Threshold Guardians

Excerpt from the Hero's Journey teacher's guide

Testing our readiness for the quest

by Reg Harris

Copyright © 2007 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Except for properly cited quotes and excerpts, this article may not be copied, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author. For permission to use, contact Reg Harris.

During our lives, we will take many journeys and we will face many Threshold Guardians. We will also participate in the Journeys of many other people and, consequently, may be called upon to act as Threshold Guardians for them.

With this role so prominent in our lives, it's no wonder that mythology is replete with memorable Threshold Guardians. There are the scorpion men who guarded the entrance to the mountains of Mashu against the great Gilgamesh. There were the crashing rocks which challenged Jason to continue his quest for the Golden Fleece. There were dragons and ogres and even a riddle or two which would-be heroes had to face before they could continue their quests.

"Real-life" Guardians

For us, though, Threshold Guardians are usually much less colorful. Our first Threshold Guardians are our parents and teachers. They protect us from harm by preventing us from undertaking "journeys" which could harm us: crossing the street when we're too young, counseling us to help us avoid injury in an activity or sport we're not ready for, or making sure we're mature enough to learn how to drive.

These early Threshold Guardians have a difficult and thankless job. They must restrain the child, so they are often seen as oppressors rather than protectors. They are the object of rebellion and are challenged repeatedly as the child grows into an adult. This is especially true now, when children are growing and maturing so quickly that the old Threshold Guardian models just don't seem to work anymore.

Perhaps the most difficult job faced by the Guardians, however, is knowing when to step aside. If they remain fixed, they become like the cherubs in the story of Adam and Eve, swinging their swords to keep the initiate out of paradise, when they should be like the Buddhist demons who invite the initiate into the adventure.

Students often complain about restrictions and "stupid" rules. We have found that talking to them about the roles of the Threshold Guardians in their lives helps them better understand the situation. We often ask them what they would do if they were the Guardians, faced with the challenge of both protecting and pushing.

Adulthood's Hidden Guardians

Actually, the Threshold Guardians of childhood are fairly mild compared to what we face as adults. Our adult Threshold Guardians are most often mental or emotional: our fears and doubts, the echoes of past guardians whose words we have not outgrown, the blindness caused by our ego or the walls we construct to protect our a fragile self-image. In fact, we may be called on a journey to reconcile the childhood threshold guardians which have become embedded in our subconscious. Now these are dragons worthy of the title!