Story-telling is an ancient heritage we all share. Whether we hear them told around a fire, read them in a book, or watch them  on a screen, we are fascinated with experiencing  tales of heroism. Through these recountings of legendary deeds, we feed our desire for experience and understanding. Whether we believe in the facts of the stories themselves is irrelevant... we have experienced a sequence of events and added them to our awareness of the world and our place in it.

We are all heroes on a quest, establishing and understanding our place in the world. The stories we like the most are those that contain the qualities that best typify our perception of that world. Our perceptions are the filters through which we experience some aspect of our world. As we integrate that experience, we are changed by it, expressing whatever truth we have discovered in that moment. Our perceptions change and the cycle begins all over again... perception to integration to expression to perception.

Our notions of heroes and heroism are as diverse as humanity itself. As with all descriptive terms, "Hero" is a subjective judgement, measured by the unique and intimate criteria of each individual. However, through examination of those criteria, we can tease out some general themes that can help us establish a broad expression of the heroic ideal and, in doing so, a greater awareness of our own progress along the hero’s path.

Ask yourself what movies do you like? What books do you read? What kind of jokes do you tell or enjoy hearing? These are all indicators of your focus of perception. Keep those answers in mind as we explore the hero’s cycle.

In every heroic legend there is one fundamental theme expressed... transformation. The hero is thrust into a challenging or even hostile situation. He is at risk. Often he is displaced, forced to move or journey from the safety of "home" into the uncertainty of "out there," and in the course of this journey, he is challenged physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. These challenges - if overcome - effect a change upon the hero, a shift of awareness and perception that alters him profoundly. When he returns, he is a different person, touched by the Gods and gifted with wisdom and a vision quite different from those around them.

The hero rarely chooses the nature of the quest consciously, though ironically it is the hero's nature that determines the quest. There is some flaw, some imbalance in the hero's being that not only necessitates the quest, but also determines the challenges and struggles that will occur. It need not be a tragic flaw, though often the hero's journey is one of sorrow and grief, but the discord will always find its root in fear. Whether it be arrogance, lust, or jealously, the source of the flaw will always be found in a fear of some sort.

Ultimately, fear is a survival tool and can be considered a healthy mechanism for awareness. But in the hero who is unconsciously calling for the quest, the fear has grown beyond the realm of healthy awareness and has begun to blind the hero to the greater balance in his life. Like a wheel with a faulty axle, the hero begins to behave erratically, flailing about as things around him appear (to him) more and more troublesome. If you find someone ranting about the horror of the world they see, or desperately proclaiming their prowess to any who will listen, you are seeing a hero about to embark on a quest.

Eventually the wheel breaks and the hero is thrown out of the normal cycle of human experience and is hurled into a maelstrom of metaphoric events. Like a lens turned at an angle, the world becomes strangely magnified and altered. Things that were quiescent in the background suddenly surge up with unnatural power, distorted by the new vision of the hero on his quest. Hideous monsters of unsurpassed evil, agonizingly beautiful maidens or goddesses, vast hordes of uncountable treasure... all these are suddenly everywhere in the path of the questing hero.

It is the interaction with these awakened powers that defines the hero and his tale. There are four basic narratives to the hero's quest: Tragic, Ironic, Romantic, and Comedic. No quest is wholly one or the other, and often the four blend in a symphonic alchemy, but there is always one theme that is the sustaining chord for the tale.

The Tragic Tale is the most challenging and, ultimately, the most rewarding... at least to those who live to tell the tale. True tragedy is expressed by the hero pushing the envelope of life and death itself in the pursuit of the quest. Their lives acquire a grander and lethal scope as the hero becomes but a vessel for the titanic forces they have infused themselves with. Life and its continuance become secondary to the archetypal image that drives the hero on. The tragedy is the choice of the hero to forsake the beauty around them in the pursuit of their goal, sacrificing their world and their humanity on the alter of the ideal.

The Ironic Tale is far more subtle, and startling in it revelations. It is focused on the polarities of the hero's existence, the dynamic tension of opposing forces that struggle for supremacy. The struggle creates conflict that continues the rise, generating greater forces and more turbulent change. The mark of the Ironic tale is the moment of revelation when the hero discovers that at the heart of one polarity, lies the seed of its opposite. All along the hero has assumed some structure of conception and in a sweeping stroke of awareness discovers that not only is he in error, but that the conception he has embraced is in fact precisely the opposite. Luke's revelation that Darth Vader is his father is a classic Ironic moment. Odysseus's revelation that Poseidon is not his tormentor, but instead his teacher is another.

The Romantic Tale is the most dearly loved, and the most often confused. It is not about love or passion or desire, though those elements will play a part. The Romantic element addresses the issue of discovering an object of this world that provides the portal or connection to a higher, metaphorical ideal. The medieval troubadours expressed it most eloquently... they would worship God through the beauty of another. Their eyes, in beholding a beautiful maiden or handsome gent, would bear witness to the transcendent wonder of the higher beauty expressed before them. This is not a physical attraction but an aesthetic arrest that ceases the mind's fixation of life or ego or society and instead expands the awareness to a higher ground where such things are all connected through archetypal conception. It may be a kingdom, or a person, or a holy relic like the Grail. Whatever the form, the Romantic quest is the search for the link between the rooted and cold material world and the welcome liberating freedom of the higher ideal, whatever that may be.

The Comedic Tale is not a light-hearted rump through slap stick and vaudeville, but rather a shattering of the chains of grief through the freedom of laughter. Irony often plays a major role in the Comedy quest, and it is the abrupt revelation of simplicity amid confusion that lies at the heart of most comedic events. Laughter is a most intoxicating wine that drops our defenses and exposes us utterly. Spielberg used this to good effect in the movie "Jaws". Often just prior to the appearance of the great shark, their would be a joke or laugh line delivered. Then, as we sit there with our emotional defenses down, the avatar of merciless death would appear. A Comedic quest is not a distraction, it is a warm and sometimes sad embrace that lifts the hero from the darkness of stern rationality and opens the door to the absurd and ridiculous and then draws very clearly the connection between the two.

Having explored the narrative - the voice of the quest - it is important now to consider the content. What is the tale that's being told? Heroic deeds do not occur in a vacuum - there is a tableau for the legendary effort that is only revealed in its entirety at the conclusion of the quest (often at the cost of the hero's life, for only then is a hero's tale truly ended). Only then can the true measure of a character's heroism (or folly) be discovered.

Mythology and legend is a rich source of inspiration and insight into this arena. There are four basic themes - mythic terminus points - that emerge: The Sacred Union, The Boon, Atonement, and Apotheosis. Nearly every hero's quest conforms to one of these fundamental themes.

Using these two sets of qualities - narrative and theme - we can cross index the environment of the heroic epic. Once the context for the hero's deeds is established, the deeds themselves will acquire some clarity.

THE SACRED UNION
This theme involves the reunion of two elements (or people) that have been separated or the completion of a cycle that has been broken. It is expressed in the mending of the breach, a bridging of two polar opposites, or a mystic alchemy that blends a series of elements into profound alignment. In Tolkien, Aragorn's shattered blade that was reforged whole is a classic example. Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet are other models of the Sacred Union. Any theme that reunites that which has been sundered is an expression of the Sacred Union.

THE BOON
A classic format for the Trickster tales, the Boon involves the gathering of some treasure or prize that will bring great happiness or abundance to the bearer. Prometheus is a Boon myth, as is the tale of Pandora's Box. These are the tales that emphasize cunning and wisdom over aggressive actions and conquests. The Boon of the myth represents some quality that is found within us – wisdom, creativity, love – that is externalized in the form of a prize. The telling of the myth is often a metaphorical "roadmap" that details how we may bring this boon into our own lives.

ATONEMENT
These legends address the fundamental issue of coming of age and achieving a place in our world. Often the myth focuses on parental figures, kings, or powerful spirits, but ultimately the metaphor being expressed here is a resolution between our desires and the world where we may achieve them. In Atonement myths there is a reconciliation – between child and parent or warrior and king, for example – which is achieved only after the questing hero has trod the very same path as the person with whom they are being reconciled. In doing so, they have achieved a new state of awareness, an experience that frees the hero from whatever stigma had confined them. The events unite the hero with the reconciler through the bond of common experience and mutual understanding. Every rite of passage is designed to awaken this awareness in the participants. The child is the parent seeing through the parent’s eyes. Once this is accomplished, the hero may then move from a state of initiation and immaturity into the realm of forging the reality of his hopes and dreams.

APOTHEOSIS
Just as atonement will unite the hero with the material and cultural forces in the world, the myth of Apotheosis resolves the hero with the spiritual world. Universally, the discovery made in these myths is that of recognition... discovering the face of "God" and finding your own face there. These myths address the question of free-will versus destiny. Just who is in charge here. The hero is often sorely tested, with trials that drive him closer and closer to the boundaries of reason. At last, the fire of life burns so brightly that the hero rises to the thrown of the Gods and tears away the mask of his tormentor, only to find his own face staring back. These myths express most profoundly the power of the human spirit, reinforcing its creative ability to draw forth those events that we most require. In order to free ourselves from the submissive chains of blind obedience demanded by culture and society, we must first accept responsibility for our own lives.

The same qualities that make up a good story also make up a good life. Using the criteria above, ask yourself:

What kind of narrative is your life being expressed in?

What epic themes have you already explored?

What themes are you exploring now?

Through the metaphor of the mythic cycle we can come to realize our own place upon the wheel of life. Using the cycle as an orientation tool, the next question to ask is:

If the tale you are telling in your life is a metaphor of unity (Sacred Union), of realization of inner talents (the Boon), of realizing your power in this world (Atonement), and taking responsibility for that power (Apotheosis), what will the next chapter of your personal myth be?

You are the author of that tale... make it a good one!