This is Good: The Hero's Journey

Edition #13: Who we are becoming is most important

“The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you will take into eternity.” ~ Dallas Willard

I am not a Superman guy.

His power doesn’t require anything of him. Bullets just fall off the dude.

Give me Frodo, Katniss, Luke, or Harry.

In the stories we love the hero has to become.

These stories that resonate follow a similar pattern we seem to innately know.

A hero leaves home with a call. There is danger, toil, and challenge. The hero gains companions and encounters an enemy. There is an abyss and redemption.

Through it all (and because of it all) the hero becomes someone different, better, and more true. The hero then passes this earned strength to others.

In A Hero With A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell calls this the Monomyth. A thousand different stories, the same hero’s journey.

From Homer’s Odessey to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. From Dante’s Divine Comedy to Lucas’s Star Wars.

We love these stories because we know these stories.

A life well lived requires we each go on our own heroic journeys.

These journeys are never what we expect, they are only what we need.

I am not sure how this is finding you right now.

What stage of which journey you are on.

You may have just started a company or wondering how you will make payroll next week.

You may have gotten engaged or in emergency marriage counseling.

You may have become a parent or started caring for your ailing parent.

You may be in remission or just received a diagnosis.

To you friend, I encourage and remind what you innately know:

You are a hero with a purpose.

You will fight fierce battles.

You will encounter an enemy who opposes you.

You will walk through an abyss.

You will experience rescue.

…and because of this.

You will become more of who you were made to be.

You will gain earned strength to pass on.

And, you will return from your journey formed.

This is very good.

THIS IS GOOD: THE HERO'S JOURNEY

The Hero’s journey assumes the true, the good, and the beautiful are realities.

They are categories as true as gravity.

We know it’s good for Strider to become Aragon.

We know it’s not good for Smeagle to become Gollum.

The purpose of the journey is for the hero to become more of who they truly are.

More courage not less. More nobility not less. More humility not less.

There are no shortcuts to this formation. No stages we can intentionally skip.

The problem is we often don’t have eyes to see the journey we are on.

As a fellow traveler, I hope the following helps us see a little more clearly.

Home and The Call

The journey always begins with stasis. Something is not the way it should be. There is a call that propels you to leave behind what is known and what is comfortable. This will launch you into a journey away from your known world and into your adventure.

Hero, as you stare out at the Binary Sunset of your home what must change? What are you being called away from or called into?

Purpose

Viktor Frankl treated patients while he was a prisoner at Auschwitz. He observed that the men and women who survived were not the strongest. Rather it was the ones who identified meaning in their suffering. They had a purpose to live for which was outside of themselves. Purpose does not come from having the best life hacks or sitting in the most ice baths (which is a bummer because I love both). It comes from something deep enough that can provide meaning in suffering. Without purpose, we die, whether it’s in a concentration camp or the locker room of the country club.

Hero, may you discover sustaining purpose that is deep enough to strengthen, propel, and remind you that another story must begin.

The Enemy

After leaving home, you will be in a foreign world where everything is upside down and backward. Immediately, you will encounter an enemy who opposes you. This enemy is dead set against you succeeding in your journey. Dead set on preventing you from becoming your true self.

Hero, you have an enemy of your soul who does not want you to become who you were meant to be. This enemy only deals in lies. You’ll need clarity and courage to look your enemy in the face and put him in his place.

Companions

On your journey, you will need like-hearted companions. Friends who want you to increasingly become your true self. To stop you from turning back or quitting. To give you courage when you have none. To put an arm around a bloody shoulder, give a smile, wipe the dust off your brow, and say, “keep going”.

Hero, may you seek and find the type of companions who will remind you of what is true and will say to you in the abyss, I can’t carry it, but I can carry you.

The Abyss

The abyss sucks. There is no sugarcoating it. And it’s exactly what we need. If we see a way out or how it will end for good, it is not a true abyss. I am sorry if this is where you are right now. Hold on, friend.

Hero, in the abyss you may desire to lie down and give up. This may be a time when you think everything’s finished. Rest assured, it is not. The way out is through.

Rescue

Tolkien had a word for this moment of the journey. Eucotasctrophy. A sudden turn for good. When an unconquerable abyss turns to an unforeseen victory, usually brought by grace rather than heroic effort. Tolkien says it is “the sudden turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears”.

Hero, Eucotasctrophy brings us to tears because is a “sudden glimpse of Truth”. What have been these moments of unforeseen rescue in your life? It is good we remember them. When they come, may we never forget them.

Becoming

While different for every hero, the trajectory is the same. More love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self-control. My friend Brent summarizes this as the degree to which we know we are “fully known and fully loved with nothing to fear and nothing to hide”.

Hero, may you increasingly know you have nothing to fear and nothing to hide. May this knowledge give you increasing freedom.

POSTSCRIPT

Think of life up to this point. Your highest and lowest points.

How would you have created your life if you could have entirely arranged it Could the life you would have arranged be exactly what you didn’t need?

I know now if I were given the ability to script my life, I would have arranged exactly what I didn’t need. A life of control and safety.

Don’t get me wrong, it would look impressive. Hard-fought victories won. Accomplishments secured. I would even throw in a few small “failures” for good measure.

It would, of course, be an illusion of grandeur. The exterior would look great, but the interior would be unformed. A life that did not require me to grow, change or become. I would have no earned power.

Now think again of your life to this point.

All the pain, joy, disappointments, and triumphs. The parts you would never have scripted.

Could it be a divine conspiracy that we are put on specific paths that leads to life?

Our heroic journeys do not promise to give us what we would choose, only what we need. They do not promise us that we will not have to suffer, only that none of our suffering will be wasted.

There is a line of Scripture that reminds us “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Suffering is a leading indicator of hope. And we desperately need hope.

This week millions celebrate Easter which is the Eucotastrophy of the Christian faith.

In this journey, The Hero started perfect with no formation needed. Yet, with the purpose of rescue went to the beginning of the journey to a manger. He encountered an enemy, overcame trials, and found companions. Then, with joy set before Him went into the abyss of an undeserved cross and painful separation. Because of this, the Hero gives His rescue and perfection to all who would believe.

Fixing my eyes on this Hero is what has provided the most sustaining purpose for the journeys I have been on. Producing joy through trials, truth to defeat the lies of my enemy, and hope to sustain me through the abyss.

Providing the anchor for me to believe that I am fully known, fully loved, and have nothing to fear and nothing to hide.

GOOD STUFF

• Next Great Adventure: Pioneered by the Acton School of Business.

• TedEd: What Makes a Hero: Great Summary of the Monomyth.

• Nothing to Fear: Awesome interview with my friend Brent.