THE HERO AND HEROINE'S JOURNEY - COMING TO TERMS WITH THE WRECKAGE OF OUR CIVILIZATIONS
THE HERO AND HEROINE'S JOURNEY - COMING TO TERMS WITH THE WRECKAGE OF OUR CIVILIZATIONS
Surviving Trauma With Different Kinds of Spiritual Engagement
THE WISDOM OF THE HERO AND HEROINE’S JOURNEY
If you are a fan of certain traumatic - but ultimately uplifting and enlightening survival stories - you might, like myself, find elements of the hero’s or heroine’s journey in them.
If I was better at due diligence I would write a whole paper on the writer Joseph Campbell and his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
But that is not my strong point so I defer to others who can describe this journey with great & entertaining skill.
Please read and enjoy the essay by Diego Ramos in describing the high points of this journey.
Some of my own favorite survival stories are tales of superb athletes and mountaineers who come to survive unquestionably traumatic - but self generated - experiences on their journeys.
And some are harrowing tales of survivors of horrible tragedy - tragedy which strikes seemingly out of the blue and which forever change our lives.
Whether we purposely seek this journey - as hero or heroine’s - trauma is certain - but it is in how we deal with trauma where our ability to dig deep and find resources within ourselves we did not know we had - comes into play.
Anyone can embark consciously on the hero or heroine’s journey but it is often those who do not ever consciously view themselves as either - who truly process the trauma of living successfully to prevail over all kinds of odds.
The following may or may not be of help as we process the inevitable trauma - but I recommend them all as potential methods.
Because I am a citizen of a decidedly Christian based culture I have expended much energy in that direction.
As I have come to see in the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ a reflection of the spiritual journeys of each of us - regardless of the ultimate source.
God is God - and where God Guides, God Provides.
This is spirit we are referring to - at once part of our physical and mental experiences - and yet often requiring extraordinary circumstances for us each to experience.
More often than not it is trauma which leads us to spirit and to the healing nature of this unexpected resource.
We are all different and rely on vastly different religions, traditions, and philosophies to help us.
There is no one true way - one journey which works for all of us.
For as individuals each with these unalienable rights conferred by the creator - our journeys are all at once similar but distinct.
First I share a recent post from a fellow Substacker R. Toney Brooks, PhD
Second I share a post from this morning from
Thirdly I share a poem from
which seems to help encapsulate the journey of the individual and certainly of the artist as they process the trauma of existence and turn it into art.
And from
yet more wisdom on the ways we might sustain ourselves and others as we move through the inevitable chaos.
Whatever the journey of spirit we find ourselves engaged in they are all valid journeys toward the healing of trauma and a fundamental part of our experience as human beings.
At present we all find ourselves in circumstances requiring that we dig deep to find that courage - that quality which allows us to overcome doubt and fear - to prevail and perhaps surprise even ourselves.
We are engaged in this hero’s and heroine’s journey from the moment we find ourselves in this life conferred by the creator.
And within the chaos and confusion we now find ourselves engaged in it is these journeys - all at once distinct and totally individual - which we must endeavor to survive.
We are not alone - not ever - and never forsaken.
It is when we are called upon to rise that we become what we are meant to be all along by this force which drives all life - this force of which we are all together - a part.
Thank you for linking my post, The Matter of the Heart.
"We are not alone - not ever - and never forsaken."
KW
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
The Stockade Paradox