The circle needs to be closed…
The story needs to be told.
I am endlessly fascinated by the Hero’s journey.
It is like we are sending — well, we used to — postcards from where we are, telling our friends and loved ones about our precious moments. But if we collect the cards, letters, messages, we realize, that what we did all along was, that we told our story. At certain points, we stop and see where we are and where have we been. That is when we close the circle. One circle anyway.
Joseph Campbell said that in a mythological sense, all stories are essentially are the same. The protagonist leaves his or her ordinary life, ventures into the unknown (the subconscious), goes through different experiences, meets allies and enemies, fights the dragon, and wins. Eventually, after circling back ‘home’ with some sort of elixir, wisdom, life-changing tool, he or she shares the whole story with the community about how their lives changed, so that others might be able to avoid the ordeal and use the treasure only.
I pondered on the idea, that if this is the case, which seems true to me, then we are always in the middle of a story. Right now, at this very moment, we are somewhere on that journey. I know for me, I am at the sharing with the community phase. I think. I have also already started a new cycle and the call to action is where I am at on that one. I am still amazed, how my life exactly played out as he describes it. I did go far away from my familiar place and did endure hardship and find the elixir. And this happened many times throughout my life, one cycle after the other.
I wish somehow that I would have known this sooner. I think that it can give tremendous power if we are able to see, when we are in the middle of some tough situation, the bigger picture and find out where we are on our hero’s journey.
I remember how I always tried to actually physically go to the top of the highest building or a hill in order to look down and see the bigger picture. This is what I was looking for, to figure out, where I am on my journey. I think being aware of the stages can give enormous meaning to our everyday lives, because from this point of view it seems like life is a continuous adventure, one after the other.
Depending on personal beliefs, these are the karmic cycles until we free ourselves from the ego and… We shall find out for ourselves, what comes after.
Till then I would rather choose the director’s chair and play out the script I wrote for myself.
