Hero or Hierophant? Warrior or Wise Man? (Part I)

Heroic Journeys: A Part of Our Growth Path (But Certainly Not the End!)

A dear friend and colleague - someone who is already successful with her own business - is on a Heroine's Quest. She's forming a new business - one that is much more in line with her core heart's desire - and one which has potential for being solid and profitable. Yet it will not take advantage of the government regulations, her advanced degree, or the well-identified corporate needs that give her current business such a solid and stable base.

Nevertheless, she feels impelled towards her new calling, and launching her new business.

Another colleague - someone whom I love and respect dearly - is at the peak of her career with a major organization. She has respect. She has influence. She is comfortable with, and intimately knows how to "work," her current organization. She is financially - and organizationally - secure. Yet she is also preparing to leave her "nest" and start a new business.

Anytime that we leave the comfort of our known, safe, and familiar surroundings to take on a new venture, we are "questing." And in order to find the strength and courage to leave known, safe, and familiar, we have to posit ourselves as Heroes (or as Heroines - this blog is gender-indifferent).

There's a huge amount of emotional charge that we get by identifying ourselves as a Hero on a Quest. This defines our role, and gives us ego-identification. It pulls us out of being a "cog in a machine." The sense of difficulty and danger becomes galvanizing and even energizing. We know who we are in the sharp crispness of taking on an "impossible dream" - which perhaps even involves conquering certain "forces of evil."

Heroic Quests are alluring - and they are necessary. Without them, we would never find the courage to buck the status quo, to step out from the norms, and to do - very literally - "great things." All the great adventures of humankind have sprung - one way or another - from such Heroic Questing.

Yet there is a danger hidden within the addictive nature of such quests. We can use them as a means of repeating life-stages through which we've already gone, and often with great success.

One man whom I know, let's call him Theo (yes, the same "Theo" from Unveiling) had a brilliant military career, from his youth to retiring - with high rank and numerous accolades. He then had an equally stellar career with a well-known company, and then - with a band of comrades - started his own company, which became very successful. Theo's unique insights, his tenacity and will, his total dedication to his cause, was a significant element in his company's growth.

Theo has had a great career; a culmination of Heroic Quests.

And yet, there is an Achille's heel to such exploits.

Ponder on it. (I'll take this story up in the next blogpost.) But ask yourself: Is there a potential downside to repeating a known "success pattern"?