The Hero's Journey By Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell is a leading mythology expert and philosopher who studied all mythic stories from around the world and found the “Hero’s Journey,” a pattern that appears in common in myth, religious ritual, and storytelling. The Hero’s Journey is a cycle with three basic segments: separation, initiation and return. For me, watching this movie at this moment was timely: the movie synchronized with what I have recently felt about my life. One of my experiences that links to the movie is coming to Hawaii by myself. It was a separation from my comfortable zone where I was surrounded by my supportive family. First time when I came here, I could not say anything and became quiet because I thought people would think I was a stupid and not understand
We were just talked exactly what Akiva Goldsman, a movie producer, said: “the truth is, it’s not what happens to us. It’s what we do with it.” We cannot change what has happened to us, but we can change how we accept realities and how we deal with them. I have a friend who comes to me to say “my life sucks.” She always takes anything negatively even if what has happened to her doesn’t seem that bad for my other friends and I. Talking to her has reminded me that depends on how we look at an event, one’s life can be totally different. In the movie, there is a guy who lost his father and father’s girlfriend in front of him in an airplane accident. His story was heartbreaking. Not everybody can get over such a tragic incident, but how he accepted and how he dealt with it brought him a joyful life. Oneʻs life is what he/she has chosen. I thought life is all depends on how we look at things. In the other words, making a life good or bad is all one’s
We all know the answer and truth in ourselves, but just tend to forget. Like the story of a golden buddha in the movie, everybody was born with full of potential, but we hide it in a veil unconsciously while living everyday. I recognized the true happiness is always inside of me. Further, I sympathized with the idea; trusting in oneself is an essential of life. Accepting you as who you are including the parts you don’t like is important. As we talked in our class, once one brings his/her shadow or fear out, he/she has a control of life. I honestly like to look away from my problems. It feels good at the moment, but to overcome the problems and transform myself, I have to face it and deal with it. Not fight with it, but accept it. Happiness, fear, etc… all is in oneself. Hence, looking deeply inside of oneself and loving oneself is the key to live a happy