The hero’s journey

“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know.” - Joseph Campbell

Note: This story below is my own interpretation of the Hero’s Journey. It does not necessarily reflect the accuracy of the Hero’s Journey as described by Joseph Campbell, who described 17 steps.

Note: After writing this piece, I learned that there is both a Hero’s Journey - which is concerned with overcoming trials in the OUTSIDE world - but also that there is a HEROINE’S Journey - which is all about descending into the Internal World…. That is a piece for another time.

Enjoy your reading!

Leaving

There it is again. That whisper of a call. It’s calling you. You’ve been feeling it for a while now. These past months it’s been intensifying. The sense that something is not right, with the way you are living life. Or rather, that something is missing. Something is calling you. Whatever that “something” is. This, you do not know. What you do know, deep down is, that you must go. You know you must. You must answer the call.

You’ve been trying to resist it, hoping it will pass. You’ve tried not to think about it. To think about different solutions that might change this inner feeling, this lingering state. It is now getting clear inside of you, that this inner restlessness won’t go away. It is here to stay. Waiting, patiently. For you.

Deep down, you know what is required of you. What is being asked. And so - you make the choice. Without any map, any guarantees, you jump.

______________________________

This is the first step of the Hero’s Journey. To leave the familiar behind and step out into the great unknown. Letting go of planning. Letting go of thinking your way to solutions and outcomes.

You must enter into the darkness, with no guarantees of success. You must walk blindly, one step at a time. Each step a step of trust, that there is something greater at play which our mind cannot grasp or see, but which is there nonetheless…

The Void

The second step of the journey means entering the Void. The emptiness where the familiar is behind you and what’s in front is yet to be revealed. In this place, what made sense doesn’t make sense anymore. Previous ideas, structures, ways of living and being, falling apart. This place demands a lot of you. It tests you to your limits. You are deeply challenged on all levels. It will break you down - your identity, your attachment to different things, your perspectives, and everything you thought you knew about the world. In the Void - you die.

This phase is called by some as The Dark Night of the Soul. It is dark because you have left everything familiar and safe behind, and your future and who you are becoming has yet to be revealed. From this place, we cannot see. We walk as if blindfolded. It can be tempting to give up, and walk back. You have considered it, many times. You even came close a few times. But when you felt into it, the act of turning back, something in you whispered…. “stay. Keep going.” So you stay. And you hit rock bottom.

Here you sit, finally surrendered. You give up control. You accept that you do not know the way. You accept that you are defeated and you accept this defeat. You stop fighting. You stop struggling. You close your eyes, and breathe, and notice. Silence.

At first, there is nothing. Simply silence and emptiness. But as you stay here, in this place, in complete surrender, you realise it is almost restful here. For the first time, you are not fighting. You come into acceptance of what is. Your life as you knew it, is gone. And from this place, you are finally free to meet what is within you. You are ready to see. To feel. To grieve. To express your rage and anger. To meet yourself with a new softness. Kindness. And vulnerability.

As you surrender deeper and deeper into this place, you let go of thinking. You relax and let go. You let go of control and let the process unravel, almost as if giving yourself over to something greater than yourself. A deeper intelligence, that knows things that you don’t…

Things begin, finally, to shift.

Returning

You did it. You let the Void swallow you whole. You jumped. You cast yourself into the fire and let it burn away all that was no longer a part of you. You let the water cleanse you and carry you. You let the air deepen your breath. You surrendered to gravity and let it pull you down, close to the earth, and you let earth hold you.

Things are changing now. You can see it. You are softer. You react differently to things. You reflect more deeply than before. You are wiser. You let yourself be broken down into surrender, and now you notice… you are being built anew. From the ground up. From the inside out.

You start to feel new energy within you. You begin to feel a yerning to go back to society, the world you used to live in. But you hesitate: you know deep in your heart that you cannot go back. And actually, you don’t want to. And so, again, you burn the old, and allow yourself to dream about new things. New possibilities. A new way to live. A life full of love. Of purpose. Of passion and aliveness. Of joy. And you know in your bones that you won’t settle for less.

Over time, you build. You create, and you dream. You have a few setbacks, but you keep going. You, my love, have faced the void. Not much scares you now.

___________________________

The final part of the journey, is about returning - or rather, emerging. You have changed, yet you are still you. But, a new you. A deeper and more true version of you. One which has faced the darkness, without running from it. Who has dared to look within. Who has dared to let go. And you smile, remembering back to that restlessness you felt before. It is gone now. You found what you were looking for.

And with this inner stability of one who has walked through the darkness and prevailed, you return to the world. Ready to bring forth the gifts you uncovered

Deep Deep Within.