CALL TO ADVENTURE

In my post yesterday (The Broken Mirror) I asked if those who make it through trauma have a duty to go back for others?  I've been thinking a lot about that question since then.  And to be very honest, fighting the urge to delete yesterday's post.

But I resist the urge.  I remember that my feelings won't kill me. Not anger.  Not fear. (ACA). "Neither  life nor death, nor angels, nor rulers... not height nor depth, nor anything in all creation (including a blog post!) will be able to separate me from the love of God. (Romans 8: 38-39).  It becomes clear to me that this isn't about rescuing others.  Not in the way I think.

Next. For a long time I viewed what happened to me in government as an avoidable trauma. IE., a big, unfortunate mistake, disaster-- I could go on. But what if I looked at it as a "Call to Adventure?" (Joseph Campbell). For example:

"You must have courage," Campbell says. "It's the call to adventure, which means there is no security, no rules.  When you cross the threshold, you are passing into the dark forest, taking a plunge into the sea, embarking upon the night sea journey.  It involves passing through clashing rocks, narrow gates." (p78).

Continuing. So when I wrote yesterday, asking, "is it my duty to 'come back for others' who suffered the trauma of sexual misconduct and harassment in government," was I onto something?-- or is it me I have to come back for? Am I the soldier left behind? Is it me I have to tell the "war" is over?

Finally. I consider what Campbell has to say about this when he talks about The Return:

"You do not have a complete adventure unless you do get back.  There is a time to go into the woods and a time to come back, and you know which it is.  Do you have the courage?  It takes a hell of a lot of courage to return after you've been in the woods." (Joseph Campbell Companion, p82).

A lesson that will be tested over and over again.

Cb 

Amen

 

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