So this is the hero's journey?

In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell writes that the first element of The Hero's Journey is the Call to Adventure:  the call comes from a crisis the hero must choose to face or run from.

I don't know about you, but when I hear Call to Adventure, I think of a task that involves swash-buckling and dragon-slaying.   Perhaps Psyche had similar thoughts as she embarked on her hero's journey, a journey that would require Psyche to complete four tasks in order to be united with her beloved Eros.

Imagine her surprise when she learned her first task was to sort a huge jumble of corn, barley and poppy seeds into separate piles.

Psyche you are going on a journey; you are going to get Eros back.

Ready, Set...

Sort the seeds.

Source:  istockphoto

Was there a point to this?  Or was the task simply meant to demean and humiliate her?

What of bravery and derring-do?

At face value, the task does seem pointless.

But as Psyche completed this task, she no doubt came to understand that knowing how to sift through priorities, to delegate to and trust the ants of her intuition, would hold her in good stead as she completed the remaining three tasks.

Practicing making choices around seemingly mundane priorities may not feel like the ideal way to start our hero's journey, to dare to dream, but the more I consider Psyche's journey, and my own, I'm beginning to think it's the best way.

What are your thoughts?

For those of you who have dreamed of being a mother and rearing happy children, how did that journey begin?  With your children going off to college?  Or lots of twenty-four hour care, changing diapers and sleepless nights?

Or what of launching a career?  Are you immediately calling the shots, moving things forward?  Or doing lots of grunt work and working long hours?

Comments

[Rose]

Well, there is no way to appreciate the good stuff if we don't experience the mundane first. Also, I think the mundane helps to prepare us for the bigger harder stuff.

[Jenny]

I think I'm not so afraid to sort grains.
Slaying dragons sounds very scary to me.

I found it easy to become frustrated with the task of trying to keep a neat house while raising small children. Now, the children aren't so small, the struggle is still regular, but I can see that it's not a fruitless effort, and when the house is clean, I feel as good as if I had slain a dragon...

[Janna]

I'm beginning to understand that a real life hero's journey is equal parts sheer exhilaration and mind-numbing tedium. Several Hollywood movies with scenes of women running small businesses (e.g., the dress boutique at the end of "Enchantment," Gwenyth Paltrow's PR firm in "Sliding Doors," Jennifer Aniston's flower shop in "Love Happens," etc.) make the experience look so...quaint. It's not. It's mostly darn hard work with lots of emotional roller coaster rides spawned on by trying to keep clients happy and the revenue coming in - all the while keeping the vision that it's more than all that - and it's about putting something out there in the world that is constructive and beautiful - that helps people and the world for good.

Whew. It's a lot to manage.

I imagine that my experience(aside of clients and revenue detail) applies to mothering tasks as well.

It's all a very tall order, my sisters.

[Matt Langdon]

I think Psyche's need to sort the seeds was the first of many skills she needed for later.

So, did I see a need to balance my check book when I was in my 20s? No. Do I see the need now that I have a business? Absolutely. I wish I'd had to learn the skill earlier, but my journey was teaching me other things that were vital to me now.

When I was teaching kids 8 hours a day every day of the year, was it exciting all the time? Nope, definitely got tedious at times, but boy has it prepared me for my work now.

Ultimately the hero's journey prepares us for the next world, the next journey.

[Maria]

There is a saying I like: "Before enlightment chop wood, carry water; after enlightment chop wood, carry water". Great lessons can be learned through the mundane.

[Whitney Johnson]

I have been told on a number of occasions that I am not patient; until now I believed these observations were inaccurate.

And yet as I read your comments, I realized that I do tend to eschew the mundane, or process, while embracing the thrill; the outcome. Hence this post.

My view of myself and the world have shifted because of your comments and insights. Thank you -- dear readers.