I've always loved the Hero's Journey framework. It has been important to me, from 2016 forward, to see myself on this kind of journey. I do think our times, terrible as they are, also amount to a call to adventure. It would be an excellent exercise for me to deliberately journal such a circle again. (I did it once before back around 2016.)
I love how your diagram's transformation and return involves a discovery of community. The typical Campbell hero's journey (as I recall) involves an individual who is so transformed that they can't readily fit back into their old community. Frodo (or was it Bilbo?) had to leave the Shire again as part of the denouement. I think that's important. But my journey is more a move from individualism to the discovery of communities that I've longed for, perhaps mostly subconsciously. Maybe these communities are discovering themselves, too. Maybe entire communities are on heroes' journeys. May these times discover us with a spirit of adventure after all.
“Maybe entire communities are on heroes’ journeys.” Love that, thank you!
And. I feel you on the shift away from individualism. I’m somewhere along that path as well, waving from the bend around the road (probably behind you!). 👋🏼 You might appreciate Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s heroine’s journey, which also informs this. She explains the final transformation as one from going it alone to accepting support in community.
That page is quite helpful. Schmidt's heroine's journey model makes sense to me. It's more communal than Campbell's model, and we attribute traits that honor and act on community sensibility as feminine. I like how Schmidt credits Murdock's version but subsumes it as an example of her own. (Murdock's version seems like a necessary reaction to what might be Campbell's individualist blind spot.) Thank you!
Grateful for this, Jenny.
Grateful for you, Trey! 💞
I've always loved the Hero's Journey framework. It has been important to me, from 2016 forward, to see myself on this kind of journey. I do think our times, terrible as they are, also amount to a call to adventure. It would be an excellent exercise for me to deliberately journal such a circle again. (I did it once before back around 2016.)
I love how your diagram's transformation and return involves a discovery of community. The typical Campbell hero's journey (as I recall) involves an individual who is so transformed that they can't readily fit back into their old community. Frodo (or was it Bilbo?) had to leave the Shire again as part of the denouement. I think that's important. But my journey is more a move from individualism to the discovery of communities that I've longed for, perhaps mostly subconsciously. Maybe these communities are discovering themselves, too. Maybe entire communities are on heroes' journeys. May these times discover us with a spirit of adventure after all.
“Maybe entire communities are on heroes’ journeys.” Love that, thank you!
And. I feel you on the shift away from individualism. I’m somewhere along that path as well, waving from the bend around the road (probably behind you!). 👋🏼 You might appreciate Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s heroine’s journey, which also informs this. She explains the final transformation as one from going it alone to accepting support in community.
https://www.alchemyofthought.com/blog/heroines-vs-heros-journey
Thank you so much for reading and for this thoughtful note!
That page is quite helpful. Schmidt's heroine's journey model makes sense to me. It's more communal than Campbell's model, and we attribute traits that honor and act on community sensibility as feminine. I like how Schmidt credits Murdock's version but subsumes it as an example of her own. (Murdock's version seems like a necessary reaction to what might be Campbell's individualist blind spot.) Thank you!