NOTES on The Power of Myth, Episode 1

The Power of Myth – Episode 1: The Hero’s Adventure


All myth is about transformation of consciousness. You’re thinking this way, and now you must think this way.


Serendipity from the Isle of Silk, Serendripa… a serendipitous adventure. The achievement of the hero is one that he is ready for. It’s a manifestation of his character… the adventure that he’s ready for is the one that he gets.

The cantina in Star Wars… on the edge of the adventure… with people who’ve been out there, but you haven’t.

The trash compactor is the belly of the whale. Thy mythological significance is the descent into the dark. the hero must do that because the whale personifies all that is the unconscious. Water is the unconscious. The creator in the water is the dynamism of the unconscious. Dangerous, powerful… leaving the light (known) and moving toward the darkness (unknown) with one of several results
- Either being cut to pieces and
- Siegfried kills the dragon and tastes the blood, he assimilates the

the point is removing our mind from hindering the process. The mind is a secondary organ that must submit and serve the humanity of the body. When it does put itself in control you get Darth Vader. The dark side. he isn’t thinking in terms of humanity, he’s thinking in terms of a system. WE all face this threat. is the system going to eat you up and take your humanity, or are you going to be able t use the system to human purposes.

The hero myth helps you to live as a human within the system. Not necessarily change the system, but to resist its impersonal claims.

This is true for all of us. People who align with the system and stop listening to themselves. But the body the whole person is not interested in aligning itself with a system.

The hero lurks in each of us. It’s good to put yourself in situations that will invoke your higher nature and not your lower. Iroquois story – the refusal of suitors.

these stories are the interface bewteen what can be known and what can never be discovered…. the source of life.

“It’s important to live life with a knowledge of its mystery.” What is it that life is?

Dragons represent greed. He guards heaps of gold and virgins. He can’t use either of them he just guards, hoards. Psychologically the dragon is one’s binding of the self to one’s ego. The goal is to break that dragon, open yourself up.

Killing the dragon is killing our fears… (European dragon)

Chinese dragon is different… he’s the one that yields the bounty and the waters…

The real dragon is in you. Your ego holding you in. What I want, what I believe, what I think I love or can do… what I regard as the aim of my life. It might be too small. That which pins you down. Whatever holds you back.

How do you slay the dragon? “A Soul’s High Adventure” – follow your bliss. Don’t be afraid to follow it.

We set about the journey to save ourselves, but by doing so, we save the world. A Vital person vitalizes. The way to bring the world to life is to be alive yourself.

You can take someone with you on the journey if you like, but “the last trick has to be done by you”

A quiet place. From which the action comes. The athlete has a center rout of which you act. In Dance, in Athletics. The quiet center. Unless this center is found, tension comes and you’re torn apart. The Buddha’s word is Nirvana. A State of mind, here in the middle of the turmoil. The condition that comes when you are not compelled by desire or fear or social commitments. When you hold your center and act out of there.

Consciousness.

Heliotropism. Turning toward the sun. Plant consciousness

Animal Consciousness… The whole world is conscious. Different consciousnesses which relate to them. The Gaia principle. Mother earth. We are the earth. The consciousness of the earth. The eyes of the earth, the voice of the earth. How do we raise our consciousness… all of life is a meditation. Most of it unintentional.

The myths are there to bring us into a level of consciousness which is spiritual. Walk out of NYC into a cathedral… everything about me is mystery. My consciousness has been brought into another level. Then I walk out and I’m back in this one. But can I hold something with me… Mantras – little meditation themes that hold your consciousness here.

The cathedral at Chartres. ringing the bell. You can tell what informs a society by what the tallest building is in the place. The cathedral, the palace, the office building. Salt Lake City – the temple in the center of the city. Then the capital was built bigger, then the office building bigger yet.

Myths and dreams come from the same place, realization finding expression in symbolic form. The only one that’s going to be worth thinking about in the future is one that talks about the planet. Not the city, not the people, but the planet.