How can anyone answer that? It's painfully subjective.
My experience of adoption; of life, is uniquely mine.
Yet, I have come to recognize patterns and landmarks along the path that are common to all adoptees. Common to all humans, in fact.
We all share a similar journey to some degree. Whether you’re adopted or not. Your journey and mine, when we learn to see with archetypal vision, show all the signs of The Hero's Journey.
The myth is the public dream and the dream is the private myth. ~Campbell
The Hero’s Journey is a template. It’s what Joseph Campbell called the Mono-Myth.
Monomyth is THE deep, underlying pattern of our private dreams, collective myths, timeless songs, popular stories and well-lived lives.
The cycle is always the same: we are all mired in some "unsupportive" environment, questing for healing and redemption. Our series of adventures along the way are what personalize our version of this perennial story.
This story is told and retold in classical tales from the Greek gods and heroes to the legend of the Holy Grail. The Hero's Journey is so deeply rooted in each of us that the pattern replicates even today in blockbuster movies like Star Wars, The Matrix and Back to the Future.
Joseph Campbell's great work The Hero With 1000 Faces has influenced timeless musicians like Bob Dylan and members of the Grateful Dead who recognized the inexhaustible, archetypal source of their inspiration.
It's no surprise these musical troubadours have careers stretching nearly half a century, inspiring millions and millions of people.
The grateful dead man is somebody who helps the hero on his journey, his quest, which will take many forms. ~Trist
Campbell was friendly with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, who tapped into the power of a 2000 year old legend to name their band. He worked with George Lucas to ensure the original Star Wars Trilogy had all the depth and emotional engagement of a truly Heroic Journey.
Here is a description of the basic outline:
1.) Departure - A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder.
2.) Initiation - Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won.
3.) Return - The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.
Every version of this story, whether a legendary tale or the story of your personal lifetime, reveals the same cycle.
The way the story unfolds is your unique contribution to the chorus of heroes who answer the call and live the adventure, overcome the challenges and return home changed, with some great gift to share.
I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours. ~Bob Dylan
Recognizing these patterns and similarities has brought a tremendous amount of healing to my life. I've stepped out of my wound enough to see that we all experience a separation from Source at some point on our journey. It's no longer personal. It's no longer my "fault." The separation, the trials, the path to wholeness... it's THE common framework of all human experience.
We all know what it’s like to be Luke Skywalker or Neo who is called to the journey. We all know what it’s like to feel doubt, fear, guilt… resistance to answering the call. Yet, just like in the movies, life has a way of working out, and before we know it…
We all know what it's like to be hanging from the Cross: naked, exposed, vulnerable as an infant in the wilderness, wracked with fear, riddled with existential levels of betrayal and abandonment; every cell in our bodies screaming:
Why have you forsaken me!!! ~Jesus
And to that cry for help... a resounding, deafening silence.
It’s from that darkest place on our Journey that we experience the deepest transformation.
The depths of our soul is the mine from which we draw forth our gold. If our body is a microcosm of the entire universe, this is when we experience the supernova on the other end of the black hole we get sucked into.
What happens to Jesus in the story? He wakes up.
He realizes he has never been forsaken, and it was only his own ego blinding him to the truth of his Source. And he comes back to show the world the reality he has discovered. The reality we all must come to experience ourselves for it to be truly true.
A good life is one Hero's Journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure... ~Campbell
We can’t just read the story. We can’t just watch the movie. We can’t just imagine what it will be like when we sack up and answer the call. We can't just sleep, living vicariously through our imaginations…
We must LIVE it. Over and over again, we must become the Hero in our own Monomyth.
In the next blog post, I’m gonna share some more of my personal story. More of my own journey. More of my own quest and awakening. And more of the deeper, universal patterns of the Hero Myth we all share.
Meanwhile, I'd love to hear more of your story... enter your email and you can email me directly. (Kid info is optional.)
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Creator EnlightenedChild.com
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