Joseph Campbell – Page 2

The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation–initiation–return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth.

The monomyth is often referred to as the hero’s journey because the pattern of separation, initiation, and return can be studied in many mythologies from all over the world. The typical hero’s journey has a character leave their home in order to face different trials and tribulations which they eventually overcome by growing as a character and then, with newly formed understandings, they return home to help others on their journey to self-improvement.

Separation is the first step and Joseph Campbell refers it to Departure. The Departure has five subsections: The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid, The Crossing of the First Threshold, and The Belly of the Whale.

Starting with The Call To Adventure.

The first stage of the mythological journey–which we have designated the “call to adventure”–signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown.

The call to adventure is an opportunity, which may start as a blunder or be forced upon someone because of circumstances outside of their control. This opportunity is one that can elevate the individual by “awakening of the self” through the acceptance of this call.

For those who are familiar with the story of the Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, you may recall how Frodo Baggins is gifted with the ring of power by his uncle, Bilbo, and this initiates the call for adventure. Frodo has to travel outside his comfortable Hobbit hole into a land unknown in order to destroy the ring.

However, just because there is a call to adventure, it doesn’t mean everyone accepts it.

Often in actual life, and not infrequently in the myths and popular tales, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or “culture,” the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved.

Such a character acts as an example of what not to do. Who not to be like. The individual has given up and stopped advancing in his life-role. And so, he becomes passive and is left to “create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration.”

Literature is full of old, corrupted kings who get overthrown by the young Prince. The old king representing someone who refused the call and strayed off the path while the young Prince took on the mantel of what the King should have been and restored order to the land.

For those who accept the call to adventure, they open themselves to receiving Supernatural Aid.

For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass.

We can find two clear examples of this in our culture in the Star Wars series and, once more, in Middle Earth. The first individual Luke Skywalker meets once he accepts the call to adventure is Obi-wan-Kenobi, the Jedi Master. Obi-Wan mentors Luke in the way of the Jedi. While in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series, we have Gandalf providing wisdom and knowledge to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

This symbolizes the order, or peace, that the adventurer can attain. He is being rewarded for his courage.

That though omnipotence may seem to be endangered by the threshold passages and life awakenings, protective power is always and ever-present within the sanctuary of the heart and even immanent within, or just behind, the unfamiliar features of the world.

After the supernatural aid comes The Crossing Of the First Threshold. Simply put, this is the first trial, first struggle, the first conflict that the hero faces once he has started on the path.

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 […] Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger; just as beyond the parental watch is danger to the infant and beyond the protection of his society danger to the member of the tribe.

This is a leap of faith that requires courage on the behalf of the adventurer. This is seen clearly in the Lord of the Rings series as the four hobbits come into imminent danger the moment they decide to leave the Shire. This danger is the Black Riders who are searching for the ring.

The First Threshold is followed by The Belly Of The Whale.

The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died.

Once more, the Rings series shows this when Frodo is stabbed by the Black Rider. At the brink of death, Frodo is saved, reborn because now he is forever changed. There is no turning back from this point forwards. No matter what happens, having been swallowed by the “whale”, the hero is transformed, he is changed, he won’t be the same person he was before.

And so begins the transformation of the individual. Having departed from his comfortable life, he steps into the initiation phase, which is full of trials and tribulations through which he either breaks or becomes a stronger version of himself.

Should I study law? Should I become an accountant? A dentist? A painter? Should I devote myself to writing? How will I pay the bills? Can I make a living doing this?

I need __? I want __? Should I do __ or __? How can I __?

So many questions plague the mind when you focus it on the future. There is fear in not knowing what to do. Some might think that if you figure out what you wish to do with your life then that fear might subside. I found that not to be true. Making a living through art is never guaranteed. With anything there is uncertainty. Knowing what you wish to do is very different from being able to do that thing and even that is different from making a living doing that thing.

The questions of security, stability, happiness and purposeful living always revolve around such decisions.

Joseph Campbell also had similar thoughts. He understood the need to pursue a life of art but at the same time not wanting to be dead broke the entire time. He knew the consequences that could arise from living the “artist way of life” and that penniless living is just filled with struggle and hard times. That life is not for everyone. In order to help ease the decision between pursuing what one loves and what might give them stability, Joseph Campbell differentiated between work and job.

From Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion

The normal situation is that, perhaps for years, you work away at your art, your life vocation, your life-fulfilling field of action, and there’s no money in it. You have to live, though, so you get a job, which may be a low-degree activity relative to what you are interested in. You could, for instance, teach people the art you are operating in yourself. So, let’s say you have a teaching job, and you also have sacred space and time to perform your own work. Your art is what I would call your work. Your employment is your job.

Having separated what you love and how you make a living, Joseph Campbell goes further and talks about what to do if you are given a raise in your job.

Then, you are doing so well in your job that your employer wants to move you into a higher position. You’ll have to give more to the job than before, and you will receive a higher salary, but your new commitments will cut down on your free time. My advice is: don’t accept the promotion.

Time is what people do not have and cannot control. It goes quickly and you need it to do what you wish to do. Your art requires time. What happens when you spend more time on your job? You have less time for your work. In this way, you quickly spiral further and further away from your work as job commitments become more demanding along with higher pay.

It’s like doing your exercise: you set aside a time when you’re going to exercise, and that is a holy time. With your art, you should do the same: give a certain number of hours a day to your art, and make it consistent. Then, whether you’re writing or not, sit there for those hours: it’s a meditation on communication and expression, the two factors in the art work. What will happen, ideally, is that gradually – and it might not be this week or next or even this year – as your given responsibilities drop off, there will be an expansion of the time available to you for the practice of your art. The point I’m making is that your work – that is, your art – and your job must not contaminate each other.

At the end of the day, the dream is to have your job and work be the same thing. For some people that comes early and for others, it happens much later in life. And for some, that combination never takes place. Regardless, a pursuit of stable living does not mean death to the artist inside of you. One can find the proper balance.

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Tag: Joseph Campbell

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