the many forces trying to use you in one way or another. By sensing and aligning with an inner calling, it is possible to steer one’s life course in a meaningful way. One of the best models for describing this path is the “Hero’s Journey,” first described by the mythologist Joseph Campbell (1949) in his seminal book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Campbell examined stories of heroes, historical and mythical, spanning all ages, cultures, religions and genders. He noted how across many cultures and throughout time there has been a common deep structure pattern—that is, a basic myth—about a person who lived an extraordinary life that brought new gifts and transformations to both self and community.
The path of the hero’s journey generally follows three steps: (1) living in the garden, (2) exile into the desert, and (3) return to the garden with new gifts. That is, a person starts in the consensus “trance” or “identity box” of the mainstream community; then gets pushed out of the ordinary “box” of reality in ways that force him or her to let go of old maps and forge new resources and understandings. This heroic journey involves crossing a threshold into a new territory outside of his or her comfort zone, finding the proper guardians (resources), and facing and transforming inner “demons” or “shadows.” (i.e., major problems). Then, having successfully navigated the trials and tribulations of these thresholds and ordeals, the “re-born” person returns to the community as a different person, with many contributions to make.
To learn more, you can purchase Stephen and Robert's book or feel free to download their article (PDF file).
