18 New Haven / Middlesex NaturalNewHaven.com 19natural awakenings September 2012

As a colleague (i.e. student) in The Graduate Institute’s Oral Traditions program, I have become fascinated by the Hero’s Journey — the idea that there is one universal story in which all narra tive finds its source. From the Odyssey to

American classics like The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird, to Star Wars and Harry Potter, the Hero’s Journey is deeply entrenched in the modern psyche and in the mythology of our culture. What drew me to this concept, at least initially, was the notion that we are all Heroes — that by virtue of our identity as individuals, we each inherit a journey that is ours alone and can only be lived singularly. Yet the crux of the Hero’s Journey is that it is simultaneously ubiquitous. Since the dawn of humanity, there are infinite manifestations of Hero’s Journeys being lived and recorded across time and culture. This tradition is alive and well throughout multiple genres and cultural milieus. Exploring the metaphorical resonance of the Hero’s Journey can serve as a powerful exercise in understanding the transformation inherent in our lives. In its pattern of separation, initiation, return and ultimately, rebirth, the Hero’s Journey mirrors the cycle of life. On a more nuanced level, it also reflects the phases of an individual’s inner growth–revealing important developments in the creative, spiritual, and emotional processes that promote self-awareness and self-actualization. For the writer, the Hero’s Journey is very much a poignant metaphor. The writing process itself demands isolation. It requires that the writer step out of the comfort of ordinary life, embrace the confusion of the unknown, reconcile thoughts and emotions that may be both supportive and threatening, and ultimately create a work of art through which the writer him/herself is changed. However, in embarking upon this creative and often maddening process, there is much learning to be garnered in turning to the guidance of the collective writing community. In engaging such community, and in studying the great works of literature, present and past, a writer can start to glimpse the universality of their personal experience, process and craft. What happens when unique forums are created for writers and aspiring writers to explore their own self-transformation through their creative writing? What are ways we can bridge the connection between the public act of speaking and the private act of writing? What if more communities were created that would enable each writer to embrace their own Hero’s Journey as writing process while simultaneously enjoying the safety and trust of a like-minded writing group?

In envisioning such a communal approach to learning the art and craft of writing, I think it is useful to go back to the basics and look at how storytelling has influenced our species. Mario Vargas Llosa, in his acceptance speech for the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, described the advent of story in human history as a “crucial moment in our destiny,” for it created the opportunity for humankind to move beyond a mode of existence focused exclusively on survival to one in which dreams and ambitions could be pursued. In other words, it was the birth of story that propelled self-transformation. Llosa’s Nobel lecture concludes: “…literature introduces into our spirits nonconformity and rebellion, which are behind all the heroic deeds that have contributed to the reduction of violence in human relationships. Because ours will always be, fortunately, an unfinished story. That is why we have to continue dreaming, reading, and writing, the most effective way we have found to alleviate our mortal condition, to defeat the corrosion of time, and to transform the impossible into possibility.”1

When considering this, I believe transformation is predicated on the unfinished story. For despite the universality of the Hero archetype, the Hero’s Journey can only be experienced in the moment. It does not have a fixed or pre-determined outcome and thus demands entrance into the unknown. It thrives on uncertainty and the ability to embrace new and unexpected possibilities. It is, fortunately, an unfinished story.

Leslie Cahill is Director of Admissions and Recruitment for the Graduate Institute. From a discussion she had with Program Coordinator Robin Moore about the “What ifs?” of writing in community has emerged the institute’s newest Masters Degree program, the Writers Cohort. The collective Hero’s Journey underlies the structure of this new program, which enables participants to engage in a shared new adventure with others responding to the call of communal writing. For program information, or to register, contact Leslie at 203.874.4252, cahill@learn.edu, or visit Learn.edu/ot. The Institute is now enrolling for a November 2012 start.

1 Llosa, Mario Vargas. In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture.

The Nobel Foundation: New York, 2010, p40.

The Hero’s

Journey

Leslie Cahill

and the

W R I T I N GP R O C E S S

“The effect of the successful adventure of the hero is the unlocking and release again of the flow of life into the body of the world.” Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces