SIXTH BLOG ON THE FOUR BEINGS, THE ELEMENTS 
& THE HERO/INE'S JOURNEY



Since we, the Talking Beings," are one of the Four Beings I thought I would talk about our own role in our relationship with and to the others. One of our jobs when we come into this world is to help heal the planet. We all, mostly, have a bias as to which of these Beings we have the most affinity. Each of us has a special gift to share and a unique archetype - the basic four are; Healer, Teacher, Warrior and Hero/ine/Visionary. These can take many forms in our complicated world. In indigenous societies they were always simple, well defined and distinct. The Healer today can be a musician or comedian, the visionary a composer or even a comedian in a deeper sense.

The Hero/ine's journey in the past had always been very much of an initiatory nature bound experience e.g. the Vision Quest of the Native Americans or similar experiences of enlightened beings like Moses, Jesus and the Buddha where in the wilderness they faced a dark night of the soul before attaining their respective visions.

According to Campbell and Van Gennep there are three stages to the journey. The experience requires humility, letting go of any attachment to a fixed idea of what might happen, keeping it simple, having an inner intention and some meditative technique of going "inward" and avoiding time restraints as much as practicable.

 Separation is when we separate from what is familiar, often against the urgings of our peers and loved ones who maybe at a deep level know they should be doing something outrageously meaningful too. Fear usually comes up during this phase and in the archetypal paradigm the hero/ine is given an instrument of power - in the old days, say a sword. Today it is more likely to be inspiration of some sort or another from a teacher, a book or a journey. 

Separation is about surrender and letting go of complacency, the comfortable and the familiar,

The next phase is Threshold where the Hero faces his or her inner and outer fears and demons and often encounters a dark night of the soul. Again fear is a component of this phase and a "grail," aha experience or an inner knowing of what to do in the world occurs.

Threshold is about attaining one's own inner vision.

Finally in  Incorporation the hero returns to bestow the benefits of this transformation on any or many of the Four Beings and their respective elements with the new vision. Incorporation is about giving back or paying forward without attachment to outcome or material gain.

"Give up owning things and being somebody - quit existing." Rumi

This final step is critical. In both Separation and Incorporation there is danger of the "Fall;" either in not heeding the call for drastic change or losing the insight obtained in Threshold.

The after affects of the journey often include a feeling of well being and congruence, aliveness, well-being, less fear, empowerment, appreciation of the importance of solitude and spiritual practice and a realization that this may have been a turning point in her or his life.

Avoiding the fall requires walking the talk and not talking too much about the "walk." On return one should speak of context but not content since folks may want to invalidate your inner experience. It never pays to take what has happened and put it on the mantel piece for everyone to see. Focus on needs and not wants  - the most critical need being to hold the vision and act it out with the help of a dedicated spiritual practice. If one cannot change what one does, he or she should at least change the way in which it is done. For most of us this requires keeping one's day job to pay the rent and acting out the vision at the same time - if necessary without renumeration. Group synergism helps if one can find like minded supporters or seekers.

The hero/ines journey is one of losing the old self so one can advance to something new where we can be of service. It is usually a primal nature bound experience if planned but can be unplanned. For instance overcoming a deadly illness or a near death experience and returning with the gifts it provided to help others. 

Nature can provide many metaphors to draw upon to make drastic changes and one may be lucky enough to have connections with Growing Beings and visitations by Wild Beings or Power Animals in awake or dream time. The process requires peeling away the layers of the old you, keeping what is useful and holding a vision of what the new you can be.

Next week we will talk of some other details of the journey.

Click on the link to highlight and play.

_-_MP3s/01_Let_the_Days_Go_By.mp3