The Hero's Journey: A resource for educators, teachers, and students

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April 2001

April 2, 2001

Schorer said that the mythological image is what gives sense and organization to experience. A. K. Coomaraswamy went so far as to say that "myth embodies the nearest approach to absolute truth that can be stated in words." All this is because the poetic, mythical, or mystical mode of vision perceives orders and relationships which...escape factual description. The factual language dissects and disintegrates experience into categories and oppositions that cannot be resolved. It is the language of either/or, or from its standpoint all that is on the dark side of life -- death, evil, and suffering -- cannot be assimilated. There is nothing for it but to get rid of it. But,

"If seven maids with seven mops

Swept it for half a year,

So you suppose," the Walrus said,

"That they would sweep it clear?"

"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,

And shed a bitter tear.

By contrast, the language of myth and poetry is integrative, for the language of the image is organic language. Thus is expresses a point of view in which the dark side of things has its place, or rather, in which the light and and the dark are transcended through being seen in the terms of a dramatic unity. This is the catharsis, or soul-cleansing function, of the tragic drama.

Alan Watts

April 9

What has become increasingly clear in these debates is that education is not just about conventional school matter like curriculum or standards or testing. What we resolve to do in school only makes sense when considered in the broader context of what the society intends to accomplish through its educational investment in the young. How one conceives of education, we have finally come to recognize, is a function of how one conceives of the culture and its aims, professed or otherwise.

Jerome Bruner

April 16

This principle [maximizing expression] is applied in Gestalt therapy in various forms. One of them, of indirect relevance, we have discussed already: the minimization of nonexpressive action. After Clishes and verbiage have been suppressed, all that will remain is the choice between emptiness and expression.

A second technique leading to the maximization of expression is the providing of unstructured situations. To the extent that a situation is unstructured, the individual is confronted with his own choices. To the extent that no rules of interaction are laid out, or behavior expected of him, he must determine his own rules, be responsible for his own action. Lack of structure requires of the individual that he be creative rather than a good player of a predetermined game.

Claudio Naranjo
Gestalt Psychology, (p. 80)

Comment:

Might this suggest that, in education, we need to allow for a bit of chaos, a bit of unstructured time to move our students into creativity rather than compliance? This would cause students to build their own self-discipline, their own creative and integrative powers, and their own perception. We complain that many students are unmotivated or undisciplined or undirected. Perhaps this is because we impose too much structure and too many rigid standards. What seems more important, in a world as changing and rapid as ours? I would think that creativity and self-organization would be the most important skills we could instill. Maybe a little chaos in the classroom would be a good thing.

Reg Harris

April 23

Four quotes from Alan Briskin's The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace which we should keep in mind when we support, actively or tacitly, standardized testing and rigid standards in the schools.

"There is no greater challenge to the soul than the forces of authority and the group that seek its surrender. The immense power of the group to demand conformity and inhibit access to our own experience is rooted in the power of ideas and the organizational structure that shapes and organizes these ideas." (p. 67)

In a time when little is taken seriously, when meaning itself can be packaged and sold, how does one find meaning and coherence? �Meaning cannot come from corporate mission statements; it is sought through dialogue and reflection, through the courage to ask troubling questions and a willingness to face the consequences of our collective and individual actions. (pp. 145-146)

"Organizations that are reengineering today are still grappling with Taylor's legacy. There remains a belief that once reengineered, organizations will run like the clockworks they were meant to be. Among leaders of the workplace, there still exists a dream of order. Implementation of new technology, redesign of work processes, and clearer accountability of employees still holds a seductive allure for those who wish to control the workplace." (p. 133)

Quoting Frederick Taylor: "In a scientifically run modern machine shop, then, all of these implements have been standardized, and are maintained in a tool department in perfect order at all times, thus entirely doing away with the old fashioned judgment of each workman as to what kind of a tool he liked best, and also doing away with his individual making and care of his tools." (p. 153)

Once the assembly line was established, human labor was reduced to repetitive actions orchestrated by the speed of the line. (p. 155)

Alan Briskin

April 30

Eastern mystical traditions are not...primarily concerned with theoretical concepts. They are, above all, ways of liberation, concerned with transformation of consciousness. During their long history they have developed subtle techniques to change their followers' awareness of their own existence and of their relation to human society.

Fritjof Capra

This, I think, is one important point about any philosophical or religious system: it must change the one's sense of awareness and one's fundamental understanding of self and the world. Philosophies which try to elicit "good" behavior and attitudes through threats or through promises of rewards to come do not fundamentally change the follower. When a person does something out of fear or reward, he or she can remained unchanged inside. One can continue to act in bad faith based on the assumption that simply confessing one sins or asking for forgiveness will purge the traces of what one has done.

For a philosophy to be of any real value, especially in terms of taking our journeys in life, it must affect us inside. It must change our way of understanding ourselves and our world at the most fundamental level. Then, from those changes, new behavior will grow, but the behavior will be genuine, done because we are that kind of person, the kind of person who sees his or her place in the community, world and universe. It will be authentic action, not conditioned action.

The great philosophical traditions most in harmony with the Heroic Journey concept are the great mystical traditions of the world. They recognize our oneness with all things and encourage us to expand our awareness until we begin to act out of that oneness. The journey then becomes twofold. First it is a journey toward individuation, of self identity and individuality. This journey involves exploring our physical existence and powers. Once that journey has been completed or "burned out," the second journey begins, taking us away from ego and individuality toward oneness with all life. That is the greatest journey in our lives.