The Power of Myth
// May 28th, 2009 // Leadership Development
We use “The Hero’s Journey” module in many of our programmes that focus on individual transformation. It’s based on Joseph Campell’s work on the monomyth, or the idea that there is a common archetypal structure to our hero mythologies, across world cultures and millenia. Using the lens of the monomyth we can examine stages and elements in our own journey of discovery, development and bold action.
In 1949, Campell, an autodidactic with an incredible journey of his own, published his seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It launched comparative mythology as a field of study and has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists, including George Lucas in his Star Wars Trilogy. In fact, in 1986-87, over the final two summers of his life, Lucas hosted a six-part conversation between Joseph Campell and journalist Bill Moyers at his Skywalker Ranch in California around his core ideas and the ongoing role of mythology in scoeity. Aired in 1988 as Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth the insightful talks are available below on google video and highly recommended.
Episode 1: The Hero’s Adventure
Episode 2: The Message of the Myth
Episode 3: The First Storytellers
Episode 4: Sacrifice and Bliss
