Highlights:
“I was inspired initially to write The Hero Within out of a concern that we would not be able to solve the great political, social, and philosophical problems of our time if so many of us persisted in seeing the hero as ‘out there’ or ‘up there,’ beyond ourselves.”
- pg xii
”… we do not transform the world in order to be happy: We find happiness first, and then we transform our world.”
- pg xvii
“Although (heroes) may feel very alone during the quest, at its end their reward is a sense of community: with themselves, with other people, and with the earth. Every time we confront death-in-life, we confront a dragon. Every time we choose life over nonlife and move deeper into the ongoing discovery of who we are, we bring new life to ourselves and to our culture.”
- pg 3
“People who are discouraged from slaying dragons internalize the urge and slay themselves by declaring war on their fat, their selfishness, their sensitivity, or some other attribute they think does not please. Or they suppress their feelings in order to become successful performance machines. Or they become chameleons, killing off their uniqueness to serve an image they think buys success or just will keep them safe.”
- pg 3-4
“Systems theory tells us that when any element of a system changes, the whole system has to reconfigure. Therefore, simply by experiencing your own metamorphosis, you can contribute to the transformations of all the social systems of which you are a part: family, school, workplace, community, and society as a whole.”
- pg 5
“By taking us down into the deep recesses of our souls, the hero’s journey allows us to adapt to a changing world without becoming chameleons. Instead, we go inward to find an authentic response to the challenges that face us. In so doing, we become more authentic.”
- pg 8
”It takes time to move through alienation into heroic engagement.”
- pg 8
”… do not be surprised if others actively discourage you from taking your own life seriously. In fact, people may even ridicule or demean you for thinking of yourself as a hero. Those who are hiding out in cowardice want company!”
- pg 11
“When we define heroism as larger than life… we project it outside ourselves, expecting, for example, our political and organizational leaders (and sometimes also therapists, mentors, and spouses) to prove their worth - heroism - by saving us from difficulty. When they fail or when we see their vulnerable side, we turn on them; we become increasingly cynical as, one by one, our saviors let us down. The truth is, these are not the times for the great man or woman to save us; these are the times for each of us to do his or her own part.”
- pg 13
”… every time you take the risk to be true to your own soul - whether or not you name your action as heroic - your example helps others to do likewise. When you notice this pattern, it becomes easier to have absolute fidelity to your own path without fear that doing so is selfish. We can do nothing better for others than model the authentic life.”
- pg 15
“Anyone who has ever left a job or even school not knowing what would come next has put his or her foot out into the abyss. The same is true when we leave relationships that are not working for us; we leave not knowing if, or when, we will ever love again. It even is true when we let go of ideas that are not working; allowing ourselves to risk the terror of uncertainty until a new truth emerges.”
- pg 16
“Freedom begins the moment we become conscious of the plot line we are living and, with this insight, recognize we can step into another story altogether.”
- pg 17
“…archetypes are nothing more than the deep structures in the psyche and in social systems. Scientists talk about the deep structures of nature as ‘fractals.’ For example, every snowflake is unique. Yet there is something similar in the deep structure of snowflakes that allows us to recognize them as snowflakes. Archetypes are fractals of the psyche.”
- pg 19
“When we feel frustrated and experience what is defined as failure, it is often because, without being aware of it, we are living a story in a way that is inappropriate to our current situation or untrue to who and how we are at heart.”
- pg 21
“If I want to develop courage, I can try persistently, gradually taking greater risks and incrementally becoming less afraid. Or I can call up the Warrior archetype within me (who offers me the power of the ladder or the wormhole). That Warrior, an inner ally, is in touch with the accumulated fighting power of all the warriors who ever have been.”
- pg 23
”The Orphan is a disappointed idealist, and the higher the ideals about the world, the worse reality appears.”
- pg 40
“The Orphan’s task is to move out of innocence and denial and learn that suffering, pain, scarcity, and death are an inevitable part of life. The anger and pain this engenders will be proportional to one’s initial illusions. This Fall leads to realism, because the job of the Orphan is to develop realistic expectations about life.”
- pg 41
“Some people need to be reminded that the Orphan is just one archetype among many. We move on to other stages of the journey when we develop a genuine, grounded, and realistic sense of hope.”
- pg 46
“…when the Orphan archetype is active in one’s life, it is natural to distrust oneself. In fact, Orphans generally believe deep down that their dilemma is their own fault. That means they often will put up with abuse, especially if they are told it is for their own good. The reality is, people who take on rescuing roles really are Orphans, too, on the inside. Playing the part of savior is a way of pretending that it is others, not themselves, who are troubled.”
- pg 50
“To move beyond the Orphan state of the journey, one first must fully be in it, and that means confronting one’s own pain, despair, cynicism. It also means mourning the loss of Eden, letting oneself know that there is no safety, that God (at least the childish notion of a ‘Daddy God’) is dead.”
- pg 51
“What can make movement happen for those who are immobilized by insecurity or self-recrimination? Love, hope, and the message that their suffering indeed is not their fault and that someone else who is not so powerless and lost and needy will help them.”
- pg 53
“The essential tools for empowering Orphans are: (1) love - an individual or a group who shows care and concern; (2) an opportunity to tell and retell their story in a way that overcomes denial (recounting how painful it was before they were saved, stopped drinking, became liberated, left their family of origin, etc.); (3) an analysis that moves the locus of the blame outside the individual, that says the fault lies elsewhere; and (4) a program of action to help them take responsibility for their own lives.”
- pg 55
“It is also my experience that when I have a hard time letting go of pain or anger about some past injustice or trauma, likely some more subtle form of it is still going on.”
- pg 56
“…it is helpful to find a way to express your own truth… What matters most is that you can see or hear your own truth and as a result can act in your own behalf to live the life most uniquely yours.”
- pg 57
”Beyond the dualism that sees ‘life as suffering’ or ‘life as Eden’ is an awareness of pain and suffering as part of life’s flow.”
- pg 60
“Some people who have suffered tragedies have an almost transcendent freedom, for they have faced ‘the worst’ and survived it. They know they can face anything. Life does not have to be just so, it does not have to be Eden, for them to love it.”
- pg 61
”… it often seems unnecessary to suffer in large ways if we learn the small, daily ways of giving to others and letting go of the present to meet the unknown.”
- pg 61
“The archetype of the Wanderer is exemplified by stories of the knight, the cowboy, and the explorer who set off alone to see the world. During their travels they find a treasure that symbolically represents the gift of their true selves. Consciously taking one’s journey, setting out to confront the unknown, marks the beginning of life lived at a new level. For one thing, the Wanderer makes the radical assertion that life is not primarily suffering; it is an adventure.”
- pg 65
“Wanderers, in their spiritual life, may experience doubt, especially if they have been taught that God rewards a measure of conformity and traditional morality, qualities likely to be at variance with the needs of their developing, experimenting psyches. Yet the dark night of the soul they experience often leads to a more mature and adequate faith…
… the Wanderer pressures us to think about who we are and what we want and to stand up to those who think they know best what we should do.”
- pg 67
”The hero may not only be frightened of the quest, but disapprove of it, and these feelings and judgements are likely to be reinforced by those of others. To the Altruist, the urge to the quest may seem selfish and therefore wrong, because it involves turning one’s back on duty in the pursuit of self-discovery and self-actualization. For the warrior, it may seem escapist and weak.”
- pg 68
“The nice thing about Wanderers taking their journey is that it has a ripple effect, allowing loved ones and colleagues to take theirs as well. Perhaps at first others will be threatened and angry; but sooner or later, they will have to either leave or come along. If they leave, Wanderers may experience aloneness for a while, but sooner or later, if Wanderers so desire, they will develop better relationships, ones that are more genuinely satisfying because they are based on respect for that journey.”
- pg 69
“…when Wanderers step outside consensus reality and begin to see the world and themselves with their own eyes, they always face the fear that the punishment for doing so will be perpetual isolation or, in a more extreme sense, a friendless death in poverty. In spite of that fear - which speaks to the heart of the infantile terror that we cannot survive if we do not please others (parents first, then teachers, bosses, sometimes even mates) - Wanderers make the decision to leave the world for the known for the unknown.”
- pg 69
“However much people have learned about giving and letting go, their sacrifices will be for nothing unless they also learn who they are. It is not helpful to tell people to transcend their ego until they have developed one. It is not useful to tell people to transcend desire until they have allowed themselves to go for what they want.”
- pg 69
”When people have not developed much sense of a separate, autonomous self, they basically are run by what they think to be the opinions of others.”
- pg 70
“The Orphan and the Altruist at their first levels of understanding, and sometimes even at the second, believe that to have love, they must compromise who they are. At some level, they believe that if they were to be fully themselves, they would end up alone, friendless, and poor.”
- pg 71
“Paradoxically, it is in resolving what sometimes seems an intolerable opposition between parental or professional responsibilities and personal exploration that people often find out more fully who they are. They come to know themselves moment by moment by the decisions they make, trying to reconcile their care for others with their responsibility to themselves. Maturity comes with the curious mixture of taking responsibility for our prior choices while being as imaginative as possible in finding ways to continue our journeys.”
- pg 79
”When people have grown up in an environment that glorifies martyrdom, being good, and making others happy, their desire for autonomy and independence will be interpreted, even by themselves, as wrong.”
- pg 80
“The Wanderer ultimately teaches us to be true to ourselves — to be true to ourselves fully in every moment.”
- pg 81
”… making an absolute choice for ourselves and our own integrity, even if it means being alone and unloved, is the prerequisite for heroism and ultimately for being able to love other people while remaining autonomous. It is essential for creating the proper boundaries so that we can see the difference between ourselves and others — so that we will not have to objectify them to know ourselves and what we want.”
- pg 88
“On a spiritual level, (the Warrior archetype) means learning to differentiate among theologies; to know which brings more life and which kill or maim the life force within us. The Warrior also helps us to speak out and to fight for what nourishes our minds, our hearts, and our souls, and to vanquish those things that sap and deplete the human spirit by speaking the truth about them and refusing to accept them or to allow them into our lives.”
- pg. 103
“When an archetype is balanced with the others, it tends to be expressed in its higher, more integrated and positive form.”
- pg. 108
“The developmental gift that comes from confronting one’s own most frightening dragons—whether one slays them or merely stands up to them and begins a dialogue—is courage and a corresponding freedom from bondage to one’s fears.”
- pg. 112