APRIL SELECTION
from
Calm in the Face of the Storm:
Spiritual Daily Practice for the Peacemaker
The Hero
Whether we listen with aloof amusement to the dreamlike mumbo jumbo of some red-eyed witch doctor of the Congo, or read with cultivated rapture thin translations from the sonnets of the mystic Lao-tse; now and again crack the hard nutshell of an argument of Aquinas, or catch suddenly the shining meaning of a bizarre Eskimo fairy tale: it will always be the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told.
Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Each of us was meant to be the hero of our own journey. In her book Sacred Contracts, Caroline Myss posits that we all arrive with very specific contracts lived through archetypes, and the hero is one such powerful archetype. A cultural anthropologist, Joseph Campbell wrote many books about myth and religion throughout his lifetime. Much of his youth was spent trotting the globe for information about the rituals, myths, beliefs, and religions of different cultures. He lived among various peoples and studied their cultures, not for the purpose of defining the differences, but rather for discovering similarities. How are we all alike? How are we connected in our themes and narratives for nurturing our soul? Recognizing the oneness of purpose we share with those who appear before us to engage in conflict—and in resolution—makes it easier to assist them in finding their hero within. But first we must look for the hero residing in our own soul, the contract we made to be the peace we want to see in the world.
Meditate today on the word “hero.” Watch your mind as it floats, and breathe toward this word. What images come to mind? In the stillness, give form to the images.
In your journal, write down or draw the images that came to you in your meditation.