Journey of the Hero

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung speaks of the Journey of the Hero, a transformation of the self, a quest to understand the ultimate truth beyond the matrix of social conventions. I believe that there is a hero in each of us. You may call it a slice of the holographic universe, one of many faces of god, part of the divine wisdom, or a mass of energy that is connected with all the other energies in the world.

By chance, my husband bought me a book by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, as a way to introduce me to one of his favorite authors. In a magical way the book mirrors the silent quest inside me to go on a journey to find myself. Like Siddhartha, I don't find comfort in subscribing to any set of religious doctrines or teachings. It is an individual journey, and I prefer to find my own truth through the deepest experience in my heart.

By another chance/coincidence, I found this book The Journey to You: A Shaman's Path to Empowerment by Ross Heaven. I actually bought this book before I got Siddhartha. It was a book on sale at the local bookstore, a rare one in English language in this Swedish bookstore. In hindsight it must have been waiting there for me to pick up. A journey to me... that's what I'm undertaking. "We shall not cease exploration," as T.S. Eliot wrote. And I have a feeling this journey never ends.

"He looked around as if seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, strange and mysterious. Here was blue, here was yellow, here was green, sky and river, woods and mountains, all beautiful, all mysterious and enchanting, and in the midst of it, he, Siddhartha, the awakened one, on the way to himself."
~from Siddhartha

~Originally written on August 5, 2003.