Trying to Grow Up
As I prepared for an inspectional reading of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, I was drawn to the idea that storytelling could be formulaic. As someone more accustomed to reading a story told through digits and data, I have not deeply contemplated the idea that universal and timeless structures exist within literature or mythology. The possibility that this singular structure could exist in ancient religion and epic stories while at the same time being consistent with the approach of modern movies ranging from Star Wars to The Incredibles did not initially seem compatible in my elementary mind.[1] But that is why I am here. To be stretched and do some growing up.
It rapidly became apparent that this book was much more philosophical and symbolic-driven than I had anticipated. The premise of a monomyth slowly took shape as I became familiar with Joseph Campbell’s articulation around the framework of the Hero’s Journey. I see how a hero could move from the everyday world to the unknown and back again as a changed person. Dr. Clark’s assigned reading around the Threshold Concept and Troublesome Knowledge enhanced this. As I continued to work through the pages, I began to grasp how the author views a hero. However, contemplating the key points around the Hero’s Journey left me perplexed.
The simplified steps of refusing a call, a mentor, crossing a threshold, encountering a challenge, achieving the boon, and returning seemed as though they could be applied to nearly any adventurous journey. If my understanding is correct, a case in point would be my doctoral pursuit. This adventure would qualify me as a hero in the making. A label that I would not apply to myself and that seemed inappropriate. But as I continued to interact with the text, it became more and more evident that this was the point. The framework is a symbolic way of understanding life and can be universally applied. [2] Whether in an ageless epic story or the seemingly inconsequential story of my life while at the same time giving no attention to becoming a one-time hero or becoming a hero over and over again.
It is this simple universal application that continues to leave me unsettled. Can my doctoral journey be expressed equally to the journey of Jesus? How does the author reach a place where those two things exist similarly? First, it seems that this comparison may be possible through generalization. The author gives a subtle nod to this glaring concern with the statement, “Perhaps it will be objected that in bringing out the correspondences I have overlook the differences…but this book is about the similarities; and once these are understood the differences will be found to be much less great than is popularly supposed”. While only looking at the similarities, it is easy to assume that all things are equal. However, how can one establish a rounded thought or understanding when only looking at one half of a picture? While chewing on this, I could not escape what seemed to be the next logical thought. At what point are things that appear to be the same actually different?
Secondly, the author can justify this simplicity through his worldview. When one considers that life has no real purpose, supernatural events are extreme absurdity, and a God as an absolute other is a ridiculous idea, it becomes simple to equalize all things. [3] [4] From this viewpoint, it would make sense that my journey is equal to Jesus’.
The author and I see the world through different lenses.[5] Jesus is life. [6] Supernatural is normal, and God is absolute.[7] With that differentiation clarified, I have begrudgingly enjoyed wrestling with this book. Focusing on four growth points as I do so:
- Permitting myself to disagree
- Attempting to identify the differences and common ground fairly
- Exude effort to understand an opposing viewpoint
- Honestly examine my bias as quickly as I try to identify other’s [8]
It has been a stretching experience, and I may have even grown up a bit.
[1] Power of Film – The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ltJ2hphlUY.
[2] The Hero With a Thousand Faces Summary — Master the Monomyth to Be the Hero of Your Life!, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyZo0JFqYIE. 1:43.
[3] The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers and Mythologist Joseph Campbell Discuss Commonalities in Every Culture That Create a Need for God.
[4] Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Electronic edition, with revisions and additions, The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell (Joseph Campbell Foundation, 2020). 267.
[5] Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. 8th edition. Thinker’s Guide Library. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020. 38.
[6] John 14:6 NIV.
[7] Luke 1:37 NIV, Isaiah 45:5 NIV.
[8] Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, Reprint edition (New York: Ecco, 2011).
About the Author
Darren Banek
9 responses to “Trying to Grow Up”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Darren –
I resonate with so much of what you write here–the desire to think critically and engage faithfully as someone who views the world Christocentrically. One thing I appreciated about Campbell’s perspective was when he said of the hero’s return that “the two kingdoms are actually one,” but that the hero still must survive the impact of “his” world[1]. I think this highlights our tendency to make false dichotomies (the living world and the “underworld,” the “spiritual life” and “everyday life,” or even our platonic views of soul and body), and reveals something about how we each interact with the adventure of transformation.
To me, Campbell’s work highlights how the Grand Narrative of God at work in the world is a deeply implanted part of humanity and how we relate with the cosmos (and thus not merely reflecting but the genesis of monomyth). I also think there’s an invitation to choose a heroic posture, even when our current “adventures” may seem mundane.
I appreciate the action steps at the end of your post–they’re good handholds for us all. With our natural blindness to our biases, I’m curious: how do you “get outside of yourself” to get a sense of your own bias? What exercises or tools have you found most helpful for that?
[1] Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Third edition. (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2008), 188.
It is an interesting posture to take someone else’s work (Campbell) and apply the framework in a way that they did not intend. I appreciate you pointing that out because I tend to lean on the literal side and am slower to apply content outside of the author’s context.
Great question on blindness to bias. For me, it seems helpful to try and grasp how an opposing viewpoint could be correct and then compare/contrast the two. I tend to unfairly apply logic only to the opposing side, letting that outcome confirm my bias. I have to internally apply the same criteria to my own viewpoints.
Thanks, Darren!
It’s easier for me to try to appreciate someone’s perspective (and be more mindful of my own bias) when I’m able to have direct interaction, especially face-to-face. Compassion and curiosity seem more ready if I can think, “How would I want someone to interact with my parent/sibling/grandparent in this conversation?” I find it much more challenging when I’m simply interacting with someone’s ideas at a distance. Your reminder to make sure I’m applying the same logical rigor to my own thinking as I am to what I’m reading is a great one.
Darren, I appreciate your two points that Campbell writes through: 1. generalizations and 2. his worldview.
One thing that stands out to me about Campbell is that his culture allowed him to generalize all the major myths and religions of the world in a way that was unique to his time. In a sense, while he tried universalizing the stories, he ended up situated in a specific place, the Western world, and time, modern. The monomyth seems to fail to meet its own standard of truth.
Robert, When you say that he ended up situated in the Western world, do you mean his bridge from thy mythology framework merging with the personal ego story?
Darren-
I’ll start by saying that I appreciate Campbell identifying the reoccurring patterns of the monomyth. I also appreciate that he recognized scale. The hero of a fairy tale achieves a small victory. I added that comment to Jeremiah’s blog. The rest of the quote is that the hero of larger-scale myth delivers, “a world-historical, macroscopic triumph, [bringing] back the means of regeneration of his society as a whole.” There is clear space between you and Jesus within the framework.
I also appreciate the ongoing conversation on the universal extent of the framework. My struggle with the reading is discovering the, “so what?” This is the collaborative aspect that has me frequently checking on the DLGP04 blog.
Rich,
Thank you for your insightful clarification. I still struggle with the comparison, regardless of journey size or achievement, when Campbell views one as a mythical story and the other as a journey of personal reality.
Darren, you concisely expressed something that had also felt dissonant to me in Campbell’s work: that the supernatural is consigned to the category of myth. I’ve personally experienced some remarkable things that are outside of the boundaries of what we would consider ‘normal’ patterns, so I can’t and don’t see the world in the way that Campbell seems to. I’ve wondered if this is because Campbell is a product of his times: post-enlightenment, scientific-age philosophy.
Thanks for nicely summarizing what I was feeling!
Joff,
Thank you for the kind words. They are very appreciated. I, too, am perplexed by Campbell’s worldview. It would be interesting to dig deeper into that 1940’s mindset as you mentioned. That is something that I had not considered until you said that.
I also wonder if he considered that the single structure points to a single understanding of something larger? We all tell the same “heart” story of the hero because we have all been imprinted the same by the Creator.