The Hero's Journey

I am aware that this trip we are embarking upon is really two journeys, one outward and one inward; all of the books that are coming my way are reinforcing this duality.

I had the opportunity to witness Oprah's interview with the remarkable Jean Houston, author of "The Wizard of Us: Transformational Lessons From Oz", and decided it would be the first book to accompany me on the journey. 

Houston suggests that the increased inter-connectivity of the world means we are living in a unique time, that calls on us to draw on the best of ourselves, and posits that the "Hero's Journey" in The Wizard of Oz can contribute to our thinking about this possibility.  By reflecting on our own "Hero's Journey", we can find new reserves of inner strength and passion for the possible: "What you see in The Wizard of Oz is not only myth but also a powerful initiatory drama of the Hero's Journey...Dorothy goes home to Kansas, but not before she grows up in Oz.  Not before she discovers her own world of sufficiency and abundance....Oz...teaches her about discovering the riches and uses of one's full intelligence, friendship and compassion.   She....learns about the genius of working in partnership with others and how the committed community can do almost anything.  Finally, she learns about the magic, the wizardry, the sacred potency that lies within each one of us...

We are all on a Hero's Journey.  We have all experienced a Call to Adventure.  We have all lived through a Belly of the Whale experience. You don't have to be Hercules or Achilles, Odysseus or Perseus to be a hero. Consider the power you exercise right here, right now.  You have the capacity to do some good in the world, to do brilliant, beautiful things. However, you may not know this, or you may forget what you are capable of during the stress of the everyday world...The Wizard of Oz provides a template that allows us to open ourselves to the hidden capacities we had forgotten we had; the creative potentials we didn't know how to use; and the deeper knowing that transcends past, present and future....."

To realize our own, full potential, and tap in to the creative potential of our "Hero's Journey", we have to reflect on what we want to let go of from our outmoded past or present, and what we would like to draw to us, and/or reflect, in a world of infinite possibilities.  

So here's to doing so: to both letting go, and letting in, to embarking on our own Hero's Journey; to finding and claiming the best that lies within, and bringing back the best of ourselves, the most important things we have and are able to contribute, to Kansas, or wherever calls us home....