Heroes and Legends Documentary Channel Podcast
Heroes and Legends is a channel dedicated to exploring the lives and stories of great and inspiring individuals that have made an impact on history, culture or our way of life. Some of these may be little known to the wider world, even though they impacted significantly on the destinies of their own people. Others may have been condemned unfairly by history and deserve to have their contributions reviewed. We hope that by bringing their stories to light, we can all learn from their experiences, be inspired by them and enrich the tapestry of knowledge that exists outside the narrative of our own culture.
Heroes and Legends Documentary Channel Podcast
Ep. 15. The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell and the Monomyth
The hero’s journey is the mythological representation of the challenges we all face in life and the path that must be travelled to overcome them. But more than that, it represents what famous mythologist Joseph Campbell saw as the generic-representation of the process of personal development and maturity that each person must undergo in order to become balanced, healthy members of society. This usually means dealing with repressed emotional issues, making difficult decisions, having the courage to suffer, and accepting all the consequences. Campbell was influenced in his wide study of religion and mythology by psychologists such as Freud and Jung, who often used dream analysis, myths and folk stories to illustrate their insights. Campbell once wrote:
“A myth is a public dream and a dream is a private myth”
Both Jung and Campbell believed that certain archetypical ideas were expressed collectively. In other words, they believed that we all have similar mental representations of subconscious phenomena. These phenomena are expressed in dreams and stories that intuitively seem to resonate with all people, despite their cultural backgrounds and personalities. It is something that is imprinted on our DNA, like the instinctive fear all newly hatched chicks have of a snake, or snake-like object, despite never having seen one.
The hero’s journey is a myth found in all cultures that provides a framework, or path to resolution of an unfolding life drama, that we can all learn from, and take comfort in. This is why Campbell called it the “monomyth”, or the singular story that defines the human experience.
#herosjourney, #josephcampbell, #monomyth,
The video montage of this podcast can be found on my Triarius Project Youtube channel, by following this link:
https://youtu.be/KHOhHwzO_2Y
or via my Triarius Project website at www.triariusproject.com