The Hero With A Thousand Faces Summary

Journeys Defined

In the article, “A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, Christopher Vogler argues, “that [ the cycle of a journey] is universal, occurring in every culture, in every time; it is as infinitely varied as the human race itself; and yet its basic form remains the same, an incredibly tenacious set of elements repetition from the deepest reaches of the mind of man” (Vogler 1) and is primarily represented in movies or stories. The idea of, “a Hero with a Thousand Faces” is based on perspective and a change of purpose depending on the individual. The complexity of Vogler’s journey cycle doesn’t seem to fully describe a mental journey, but only the physical journey a Hero in a story would take, other

A physical challenge is usually tangible or you can at least see the changes and or growth such as a trip. A personal example of physical journey was when I flew from Southern California to New Jersey to meet my girlfriend’s family during the Christmas holiday for the very first time. This journey resulted in me flying in a plane for the very first time, which happened to be a six-hour red eye flight in which I was unable to sleep, giving a unsteady beginning to the journey. A mental journey is usually not visible like a physical journey, and it is when an individual goes into their own unconscious to better learn about themselves and change their self for the better. For example, when someone meditates, that person is silencing the outside world and as stated above inviting themselves into their unconscious and believing in themselves. An example of both a physical and mental journey is when someone injures themselves, like I did with my shoulder. The physical journey was having to put my shoulder in a sling and go through physical therapy, but it turned into a mental journey when I had to motivate myself to complete my physical therapy and then go back to playing sports and lifting at the