The Hero’s Journey: A Creative Act

Abstract

This paper proposes the hero’s journey as a pathway to psychological creativity. The hero’s journey reveals, in story form, the efforts of a hero to resolve a significant problem following a change in life circumstances. This problem lies beyond the scope of the hero’s current understanding, skill set and experience. In order to address the problem, the hero therefore begins what Campbell refers to as ‘the creative act’ of ‘sticking one’s neck out’, undergoing a hero’s journey. Invariably the journey involves foreign trials, requiring the hero to tap into unknown inner potentials. Invariably trials become more complex, pushing the hero to move beyond their perceived limits. Eventually all heroes will experience at least two trials which either subjectively or literally, will seem like life and death challenges, signalling the death of no longer useful aspects of the self and the integration of their newfound potential. Transformed heroes are able to innovate and create in their everyday lives, providing an elixir for those around them.