The Hero’s Journey: A Reflection on Inner Strength and the Journey Within

A Reflection on Inner Strength and the Journey Within:

A Rejection of Nihilism

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A real journey begins inside of ourselves when we realize everything we need is inside our soul, our spirit, our inner sanctuary. Whatever you choose to name it; the journey begins with looking within and examining our life. As we grow, we sometimes fall into the trap of letting society tell us we are not good enough-we must be a certain way-we should do what those did before us. The internal dialogue feels like a battle. We start to feel weak. We are mistaken in letting those negative thoughts trap us. Fear can hold us back from fulfilling our true potential, and unfolding our epic journey. But like the hero on an epic quest, we must persist.

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. -Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell explores this concept in “The Hero’s Journey,” by examining epic myths and stories in different cultures and realizing that our connection in life is a powerful story within. We can be the hero in our own lives. This can present differently for each individual, but the inner journey is forever present. Perhaps it’s not where you go that matters, it is where you go within yourself.

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“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” -Joseph Campbell

The one thing no one controls in this world is our thoughts, emotions, and actions. We have free will to think, feel, and act. Situations can influence our thoughts, emotions, and behavior, but no one can control them forever. We can choose. My grandma would always say,

“No hay mal que dure cien anos, ni cuerpo que lo resista.”

“There is no evil that lasts more than 100 years or body that can resist it.”

Meaning when we go through difficulties in life, they eventually will come to an end, and the sun will come out. The rain shall pass, and the thunderstorm eventually comes to an end. Life is full of these ups and downs. This is not an empty platitude. I believe it is true like my grandmother said, no evil can last a hundred years-we are stronger than it.

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Life can knock us down and hurt us-it is not easy — and we do not need to diminish our pain, but embrace it as part of our journey and then let it go. It is our mindset that determines how our journey proceeds. It took me many years to learn this, after giving in to nihilistic beliefs that our life did not matter. What I find after accepting and rejecting those beliefs is hope. When I read “Waiting for Godot” in college, I misinterpreted Beckett’s message as one of darkness, but now I realize that it is an affirmation of hope despite the absurdity of life, in fact it was counters it. Perhaps we are not “Waiting for Godot” but waiting to journey inside our very being.

Believe me, I have gone down the abyss of nihilism, only to find more of nothing. This deep, dark pit is like a well. Sure, it may contain some truth, but it isolates us. Even Beckett shows this through his writing when he presents characters not alone, but searching together. It is good to question the existential matters of life, but not good to fall to their will — our will carries us when we can’t walk, and other times we walk with others.

We can choose to overcome and write our own myth, as Rumi says in the poem, “Unfold Your Myth.”

Who gets up early
to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his lost son
and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down and brings up
a flowing prophet?
Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise? . . .

. . . .

But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you.

Start walking toward Shams. Your legs will get heavy
and tired. Then comes a moment
of feeling the wings you’ve grown,
lifting.

(Excerpt from The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks)

We can choose a path to happiness. It is not always easy, and the things around us may try to hold us back, but we can choose to let them go.

We get so caught up in the world that we begin to believe, “We must think, we must feel, we must act” a certain way. We can not control the world. But we can influence our internal world. With these thoughts, webegin to see a new reality emerge. One that focuses on good, and begins to feel lighter and brighter.

Each person has so much to offer the world. It is right there in front of us, inside our being, that it feels almost hidden from our view. Hidden in plain sight. You could go to the end of the world and nothing would change-if you don’t look inside and challenge yourself to be the person you want to be, forgive yourself, love yourself, accept yourself exactlyas you are. This is finding your own truth and living in it. It’s a beautiful concept. We can then begin our journey as we find out what our gift is.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. — Joseph Campbell

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Each day, I discover something new about the world. The journey of life for me is about finding peace. A peace so deep that this world does not shake it. I honestly do not know yet if that is possible, but it is a goal worth striving for perhaps it is not even possible in this world butI do know my soul desires that. For now, I settle on the questions of who I am, what is my journey, and how I can contribute something great to society. I want to go somewhere within myself that I have not been yet.

Change is the only constant I have found in this past year. I am accepting that no matter where I go-there, I am staring right at myself. And the more accepting I become of that journey, and of that person, the more I have to give to others, and to the world.

What is your journey? All epic journeys after all need friends to push us and help us along the way. I write these words to remind myself, and in speaking these words to awaken them in you. I hope you come to know your inner hero and share your quest with the world.

Next time, I will consider the anti-hero’s journey. I would love to hear your thoughts or learn about your own journey.