Hello!

Okay, let’s see if I can get to the point of the previous blog, and ultimately to the one I keep trying to write!

Hopefully, you are still enjoying these blogs.

As usual, please reach out if you would like to discuss anything, stuff in these blogs, things you’ve been thinking about…, or anything.

Anyone who has been reading these blogs should know by now that I have no problem with you being you, and I simply just like to talk!

I do not argue.

Alright, in the previous blog I posed the question, what to do now, now that we know we aren’t our bodies, and they have evolved over billions of years to do for themselves if we give them half a chance?

So, I’ve started reading a book, quite a heavy book- in fact, when I read it, I have to sit at the computer so I can internet search the references, clear up any words that I do not understand, and try to get my head around exactly what the author is trying to say.

In fact, I’ve had to watch a few Ted Talks and YouTube videos to make sure I’m really getting it.

Nonetheless, it is a very interesting book.

In this book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, the author Joseph Campbell, having spent a lifetime studying Greek and Roman mythology, the Legend of King Arthur, and many, many other epic tales found that each and every tale followed a very specific and identifiable pattern of 12 stages that the hero followed as he transformed from the “ordinary” world into the “special” world and then back again with new powers, abilities, knowledge, wisdom and whatever other strengths he would need to set the “ordinary” world back to rights- a process Joseph Campbell called, The Hero’s Journey.

Through his research, Professor Campbell found that embedded deep within the human psyche, that being the soul or mind, was also this very same Hero’s Journey.  He theorized that the Hero’s Journey is inherent to us all.

The idea of the Hero’s Journey was not simply some mythical narrative, but a much deeper truth that could apply to every human story- including yours and mine.

It was through this journey of self-discovery that a person could, “live a fully realized life,” or as Joseph Campbell called it, “Follow your bliss.”

This doesn’t mean that one should tie a cape around their neck and try to fight bad guys, but the idea of a Hero’s Journey and Following Your Bliss, would lead one on a journey of transformation- returning as a better version of himself, and not so much for self alone, but with one’s new powers, help others and bring about a better world.

I love the whole concept of this as one is nothing if not the author of his own life…, or at least should be!

And since one is the author, why not make yourself the hero!?!

You know, I’ll highlight a few of the 12 stages, but I would encourage anyone who is interested to check out these two YouTube videos:

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eNun-x_s2Y
•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uV_sqcbyIw

They describe the “Hero’s Journey” using many of the movies we’ve all enjoyed over the years!

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version:

One finds himself in the Ordinary World, the day-to-day grind where we are told what to do, all the while knowing deep down that there has to be more to life than this, right? What if some exciting adventure was waiting for us?

One day there comes, A Call to Adventure. The hero, that’s you, is presented with an opportunity to embark on some quest that could possibly change everything this person knows about himself or considers real. It’s a challenge to confront one’s fears.

We’ve all experienced many calls to adventure in our lives, but sadly most refuse the call and continue to go through the motions of daily life, kind of dead in the head.

This is the path that most know as life, and unfortunately, it rarely ends well for anyone.

One must decide to get off this path of your being born, living and then you die. Bodies might, but the soul or spirit does not…, you are immortal!

Think about that for a second. What kind of adventures would you go on, what types of games would you play if you knew you could not die? This is not a dare, but rather a gentle challenge to step outside of oneself and live- to answer the Call to Adventure, and stop worrying.

There really is no point in trading this time we have to follow a body to the grave or imbue those things with life that stand adversarial to our hopes, dreams, and desires, is there?

It seems as if one merely enjoys a few minutes of happiness here and there before the next invented disaster strikes, and then the Grim Reaper says, “Well, that’s enough fun, let’s go!”

And then to do this lifetime after lifetime, and planet after planet, kind of a drag, huh?

To me, this is why one follows the circadian code and helps their body align with its evolutionary blueprint- The Call to Adventure!

Not so much because the body is all important, but how free would you feel to place the pursuit of your bliss above all of the Earth-bound attention we all have riveted to keeping a body alive and remaining trapped in the “Ordinary World” for having nothing better to do?

Are you ready?

The Call to Adventure can be mani-fold, and unique to the individual himself, but when it comes, and it has and will for us all, and will come many, many times…,  will we be ready, will we be healthy enough, sound enough…, and most importantly willing enough to heed the call?

Will the spirit look at the body and say, “Well…, (sigh) maybe next time.”

Has any doctor or health care professional ever encouraged you in this manner- living well and healthy in preparation for great journeys, or did they merely scare you with a bunch of self-serving rules meant to make a person feel bad and guilty for not taking care of a body?

Oh, and if you do follow the rules, one would find himself sick, unhealthy, unhappy and choking on countless drugs and medications and told by those he thought were trying to help,

“Welcome to your Adventure, Jackass!”

There is a lot more to the Hero’s Journey, but this would take another four pages to describe. Best to watch the videos.

But knowing this, the Hero finds himself stuck in the “Ordinary World”, and having heeded the Call to Adventure finds himself aligned with a mentor who provides wisdom and insight the Hero will need to cross into the “Special World”.

One might think this to be the end of the adventure as the Hero has escaped- but it is not about escaping…, it is about confronting and conquering one’s fears, and transforming with the power and fortitude that he had in him all along.

It is very important that the Hero returns to the “Ordinary World”, now truly a “Hero” and brings light to the darkness that overshadowed the lives of many.

In the end, we see an ascending spiral as the new “Ordinary World” is a much happier and more livable place, at least for the time being for there will always be those who wish to change the Ordinary World, and now a New Hero will answer the Call, and following their bliss will elevate once again a new tomorrow.

One can look at this in terms of their life, work, relationships, health…, whatever and however, and that’s what’s so cool.

I’m going to leave it to your imagination to how the Hero’s Journey, you know, following one’s bliss fits into your life, or not.

Like the circadian code, the Hero’s Journey might prove to be a path the spirit can walk with the body and both can have the time of their lives!

But then…, one can never truly know what one missed out on, can he?

Take Care,

Dr. Dave