My Hero

In Joseph Campbell’s seminal book, The Hero with A Thousand Faces, first published in 1949, he presents his “monomyth” idea, that there is a universal thematic narrative, common to nearly all mythologies, “the hero’s journey.”

Mythology, as Campbell defined it, is the overarching term inclusive of formal religions, belief structures, tales, and legends prevalent in societies throughout history and across cultures.

The hero’s journey is ever-present in the human pantheon of mythology. It is the journey each protagonist (hero) of that mythology takes to save and preserve the people and their values. Whether monotheistic such as Christian (Jesus), Muslim (Muhammad), Judaist (Moses), or polytheistic such as Mayan (Hunahpu and Xbalanque), Hindi (Krishna and Rama), Greek (the twelve Gods of Mount Olympus), or non-theistic such as Buddhist, and most every other mythology, the hero’s journey is the same.

The hero’s journey has also been used as a common story structure in popular literature and film, perhaps the most notable of which is the Star Wars franchise. George Lucas consulted Campbell on script development, and they remained friends long after the filming. You can surely recognize it in many other productions as well, from fairy tales and tribal ceremonies to religious rites.

What is the hero’s journey? Campbell studied and compared hundreds of religions, mythologies, and legends and found that the universal hero’s journey is comprised of 17 stages, grouped into three main categories: the first stage or The Departure, consists of The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid, Crossing the First Threshold, and Belly of the Whale; the second stage is The Initiation, which consists of Road of Trial, Meeting with the Goddess, Woman as the Temptress, Atonement with the Father, Apotheosis, and The Ultimate Boon; the third stage is The Return, which consists of Refusal of the Return, Magic Flight, Rescue from Without, Crossing of the Return Threshold, Master of Two Worlds, and Freedom to Live.

Surely some of these stages require further description to appreciate their full meaning, but I named them here to provide you with the arc of the hero’s journey.

Campbell points out that it is not only the Gods and Deities of mythologies who are the heroes throughout history, but each of us. Like those who preceded us in history and those who will follow, our journey shares not only a common end, or renewal, or reincarnation, or resurrection, but also, surprisingly, a common path.

Whether it is the story of Jesus, Athena, Luke Skywalker, or each of us, the journey is the same and when we (the heroes) return, we are informed by its lessons, the trials we have endured, and the discoveries we have encountered along the way. Forever changed by the adventure, the suffering, the perseverance, and the triumphs, we return different, enriched. And by that journey all people and their mythology continue forth.

Campbell shows us that no matter how divergent mythologies may seem, their common constructs, as exemplified by the hero’s journey, are all the same. And because all of us take the same hero’s journey, we are all the same hero.