Sinbad's Fifth Voyage: A True Resolution

On his fifth voyage, Sinbad the Sailor was in a strange foreign land where The Old Man of the Sea tricked Sinbad into carrying him around everywhere.  The old man was thin and wiry and had gnarled legs and heels.  He kicked him incessantly until Sinbad thought he would rather be dead than carry the cruel old man around anymore.  Eventually, Sinbad created some wine and tricked the old man into drinking some of it so that he became drunk and fell asleep, falling off Sinbad's shoulders once and for all.

Certain things torment us ceaselessly in our lives, and we may reach a point of desperation so that we feel we'd rather be dead than endure the agony any longer.  What we do during our lives to win the battle over the old man who rides our shoulders - or what we fail to do, either by lack of will or knowledge - defines our lives.  There is a moment of recognition that the time has come to begin the real struggle to prevail; no more fooling around; no more tolerating the abuse or compromising yourself anymore.

It's interesting that in the story of Sinbad, no one approaches him to offer him help to get the wicked man off his shoulders.  It's his own struggle.  As in our own internal struggles, no one can help Sinbad because the old man has supernatural powers and he has the sole intention to be carried around by Sinbad alone.  He's wickedly strong, agile, and his demands for portage are unrelenting and painful.

Sinbad uses his wit and guile to outsmart the wiry man who has not yielded an inch to Sinbad.  No negotiations and no mercy are ever shown to him.  Sinbad has to reach a point of total commitment to rid himself of the tormenting man and save himself - regain his life.

At some point, a cruel rider has jumped aboard and is holding on tight, kicking and beating us, kicking hard in places that are often defenseless and painful.  Can the man be gotten rid of?  Oftentimes he is allowed to ride our shoulders because we cannot imagine any other way we would live.  Sometimes we think the struggle is an important one to wage and choose to endure the strangling burden.

The legend tells us that Sinbad cannot find his gifts unless he removes the inhibition and heavy load of pain and ugliness that the old man represents.  Sinbad releases himself from bondage at last and continues on his fantastic voyages, wiser, freer and eventually returns home with vast wealth.

The old man is a metaphor for something that's riding hard and cruelly.  He must be cast off and the journey must renew.  When will it be time?

What Is It About Dying

I attended a funeral this morning for a woman who died on Christmas day.  She was 80 and had lived a very full life.  There were tears and a quiet solemnity that was facilitated warmly by a uniquely gifted priest. He found a graceful balance between warm loving kindness, respect for the grief and loss among close relatives and friends.  The ritual of the Mass and the design of the service had meaning and power for we who attended, providing us with guidance and then room for our own thoughts and memories.

If there is ever a time for considering The Return, as defined in Joseph Campbell's mono myth called The Hero's Journey, a funeral is it.  Life is a journey, we agree.  Our myths and legends represent that journey in heroic proportions, and we are inspired and informed by them.  But journeys end, and we must take time to learn something from them, or we are lost and become fearful and depressed.

There before our eyes was Death and its unknowable dimensions, the unavoidable disappearance of self that ends Life.  The priest pointed out that symbolically death was a return to our origin, to heaven, where we are eternal and unblemished by difficulties.  It soothed our hearts and minds to be turned in a hopeful direction, but we still do not trust death to be a very simple or easy thing.  How can we when preservation of life is what we strive for all our lives? Suddenly, you just aren't a someone anymore.  You stop being.  

I thought about Gabriel, my grand nephew, so new to the world.  He came from somewhere else, an unknown dimension.  Did he just assemble himself from bits of substance and become a living being?  I do not understand it any more than I understand where Mary went when she died.  Did her energy and life just dissipate?

Becoming alive is far preferable to becoming dead.  In day-to-day life, I would rather hear, "Welcome! Come on in and join us!" than "Time to leave.  We'll miss you.  Good-bye."  We welcome new life to us and become anxious when life leaves.  Or rather, that which we can see we understand and become familiar with.  That which is undetectable is fearsome and suspicious.  For those with full-fledged faith in the hereafter, in a place called Heaven, the concept of dying may be less uncertain, even a welcome thing.

I don't know how I feel about death.  I don't feel ready to die, I miss people who have died (I can't talk to them and know them anymore), and I know I can't sit down afterward with living people and say, "You know, when I died, it was pretty amazing."

This journey called living is a very peculiar thing, being bookended as it is by such vast unknown spaces.  I think the only option is to love and live well.  I hope the rest will take care of itself, all in due time.

In Preparation

My mind is on a meeting I'm setting up for tomorrow.  I'm hosting a meeting of friends who find a restlessness and curiosity within themselves.  We will study and talk about personal transformation and the Hero's Journey for several hours.  It will feel like far less time, which is the nature of work done that is fulfilling and interesting.

I chose some interesting music to listen to while we meet, and I've assembled some poetry and short essays.  We will eat some, talk some, listen some and transform to something none of us imagines exactly.  Our senses will be engaged, and the arts will be used to facilitate discovery of the personal call, the journey and the return.  We will be surprised and intrigued, softened and opened to new possibility.  Something will emerge.  It always does, which is no surprise at all.

Journey Begun: Visionary Hero

There is a friend of mine with a wonderful vision that is calling him forward on a journey that he finds irresistible but, at times, intensely difficult:  "It's like pushing a snowball up an active volcano."

He is Mark Temple, a Canadian swim coach of some renown in his country but little known outside of it except to swimming cognoscenti.  Having coached dozens of Canadian Olympians in his career, he has mastered his craft and loves it.  He is dynamic, knowledgable and passionate about all things aquatic.  Now he intends to bring the world of swimming as he knows it (think Michael Phelps) to this beautiful area where he now lives.

I've been writing recently about relating personal transformation and effort to The Hero's Journey, so eloquently delineated by Joseph Campbell.  Mark, energetic visionary that he is, has embarked on a new journey, and his progress is easily paralleled with the classic monomyth.  Dragons, monsters, difficult stony paths await any hero who embarks on a difficult path, no matter how great their vision or sense of purpose.  It's never easy, but then again great effort produces great results for those who undertake the journey wisely.  

There is also a tidy model that describes what Mark has done so far:  V x D x F > R  This model was taught to the attendees of the Chautauqua at Mt. Madonna last July.  V stands for vision.  The individual or entity must have a strong vision of what they would like to accomplish, or a new idea.  D stands for dissatisfaction.  There must be a strong enough dissatisfaction with things as they are to motivate the person to undergo effort to make the change occur.  F stands for first steps, which must be done to initiate change.  All of these must occur before R, resistance, can be overcome.  All of them must be greater than the resistance to the change envisioned for the action to succeed.

Often, impulsively, we take first steps but have no vision; we're just mad about something.  We don't get very far.  Or, we have a vision but falter and no steps are taken.  Resistance to change cannot be overcome and the idea fails.

Mark Temple has a very strong vision, based on experience in several very successful coaching experiences, of building an international aquatics center at Cal State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB).  He sees the potential and relates it to teaching children water safety, hosting international training sessions for swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming, diving, masters swimming, and providing a beautiful aquatics facility to serve our community.  It fills a void and creates a wonderful potential in many ways.

Mark has worked in effective aquatics programs before, has seen incredible centers used by people of all ages, and has enjoyed what the Monterey Peninsula already offers to golfers and dazzled admirers of nature.

First steps have been taken.  Monterey Peninsula Swim Association Foundation has been formed.  People are becoming curious, interested, involved.  They are being asked to take the journey with him; he is putting out the call.

The journey for Mark Temple has begun.  He has to get the snowball up the volcano, but his vision will hold him in good stead.  Vision and energy are things he has in abundance, but he will still encounter obstacles, frustration and pitfalls.  It's the nature of taking a journey.  He believes in the worth of the effort.  He intends to bring home a treasure, and when he does he return, he will be changed, for the journey always changes the hero.

Hero's Journey: Wisdom For a Young Traveler

A friend of mine told me about her daughter's trip to France this summer.  She had planned for months after  she found out about the possibility of a homestay for three weeks with a family in the mid-south region of the country.  She had studied French at her small high school for the previous three years and felt it would be an ideal way to put her nascent language skills to good use.

Obstacles arose in the planning process, not the least of which was the anxiety of traveling alone in a foreign country to a destination completely new to her, to live with a family she had never met before.  Much more than her language skills would be tested.  Yet, she continued on with the planning and ultimately left on her big adventure.

The travel to Germany by plane and then to her temporary home in France by train went well and she arrived full of hope and some trepidation.  Immediately, she was welcomed and began to settle in to the pace and life of her host family.  The language barrier was noticed by all, not because she spoke poor French, but because her French was stilted and old-fashioned.  Being only 17, her mind adapted and absorbed phrases and modern slang quickly.

Three weeks flew by. She was adopted and included in the life of a French family in one of the most beautiful areas of a lovely country.  Before she knew it, our young traveler had to say good-bye and made her way all the way back home.

On arrival home, she was filled with stories of what she'd seen and heard, where she'd gone and who she'd met.  It was another adustment period, a time of culture shock all over again, but this time it was because she was returning to her home with a change in her heart.

"What did you notice most while you were in France?" her family asked her.

"I saw how the family ate together every day at lunch.  The son walked home from school, everyone stopped their work and they were together for an hour and a half every day.  Life was much slower.  There was never a meal in their house when there were not at least 8 or 10 people together.  It could have been neighbors dropping by or other family members, but there were always people at meals together.  Most of the time, they ate outdoors at a big table under the tree."

When she came back home with France fresh in her mind, she began to notice, almost for the first time, the pace of her family's life, how few meals were eaten together and how much her friends spent time alone, separate from one another.  Her family has not owned a television for years, but even without the TV, unusual as that is, she noticed a hurried pace, social isolation and a greater intensity of talk and behavior during time when families were together.

This struck her, and it changed her.  She was able to talk about it and in doing so gained a new wisdom about our society and choices she can make in her life to reflect the wisdom - the gift - she returned with that had transformed her.

This is a simple but true story that illustrates the positive effect not only of travel but ultimately of understanding that processing and sharing the meaning of preparation, travel and personal experience completes the journey.  It would have been easy and light to welcome her home, look at her photographs and then plan another trip or go off to some other activity, but the family took time to listen to her experience of travel.   They gave her an opportunity to reflect and witnessed her transformation, even if it was a personal internal one.

Any opportunity we can take to allow our family members and our friends to gain wisdom through their experiences and difficulties enriches us all as individuals and fosters personal as well as community transformation.  Take the time (with the TV off) to listen to each other at the end of the day and at mealtimes.  This is the Hero's Journey, a story we are all taking part in every day.  You have the power to change your own story by doing something as simple and low-tech as listening, carefully.  Bon voyage!

A Hero's Journey - First Meeting

I led a small group of intellectually curious individuals today, all of whom felt an urge to effect change in their lives and gain insight about the change they go through.  The session's framework was based on The Hero's Journey with attention paid mainly to identifying a significant crossroads in the life of each person attending and then identifying stages of their own journey.  We talked about vision, dissatisfaction, resistance and obstacles as well as surprises we've encountered in work and life in general. How we deal with all these things transforms us.  Sometimes  we are unaware of the changes that have occurred unless we also take time to share our experience with people who are important to us.

This was my first attempt at group leadership - initiated and led by me - so I had a lot to experience myself as I was teaching others.  It seemed to go well and the group decided to meet again in a month.  I'll take that as a sign of success.  Now to prepare for that and successive meetings and potentially a seminar in the future.

The Hero's Journey is a wonderful model for understanding personal transformation, and to present it to people for the first time was a big first step.  Preparation is key, but readiness to be surprised by the reactions to questions that are asked is also essential.  And many questions are asked; it's part of the process of taking the journey.  

Taking on a personal challenge of daily writing this year has been my own journey on a personal level, but improving communication amongst peers on a professional level has also been a challenge I've decided to take on.  The more I understand the Hero's Journey model, the better I can evaluate what's happening as I run up against challenges as well as distractions.  Also, the more I study it, the better I can relate to other people who are expressing dismay, confusion or doubt in the face of their troubles.

Gaining insight into your self, attempting to answer the big questions in life - why am I here? where am I going? - and developing a sense of purpose in life can be daunting.  By studying the structure of myths and why they have always been part of  human culture, it's possible to gain insight more fully and cope with difficulties better.  I'm looking forward to much more study with this group in the months ahead.

Facilitating a Journey

Based on my work in July related to The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell, I am giving a seminar for some colleagues of mine tomorrow.  It's the first time I have been a facilitator in this way, so I'm excited about it and curious to see what the outcome will be.

The three main features of this famous pattern describing the myths and legends in all cultures are The Call, The Journey and the Return.  In actuality, Campbell described many more typical parts to the Hero's Journey, but in relation to team-building and community-building work, these are the significant three.

I remember being presented with Greek myths for the first time when I was in grade school and getting lost in the details, the genealogy of mythical creatures and heroes.  You know, so and so, son of Zeus, brother of someone else, uncle to another and half-brother to...etc.  It made my head swim, and I totally missed the point of what myths could teach me.  My loss, for sure.

Obviously, myths have been important to humankind for a few thousand years.  All cultures have mythical heroes and heroines whose actions serve as metaphor for our own struggles, journeys and ideas.  What I learned in July, though, was explained in such a way that it seemed as if I was getting the message for the very first time in my life.  That is, very often in our culture we are not asked for and do not process meaning in our travels, our work, and our lives.

We are asked, "What happened?  Where did you go?"  But the answer leads to a recapitulation of the string of events that we encountered, not what they meant to us.  Too often people go through an experience and are expected to move on, get over it, feel better, cheer up.  So, the exact opposite happens.  We lose the valuable opportunity to gain wisdom through reflection and interchange with a community that matters to us.  Depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction and anger result.

If we are asked instead, "What changed for you because of what you went through?"  or "What did you learn?" and have a chance to be heard and to speak, the journey is of value, and we experience transformation or self-actualization and fulfillment.  Life feels more worth living because we gain perspective and wisdom.  

We'll be talking about this tomorrow and we'll find out what each of us are in the middle of, literally and metaphorically speaking.  It will be interesting to see how it pans out.  I'll tell you what I learn when I return.  Meanwhile, see if you are at a turning point or significant moment in your life somehow.  It might be helpful to relate it to the Hero's Journey and reframe your experiences in a whole different way.

Chautauqua at Mt Madonna: The Return From the Hero's Journey

More than a week ago, I spent a final day at the Chautauqua on Mt Madonna learning about what Joseph Campbell called The Return.  Author Peter Block and Mt. Madonna School teacher Ward Maillard teamed with other facilitators to effect change in the way we approach problems in our work and in our lives.

As described in the meta myth The Hero's Journey, the hero returns to his home or village and brings with him that which he has won or captured, through use of his wit, strength, courage and determination.  On his Journey, he encounters obstacles, meets resistance, time and again.  He perhaps is nearly killed, barely survives, may lose his identity.  He is tempted to quit, and distractions abound.  He renews his resolve, conquers his fears and may slay an evil opponent or perform a great deed.

The questions we learned to ask were: What will you do with what you've learned?  What changed in you because you journeyed?

Bringing meaning to life, even to the small events in a day, through reflection, was clarifying and significant.  We, the attendees of the Chautauqua, examined the brief "journey" we had taken together through conversation, group discussion, music, art, teamwork at tasks and writing.  We took time to listen and consider.  We were witnesses as well as "travelers."

What did you do, how did you cope, what was going through your mind?  The Return from a journey, long and intentional, or short and unintentional - if you are to gain wisdom from it - is the completion of the experience.

What changed in me because of the Chautauqua?  I have a heightened sense of awareness about the effects of isolation and separation people feel and how it manifests as depression .  If - and generalizations are really tricky - people are given a true chance to explain the experience of making an effort (taking a Journey) that is important to them, they become more productive and resilient.  The effort must be their own, must be something that matters, and their community must take time to ask important questions of them, to bear witness, in order for the journey to gain deeper meaning.

Until next year when we convene again, we are now scattered to points all over the country and Canada, teachers, leaders, authors, students, business people, officials and some in transition.  I am back at work writing and applying theory to practice, listening differently to my colleagues and patients, a more intentional version of myself.