The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the work that first introduced me to Joseph Campbell. It was then and continues to be one of my favorite books of all time. Each time I read this valuable resource, I uncover another layer of usefulness. This time, I was specifically looking at how the cycle of the Hero's Journey directly related to the cycle of healing.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces presents Campbell's Hero's Journey. By looking at mythology worldwide, he noticed some very significant similarities in the journeys taken by the hero or heroine of these stories, hence the cycle. In this work, Campbell presents a number of snippets from different myths showing that indeed such a pattern exists. Indeed, it is a template still used by the best pieces of fiction and some of the most memorable movies.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a must have for anyone the least bit interested in mythology as well as every psychologist, writer, and healer on the planet. This is one of those books that quickly becomes dog-eared with consistent reuse.

This book is one of the most important works of the 20th century. Inspiration to countless writers, it clearly illustrates the common narrative of the worlds mythology and religions; the common threads of the human unconcious.

Perhaps the greatest validation I could afford this book is its applicability to my own life.

I read parts of this book when I was younger. It was somewhat interesting then in a very abstract way of "Oh, look at how all the stories are similar. Cool."

Since that time, however, having nothing to do with Campbell, I have followed my highest intuitive guidance (or, my bliss, as Campbell would say) through hell and high water. I have reached the depths of despair and the heights of ecstasy. Confused why my life was so miserable all the while the mystical forces guiding me were more prevalent than ever, I was struck by the notion that I was being stripped of my ego.

A few days later I was in a bookstore and, without any thought of a connection, began flipping through this book. I could not copy passages fast enough. I was reading - in Campbell's writing and in the ancient stories throughout time - the experience through which I have been traveling.

In following my highest intuitive guidance (aka bliss), I have inadvertently lived the hero's journey: removed from the comforts of my life, put through tests where the realm between the physical and the metaphysical shattered with forces helpful and hurtful engaging almost simultaneously, been stripped of my ego, been given vast insights to help save our civilization, and am now reaching the phase of return.

Whatever the critiques of this book are with regard to outdated psychological theories and science, this book reveals the ancient wisdoms of humanity available to all if they all simply follow their bliss. Those who critique it on technicalities have simply not experienced the transcendence necessary to read this book and the stories of history as an inadvertent autobiography.

Perhaps most compelling about this book is I have to remind myself it was written in 1949. The language and style are so timeless.

For those burdened by the many stories and complexities within, I would suggest that there are two ways of reading this book:

1. Academically, whereby you study the stories and their relation to the overall theme.

2. Stylistically, whereby you skim through the stories and focus on Campbell's analytical writing. In just doing that, you will be able to find the main thrust of the journey's key points without getting lost in how ancient cultures understood this same journey for themselves.

I read this book as a recommendation from a friend, supposedly I wasn't going to be able to put it down. While I didn't find the book as difficult to read as some, the writing style is still dry and somewhat unapproachable. I was also told that the underlying ideology of the book was distinctly non-western in tone and content. However, when you scutinize the basic logic of the philosophy that he derives from the observation that many myths are similar in cross-culturally relevant ways, one sees that his concept is essentially Christian in nature.

Campbell asserts, toward the end of the text, that mankind is unified not only to the rest of humanity but to the whole of reality. Somehow he concludes that because many stories originating from many disperate cultures are basically similar man must not be the summation of his parts or the combination of his actions, body, thoughts and deeds. In fact all of the characteristics and actions of man are mere accidents and it is simply the foible of turning away from our underlying unified "essence" toward the dividing ego that causes all of the suffering in the world.

Supposedly this is a non-christian concept, however, if we replace essence with God we see that these two supposedly different ideas are nearly identical. Basic theology asserts that God is one, much like the oneness of Campbell's unifying essence. God is also the ground from which all being arises, much like the fundemental essence of reality to which man and all things are connected, and from which all things are derived. Also, in Christianity man causes suffering in his life by turning from God toward himself, seeking to worship the value of ego over the value of man's connectedness to God. How does this differ from the assertion by Campbell that man cuses much of his own strife by turning away from the fundamental "essence" of all reality toward the purely, transitory, non-eternal, accidental ego which is supposedly only an illusion of who each one of us truly is.

Ultimately it's deep philosophy for a thirteen year old who thinks it's neat to wonder about the coyote eating the rabbit and the coyote dying and decomposing and a plant eating the coyote and then a rabbit eating the plant. Aside from that it's a pretty decent, though biased introduction to world mythology, espesially if you're lazy (like me) and don't intend to actually read most of the myths and stories mentioned in the book.

This work is Campbell's most famous and has been the source most quoted as being the inspiration for "The Hero's Journey" as outlined in many Hollywood screenplays. Most notably George Lucas' Star Wars Saga. While many may find the work to be more scholarly in its approach and not as easily accessable as some of the books written about Campbell's ideas, it is a necessary part of the student of mythology's library. Some may find it easier to get acquainted with the teacher's work through other volumes of his collected works, and The Hero with a Thousand Faces may be an easier read after one is already abreast of Campbell's modus operendi. A casual reader may find that the scholar's approach to be a bit hard to get through, although this only serves to prove the point that Campbell's scope of knowledge and research was vast. And yet this is an essential component to illustrating his theme, in that it ties all the disparate cultures under one mythic banner. Campbell found that all the heroes in all cultures, despite what costumes they wore, or weapons they carried, all followed one hero thread that cut across all cultures and nationalities. His work serves to remind the tellers of tales that despite all that makes us different, we are all the same in the most important way. We are all human. To students of mythology this is a must read!