{"id":29228,"date":"2022-10-22T16:49:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-22T23:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29228"},"modified":"2022-10-22T16:49:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T23:49:35","slug":"the-hero-and-his-doctoral-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-hero-and-his-doctoral-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hero and His Doctoral Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book\u00a0<\/span>Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/span><\/em>, Joseph Campbell writes about how there is a monomyth or a hero’s journey motif in all of mythology. The hero’s journey is a cycle “that begins and ends in the hero’s ordinary world but the quest pasts through an unfamiliar special world<\/span>[1]<\/span><\/a>“. Along this journey, there are some critical points for the hero, which are status quo, call to adventure, assistance, departure, trials, approach, crisis, treasure, result, return, new life, resolution and return to status quo, but the return to status quo is not the same as the start of the status quo for the hero. If this sounds familiar at all, it is because this is how Hollywood has been telling stories such as Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Marvel movies, to name a few. We resonate with movies so much because what you see in movies are “your own hopes, dreams, and fears chasing each other around in the form of good guys and bad guys<\/span>[2]<\/span><\/a>.” When I think about the hero’s journey and the path that the hero takes this is how I feel about my educational journey, especially right now in the doctorate program. In his book, Campbell says, “With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the “threshold guardian” at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in the four directions\u2014 also up and down\u2014standing for the limits of the hero’s present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger\u2026<\/span>[3]<\/span><\/a>” Towards the end of my master’s program with Portland Seminary, I thought I was done with my educational journey for a brief moment. I had reached an educational milestone that only one person in my family has ever achieved. Once I graduated, I returned to my status quo but then shortly after returning, I was called to an adventure by Mario Hood, who was on the cusp of graduating from the doctorate program at the time. I almost did not answer the call. After all, it felt dark because it was unknown. Was I capable of completing a doctorate program as someone already too busy with family, ministry, and other commitments? It felt dangerous because, financially, it would put us in a place where we would no longer be economically comfortable. But after many conversations and assistance, I decided to answer the call of going on the doctorate journey. Now, if I follow the hero’s journey motif, I have not yet made it through the journey. I am currently in the process of departure and trials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Departure<\/span><\/p>\n

As I move along this doctoral journey, I am constantly challenged by new thoughts and ways of seeing things but encouraged to pursue new ways of thinking to see where it will take me. Departure, for me, looks more like a departure from a mental place instead of a physical place. It is bumpy, and at the beginning of the journey, it felt like a mistake. Campbell says, “A blunder\u2014apparently the merest chance\u2014reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a rela\u00adtionship with forces that are not rightly understood. As Freud has shown, blunders are not the merest chance. They are the re\u00adsult of suppressed desires and conflicts. They are ripples on the surface of life, produced by unsuspected springs.<\/span>[4]<\/span><\/a>” I don’t know precisely what continued to draw me to push on in this journey, but it was something profound in me, maybe it’s the ‘suppressed desires’ knowing there is a whole world yet for me to explore. Whatever it was, I answered and departed all that was familiar for something unknown, dangerous, and a little dark.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trials<\/span><\/p>\n

Starting this journey of doctoral work has not been easy. It has come with its trials (health, financial, time, mental capacity) that need to be faced. The trials are necessary. Campbell references a quote that says, “In the vocabulary of the mystics, this is the second stage of the Way, that of the “purification of the self,<\/span>[5]<\/span><\/a>” These trials have helped me to purify my calling to this journey. I know I am called to this work not because of the success but because of the trials. As I continue this journey, I am fully committed to completing it to find the treasure that I can share as I return to a status quo that will be different from when I first started, just like in the movies.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>[1]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Winkler, M. (n.d.).\u00a0<\/span>What makes a hero? – Matthew Winkler<\/span><\/em>. TED. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https:\/\/ed.ted.com\/lessons\/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Soloman, P. (2013, May 11).\u00a0<\/span>What is the hero’s journey?: Pat Soloman at tedxrockcreekpark<\/span><\/em>. YouTube. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=x8XUVqjX_IA\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Campbell, J. (2004). In\u00a0<\/span>The hero with a thousand faces<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(pp. 71\u201371). essay, Princeton University Press<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Campbel, J l 93-94<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Campbell, J 92<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book\u00a0Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell writes about how there is a monomyth or a hero’s journey motif in all of mythology. The hero’s journey is a cycle “that begins and ends in the hero’s ordinary world but the quest pasts through an unfamiliar special world[1]“. Along this journey, there are some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2347,789],"class_list":["post-29228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01","tag-campbell","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29229,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29228\/revisions\/29229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}