There is no way to take our own hero’s journey without facing our confusing and painful emotions—especially fear, anger, and shame. When we fully explore this inner realm (of our emotions), we will experience the struggle of all heroes. The details of our outer life may be mundane, but our inner world contains the same demons, angels, allies, and monsters of all great mythic journeys. Our inner phantoms may be invisible but they are still very real. And just like adversaries in myths—our inner foes disintegrate and disappear when conquered.
Since our inner landscape is invisible to most others, we are tempted to ignore, avoid, or deny it. No one can prove that we are lying to ourselves when we disown our anger, fear, or shame. But our self-deception only prolongs our journey through our unique trials of self-actualization. The sooner we begin slaying our dragons, the sooner we can win our beloved and the pot of gold.
Like the knights of King Arthur—we must find our own unique path and take this journey alone.
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Laura Lewis-Barr
Loved the analogy, Laura!
Your last comment about taking the journey alone is true, in that we must be willing to face the inner enemies solo. However, the Knights of the Round Table were a “band of brothers.” They were comrades in arms who strove for unity in purpose; in other words, they were part of a community.
In this community, the Knights trained together, growing stronger, wiser, more knowledgeable. The community helped to hone their bodies, minds, hearts and spirits for battle.
Could they have their individual battles without the support of their community? Perhaps, but less likely. I think we are far more willing to face the dragons within when we know we have support in the outer world.
Thank you for that important reminder, Pat! So true!