{"id":1937,"date":"2010-03-07T08:40:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T12:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=1937"},"modified":"2010-03-07T08:40:53","modified_gmt":"2010-03-07T12:40:53","slug":"the-hero%e2%80%99s-journey-a-solid-kick-to-the-groin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=1937","title":{"rendered":"The Hero\u2019s Journey: A Solid Kick to the Groin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month I published one of my old \u201cLetters from the Publisher\u201d<\/a> from back when The Magical Buffet was a monthly e-zine because the letters didn\u2019t migrate over to the new blog format. As I said then, most of my letters aren\u2019t worth republishing. However there were a few that shared some of my more personal thoughts that I wanted new readers to have access to. With that said, here is my \u201cLetter from the Publisher\u201d from August 2007.<\/em><\/p>\n

In folklore, mythology, history, and religion you will find instances of the \u201chero\u2019s journey\u201d. Much like Jung\u2019s archetypes, the hero\u2019s journey is universal regardless of culture. The basic, bare bones telling of the hero\u2019s journey is as follows:<\/p>\n

A member of a tribe, through fate or choice, becomes exiled by their fellow tribesmen, thrown out, or leaves the tribe. Thus begins the hero\u2019s journey, where the hero learns of a different purpose separate of the tribe, has their purpose tested, and inevitably they return where they are welcomed back as one who has gifts to share with the tribe.<\/p>\n

Does that sound familiar to you now? How about, an independent blind girl in an isolated village in old Pennsylvania suddenly must leave her family and village to travel through a dark alien forest inhabited by horrible monsters to get medicine for her dying true love? Yes, that\u2019s the plot for the film \u201cThe Village\u201d, and it is a marvelous example of the hero\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n

It sounds so brave, so noble, the hero\u2019s journey. Down right epic. Doesn\u2019t it just seem like everything should just fall into place? You know your purpose, you\u2019re to lead the Jews out of Egypt, you\u2019re to find the shard (do you know what that one is from?), you\u2019re to do whatever \u201cit\u201d is. It just seems like once the hero steps on the path, each step is surely predestined to land exactly where it should be. On the surface, it would appear to be a place where there is no doubt or fear.<\/p>\n

Of course, life has the tendency to kick you in the groin. Heroes suffer, physically and I am sure, emotionally. To paraphrase a thought from Carolyn Myss\u2019s book \u201cSacred Contracts\u201d, if Buddha could occasionally wonder if he\u2019s on the right path, well then EVERYBODY has got to wonder from time to time, no matter how certain the path seems. There you are, certain that this is it, the path to take. Each of your steps fall exactly as you feel fate would have it. But just as every hero on the journey encounters obstacles that make them wonder, life kicks us average Joes square in the groin, and let\u2019s face it, that makes anyone wonder. <\/p>\n

We don\u2019t all have epic hero\u2019s journeys to take, but all of us want to find a path to follow. I consider these to be \u201caverage Joe\u201d journeys. None of us want to start our own religion or feel we\u2019re going to end up in circumstances where the fate of the known world is in our hands. \u201cAverage Joes\u201d want to know they\u2019re doing right for themselves, their families, and their communities. Just because we\u2019re \u201caverage\u201d, doesn\u2019t make our \u201caverage\u201d journeys any less scary, painful, or difficult. As I have said, and will say again, life will sometimes just kick you in the groin. Occasionally, while you\u2019re crunched in the fetal position, rolling around on the floor, life will gut kick you, just to make sure you felt it. The thing that makes the journey heroic is when you get back up and start on the path again. <\/p>\n

This month\u2019s issue features lots of wonderful people who in my opinion are undertaking extraordinary journeys: Lisa McSherry<\/a>, who is helping us explore nature based spirituality online; the editorial staff of Hinduism Today<\/a>, that helps hopeless bumblers like me understand what Hinduism is; and the folks at Pagan Troop Support<\/a>, that insure that Pagan and Wiccan soldiers are supplied with the tools necessary to practice their faith. I\u2019d be comfortable knowing that the fate of the world was in their hands.<\/p>\n

~Rebecca<\/p>\n

This one resonates with me more today than it did a few years back. At the time I wrote this, the extent of my \u201cAverage Joe\u201d journey was working on my Bachelors in Metaphysics and figuring out how to make The Magical Buffet work. As I\u2019ve alluded to a few times, I\u2019ve been having prolonged health issues. These have made everything harder, much harder. Although I rarely find it the case, my husband assures me that despite what I think I handle my unpredictable health and bevy of doctors and appointments well. Honestly, I don\u2019t see it. However, in looking this old letter over, I see it staring right at me. \u201cThe thing that makes the journey heroic is when you get back up and start on the path again.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that no matter how many times I\u2019ve been given false hope, how many times I\u2019ve exhausted the limits of allegedly the greatest health care system in the world, the plans that I\u2019ve had to cancel, and the times I\u2019ve tried to play through the pain only to fail, despite every time I want to just drop out and let life happen around me, my body refuses to stop and I get up the next day and do it all over again. And before you think, oh how heroic, trust me, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s ugly and trying and essentially devoid of any triumph. That said, I can perhaps now see, from the outside looking in, how it might not be heroic, but it could certainly be an \u201cAverage Joe\u201d journey.<\/p>\n

Also, I still stand by referencing \u201cThe Village\u201d. I liked that movie, okay? Sure, the \u201cbig reveal\u201d may not have been that shocking, or whatever else people seem to like to grouse about, but I liked it. If you have a heart in your chest how could you not have loved at least 85% of that movie? Was it \u201cUnbreakable\u201d? No. Was it \u201cThe Sixth Sense\u201d? People, get over that, you can\u2019t make \u201cThe Sixth Sense\u201d twice. Could I have used \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d or \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d as examples? Yes, but by my calculations it would have made this post 75% less cool. Although if I were to write this one again today, I probably would drop \u201cThe Village\u201d in favor of a \u201cKathy Griffin\u2019s My Life on the D-List\u201d reference. The same calculations show this would have made the post 120% cooler.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"