As I read the Campbell’s book this week (even though it was a reread from my English Literature days in my undergraduate studies) it was hard not to see connections in my everyday life as a husband, father and pastor.<\/p>\n
Last night in particular our older kids and my wife and I gathered around the dinner table for one of our favorite meals: steak, beans and biscuits. We also have a toddler, but right now she rarely sits for very long at the table and tends, then, to prevent at least one of us from actually enjoying a warm cooked meal. So, tonight we made the exception, and we utilized the best parenting device ever invented, the television, and put on one of her favorite movies: Moana.<\/p>\n
We’ve watched this movie millions of times and know all of the songs and lyrics and, as a father of three girls, I like the female-empowerment message of Moana on her adventure. She embarks on the “Hero’s Journey” to rescue her island from destruction, guided by the mentorship of her grandmother and the trickster\/mentor Maui. During her quest, she discovers that the Shadow figure, Te-Ka, is, in fact, the object of her mission \u2013 to return her heart. It turns out that Te-Ka is the mother goddess Tefiti, possessing the power to create life and reverse the evil that is spreading, “from island to island”. Always a nice post-modern twist from Disney when the villain becomes the sympathetic one we need to rescue\/transform.<\/p>\n
What struck me in the midst of my daughter watching this movie was that, when we paused to pray for our meal, we were asking Jesus to give us the peace, strength and focus to follow Him this day, and each day. We also, were on a journey, with Jesus as a our mentor\/guide in order to restore our hearts and participate with Him in the restoration of the world.<\/p>\n
Then, later in the evening, we watched the new Disney+ show, “Percy Jackson” with our kids. Again, another Hero story.<\/p>\n
My takeaway is similar to Campbell’s, the journey of the Hero is all around us. The Monomyth is somehow embedded into all of our human experience and seems to transcend each culture. Campbell claims, “the wonder is that characteristic efficacy to touch and inspire deep creative centers dwells in the smallest nursery fairy tale–as the flavor of the ocean is contained in a drop or the whole mystery of life within the egg of a flea.” (I) Even Campbell’s statement here is poetic!<\/p>\n
All of this has me reflecting on the Hero’s journey as it relates to my own journey as a husband, father and pastor and now, a researcher. In fact, even today as I compose this blog and have the rest of the day set aside for our other writing related to research of my NPO. All of this writing is new to me, and this program has allowed me to close the threshold of what was before, and I do believe I am on my way to something new. But I still feel like I’m not the far into the journey, unsure of what perils and pitfalls lie before me. While I love learning and have always dreamed of going on this journey, I’ve experienced the “refusal of the call” multiple times, only to be encouraged by my allies, my wife and my parents. Without their support, as well as my kids’ curiosity as to why Dad is going to school when he doesn’t have to anymore, I’ve embraced this journey and have now crossed a point of no return. I will not be the same as I was before, though I don’t know where the journey will lead. One of my favorite poems by agrarian poet and activist Wendell Berry includes the lines: “being changed by what I know\/ into what I know not”.<\/p>\n
In perusing the Grand Valley State University site related to Campbell’s work required in our reading this week I came across, “Choose Your Own Adventure: The Hero’s Journey and the Research Process” by Georgas, Regalado and Burgess. They make the claim that, “the ‘return’ back to the known world reveals the ultimate purpose of the journey: to experience a ‘transformation of consciousness’ and then to transform the world by sharing one’s experience” (124).<\/p>\n
This was helpful to me in understanding where this journey might lead and gives me hope that the journey that we are on make impact those in the future with the discoveries, failures and victories that we experience along the way. Each of us are on a journey, and I’m glad we’re on it together. To quote Moana: “No one knows, how far I’ll go!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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