Hello Friends,

If you are new here, hello—my name is Gary Farnham, and I am curious. I like to say I never made it out of the "why" phase. I am viciously curious about the way things work, why we are here, and how humans behave. This curiosity has led me to a wide range of books and informational content, lands very unfamiliar to where I grew up, deep conversations with homeless individuals on park benches, and mansions in the Hollywood Hills. Up until a little over a year ago, all that I had learned and experienced had been confined to the inside of my own skull and the pages of my personal journals.

Then, I began to share. It started with posts on Medium, which you can find here: https://medium.com/@chatg. Since then, it has transformed into this newsletter, which is growing each day. I have always said, if just one person reads something I write and learns something new or has a brighter day because of it, I am satisfied. Sharing my writing, which was once a weekly occurrence, has since become sporadic as I juggle absorbing information, lessons, and experiences through reading, completing an MBA program, my career, my relationships, and traveling, with finding the time to squeeze the sponge and release all that has been absorbed onto this page. If you have made it this far and are still reading, thank you. I appreciate you, and this is just the beginning.

Now, onto today's piece:

The Power Of Myth

As I mentioned, one of the questions I find myself asking is, "Why are we here?" You may find this silly or a waste of time to ask such a grand question, but if it does nothing else at all, it adds mystery and romanticism to life. Joseph Campbell believes myths are and have been humanity's attempt to answer this question. Myths are origin stories, hero's journeys, and attempts at explaining why we are here, why things are the way they are, and what we ought to do with our time here.

You see, there are two definitions of the word Myth:

“a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events”

&

“a widely held but false belief or idea”

These two vastly different meanings for the same word have caused confusion and led us to diverge from the idea that traditional myths and stories are critical to our lives. Every culture in the world is based on a myth of some shape or form that follows roughly the same pattern and has shaped the worldview of those before us and will shape those after us. These myths or origin stories serve as pillars of what is important and what we are here to do.

Mr. Campbell believed this so strongly that he devoted his life to studying mythology and creating an atlas of myths from around the world. In this process, he discovered patterns. How was it that humans in opposite corners of the globe had very similar myths, which followed similar patterns and had very similar archetypes? The time period would not have allowed information to spread rapidly, so this seems to be innate patterns within the human experience and storytelling.

He encapsulates one universal pattern in mythology, the Hero's Journey, into a magnificent book called "A Hero with a Thousand Faces." The title and general theme, of course, suggest that the hero is not just in the movies, or among veterans, or first responders, or those who perform heroic acts, but rather is within all of us. He equates the hero's journey to life itself, and that is why the pattern is universal across all of humanity and across time. The Hero's Journey is not just a pattern for good stories and how stories should be crafted, told, and presented, but rather, an explanation for life, and how and why we should live it.

Many of you have likely seen this before and have a general understanding of it, but I challenge you to apply this to your life, not just when analyzing books and movies as we were asked to in school. As Joseph Campbell suggests, you are the hero on the journey that is your life, and it likely follows, and will continue to follow, the path you see above. One thing to point out is the line between "The Ordinary World" and "The Special World"; this can also be referred to as "The Known" and "The Unknown". When we take on something new, we are venturing into "The Unknown" and likely find ourselves on the steps seen on this path. We are called to do so, accept the call, and experience tests, trials, and tribulations. We likely experience a low point that then leads us, with a unique understanding, back to "The Known" or "The Ordinary World" with unique and special knowledge. We have all accepted the call to adventure, or something new, and gone through trials and tribulations, and from these, gained valuable insights.

Mr. Campbell also discusses a universal theme across many early cultures and myths: that of an initiation for young men. There are myths and rituals spanning the globe, where men reaching a certain age are sent off on some sort of adventure, exposing them to trials and tribulations. This may take the form of three days in the woods with little to keep them alive, a performance in front of the tribe, or going on the hunt and taking down an animal with only a knife.

Across the globe, these rituals were kept alive due to the origin myths that believed this was necessary for men to grow into productive members of the tribe. They were purposely put through these trials and tribulations for them to have some sort of spiritual awakening, discover new knowledge, or learn the lessons and confidence on how to thrive. In essence, they understood that the negative is positive, and wanted their men to go through this process to come out the other side with special knowledge that would aid the community. Mr. Campbell, before his passing in 1987, believed we find the world as it is because we neglect these myths and the understanding of the hero's journey. The unknown and the special knowledge that is obtained from venturing into the unknown and challenging ourselves is beautiful and why we should be excited to live and experience all phases.

We all go through tests; life itself is a test. We experience the choice of good or evil, to be kind or rude, to judge or to help, to accept the call to move to a higher plane or refuse it, to view ourselves as heroes on a journey or as villains opposing those who have accepted the call.

So what?

Identify where you are on the journey in the graphic above. If you feel comfortable and everything is ordinary, there is a call to adventure you are refusing, and there are people out there waiting to guide you into the unknown. If you feel lost and tested, know that you are learning and are on the road back to the ordinary world with a leg up from where you were before venturing out on this journey.

Questions to ask yourself:

Is what you are spending your time on beneficial to your life and health or detrimental?

Will my future self thank me for this choice I am about to make?

What would the hero within me do?

What myths do I believe that shape who I am?

If you enjoyed this, I highly recommend the 6 part interview series filmed with Joseph Campbell before his passing: https://youtu.be/pE8ciMkayVM?si=2UjHSDsUxdXGSWjd

Onward and Upward,

G