The Hero's Journey Continues

I spent a week in a workshop run by Modern Elder Academy. It was called “Discovering the Hero’s Journey in Midlife.” I’ll tell you how I got there in a few minutes hours days paragraphs. But first..

I wrote about Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” in this blog post six years ago.

What’s come to be called “the hero’s journey” is a pattern of behavior typical to hero myths across cultures and over time.

Follow that pattern, and you can be a hero. Many of us have been heroes without knowing we have been.

The way I see it, I’m surrounded by heroes.

That probably includes you.¹

I’d semi-forgotten that I had written that post.

And I had forgotten this:

I want to be a hero to my kids, community, and friends. Even if they don’t see me as a hero, I know that I am a hero if I follow the hero’s path.

I’ve been a hero in the past. I can be one again.

I didn’t fully remember I’d written it until I was writing this post.

Now that I’ve read it, I’m ready to tell you the story of how I got to that workshop and what it has meant to me.

But before that, I want to remind you—whoever you are—that you are on a hero’s journey, too. And especially you, Future Me.

How I got there

Our middle daughter, Mira², introduced me to The Modern Elder Academy (MEA.) She set up a conversation with one of MEA’s consultant/salespeople/whatever. He got me to talk a little about myself. I had no trouble getting him to talk a little about MEA. We surfed the web together, looking for programs that might suit my temperament and schedule. We both landed on the same one for different reasons.

My reason was Bobbi. I learned about the hero’s journey from her. She had studied Campbell’s work before and while earning her PhD in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. PGI is home to the Joseph Campbell archives.

So “Discovering the Hero’s Journey in Midlife” was a connection to Bobbi. And when did the workshop start? January 27th, of course. You may know why January 27 is a significant date for me. If you don’t know, you can find out. That’s why I put a link on the date and another one here. (Clicking the link is not sufficient. You have to read the linked blog post)

Or you can take my word for it.

Whatever.

How it all went down

The workshop was amazing.

Maybe I’ll write another post, two or ten, about it. So many great experiences.

But this is already getting a little too long.

What I got from the workshop

I wrote this to a friend.

Bobbi was present with me throughout.

(That by itself was a gift.)

I came away with a new rendition of the story of my life.

We all make stories, of course. One of the books that Bobbi introduced me to is called “Personal Myth.” We take the events of our lives and give them meaning by weaving them into a story. Had a hard life? Your story might be of your victimization. But it might equally be a story of your heroism.

I was able to see my life in chapters. Each one a hero's journey. According to Joseph Campbell, there are three phases to the hero's journey. The first is the call to adventure. The next is stepping across the threshold into the adventure. Finally the hero returns to the community with knowledge.

When the call comes, sometimes the hero refuses the call. But eventually the hero accepts the call and begins the journey.

As I remember now, I had a call when I was about 12. I refused it. I got as far away from it as I could.

I later got different calls for different adventures. One was to call to learn Scientology. One was the call to marry Bobbi and have our children. If you don't think that getting married or raising children requires heroism..... Well maybe you've just never looked at it that way. But it takes a hero.

So making a family was a hero's journey. And Bobbi was called to do her PhD and I accompanied her. That was another journey. And then we moved to Maine and she wrote her books and that was another journey.

And then cognitive decline entered and eventually we were called to that journey. Then we were called to the next challenge which led to her dropping the body and being with me, as we said in our marriage ceremony "without shape or form"

As I tell the story now, I have spent my life playing small ball, afraid to be overlooked, and afraid to be noticed. Doing enough to do well, but not enough to excell.

The call came when I was 12 and I had a personal relationship with something that I called God. The God that I experienced was a loving God. Perhaps more like the Christian God of love than Jewish God of Justice and jealousy.

God was good. And had a sense of humor. She still does.

When good things happened to 12-year-old me, he took them as a gift. When bad things happened, he never considered them to be punishments. Rather they were lessons to be learned. And if he did not learn the lessons, he would be given another chance to learn. And another, and another until he finally learned, and then on to the next lesson.

He went from there to agnosticism, and then atheism, and then beyond atheism to view that God does not exist and if he did, he fucking hated him.

Now, I’m accepting the call. What’s the call? I don’t know exactly. But I see the direction.

More on that when I figure out more.

And thanks to…

OK, that’s worth another blog post or two. I’m very grateful to my compadres, who took the journey with me. To my MEAGF³(s). To my Secret Compadre and to the one for whom I was Secret Compadre, and everyone else, times 10.

But I’ll include a special shout-out to Ben Katt, co-facilitator of the course who is working to expand his reach. Ben is the author of “The Way Home: Discovering the Hero's Journey to Wholeness at Midlife,” which was the foundation of the course.

Also, he’s got a substack. Thanks, Ben.

And I’m looking to expand my reach, too. More on that later. If you want to subscribe to this publication, great; it’s free and worth every penny of it.

1. You’re especially a hero if you read it to the end and subscribed—or have already subscribed. Maybe you don’t think you are a hero, but you are.

2. That’s Bobbi’s and my middle daughter. Nor your and my middle daughter. I don’t know who you are, and I’m pretty sure we haven’t had any kids.

3. A MEAGF is a Modern Elder Academy Girlfriend. Barbara (not her real name, unless maybe it is) nominated herself as my first MEAGF. Before the session closed, I had enough others that Chip Conley, another facilitator and co-founder of MEA, referred to me as a “spiritual slut.” High praise indeed.