Tomorrow is the start of our third annual Yoga Teacher Training retreat with Keepers of the Earth. This year, 9 of us go up the mountain for three weeks to complete an experience that I find can be most accurately described through Joseph Campbell's terms: the Hero's Journey.
The Hero's Journey, whilst being incepted by the late, great world mythologist
Dr. Campbell, defines a universal theme that is ubiquitously prevalent in most of our greatest stories, myths and folktales. Even Blockbuster hits such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars find their thematic and conceptual roots woven within the ideas presented through the Hero's Journey. The importance of understanding this universal theme, or at the very least studying it and introducing it into our acumen, is that we might begin to see parallels and similarities in our own lives. By studying the overall concept of the Hero's Journey, we might begin to see how we are, ourselves, our own Hero in the journey of our life's story. Through this understanding we can see why there is an almost universal attraction to stories and tales where the underdog comes out on top, despite impossible odds. We are the underdog , and sometimes the growth that life demands of us, or the missions we face, can feel impossible. But, as we see in the stories, through a combination of self-determination, trust, and the right support, we somehow, despite our odds, emerge victorious against the forces of evil that want to destroy us.
Everyone knows about the classic story of good vs. evil. This age-old narrative depicts the universal theme of the good guys versus the bad guys. But has anyone ever thought to look within and observe how these battle is playing out inside of our very mind? Within the contents of our psyche, every day, is a war being waged. A team of "angels" -- the part of us that wants us to do good and do the "right" thing -- is fighting against a team of "demons" -- the part of us that wants us to behave selfishly and do the thing that causes us to repeat the past. We are contending with evolutionary forces in our psyche. There is a rift. Some would say that it is the Soul or higher mind which inspires us to act in accordance with a Higher Will while on the other hand, our lower mind and animalistic nature is influences our behavior in accordance with some "lower" or more banal principles. However we distinguish these two polarities it is important to make our own observation to see and notice within ourselves these two distinct realities playing out. We may come to our own conclusion that the battle for good and evil is a metaphorical war being fought within our mind.
As a person grows and matures, they evolve in their consciousness to possess more qualities related to wisdom. These qualities relate to higher principles of life -- principles that lead to the manifestation of balance, harmony, love, and etc. A person who has not passed through the various rites of passage that life bestows upon us in order to learn these "higher principles" may be limited in their consciousness in the sense that their behavior is more influenced by myopic viewpoints, whereas they see life from a more limited or narrow lens. Of course this is a spectrum and we all fall somewhere along the scale depending on various circumstances. The human psyche is a dynamic and intricately layered structure created from various psychic architectures. The development of this psyche an its various inner parts is the result of years of life experience. Some parts are developed well, while others might be left under-developed or un-developed entirely. This is all dependent on the many factors which shape our impressionable and plastic nervous system and brain. Some say that the first several years of life does the majority of this shaping and we then work out the finer details as we age. Regardless, we must acknowledge that our brain is clearly shaped along with our perceptions (about ourselves and others an the world) by our upbringing, which includes our early environment, peers and primary caregivers. This is unique for everyone, and we as adults get to contend with this reality as it is the reality which influences our everyday perception.
Once we begin the "awakening" process, we start to emerge out of the undefined material of the unconscious self. That is to say, we start to realize that our destiny is actually a shapeable and moldable "thing", so to speak, in that we can re-wire and re-write the narratives playing out in our psyche and thereby change the course of our lives. By "awakening" we learn that we are waking up out of the auto-pilot and default mode of seeing, behaving and perceiving. In other words, we become the dreamer instead of being dreamt by our conditioning.
Enter the "Hero's Journey" -- this concept refers to the universal process of
1) Hearing the "call" (the moment we realize a change needs to happen)
2) Descending into the underworld (which refers practically to the realm of unconscious psychic material)
3) Vanquishing the "demon" that lurks there (a part of our identity that we are clinging to which influences a big part of our self-identity and therefore perception of ourselves and the world)
4) Returning to the world (the re-creation of life with newfound wisdom)
Of course, I am summarizing here and reducing down thousands of pages of work on this topic into 4 bullet-points but what I'm attempting to do is just transmit the main essence of this idea. I hope you are getting the point!
So, why share about all of this now? Well, with the incoming YTT for KotE so imminent, I found it to be useful to refresh this idea in our minds. These people are on their Hero's Journey. They have left home to come to Costa Rica, to be part of an experience that will surely (if it hasn't already!) test their resolve, force the confrontation of whatever demons are lurking in the unconscious, shadowy psyche, and allow for the return with newfound wisdom.
We are all on the Hero's Journey. Every good story has elements of this woven into it. Just think about the books you loved as a kid. The movies. They are so good because they are relatable. We find ourselves in the midst of a journey of life filled with enemies and bad guys. There is a treasure to seek -- it is the gold of the true Self. No matter where we are or where we come from, the journey is the same -- it is an inner journey, into the depths of our psyche, to find what has been lost or obscured, and return it to life. This is what we do in spirituality; it's what we do in transformational work; it's what "healing" is.
Are you hearing the call...?