Where there is a way or path, it is someone else’s path. –Joseph Campbell
The first time I read the above quotation my brain gave a hearty and resounding YES! I have never been one for following any kind of traditionally prescribed path. The idea that most people do something in a particular way has never seemed like a valid reason for me to do it that way. Guess I haven’t grown out of my rebellious stage, yet. I will do as Robert Frost suggested and choose the less-traveled road. We don’t need no stinking path!
And yet… And yet…
For many years now I have been fascinated by Joseph Campbell’s work on the heroic journey. Once I learned how to see the underlying structure, I suddenly couldn’t help but see it everywhere. And not just in fiction or mythology either. A few years back I wrote out my best friend’s personal heroic journey using the outline. He hasn’t achieved godhood, yet, so it’s not done, but he has time and the potential. We all have the potential. That’s kind of the point. It’s a path for everyone, as well as Christ, Buddha, Shiva, Frodo Baggins, Anakin Skywalker and Harry Potter.
Anyway, as I plan to spend a good deal of time talking about Campbell’s outline here in this blog, it seems appropriate to offer a kind of beginner’s course for those of you who are unfamiliar. In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell theorized that mythologies from around the world and throughout history share a fundamental structure, which he called the monomyth. The monomyth has three main stages: Departure, Initiation, Return. Some classic examples of the monomyth that Campbell used to illustrate his ideas include the stories of Osiris, Prometheus, the Buddha, Moses, and Christ, although Campbell cites many other classic myths from many cultures which rely upon this basic structure. Here’s a snippet from his introduction:
“The whole sense of the ubiquitous myth of the hero’s passage is that it shall serve as a general pattern for men and women, wherever they may stand along the scale. Therefore it is formulated in the broadest terms. The individual has only to discover his own position with reference to this general human formula, and let it then assist him past his restricting walls. Who are his ogres? Those are the reflections of the unsolved enigmas of his own humanity. What are his ideals? Those are the symptoms of his grasp of life.”
Remember that myths speak in a symbolic language. They’re metaphors, not to be taken literally. I’ll be dividing this into three separate blog posts in hopes of making it accessible. And I’ll be taking my examples from James Kirk’s journey in the new Star Trek film because it’s fresh and convenient and I think it will make sense even if you haven’t seen the movie. So, we begin with the five stages of the Departure.
Departure – 1. The Call to Adventure
Fairly self-explanatory, the first step is to call the hero. Some event marks a shift in the unsuspecting hero’s life. This is the beginning of a transfiguration—a rite, or moment, of spiritual passage. When the passage is complete, it amounts to a dying and a birth. For the hero, his familiar life has been outgrown. It is time for him to let go of old patterns, beliefs, concepts, ideals, emotional connections, etc. Sometimes it appears as a blunder, apparently the merest chance, reveals another world. Other times, a herald may appear who calls the hero forth.
Example: Kirk gets into a bar fight and serendipitously runs into Captain Christopher Pike, who urges Kirk to get out of his own way and enlist in Starfleet.
Departure – 2. The Refusal of the Call
So, maybe the hero isn’t too excited about giving up everything he’s ever known in order to go on some dangerous adventure whose reward is uncertain. Joseph says: this refusal represents “an impotence to put off the infantile ego, with its sphere of emotional relationships and ideals.” But, not all who hesitate are lost. And sometimes, the refusal is about being unwilling to respond to anything but the deepest, highest, richest answer to the question of destiny.
Example: Kirk tells Captain Pike that he has no interest in joining Starfleet. As “the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest” Kirk is safe and unchallenged.
Departure – 3. Supernatural Aid
This is the wizard, hermit, shepherd, smith, Jedi, guide, teacher, ferryman, conductor of souls to the underworld. He comes along to give the hero amulets and talismans of protection so that he can complete his journey. Even to those who have apparently hardened their hearts, the ageless guardians will appear to get them on their way. Sometimes they even come along for a bit of the ride. Their purpose is to show the hero what he is capable of achieving, giving him the opportunity.
Example: Pike responds with: “Do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special? Enlist in Starfleet… You understand what the Federation is don’t you? It’s a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada. It’s important.” Later, when Pike is leaving the ship under Spock’s command, he raises Kirk to second-in-command, helping him on his way to becoming captain of the Enterprise.
Departure – 4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
I’ll let Joseph’s words sum this stage up:
“With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the “threshold guardian” at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. The first, or protective aspect of the threshold guardian: one had better not challenge the watcher of the established bounds. And yet—it is only by advancing beyond those bounds, provoking the destructive aspect of the same power, that the individual passes, either alive or in death, into a new zone of experience. The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown.”
Example: Kirk’s first threshold is probably leaving the Midwest via shuttlecraft to join Starfleet, thus leaving his previous life behind. But, to use an example with threshold guardians, I’ll use the example of his journey to the Enterprise. He’s on academic probation at that point, so there are forces trying to keep him on the ground. He risks a great deal by joining with Dr. McCoy in a subterfuge that gets him on board. But that is the moment that he truly leaves Earth for space, the final frontier. Space is one of our greatest unknowns. But he is the bold adventurer and he has allies. Pike is on that ship.
Departure – 5. The Belly of the Whale
This is the point where we head deep into metaphoric waters. Remember the story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale? That’s where we get our heading. The belly of the whale is a symbol of the worldwide womb, which is itself a symbol of a zone of rebirth. It is a place where one goes to realize or remember one’s true nature. A worshipper passes into a temple to be quickened by the recollection of who and what he is, dust and ashes, unless immortal. It is a form of self-annihilation. “Allegorically, then, the passage into a temple and the hero-dive through the jaws of the whale are identical adventures, both denoting, in picture language, the life-centering, life-renewing act. No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.” Many times the hero is severely physically wounded at this stage, dismembered, even slain, scattered over land and sea.
Example 1: Kirk descending into the hall for a trial in front of all of his peers. He is accused of cheating, placed on academic probation, and stripped of his privileges. He is reminded that he is under the power of the Starfleet administration.
Example 2: A slightly more interesting and provocative example of this stage might be when Spock banishes Kirk from the Enterprise and exiles him on the ice planet, Delta Vega. This is a more complete separation from his world. He is alone and threatened by the great red crab-squid from hell. He finds refuge in a cave with a wizened elder who tells him that his place is on the bridge of the Enterprise as her captain.
That’s it for the Departure stages of the monomyth. I’ll leave you with that for a few days before continuing with the Initiation stages.
Chris Pine as James T. Kirk Before Joining Starfleet
Promethean Fields 