“Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of human life.”
Heroism: A Philosophy
We need a philosophy because attention is the input that yields results, but life is complex, and human beings are easily distracted. Your philosophy keeps your attention focused where you want it.
The point of philosophy is to become a better person. Which philosophy is most effective in helping us do that? Probably the one handed down to us through the millennia by our ancestors. The foundational ideas of this project are based on insights handed down from our ancestors through our storytelling traditions.
Joseph Campbell was the world’s foremost authority on humanity’s tradition of heroic myths and legends. In his groundbreaking book “The Hero With A Thousand Faces,” he outlined an archetypal narrative pattern that was consistent in myths and legends from all over the world and throughout history. He called that narrative pattern “The Hero’s Journey Monomyth.”
The steps the narrative pattern follows are:
The Call to Adventure
Refusing the Call
Meeting the Mentor
Crossing the Threshold
The Road of Trials
The Ordeal
Apotheosis
Return with The Elixir
The pattern is cyclical. The completion of one cycle leads into the beginning of the next cycle. Upon receiving a new call to a new adventure, the protagonist begins a new Hero’s Journey.
If you’re looking for proof that The Hero’s Journey contains clues to human potential, you need look no further than the popularity of stories that follow that pattern. Hero stories have been retold, reimagined, and revivified for thousands of years. Hero stories have generated billions of dollars in global box office: “The Wizard Of Oz,” “The Lord Of The Rings,” “Rocky,” “Star Wars,” “The Matrix,” “Harry Potter,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” The MCU, and “Avatar,” are only a few examples of Hero’s Journeys that have captivated audiences around the world.
The reason these stories are so universally loved is precisely because they contain clues to our potential. Audience members imagine themselves as the hero, and walk away from the stories inspired by feelings of hope, authenticity, and courage.
Our philosophy is called “Heroism” because it is derived from the clues embedded in “The Hero’s Journey.” The practice of this philosophy is summarized most simply as “Be the hero of your own journey.”
The objective of our philosophical practice is to create a framework that allows you to develop the skills you need to unleash your potential and fulfill your quest for courage, authenticity, and excellence. Once you understand that, you need to take action. Before you can take action, you need to answer some questions.
The questions allow you to hear your conscience. The answers your conscience provides guide the path of your quest. The quest unleashes your potential by challenging you to develop the skills you need to get the results you want.
The Call to Adventure - Your sacred mission.
Who are you? And what are you going to do about it?
What’s the biggest most important problem you can solve with your gifts and skills, and what’s your plan to solve it?
Your conscience will guide you in the direction of your destiny. Your life is a sacred gift and you have a sacred mission. If you ignore your gift and waste your talent, your destiny is despair.
Meeting the Mentor - You need someone to treat you like you have the potential for excellence. That someone can be you.
What are your gifts and skills?
How can you leverage your gifts and skills to fulfill your mission?
What are your deficits?
Who can support you in your areas of deficit so that your shortcomings don’t derail your mission?
Refusing the Call - “Loss Aversion” causes human beings to fear a loss more than they desire an equivalent gain. You must properly define “loss.”
What happens if you don’t do anything?
How are you made better off by not addressing this issue?
Loss aversion manifests as fear, self-doubt, and second guessing. Surrendering your sacred quest to those feelings will drag you into a pit of despair.
Crossing the Threshold - Make loss aversion work for you. Remember that you don’t want to live the wrong life and then die filled with regret.
If you try, and that attempt fails, what will you lose?
If you fail to try, what will you lose?
The Road of Trials - Develop the skills you need to get the results you want.
More desirable results require more effective behaviors. More effective behaviors require deeper levels of understanding. And deeper levels of understanding require the experiences and insights that shift your perspective.
What are the milestones that you need to accomplish on the path to fulfilling your mission?
What are the potential obstacles?
How can you avoid those obstacles?
How can you overcome the obstacles that can’t be avoided?
What is your daily game plan to move closer to achieving the next milestone?
Develop the skills you need to get the results that you want. Develop the courage you need to in order to embody authenticity and excellence.
Your reward system is based on courage. Courage is the chemical cocktail triggered by hope and fear.
The Ordeal - The culminating event of this adventure.
Your greatest test will require your greatest focus.
How will you test your skills? How will you prepare for that culminating event in order to perform at your best when your best is required?
Apotheosis - The protagonist levels up and embodies the hero.
You are at your best when you are fully integrated. When the entirety of your being is unified in the quest to fulfill your sacred mission, when you embody courage, authenticity, and excellence. That is what it means to embody the hero.
Return With The Elixir - Making a meaningful contribution to your community.
The moment of Apotheosis is fleeting - free soloing El Cap, knocking out Aldo in 13 seconds, becoming the double-champ. The journey provides the experiences and insights that change your perspective, and allow the deeper levels of understanding that lead to more effective behaviors and more desirable results. Integrate these insights by sharing them with your community. If you want to master a skill, teach it. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
“When you know the way broadly, you see it in all things.” Show others the way.
The Call to Adventure/A New Hope
Being the hero of your own journey is a lifelong quest. The journey is cyclical. Once one cycle is completed, the next cycle begins. Who are you now? And what are you going to do about it?