{"id":35384,"date":"2024-01-31T11:04:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35384"},"modified":"2024-01-31T11:26:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:26:49","slug":"embracing-uncomfortable-knowledge-to-grow-in-faith-a-personal-encounter-the-threshold-concept-of-the-heros-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/embracing-uncomfortable-knowledge-to-grow-in-faith-a-personal-encounter-the-threshold-concept-of-the-heros-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Uncomfortable Knowledge to Grow in Faith: A Personal Encounter with the Threshold Concept of the Hero&#8217;s Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We were driving in the car when my friend asked me to tell her about the classes I\u2019d participated in that morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I explained some of the coaching ideas I\u2019d just heard about in my early morning coach-training class:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our search for meaning causes a lot of worry, anxiety, and fear<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When we feel out of control, it creates anxiety<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We build emotions around our specialness and think we\u2019re supposed to know our life\u2019s work in advance. This leads to painful emotions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Focus on being <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">present<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> more than on fulfilling your purpose<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are using your gifts and talents to the best of your ability, for the betterment of others, you will ultimately fulfill a powerful purpose<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We all have one purpose\u2026 but many missions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then she asked me about the class I\u2019d just had with Jason Clark and our cohort. What did we talk about and what was I reading?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I told her about reading Joseph Campbell\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Man With a Thousand Faces<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And how I had just reached a threshold concept: I had always been told that Christianity was the only religion in which God came to us, died for us, and then was resurrected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Campbell illustrates how those same situations are common threads through many myths and religions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In stating this out loud, I suddenly felt out of control. I felt anxious. I was beginning to question what I thought I knew. All the coaching I\u2019d just learned about went out the window. Tears formed in my eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Talk about uncomfortable knowledge!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My friend &#8211; a retired pastor &#8211; saw my distress. Briefly, she took one hand off the wheel and patted my leg. \u201cOK now, let\u2019s stop and examine what we know for sure.\u201d [1]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She then walked me through history and archaeology &#8211; what we know is true about the Bible because of actual historical finds; the witnesses who wrote what they saw and heard, thereby creating the New Testament; the countless people through the millennia who had experienced the presence of God, including my own personal experiences of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This was an important threshold for me to cross. I frequently hear from people in my life who are doubters regarding the Judeo-Christian narrative; I need to be prepared for such conversations. For instance, I know of some who come to church but don\u2019t believe in the resurrection. And some who have lots to say about the origins of the books of the Bible, which must &#8211; of course! they say &#8211; cast doubt as to the veracity of what is included in the scriptural canon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My friend reminded me to consider that there <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">is<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> an overarching narrative in scripture. The stories and books of the Bible are held together from pre-history through the first century AD. If nothing else, the myths that grew up simultaneously with the Judeo-Christian narrative prove that we &#8211; men and women &#8211; have always been searching for God. It\u2019s in our DNA. We can\u2019t escape it. And we have always been searching for meaning and purpose. These are the reasons we create \u201cboxes\u201d &#8211; or stories \u2013 that help us wrap our minds around what seems unknowable at any given time in history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once you know about the hero\u2019s journey, it\u2019s one of those things you can\u2019t \u201cun-know\u201d. You begin to notice it everywhere, from famous characters in recent books and movies like Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, and Frodo Baggins, to characters in Greek and Roman mythology like Hercules, Perseus, Achilles, and Jason, and real-life people of history like Ibn Battuta (mid-1300s) and Marco Polo (1200s). Multiple biblical characters also demonstrate the hero\u2019s journey, including Moses, Joseph of Egypt, King David, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Campbell took the arc he\u2019d identified throughout all these stories and codified it. Once you have this meta-narrative, it\u2019s easy to notice it everywhere. Because, let\u2019s face it, every human longs for significance. We all want to be the \u201chero\u201d in our life story. We all want to face up to the challenges of whatever system we\u2019re living in and come out on the other side with a \u201cmagic elixir\u201d that fixes everything. This can be parents fixing a school system, advocates fixing a broken justice system, or candidates fixing a broken political system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I took my first coach-training program with the Tony Robbins organization, I was introduced to the \u201c6 Human Needs\u201d [2]. Significance &#8211; usually achieved through accomplishments &#8211; is one of the six needs (also including variety, certainty, love\/belonging, contribution, and growth) and gives our lives meaning and purpose. If we feel significant, it makes us feel worthwhile and valuable. Feeling <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">significant can feel devastating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why are we formed this way? I believe it\u2019s because we are created in the image of God. In Genesis 1:27-28 we read:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, \u2018Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.\u2019 (NIV)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">God created humankind to be significant. It\u2019s no wonder the DNA that makes us human causes us to want to lead a heroic, significant life. No wonder the hero\u2019s journey runs through all our stories! And yes, Jesus Christ\u2019s life also illustrates the hero\u2019s journey. I shouldn\u2019t have been so surprised.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It became clear as I read Campbell\u2019s book that he didn\u2019t believe in the God of the Bible any more than he believed in the Ra of Egypt. He just saw the same story repeating itself in different iterations with different characters filling the roles. He also believed the archetypes of the characters (as first described by Carl Jung) represented different aspects of the human psyche. He writes,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIn a word: the first work of the hero is to retreat from the world scene of secondary effects to those causal zones of the psyche where the difficulties really reside, and there to clarify the difficulties, eradicate them in his own case (i.e., give battle to the nursery demons of his local culture) and break through to the undistored, direct experience and assimilation of what C.G. Jung has called \u2018the archetypal images.\u2019 This is the process known to Hindu and Buddhist philosophy as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">viveka<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u2018discrimination.\u2019\u201d [3]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Harvard undergraduates write in the blog, Ichthus,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMany critique Campbell\u2019s theory for its extreme generality. The hero\u2019s journey really describes every challenge, and every progression. These narrative \u2018archetypes\u2019 are so ubiquitous because encountering and overcoming uncertain and unexpected difficulty are fundamental to human life. We all go through struggles, and we all, usually, come out the other side new and improved. If the hero\u2019s journey is so general, of course the Bible embodies aspects of it.\u201d[4]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we talked more later on, my friend encouraged me to remember this situation the next time I\u2019m confronted with troublesome knowledge about my faith. To stop and take a breath. To start with \u201cWhat do I know for sure?\u201d That\u2019s great advice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">N.T. Wright quotes Colossians 3:3-4 &#8211; \u201cDon\u2019t you see: you died, and your life has been hidden with the King, in God! When the king is revealed (and he is your life, remember), then you too will be revealed with him in glory\u201d (New Kingdom Translation by N.T. Wright). &#8211;\u00a0 before he reminds us that faith is required when we confront uncomfortable knowledge. He writes,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cYou need to belong instead to God&#8217;s new world, the new creation that is being brought in to replace the old. The truly human life you seek &#8211; The life of a genuine, glad holiness that runs right through the personality &#8211; is to be found in that new world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAnd the good news is that, if you belong to the Messiah, you already do belong to that new world. One of the main things Paul longs for new Christians to realize is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">what is already true of them \u2018in Christ<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u2019 Because the Messiah and his people are so closely bound up with one another, he lays it down as a basic principle: What is true of him is true of them. It may not feel like it. Learning to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">believe<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> what doesn&#8217;t at the moment feel true is an essential part of being a Christian\u2026 This is what the life of faith is all about.\u201d[5]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here&#8217;s what I know for sure: Christ is \u201cin us\u201d and we will be revealed in glory. We are made in the image of God, and that leads to a truly human, significant life. Despite uncertainties, I know what is true of the Messiah\u2026 and his people. I am already significant in Christ. Believing that and living it out every day is how we live a life of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>==========<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[1] Rev. Dr. Sara Singleton, private conversation with author, Jan. 29, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[2] Team Tony, \u201cWhy do we do what we do?\u201d. Tony Robbins, accessed Jan. 31, 2024, https:\/\/www.tonyrobbins.com\/podcasts\/why-we-do-what-we-do\/\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[3] Joseph Campbell, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Man with a Thousand Faces<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Novata, California: New World Library, 2008), 12.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[4] Bryce McDonald, \u201cFinding Christ in the Hero\u2019s Journey\u201d, Ichthus. March 26, 2020. https:\/\/harvardichthus.org\/2020\/03\/finding-christ-in-the-heros-journey\/.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NT Wright, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paul and the Prison Letters<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 174-175.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We were driving in the car when my friend asked me to tell her about the classes I\u2019d participated in that morning. I explained some of the coaching ideas I\u2019d just heard about in my early morning coach-training class: Our search for meaning causes a lot of worry, anxiety, and fear When we feel out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"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":[789,2967],"class_list":["post-35384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-campbell","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35384","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\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35384"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35390,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35384\/revisions\/35390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}