The Hero’s Journey and the Stages of Learning.
Joseph Campbell penned the term “The Hero’s Journey” which he noted was a standard narrative template, during which the hero sets out on an adventure where he's is pitted against dangerous situations and foes and then returns home victorious and changed.
Joseph defines the hero as “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
The hero’s journey can be boiled down to three essential stages:
- The departure. The hero leaves the familiar world behind.
- The initiation. The hero learned to navigate the unfamiliar world.
- The return. The hero returns to the familiar world.
Now imagine the creative as the hero, and we can find a striking parallel between the hero’s journey and the journey of growth and learning that is an inherent part of any artist’s life. Let us break down the creative journey into three stages and delve a bit deeper.
The Beginning of the Hero's Journey:
Think of this as your superhero origin story. It’s how you got to start being serious about your art or what you wanted to try to do in life. It’s that story that led up to the instance once you said, that is often it! That story is what galvanized you into finally taking action.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles starts with a single step. It is often the easiest step to make. At this stage, you are excited about learning and have fresh energy and mindset. You are the student that is raring to go, ready to face challenges and climb up steep learning curves. Your tools are sharp and eager to start creating, and there is a general sense of satisfaction for each little step taken. You see everything as an opportunity.
The Middle :
Ah, The Middle, This is where the real fun begins, or so they say.
The conflict thickens, and the hero is faced with demons, internal or external. This is where we mostly recognize the gaps among our skills, efforts, and imagination. Yes, we have ideas, but the effort and skill required to bring them out to the world is rarely an easy or enjoyable experience. Maybe we do have the talent and the mentality to work hard, but then we need to steer away from clichés and the usual. We got to be innovative with our skills, which again is not easy. And so the good fight begins, this is the stage where we are most exposed to our own flaws and shortcomings, and the way we handle this confrontation dictates how we move ahead in life and as a person.
Our passion may help us reach our flow state, but it can also make us feel very lost. When we strive for something with such a singular focus, it brings with it a certain level of mania. The very thing that made us happy can take us to the depth of misery (cue the ‘lost souls’ from the Pixar movie ‘Soul’).
This is also the stage involving a lot of mental and physical exertion and it can take a toll on ourselves.
Take it Easy,
Imagine the composer with countless sleepless nights, the artist who is hell-bent on perfecting his masterpiece, the martial artist who has to mend broken bones, cuts, and bruises. These may have a lasting impact on you, remember Frodo who just was never the same after his gruelling trip to Mount Doom and then had to take a one-way trip to the undying lands? (spoiler alert! But come on, this movie is almost 20 years old). It is not fun when you experience such a lasting negative impact on yourself. So, maintaining a balance and keeping your sanity intact is extremely important at this stage (chamomile tea is your best friend). This may be the stage we feel the most stressed and overwhelmed. The point where everything is challenging, and you just cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.
However,
This stage is also when you will make the most progress and get the most work done. This is when you really mould yourself into what you are aiming to be. Unlike the beginning, the steps you take in this stage will be hard but incredibly worth it. Think of this stage as when Gandalf met Balrog (‘Thou shall not pass’ is a vibe), or when Bruce Wayne first confronted Bane, or when Peter Parker lost his uncle. This stage will have your darkest hour, but it also gives you the chance to overcome and rise beyond what you have ever imagined. This is the stage that will make you.
So keep sailing, somedays the sea will be rocky, on some, it will be calm. As long as you keep progressing, you are okay. It is a grand odyssey (Homer tips his hat).
The End :
This is the return home, the moment of accomplishment, of scaling the unscalable, when you achieve what you set out to do.
You may be worn out, but still feel re-energized, ready to face more challenges, everything is again an opportunity, and you are pumped, and you are riding a general wave of optimism.
But life is no fairy tale and there never really is a definite end to our journey, it keeps playing, like a tune and we keep dancing. The ups and downs keep playing out, and the cycle continues. Each time we will be a little different. The times of struggle we faced during the middle may now seem like the best time of your life, the feelings of discomfort back then ultimately became memorable now. This is the paradox of memory, that given time, tragedies can turn to comedies.
This brings me to these equations (puts on geek glasses):
Comedy = Tragedy + Time
Memorable/Enjoyable = Discomfort + Time
Now, I realize that your own story might not always take the shape of the hero’s journey, but there are probably core elements or similarities.
This journey may last a lifetime, or maybe just a day, but it keeps repeating, and it takes different forms. The important things are to keep pushing ahead.
Keywords:
art, creative journey, design, hero, Hero's Journey, Joseph Campbell, journey, Knowledge, Learning, Lord of the rings, Skill, Stages of Learning, talent