Dramatic | Psychological | Spiritual | |
Call to Adventure | The Hero receives a challenge, prediction, or warning from a Herald that demands from him a course of action. | The infantile self is awakened to the inevitability of sexual maturity and adulthood. | The human condition is recognized as deficient and in need of spiritual rebirth. |
Refusal of the Call | The Hero refuses his charge, preferring the safety of his comfortable surroundings, either as an act of selfishness or cowardice. | The infantile self recognizes that with sexual awakening comes acceptance of mortality and prefers to revert back to an unaware state. | The cost of spiritual rebirth is discovered to be a death to the realm of the present, and the human condition rebels against this cost. |
Supernatural Aid | The Hero seeks guidance and gadgetry from an expert in the field of his journey. | The self turns to society for instruction and guidance in the proper path to adulthood. | The seeker turns to shamans and priests for insight into the eternal realm and rituals that will open the door to enlightenment. |
Crossing of the First Threshold | The Hero encounters his first obstacle in the Threshold Guardian, whom he must incorporate through will and wits rather than conquer through feats of strength. | Neurotic fears of self-annihilation are embraced and subdued, as the inevitability of mortality is accepted and childhood is left behind. | The seeker takes the first tentative steps away from the familiar distractions of the present and accepts the cost of discipleship. |
Belly of the Whale | Having passed through the gates of a new land, the Hero must submerge into the depths of the unknown to complete his quest. | The self is absorbed by the rush of adult desires and anxieties that comes with the absolute death of childhood. | The disciple is swallowed whole by an encounter with the spiritual realm, ushered away from the world of the present at a point of no return. |
Road of Trials | The Hero encounters a chain of obstacles that test his strength and intellect in preparation for his final battle with the Shadow. | The self must dig deeper into the subconscious wounds and anxieties left over from childhood in order to enter into fully-functioning adulthood. | The walk of faith is filled with tribulations of every kind. The new believer is most tested, but his faith is strengthened in these trials. |
Meeting with the Goddess | The Hero is rewarded for his accomplishments with rest and comfort, but he must not rest for too long, lest he risk a second refusal of the call. | Mentally exhausted from the work so far, the self seeks the maternal comforts of a second womb.(Think of a man who, instead of seeking an equal in a mate, seeks a woman who will coddle and care for him the way his mother did.) | Many believers never reach beyond this level of discipleship, but are content with their dogma to rest in the comfortable bosom of their religious community. However, the call to deeper understanding remains. |
Woman as the Temptress | The Hero must master his own desires, subduing them in service of the task at hand. | The self must acknowledge its own sexual repression. Desire cannot be buried but must be admitted and mastered. Only then can adulthood begin. | The believer runs from the flesh, wishing to escape the life of the body. The body, however, is life, and cannot be repressed, only mastered. |
Atonement with the Father | The Hero must become one with the figure of the Father. This can take many forms, whether it is seeking forgiveness or offering it to the ogre father. The Father may be an internal figure, the Shadow within. | A response to the Oedipal complex. The self must deal with the icon of the Father as a reflection of the future self and move beyond the need for competition. | The believer must face the wrath of the vengeful sectarian God in order to reach beyond this human expression of distorted divinity into divine love. |
Apotheosis | The Hero transcends his limitations, defeating the Shadow and creating unity in the world. He is exalted above all, but ultimately, he must deny this elevated position among the gods, in order to share his recognition with the world. | The self makes a breakthrough past the old divisions and dichotomies of childhood and finally sees the unity that exists between all aspects of the self and between the self and the rest of the culture. | The believer sees the face of the gods, and in so doing, becomes one with the divine. While offered eternal rest in this state of enlightenment, his journey is not over. This divinity must be shared with all of humanity. |
The Ultimate Boon | The Hero receives the ultimate reward, a prize or elixir capable of healing the schism of the world. He may have to steal this from the gods, or it may be offered willingly to their newly divine son. | The secret of adulthood is understood and must be shared with others. | Transcendence reaches the ultimate level, as the enlightened one finally reaches beyond mere totems of immortality into the source of eternal being itself. It is now his task to restore the flow of this substance to all of humanity. |
Refusal of the Return | The Hero decides that he does not want to complete the task. Perhaps he wants to keep the boon for himself, or maybe he just enjoys his elevated position among the gods. | Having finally unlocked the secret of completeness, the self may become selfish again and deny its obligation to human society. Those with knowledge must teach, but the one with the secret may embrace a cynical hatred for the other who lacks understanding. | The enlightened one knows that the return is a denial of divinity and refuses to restore the flow of Imperishable Being to all of humankind. |
The Magic Flight | Having stolen the boon from the gods, the Hero is pursued to the ends of the earth, or having had the boon willingly bestowed upon him by the gods, the Hero is ushered home under their guardianship. | Once responsibility for the other is recognized, the self may project enemies at every turn, or on the other hand, the self may feel so driven by the importance of the mission that a kind of divine protection is felt. | The demons of dogma and orthodoxy will usually pursue the enlightened one and attempt to prevent the restoration of divine power, for the true flow of eternal being will rob them of their control over the masses. |
Rescue from Without | The Hero is incapable of crossing the return threshold on his own power and must be drawn out with the help of friends. | Sometimes the key knowledge must be drawn out by others, eager students who must beg the newly minted mentor to share his wisdom. | The enlightened one’s disciples must usher him across the threshold, either to hide him from discovery or because he’s too weak from his encounter with the Imperishable Being. |
The Crossing of the Return Threshold | The Hero brings the boon into the ordinary world. This is another point of no return in that, once the boon is delivered, it cannot be taken back by the gods. | The self finally opens up and empties itself out to the brotherhood of humankind. Where apotheosis represents the death of the human self before the divine, the return represents the death of the divine self before the human. | The flow of eternal life is restored and may be accessed by all of humanity. The old temple priests no longer have their power and are banished. |
Master of the Two Worlds | Having completed the entire journey, the Hero is rewarded with the ability to pass back and forth between ordinary and special realms. He is now the mentor for future generations. | Having abolished the last threads of selfishness, what remains of “the self” now possesses the ability to pass effortlessly between contemplation and action, between quiet understanding and the act of teaching that knowledge to others. | The enlightened one is now both human and divine and may pass freely between mortal and eternal realms. The community turns to him as the new prophet, a vessel of eternal knowledge, a shaman of divine communication. |
Freedom to Live | The beginning of a new cycle. The Hero begins his reign among men and the rebirth of society begins in the wake of the boon’s delivery. It is the end of this chapter, but not the end of the story. | The new unified “self” possesses the freedom to go forth and live. This journey is complete, but life if full of many journeys. | All of humanity is now free to live and reach the full potential of our species, no longer held back by our old dogmas and prejudices, by the divisions of tribe, race, and nation. We are unified in the eternal |