Archetypes and the Monomyth
and how they apply to “Real Life”
Throughout my life I feel that I have experienced a lot of different things. Each of these experiences has forced me to express different archetypes whether both alone and in different combinations with each other. In the past I was unaware of the different archetypes in the formal setting that Joseph Campbell has laid out for us to study. Rather I looked at what I now know as archetypes as merely mood changes and adaptation to each situation. I have come to enjoy studying the archetypes and their shadow sides very much in the past few weeks and I feel that I have gained a better understanding of why people are the way they are through these studies.
Currently my dominant archetype is the sage. When I took the Heroic Myth Index (HMI) I was not really surprised by this result. I have often thought of myself as a calm and collected person who would rather sit back and study a situation before acting than jump right in and find out the hard way what will happen as someone else, such as a warrior archetype would do. Very often in my circle of friends I am the one that remains objective and impartial which is a trait of the sage archetype. However I do not feel that I am currently showing just the signs of the sage in my life. For the past year and a half I have worked at Lowe’s here in Indiana. In that time I have quickly established myself as a leader in this setting and have moved up the ladder there accordingly. I feel that while I am at work with a group of people I am a ruler first and a sage second. The HMI confirms this thought by showing me that the ruler archetype is a very close second to my dominant sage archetype.
While it is useful to know what archetypes are dominant in my life I feel that I have been stuck on these two archetypes for quite a long time. During the fall of my sophomore year I joined a music fraternity here on campus. During my “pledge” process I feel that I went through a few changes by mainly stayed with the ruler archetype throughout the process. However I feel that during this time I was struggling with the shadow side of the ruler archetype and the normal or light side of the same archetype. I say this because I had no position of authority in this group of individuals but quite often I found myself arguing with the elected leadership and trying to force my way over theirs because I felt that I was the only one that was right and no one else could be. According to Carl Pearson’s Awakening the Hero Within this is a great example of the shadow side of the ruler.
During the time that I was joining the fraternity I also feel that I was battling with the sage archetype and its shadow side. For quite a while during this time I was quite judgmental of my peers and colleagues. According to Awakening the Hero Within, the shadow sage is “The unfeeling judge – cold, rational, heartless, dogmatic, often pompous – evaluating us or others and saying we (or they) are not good enough or are not doing it right.1” Quite often then and even now I find myself battling with this concept as I constantly felt that the others in my group were not “measuring up” to the standards that we should have been setting. As mentioned earlier I still find myself fighting this “dragon” as Campbell calls it. When I meet new people I tend to judge them immediately with the attitude that they are basically worthless until they prove otherwise to me. On just about every occasion that I have felt this I have been proven wrong and I feel that I am slowly overcoming this addictive quality of the sage archetype.
Joseph Campbell has done extensive work on the monomyth and the use of archetypes in the heroes journey. In his book with Bill Moyer The Power of Myth he talks about how myths effect every day life. His main point at the beginning is that in previous generations mythology was taught at universities and that the teaching of these myths was rather important socially speaking. His justification of this statement is that when you have been taught the different myths you are able to call upon them at various times during your life and use them to gain perspective on your situation. That being said we have, over the course of many years, lost a coping tool that may have been very important and useful to us.
There have been many times in my life where I have used stories that I have heard or read as a child to cope with different situations. For instance when I was quite young I looked to the stories for comfort when I did not get my way. Not only did the stories that I read comfort me but they would also help as a teaching tool to help show me why I did not get my way and to help me try to look at the big picture. I am sure that just about every other person has had at least one story or “myth” that has effected their life. Most people have a hero or a heroine that they have read about that they try to be just like. They try to copy the hero’s actions and deeds as well as their mannerisms. A lot of young people will try to act out the hero’s journey, never knowing how well it probably parallels with their own life.
The monomyth can be applied to just about every heroic journey and story. In the past few weeks I have learned that the monomyth can be applied to real life as well. Every person has taken a journey in their life whether willingly or not, and they have also followed the steps that are laid out in the monomyth. The easiest example of this would be the college student’s journey. When I as preparing for college I first received the call. This came by graduating high school and seeing that I would need a degree to move ahead with my life on the path that I wanted. At first I refused the call because I did not want to attend four more years of school. However before too long I was forced to answer the call as so many hero’s are. Luke Skywalker from Star Wars also received a call and refused it. When he was called to leave home and become a Jedi he thought that he couldn’t possibly do it because there was too much to do at home and his aunt and uncle would not allow it. However with the slaying of his aunt and uncle he his forced to answer that call.
The next part of the journey is supernatural aid where the hero receives some kind of weapon or knowledge from a being greater than himself. In Star Wars, Luke receives a light saber and the knowledge of the force. In real life it is probably going to be something much more simple such as a trinket that has some emotional attachment or advice from and adviser at the college level on your chosen career path. The sage does not have to be someone as well defined as Obi-Wan in Star Wars. Most times for us the sage is simply going to be someone who has been there before or has the ability to synthesize our thoughts into something tangible. Bill Moyer describes this briefly in The Power of Myth when he states that “The shaman has been smowehere I haven’t, and he explains it to me”2. For me personally it came at the end of high school when my band director helped me find what I was good at and helped me decide what to do with it.
The first threshold must be crossed next. This can be a very challenging part of the journey for many young people. In my journey to college I feel that the biggest threshold that I had to cross was actually leaving for college. I remember when I was leaving how different of a situation it was for me, having been around my family for the past 18 years it was hard to leave them behind. It was also very interesting to see the different archetypes that my family represented at that time, some of which I had never seen before. I believe that at this point I was more of an innocent than anything else because I felt a strong desire to stay behind and remain in safety rather than cross that threshold and leave behind all that I had known. I think that this is a common reaction to crossing the first threshold for many people because they do not want to leave safety behind and move on. My father and mother displayed the caregiver archetype because while they were sad that I was leaving their main concern was that I was safe and that I had everything that I needed.
For me the belly of the whale came much later as I was so busy at first that I had no time to realize the full extent of my journey. Eventually I realized my situation and that I was truly alone in a new place. After many challenges in this dark place I eventually found my way out and became a stronger person through the experience. The same goes for many heroes in the stories and myths that we love. In Watership Down the belly of the whale for Big Wig comes when he is alone in Efrafa while trying to rescue the does and take them back to his warren. Big Wig realizes that he is alone and has to face all of his biggest fears while alone in his burrow. It is only through the help of a friend that he is able to move on and succeed in his mission.
When Big Wig is running from Efrafa he faces many challenges, first he must get out of the warren. On his way out he must rescue Blackavar and get to the surface to meet the does. As they run across the open ground there are even more challenges such as battling the storm that is brewing and getting past General Woundwort. For Big Wig this is the road of trials. For me the road of trials seems to consist of the classes that I must take and the extra things that a college student is expected to confront. After we move past the road of trials we emerge stronger and more self reliant. During this time there have been many different archetypes present in my life such as the warrior archetype which is displayed when there is a strong desire to win and compete.
By completing each of these monomythic stages and showing all of the archetypes I was able to reach my apotheosis which will be graduating in two months. I feel very strongly that that will be the biggest event of my life so far. There have been many others along the way but I look forward to this one the most as it will mark the beginning of another journey and I am very curious to see where it will lead me, especially now that I am aware of the monomyth and will be able to see each stage as it goes by in my life on this next big adventure.
Bibliography
1. Pearson, Carol S. Awakening the Heoes Within. New York: HarperSanFrancisco
2. Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday
1Carol S. Pearson, Awakening the Heroes Within (New York: HarperSanFrancisco), 17
2Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth. (New York: Doubleday, 1988), 123
YAY!!! “A”!