The Hero’s Quest
What unites Frodo Baggins, Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker? According to Professor Joseph Campbell, it is the monomyth, or hero’s quest, a common thread in stories in which the ‘hero’ embarks on an adventure, comes out victorious in a decisive battle and returns home a changed person.
In coming up with his theory of the hero’s quest, Campbell was influenced by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who developed a branch of analytical psychology based on archetypes, which he understood to be central in guiding actions, behaviour and character traits.
Campbell adopted this view and thought that when we discuss the hero’s quest, ultimately what we are talking about a journey grounded in an archetypal cornerstone, or more simply put, that it has deep roots in human consciousness. He saw its usefulness as a roadmap for navigating the mental landscape of modern life, with each person living out their own quest, slaying their dragons and being reborn.
The idea of the hero’s quest has become a central part of Jungian analytical psychology, with its lessons used as an effective tool for tackling complexes and facing up to suppressed feelings. By first establishing that you are on your own journey, you should be able to pinpoint at what stage of the circle you are at, whether it’s the call to adventure, the refusal, the ordeal or the approach to the inmost cave. The aim of this is to discover the metaphorical dragon that needs slaying in your life or that already has been slain but requires further reconciliation (the road back/resurrection).
By doing this, you are facing up to your fears - be it a fear of intimacy, failure or cutting loose - and bringing negative feelings into the light, before overcoming them by ‘seizing the sword’. Once you have done this, you will be able to return as a stronger person, sharing your new-found gifts with others.
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