“Every time you are willing to say, “yes” to everything on your path, you express the hero inside of you.” Joseph Campbell
Most of my childhood was spent listening to my Irish uncles telling powerful myths of ancient gods and ageless heroes; of men of magic and women of bravery. I was terrified of some gods, in love with courageous warriors, fearful of monstrous Cyclops, and I always dreamed of being a heroine of great beauty and mystery.
Myths and Stories are the oldest schools for humankind. Genuine stories offer a living school where the only entry requirements are an active imagination, some capacity to feel one’s own feelings and the willingness to approach the world as a place of mystery and revelation.
Myths are not a part of the past, but a way to see universal truths playing out in the present. Myths are the inside story that makes meaning of the outside world. People feel more whole when listening to a story and feel most lost when out of touch with their own story.
When I think back to the myths told to me of the hero’s journey, I realize now that the accomplishments of the heroes took place in the outer world. But as the story of our world becomes less clear, as we all find ourselves living in a cosmic turn, it is the unfolding of the inner life of the soul that provides the best way to proceed. In order to move forward in a deep and meaningful way, we must find the hero within each of us. Somewhere deep inside each of us lives the soul of a hero. It’s not something we bring to the world, rather something that brings us to the world. We must discover the hero within because we are all heroes of our own myths.
We discover the hero within by doing the inner work of determining what meaning and purpose this world holds for us, and for the future that awaits us. We can learn to see with more clarity how we each have a unique role to play; how we each have our own way to make a difference in the lives of others. It is up to us to give our own life the meaning and vitality we need to make it through and to be of service to others.
We need a path that allows us to bear the trials of living, the ordeals of our present time and circumstance, and the suffering inherent to life’s harsh realities. Discovering the hero within means waking up to the realization that the necessary conditions are being created for us to recognize our unique place in the universe, the particular gifts that we have to bring forth, and to serve a purpose greater than ourselves. Now is the time to help sustain and revitalize the world around us.
We need to learn how to tolerate dynamic tension if we are to embark on a worthwhile inner adventure. As we develop and grow, we cross points of no return. Once we cross over to new experiences of conscious awakening, and once we’ve committed ourselves to a path of awareness, we will no longer be the same. Our old identity begins to shed its skin. We come across threshold guardians – daemons that block the way, attempting to ward us off. They are like the gargoyles entrenched above archways and entrances to shrines and cathedrals. These guardians are manifestations of our deepest fears. They also guard the way to our deepest longings. We cannot go on a genuine, soulful adventure without bringing along your authentic doubts and fears, as well as our strongest desires and longings – for, without them, it would not be a hero’s journey.
But the one simple truth of discovering the hero within is just to be ourselves – that’s the real job of a hero.
“Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you’re put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes a spiritual calling.”
Vincent Van Gogh
“I’m sorry I’m running a little late, I just made a nose out of a rib bone,” Dr. David Hecht casually said as he entered my exam room, his lithe movement reminding me of a warrior. He has on green scrubs and his tousled short hair is rich like mahogany. His light brown eyes look like sunlight shining through whiskey. The colors mingle together cascading an array of different shades throughout his gaze.
Everything about him is symmetrical, most obviously his cheekbones, but the symmetry extends to the way he smiles and holds his body. His rugged good looks are unexpected and even in his late 40’s he still possesses traces of what must have been loads of boyhood charm. This is my facial reconstructive surgeon: the man, and artistic genius that ended up putting my face back together after skin cancer had been cut out of my forehead and cheek.
Artists and doctors share many of the same approaches. They are visual people who study the intricacies of human anatomy. And they share highly developed observational skills and a fundamental love for humankind.
Each face is completely unique. Deciding how to shape it so that each feature appears in harmony with the others requires not only skill, but also an artistic vision and imagination. Plastic surgeons need a sense of aesthetics to design an appropriate surgical approach to the individual. An understanding of proportion—much like that expressed in the work of old masters such as Michelangelo and Da Vinci—combined with superior technical skills is imperative. With this combination, a surgeon links art and science, resulting in a more fully realized, beautifully proportioned outcome. The result is a walking piece of art.
But what makes Dr. Hecht a true artistic genius is his ability to access his inner world to bring out something not only meaningful and beautiful, but also necessary and incredible. Inner artistic genius is the inherent and indelible connection to the other world of great imagination, original thought and endless renewal. He sees the world for how it is supposed to be seen; with an open heart, mind, body and soul. He judges none and nothing. They are all the same to him; parts of life that are each equal and necessary, the art of the world.
Each artist is unique. And uniqueness has boldness in it and a core of imagination intended to transcend the common attitudes and collective patterns. Being unique is the spirit that is already there in each person, the inner intention, primary style and way of being that makes a true individual regardless of the pressure to conform to temporary social patterns and contemporary cultural fashions. At the individual level, each of us is an artist, here to give something that is not just unusual, not only exceptional, but that is distinctive and valuable by its very nature.
The inner uniqueness for life aspires to meaningful work and genuine purpose. It would have us undertake the seemingly impossible tasks of transforming culture and helping to heal the world. Not because the world can be saved or redeemed in a hurry, but because it is the impossibility of the great problems and projects of life that awakens the sleeping uniqueness within and changes work from a simple job to a life-long, life-enhancing project. And that serves the dignity and nobility of one’s soul as well as the well being of one’s community.
More than raw talent or potential ability, genius gives a person their unique way of being in and contributing to the world. So the question becomes not whether or not you are an artistic genius, but in what way does artistic genius appear in you and how might it contribute to your own well being and benefit the world around you.
A common idea found in many ancient traditions holds that each person comes to this world at a time when they have something meaningful to offer. I will forever be grateful that Dr. Hecht and his artistic genius are in mine.
The story of Pinocchio has been translated into 240 languages and is one of the most famous fairy tales in the world. Among all the insights that author Carlo Collodi tells us, there is one that most people seem to miss: Pinocchio’s Father Geppetto, is a craftsman who works with his own hands and tools. He is not satisfied with making just chairs and tables, like his colleagues: he wants to create “a marvelous puppet that can dance, fence and do flips.” Something never has done before. No other fable or story does a better job of narrating the extraordinary creativity of a person. Though Collodi probably did not imagine him as much, Geppetto is the forerunner of those who work with love, imagination, inventive verve and above all, passion.
Fairy tales were once called “fated tales.” Many fairy tales deal with conditions caused by fate, the restrictions of birth, spells cast and curses that must be faced and defeated or life won’t progress and love won’t prosper. Folk and fairy tales contain images that relate to issues that each of us are fated to struggle within our lives. They represent aspects of passion that are necessary for true transformations to occur.
We can’t become who we are at the core of ourselves unless the passion in us becomes recognized and released. If we accept our inner passion and learn to work with it, everything changes. Spells are broken, gifts are found, and talents serve their true purpose.
Following the lead of one’s inner spirit leads us to the aspects of the divine most in tune with our individual soul. Without being tuned into a genuine calling we are simply blind wanderers on the roads of life. Once we receive a calling that resonates with the pattern woven within us, we find a path and enter a pilgrimage that suits our soul. Such life-path requires that we risk ourselves in order to find ourselves.
The soul carries the original agreement that moves us to live in the first place. And, the divine companion and inner passion try repeatedly to remind us of the purpose set within. Each soul arrives with a natural passion intended to fashion something meaningful and beautiful from the raw materials of life.
Soul and sole are related words that have shared roots. The soul carries the meaning of “being the only one of its kind” an exceptional, unique and extraordinary person. And sole can also mean the bottom of one’s feet. In order to become a unique and extraordinary person, we must “walk our walk” and move the way our soul would have us move. We must find the original speech of the soul and become the vehicle of its true expression.
For those who live in the way that their soul intended and keep the original agreement that continually brought them to the dance of life, become uniquely shaped and solely made. They become a one-of-a-kind, the person that everyone can learn something from, the kind of passionate soul that no one can ever replace.
The original book version of Pinocchio is different from the Disney adaptation. Instead of a puppet turning into a boy as in the movie, the book tells of a boy turning into a real man by earning his own keep, taking care of his father, rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. In the book, there is no waving of magic wands Pinocchio has a dream and wakes up a real person. Geppetto passionately creates Pinocchio and author Collodi passionately creates a work of art that jumps from the page, freeing itself from just a physical book and becomes a transcendental myth, regardless of how it is told or in what language. In the end, we too have a choice as to whether we will wake up. Because there will be many things that catch your eye but only a few that catch the passion in your soul.
Following the lead of one’s inner spirit leads us to the aspects of the divine most in tune with our individual soul. Without being tuned into a genuine calling we are simply blind wanderers on the roads of life. Once we receive a calling that resonates with the pattern woven within us, we find a path and enter a pilgrimage that suits our soul. Such life-path requires that we risk ourselves in order to find ourselves.