Myths are stories of a timeless humanity. Made-up stories... and yet true! Stories made to resonate within us beyond words.
The Hero's Journey is first the common plot that underlies them.
It is generally presented in the form of an itinerary in which various sequences follow one another, at the risk of reducing it to a narrative, mechanical "device". Screenwriters and writers use it to develop their cinematographic or literary fictions. And speakers from all walks of life invite you to rewrite your own life course and take on the lead role, that of the hero called upon to defeat treacherous opponents.
However, the Journey does not suggest that we examine our life from the angle of the events that have punctuated it. On the contrary, it invites us to free ourselves from our biography in order to place our quest for meaning under the sign of the timeless.
It is a powerful metaphor for the forces that contend with each other when the desire to live more fully manifests itself in us.
This is what Paul Rebillot had in mind when he created in 1973 a seven-day collective journey which he was the first one to name The Hero's Journey.
The Journey is an opportunity to reconnect with the vital forces within oneself, to confront one's dark side, and to discover in a new light the way one wishes to lead one's life from now on.
Why choose to embark on this journey and what can we expect from it? The Journeyers' decision is usually inspired by the feeling that their lives are "flat" and the desire to lead a "full" life, and it is prompted by what is perceived as a "call".
The Flat Life
The flat life is often marked by an emotional tension between what we show and what we feel inside.
From the outside, the situation may appear calm (even inert) or active (even turbulent). But the intimate experience testifies to a bitter unease.
We can mask this experience by deluding ourselves and telling ourselves stories. Work, family, home, projects?... Great, just great!
We can also be aware of the situation and even talk about it, putting the blame on external circumstances. The solution should therefore also come from the outside. As a proof... In every field, we can find apps geared to helping us improve the external aspects of our lifestyle. Another solution is to give up and indulge in numbing substances or practices. Hyperactivity, whether at work or in leisure time, is one of them.
In any case, we stay away from our inner truth and delude ourselves.
The flat life isn't always utterly painful. But for sure, it lacks spice, meaning... The different facets of our lives now appear disjointed. But before we can consider renewing the way we balance them, it seems like there's always a "Finish first."
"Finish first"... your studies, proving that you are good at your job, raising your children, renovating your home, ensuring the stability of your business, to ensure the well-being of your aging parents... "Then, we'll see..."
The Full Life
Seen from the outside, the full life seems at first glance similar to "the one before": you take care of those you love, you go to work, you change the sheets...
But if you have allowed yourself to fully experience the inner encounter that the Hero's Journey symbolises, what happens to you now appears in a different light. Your presence — to yourself and to others, to your actions and your choices — has changed. You've found a new breath.
You are able to observe and adjust the dynamics between your sensations, emotions and imagination, and this brings a grain of meaning to your life. You feel that you have gained in finesse, in sagacity.
In the words of Frances Wickes: “We're going back to the way things were; but the old is new today because a renewed understanding enlivens and transforms it.”
What happened? You've given yourself the opportunity to let go of the daily pressures and go in search of the person you really feel you are.
You have discovered that what prevents you from feeling fully alive does not lie outside of yourself, but that it is this part of you that does not want to know better. And you have been able to initiate and let unfold, still within you, the fruitful dialogue between your aspirations and your fears... to the point of articulating them in a renewed dynamics.
The Call
It all started with the "call", this desire for something else that is no longer satisfied with your boring life and your made up self-serving stories.
The call doesn't ask you to prove who you are. It invites you to come and meet the underlying "who you are" that is still silent. It invites you to come and sense this reality, in your own way, to let yourself be penetrated by it, and to choose how you will express it through your way of being.
The call tells us, “Come on, that's enough now… The game of 'Finish first, we'll see later', the diversions, the lethargy... Enough dithering... Make up your mind!”
It is rarely heard the first time it presents itself. You may have mistaken it for some external change that you thought would be life-saving at the time ("Finally something new!..."). But this move, this new job, this new group of friends... didn't change anything in the end. Under the guise of novelty, you have plunged back into the "always more of the same thing". What presented itself as a change turned out to be just one more detour on your path, bringing you back to your starting point.
Why? Once heeded, the call may seem like an open door to danger. It looks like it carries a promise, but of what...? One doesn't know. Unlike some adverts, it does not present itself with the description of your take-aways. Therefore you wonder what will happen to you if you do heed the call.
On the one hand, an unbridled imagination may give you a glimpse of all sorts of frightening risks. However, The Hero 's Journey has never led anyone to decisions that would turn their lives upside down — quite the contrary.
On the other hand, it's hard to imagine what the Journey can actually lead you to since, by nature, it's a dive into the unknown! The promise is unknown. The outcome is unknown. Prediction is preposterous.
However, choosing to heed the call ultimately presents only one risk: that of the truth due by yourself to yourself. But this risk comes with a guarantee: this call is yours and yours only. No one but you can decide what it is about, nor what you are going to do about it. It all depends on your own will.
"Traveller, there is no path, the path is drawn as you go along," Antonio Machado reminds us.
So, shall we stay safely under the shield of our habits, satisfied with living in trompe-l'oeil? — Or try the adventure?
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Tony Khabaz and Catherine Lagarde
Flat Life, Full Life and Call
by Tony Khabaz and Catherine Lagarde
November 2023
Tsherin Sherpa, Kathmandu Express
A powerful metaphor for the forces that contend with each other when the desire to live more fully manifests itself in us.
In every field, we can find apps geared to helping us improve our the external aspects of our lifestyle.
“We're going back to the way things were; but the old is new today because a renewed understanding enlivens and transforms it.”
The call tells us, “Come on, that's enough now… The game of 'Finish first, we'll see later', the diversions, the lethargy... Enough dithering... Make up your mind!”