Creating Your Myth

Bros:

In his lecture "The Self as Hero" from Pathways to Bliss, Joseph Campbell writes:

Now, all these myths that you have heard and that resonate with you, those are the
elements from round about that you are building into a form in your life. The thing worth
considering is how they relate to each other in your context, not how they relate to something
out there--how they were relevant on the North American prairies or in the Asian jungles
hundreds of years ago, but how they are relevant now--unless by contemplating their former
meaning you can begin to amplify your own understanding of the role they play in your life.
(132)

In this way, Campbell suggests the importance of understanding our own histories as reflective of the archetypal hero journey, filled as it is with a specific pattern of departure, fulfillment and return. Campbell also mentions the specific quests within the hero's going and returning: the entrance into the darkness of the unconscious, the reconciliation with one's shadow, the integration of the anima (for males) and the animus (for females), and the atonement with the "father."

That said, I would like you to, using one myth that Campbell describes in his lecture, explain the hero journey and what is involved in it. This will involve summarizing the myth and pinpointing trials, the specific psychological correlates of the trials, and spiritual themes of the tests the hero must undergo.

After you have done that, do what Campbell recommends: relate them to your life. Explain an experience that you have gone through that parallels the hero journey as delineated by Campbell.

This assignment is due Thursday, March 12, 2009.