Call to Adventure
Aug. 17th, 2016 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dedalus_1947“A hero ventures forth
From the world of common day
Into a region of supernatural wonder:
Fabulous forces are there encountered,
And a decisive victory is won.
The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure
With the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
(Joseph Campbell: The Hero with a Thousand Faces – 1949)
What finally hit me in the gym, as I was listening to Joseph Campbell’s words about the various stages of the hero’s journey and the universal motifs and metaphors used in classic myths and folktales, was that those same characteristics were present in an essay I wrote in 2007. The story was called Tres Mujeres (see Tres Mujeres), and it recounted the events of a trip I took with my high school friends, Greg and John, to Ensenada, in Baja California. At the time I called it an “adventure” because I wanted it to sounds special, even though it was just another of our many road trips. The original story is available on the link provided, but the retelling of the journey is not my main intent. What I discovered for the first time, as my mind reflected on Campbell’s words in the gym, was how many similarities this story shared with Campbell’s stages of the monomyth, and the metaphors and motifs found in the classical myths and tales of the hero’s journey.
I missed many of the key points in Campbell’s book the first time I read it. I was searching for insights into comparative mythologies that would reveal information about Man’s quest for spiritual truth. I wanted to know the secrets and mysteries that heroes discovered and brought back from their mythical journeys. I was certainly not expecting Campbell’s idea that all human lives are reenactments of the struggles in these journeys, and that all human beings project the same unconscious motifs and metaphors that appear in classical mythologies and folktales. It was this central tenet (that human dreams are windows into the collective unconscious, which in turn generated the archetypes and motifs found in classical mythology) that was the biggest stumbling block for me. My epiphany was the realization that my own life and stories, and those of my friends, did in fact mirror the hero’s journey in many ways.
According to Campbell, “the standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: 1) Separation, 2) Initiation, and 3) Return”. He called this journey of the hero the monomyth, a term he borrowed from James Joyce’s Finnigans Wake. Campbell then sub-divided these three stages of the hero’s journey into eleven components. It is important to note that Campbell stressed that all of these parts or divisions are sytructural devices only, and they do not have to be present, or in the same order, in all mythological tales of quests or journeys. There is great diversity in the tales told of heroes and heroines in the different cultures, tribes, and religions of the world. In my particular story of the Tres Mujeres, I easily identified 7 components of the three-part monomyth:
I. Separation or Departure
1. Call to Adventure
2. Crossing of the First Threshold
3. Supernatural Aid
II. Trials and Victories of Initation
4. The Road of Trials.
5. The Meeting with the Goddess
6. The Belly of the Whale, or the World Navel.
III. Return and Reintegration with Society
7. The Ultimate Boon
In my story, The Call to Adventure occurred at the Kansas City Barbecue in San Diego, the site where many scenes of the movie Top Gun were filmed:
The tone of the trip was set when John and I finally arrived at Greg’s condominium in San Diego, on Saturday afternoon. Instead of hurrying off toward the border, after a torturously long and time-consuming drive on the 405 Freeway, we decided to slow down, relax, and saunter over to the Kansas City Barbecue, a local BBQ place for sandwiches and beers. We languidly sipped our beer and toasted our reunion, while sitting in the sunny, outdoor patio, overlooked by towering resort hotels and high rises. As beach-clad walkers passed by, we began to verbalize impromptu hopes for the weekend. John was curious about the Carnival/Mardi Gras festivities in Ensenada. Greg was interested in investigating rental homes in Rosarito, for the Bicycle Ride in April. We all hoped to re-visit the wine country in the Guadalupe Valley. All of these ideas were popular, but the question was, could we fit everything within the time we had remaining? We only had this afternoon, the evening, and all day Sunday? After a second round of beer, we concluded that it was worth a try. We had nothing to lose, and much to gain, if everything worked out. At the conclusion of lunch, we hopped into John’s truck and headed for the border. From this point on, all of our activities followed a pattern. Our journey would come to a point of crisis and disaster, and then, magically, come together.
As Campbell points out, this Call does not require a momentous, life-altering reveille. It can be a great or small incident, a challenge, or a blunder the hero falls into. The Call is simply an opportunity to participate in a mystery – a rite, or moment, of spiritual passage, which, when completed, amounts to a symbolic dying and rebirth. This first stage of the mythical journey signifies that destiny has summoned the hero, and is offering him the chance to move his spiritual center from the ordinary world of 4 compass points and 5 senses to an unknown zone.
I am amazed at how my short, simple paragraph could hold some many mythical aspects identified by Campbell. Three friends, whom I described as “a soldier and paramedic”, a “seer and visionary”, and a “scribe and recorder” from different parts of the state, came together in San Diego to consider a trip into a foreign country. They reviewed their needs, hopes, and desires, and considered the problems, difficulties, and dangers they would face. Time seemed to be their biggest obstacle. Could they accomplish their tasks in the time allowed or should they change their minds and do something else? The situation presented a challenge and an adventure, and the three friends accepted the Call, not really understanding what they were getting into.
As the story continued, the friends confronted and crossed the First Threshold soon after leaving the border and then quickly encountered the first of many protective figures who would provide Supernatural Assistance and speed them on their way:
As soon as we crossed the border, we were gridlocked on the single, winding road from Tijuana to Rosarito, for (what seemed) hours. In frustration, I suggested that we forsake stopping at Rosarito and head straight for Ensenada, getting there before dark. “Don’t give up yet”, Greg reassured me. “Things might loosen up”. And they did. We finally discovered that the bottleneck was caused by a strangling, military checkpoint, manned by 10 beardless boys, in camouflage uniforms, hefting huge automatic weapons. The sight was chilling. Children with guns would unsettle any driver forced to stop. Once past this bottleneck, however, we sped into Rosarito, where good luck followed us. We located a landlady/realtor with whom we had rented last year. She showed us three homes that were available for the weekend we wanted, and in less than an hour, we were back on the road to Ensenada. We left deposits for the rental of two beach area homes that would accommodate our party of 10 cyclists.
Campbell described the First Threshold as the barrier, or wall, that surrounds the “normal world” of 4 directions (plus up and down) and 5 senses. Huge, menacing giants, ogres, or monsters protected the supernatural lands that lay beyond by guarding this barrier at a gate or entrance. This Threshold was the “Wall of Paradise” which separated the world from heaven, and prevented human beings from seeing the beatific face of God. Representations of these threshold sentries can still be seen as the lions, gargoyles, and supernatural beasts that guard the facades and entrances to cathedrals and temples. In my story, I identified the threshold guardians as the beardless youths who controlled the narrow entrance to the toll road from Tijuana to Rosarito. I didn’t dwell on how they were overcome, but stressed that their ominous presence, with such deadly weapons, warned us that we were entering a very dangerous realm, and should consider turning back. I also mentioned the landlady as the first of many supernatural helpers who helped us throughout this journey.
Campbell characterizes the Supernatural Helper as “the helpful crone or fairy godmother who is a familiar feature in European fairy tales. In Christian legends the role of helper is commonly played by the Virgin, whose intercession wins the mercy of the Father for the traveler. The hero who comes under the protection of the Cosmic Mother cannot be harmed. Such a figure represents the benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a reassurance – a promise that the peace of Paradise, which was known first within the mother womb, is not to be lost… One has only to know and trust, and the ageless guardians will appear. The hero finds all the forces of the unconscious on his side. Mother Nature herself supports the mighty task”.
This reassurance of aid and assistance is not only provided by outside agents. The hero of the journey already brings with him resources and skills which he has previous received, learned, or won. In my tale, each of the three friends brings with them skills and talents they have learned or acquired over the years and which promise to assist them in overcoming the obstacles of the journey ahead. I described them as follows:
John is the soldier of the group. He guides, guards and cares for us on all our travels. His experiences as an infantryman, ambulance driver, paramedic and fire fighter, all prepared him for this role. On many occasions, he has also been our nursemaid, worrying about our health, finances, and bad habits. Greg, on the other hand is, as a superintendent of schools, a Visionary and Seer of endless possibilities whenever we traveled. Greg remembers more arcane and useless information than anyone I know. For example, he claimed to know the names of all the heavenly constellations, but I was never sure if he was reciting factual or fictional names. After describing the happenings of my wife and adult children, I quickly quizzed them about their reactions to my blog (internet log), which I had just made public the week before. I also warned them that I would be writing about this trip as well. I would be the official scribe on this adventure, recording with camera and pen. We were three amigos, getting older, and hopefully, wiser.
It is at this point in my story that we crossed completely into the heart of the journey and the trials that awaited us… To be continued.
From the world of common day
Into a region of supernatural wonder:
Fabulous forces are there encountered,
And a decisive victory is won.
The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure
With the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
(Joseph Campbell: The Hero with a Thousand Faces – 1949)
What finally hit me in the gym, as I was listening to Joseph Campbell’s words about the various stages of the hero’s journey and the universal motifs and metaphors used in classic myths and folktales, was that those same characteristics were present in an essay I wrote in 2007. The story was called Tres Mujeres (see Tres Mujeres), and it recounted the events of a trip I took with my high school friends, Greg and John, to Ensenada, in Baja California. At the time I called it an “adventure” because I wanted it to sounds special, even though it was just another of our many road trips. The original story is available on the link provided, but the retelling of the journey is not my main intent. What I discovered for the first time, as my mind reflected on Campbell’s words in the gym, was how many similarities this story shared with Campbell’s stages of the monomyth, and the metaphors and motifs found in the classical myths and tales of the hero’s journey.
I missed many of the key points in Campbell’s book the first time I read it. I was searching for insights into comparative mythologies that would reveal information about Man’s quest for spiritual truth. I wanted to know the secrets and mysteries that heroes discovered and brought back from their mythical journeys. I was certainly not expecting Campbell’s idea that all human lives are reenactments of the struggles in these journeys, and that all human beings project the same unconscious motifs and metaphors that appear in classical mythologies and folktales. It was this central tenet (that human dreams are windows into the collective unconscious, which in turn generated the archetypes and motifs found in classical mythology) that was the biggest stumbling block for me. My epiphany was the realization that my own life and stories, and those of my friends, did in fact mirror the hero’s journey in many ways.
According to Campbell, “the standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: 1) Separation, 2) Initiation, and 3) Return”. He called this journey of the hero the monomyth, a term he borrowed from James Joyce’s Finnigans Wake. Campbell then sub-divided these three stages of the hero’s journey into eleven components. It is important to note that Campbell stressed that all of these parts or divisions are sytructural devices only, and they do not have to be present, or in the same order, in all mythological tales of quests or journeys. There is great diversity in the tales told of heroes and heroines in the different cultures, tribes, and religions of the world. In my particular story of the Tres Mujeres, I easily identified 7 components of the three-part monomyth:
I. Separation or Departure
1. Call to Adventure
2. Crossing of the First Threshold
3. Supernatural Aid
II. Trials and Victories of Initation
4. The Road of Trials.
5. The Meeting with the Goddess
6. The Belly of the Whale, or the World Navel.
III. Return and Reintegration with Society
7. The Ultimate Boon
In my story, The Call to Adventure occurred at the Kansas City Barbecue in San Diego, the site where many scenes of the movie Top Gun were filmed:
The tone of the trip was set when John and I finally arrived at Greg’s condominium in San Diego, on Saturday afternoon. Instead of hurrying off toward the border, after a torturously long and time-consuming drive on the 405 Freeway, we decided to slow down, relax, and saunter over to the Kansas City Barbecue, a local BBQ place for sandwiches and beers. We languidly sipped our beer and toasted our reunion, while sitting in the sunny, outdoor patio, overlooked by towering resort hotels and high rises. As beach-clad walkers passed by, we began to verbalize impromptu hopes for the weekend. John was curious about the Carnival/Mardi Gras festivities in Ensenada. Greg was interested in investigating rental homes in Rosarito, for the Bicycle Ride in April. We all hoped to re-visit the wine country in the Guadalupe Valley. All of these ideas were popular, but the question was, could we fit everything within the time we had remaining? We only had this afternoon, the evening, and all day Sunday? After a second round of beer, we concluded that it was worth a try. We had nothing to lose, and much to gain, if everything worked out. At the conclusion of lunch, we hopped into John’s truck and headed for the border. From this point on, all of our activities followed a pattern. Our journey would come to a point of crisis and disaster, and then, magically, come together.
As Campbell points out, this Call does not require a momentous, life-altering reveille. It can be a great or small incident, a challenge, or a blunder the hero falls into. The Call is simply an opportunity to participate in a mystery – a rite, or moment, of spiritual passage, which, when completed, amounts to a symbolic dying and rebirth. This first stage of the mythical journey signifies that destiny has summoned the hero, and is offering him the chance to move his spiritual center from the ordinary world of 4 compass points and 5 senses to an unknown zone.
I am amazed at how my short, simple paragraph could hold some many mythical aspects identified by Campbell. Three friends, whom I described as “a soldier and paramedic”, a “seer and visionary”, and a “scribe and recorder” from different parts of the state, came together in San Diego to consider a trip into a foreign country. They reviewed their needs, hopes, and desires, and considered the problems, difficulties, and dangers they would face. Time seemed to be their biggest obstacle. Could they accomplish their tasks in the time allowed or should they change their minds and do something else? The situation presented a challenge and an adventure, and the three friends accepted the Call, not really understanding what they were getting into.
As the story continued, the friends confronted and crossed the First Threshold soon after leaving the border and then quickly encountered the first of many protective figures who would provide Supernatural Assistance and speed them on their way:
As soon as we crossed the border, we were gridlocked on the single, winding road from Tijuana to Rosarito, for (what seemed) hours. In frustration, I suggested that we forsake stopping at Rosarito and head straight for Ensenada, getting there before dark. “Don’t give up yet”, Greg reassured me. “Things might loosen up”. And they did. We finally discovered that the bottleneck was caused by a strangling, military checkpoint, manned by 10 beardless boys, in camouflage uniforms, hefting huge automatic weapons. The sight was chilling. Children with guns would unsettle any driver forced to stop. Once past this bottleneck, however, we sped into Rosarito, where good luck followed us. We located a landlady/realtor with whom we had rented last year. She showed us three homes that were available for the weekend we wanted, and in less than an hour, we were back on the road to Ensenada. We left deposits for the rental of two beach area homes that would accommodate our party of 10 cyclists.
Campbell described the First Threshold as the barrier, or wall, that surrounds the “normal world” of 4 directions (plus up and down) and 5 senses. Huge, menacing giants, ogres, or monsters protected the supernatural lands that lay beyond by guarding this barrier at a gate or entrance. This Threshold was the “Wall of Paradise” which separated the world from heaven, and prevented human beings from seeing the beatific face of God. Representations of these threshold sentries can still be seen as the lions, gargoyles, and supernatural beasts that guard the facades and entrances to cathedrals and temples. In my story, I identified the threshold guardians as the beardless youths who controlled the narrow entrance to the toll road from Tijuana to Rosarito. I didn’t dwell on how they were overcome, but stressed that their ominous presence, with such deadly weapons, warned us that we were entering a very dangerous realm, and should consider turning back. I also mentioned the landlady as the first of many supernatural helpers who helped us throughout this journey.
Campbell characterizes the Supernatural Helper as “the helpful crone or fairy godmother who is a familiar feature in European fairy tales. In Christian legends the role of helper is commonly played by the Virgin, whose intercession wins the mercy of the Father for the traveler. The hero who comes under the protection of the Cosmic Mother cannot be harmed. Such a figure represents the benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a reassurance – a promise that the peace of Paradise, which was known first within the mother womb, is not to be lost… One has only to know and trust, and the ageless guardians will appear. The hero finds all the forces of the unconscious on his side. Mother Nature herself supports the mighty task”.
This reassurance of aid and assistance is not only provided by outside agents. The hero of the journey already brings with him resources and skills which he has previous received, learned, or won. In my tale, each of the three friends brings with them skills and talents they have learned or acquired over the years and which promise to assist them in overcoming the obstacles of the journey ahead. I described them as follows:
John is the soldier of the group. He guides, guards and cares for us on all our travels. His experiences as an infantryman, ambulance driver, paramedic and fire fighter, all prepared him for this role. On many occasions, he has also been our nursemaid, worrying about our health, finances, and bad habits. Greg, on the other hand is, as a superintendent of schools, a Visionary and Seer of endless possibilities whenever we traveled. Greg remembers more arcane and useless information than anyone I know. For example, he claimed to know the names of all the heavenly constellations, but I was never sure if he was reciting factual or fictional names. After describing the happenings of my wife and adult children, I quickly quizzed them about their reactions to my blog (internet log), which I had just made public the week before. I also warned them that I would be writing about this trip as well. I would be the official scribe on this adventure, recording with camera and pen. We were three amigos, getting older, and hopefully, wiser.
It is at this point in my story that we crossed completely into the heart of the journey and the trials that awaited us… To be continued.
