Recently, I’ve noticed that people use the term “protagonist” to describe someone who seems to thrive or experience fiction-like events in real life. The idea is that the typical tropes of fiction usually allow the hero to accomplish feats that are otherwise impossible in real life.
I find it interesting that this terminology has leaked into our perception of reality. We’ve adopted the idea that our life is, in fact, a novel that contains different characters and plotlines.
If you take a closer look, this praxeology represents a reification of how our mind works, which is to say, through narratives and arcs.
After all, our dreams follow the same pattern. They aren’t merely a recitation of memories and aggregation of data, but they self-organize to create stories because that’s how we’re able to interpret reality!
There’s a great picture further illustrating my point:
We receive data usually organized by systems and models. Still, the only way to make sense of these seemingly random shapes is by creating a story.
Mythology is where we can articulate our observations about human nature in the form of a story. But instead of being passive observers like we are during dreams – unless you’re practicing lucid dreaming , that is – we create and direc
“Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths.”
But the question remains, how can you discover your mythology and apply this paradigm to your life?
The Birth of Consciousness
Jung implies that there’s a specific moment in our lives when we become aware of ourselves. Usually, during early childhood, the oldest memory in some cases, an event triggers the schism from the gloop, dedifferentiating identity from the collective unconscious.
Even if you don’t remember the exact moment, I’m sure you can track a memory where you thought of yourself as a separate human being. For me, it was the act of reading. Inside books, I saw the reflection of my psyche, my humanity – the flawed iteration of an ideal – emerging in the characters, whether it was the hero or the antagonist. For the first time, I saw myself in someone else except my parents. This phenomenon marked a never-ending journey within , seeking to express that which is not whole into wholeness.
Now, let’s consider how that plays out on a larger scale, meaning society. I believe it’s a mythology that has the role of the researcher, discovering the traits that make us human. All civilizations tell stories containing the sacred traditions of their culture that distinguish society from a functional cluster of people.
With that in mind, a mythological story is a localized iteration of the overarching narratives that create a web-like structure of history, religion, progress, science, fears, pain, and happiness. To make sense of the world around us, we couch our perception in folklore, legends, and mythopoeic sagas .
In the past, the art of mythmaking allowed the storyteller to psychoanalyze and interpret the subconscious part of the self, and it relates to the external. But since the enlightenment, episteme has been in the limelight, overshadowing the power of words.
The work of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and modern mythmakers like Tolkien has caused an interest in the mythological archetypes and how they emerge in our psychological type.
Beyond theory, I want to outline how you and I can utilize our personal mythology through dreams and meaningful contemplation.
“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.”
How to Use your Personal Mythology to Navigate Your Life?
Let’s start simple. What is mythology other than a story?
- A simple line of events where a protagonist or a group has to face challenges and overcome obstacles to reach their destination or accomplish a certain objective. That’s the first layer, the pragmatic.
- There’s a second layer, which describes the psychological transformation the main characters went under; the journey within. All of the internal tribulations and shifts in perception allowed them to move forwards.
- The third layer has to do with an afterthought, the realization that the protagonist has changed and what that means to his relationship with the world.
The concept of the Monomyth systematizes this simple template. It suggests that all myths contain certain elements. But what about your myth?
Are you on a Hero’s Journey? What are the steps you have to take to complete it? What’s the objective?
These questions might be too vague so let’s get more specific.
#1. The Call to Action
Isn’t every day that we receive a call to action? But how many times do we actually respond?
Don’t worry. That initial hesitation is normal; it’s part of the journey. Recognizing that everyone struggled to take the first step is comforting as well as pedagogic.
What jolts the hero from inertia is two things:
- Purpose
- Adventure
Even though the former might be hard to identify, adventure is encoded in our DNA. We’re meant to explore and discover the world.
Your personal mythology begins here. All you have to do is step out of the door.
