What It Means to Be a Hero: Hero's Journey

Introduction

The Hero’s Journey is a process used to describe the struggle and the journey of a person, whether fictional or real. The journey is a process of finding and maintaining balance and harmony within our lives. As with any process of growth and change, the journey can be confusing, even painful, but it brings opportunities to learn and have a different perspective and a new way of being in our world(Harris). Professor Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth,” also known as the hero’s journey, is described in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” In his book, he details the monomyth, which is a cycle that consists of steps and observations of someone’s journey in life, whether mental, physical, or both, and they are typically a hero. The goal Professor Campbell wanted with the hero’s journey was to structure a model that was complete enough to contain all the journey’s occurrences, yet general enough to incorporate to some extent journey myths. When he would discuss stages, he mostly focused on their psychological aspects, not their practical applications for daily living. It is a cycle of character development and was used for mythology (Harris). There are a number of stages, and each of them is a description of what it means to be a hero. Pope John Paul II is an example of such a hero’s journey, for he has faced the call which is a call to adventure and basically the start of the journey. He was challenged when the university he was attending at the time closed down because of the Nazi invasion in Poland and returned by contributing to the end of communism in Poland and the rest of Europe.

Joseph Campbell and the Monomyth: Hero's Journey

In the monomyth, the call is described as the awareness of a shift in our spiritual or emotional “center of gravity”; our world in which we live no longer provides the stimulation or possibilities we need to grow. Pope John Paul II joining the seminary in Krakow was his call. The hero’s adventure begins when he receives a call to action. The call is something one feels within their intuition. It is a call to adventure and can be seen as the “start” of a hero’s journey. The call is something that in a way changes your pathway of life. It’s the separation of your comfort zone. Becoming a priest was a difficult decision for Pope John Paul and his emotional shift was the passing away of his father way. It was a separation of his comfort zone because John Paul had something else in life that he had wanted to do. Pope John Paul II had initially wanted to do literature, he was adamant about becoming a priest until his father had passed as his father was the one who encouraged him to become a priest (Mazurek). After his death, he had started to pray a lot and that’s what completely shifted him to the priesthood. By fall in 1942, he joined the local underground seminary in his hometown of Krakow.

An Exemplar of the Hero's Journey

In the hero’s journey, the Threshold is the point where the hero actually comes into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are unknown(Harris). The threshold is constantly referred to as the leap to the unknown where the hero has to learn to adapt to his new surroundings and that there is no return. The threshold is can also be described as the part in the journey where the hero isn’t exactly sure just yet about how to deal adaptations with until it starts to approach, where he is forced to eventually adapt. The Threshold started for John Paul when he graduates from the seminary and starts to work as a parish priest. This was a dangerous territory to cross in his journey for John Paul as he was on the way to the priesthood during the period where Nazis reigned Poland. This was the period of the Nazi regime and as in the hero’s journey, this is the part of no return. He had to face the challenge of being a priest during the Nazi era. Not only him, but Jews as well as non-Jewish cultural and political leaders, including professors and priests, were killed or deported to concentration camps by the Nazis. He had to hide the fact that he was a priest during the Nazi regime so that he wouldn’t get potentially killed or sent to a concentration camp. Again, the threshold is referred to as the jump to the unknown world where the hero has to learn to adapt to his new surroundings, whether they are good or bad and that there is no return.

Stages of the Hero's Journey

Once a hero passes the threshold, we begin the journey. On a hero’s quest, they face a series of challenges or temptations. Whichever the direction the voyage takes, our adventure puts us more and more at risk, emotionally and physically. At the beginning of the journey, the hero may have a mentor. John Paul’s mentor Jan Tyranowski. When John Paul’s father died, he had no immediate family and Tyranowski decided to put him under his wing. John Paul credited him as the person who caused him to recognize his vocation and reject an acting career(Scalia). The hero may also go through internal and external challenges. When John Paul was barely 19 years old, while still a university student Nazis reigned most of Poland and it caused his university to be closed down because of Nazi occupation. John Paul had to flee to Russia because of the invasion. He came back to Poland because Nazis have also invaded Russia. This is the challenge in the hero’s journey because he had to go through a series of challenges like fleeing his country and he had to hide his Catholic beliefs from the Nazis due to the killing of priests and deportations of priests. While in Poland, he also had to work at a factory to avoid being deported. He had joined UNIA, a movement that was trying to save Jews from the Holocaust. This was a major challenge because he could’ve died. He was risking his life. This adventure, in general, put him more at risk, emotionally and physically because he was risking his life trying to escape possible imprisonment and torture from Nazis.

In a hero’s journey, the return is when the hero brings his knowledge or the 'elixir' back to the ordinary world, where he applies it to help all who remain there(Harris). The essence of the return is to begin contributing to our society. The hero accepts what has come from about the journey and the hero also returns with a gift that is shared with the people the hero associated with before or during the hero’s journey. In mythology, some heroes return to save or renew their community. It can be thought of as the return of a renewed, better, and more experienced version of a hero once they face the steps. It can be deemed as the end of the journey. The gift brought and what Pope John Paul is known for is helping to end communism in Poland as well as the rest of Europe. John Paul continued the policy of Leo XIII and John XXIII of condemning both communism and capitalism. He traveled to multiple countries, aid to others. He applied his kindness to society. As he was rising to power as Archbishop, he was able to contribute to the end communism in Poland by spreading Christian philosophy through a series of poems, traveling to different countries across the globe. Because of his rise in power as well as his influential stance as a leader, his help to ending communism globally majorly contributed to his election as Pope. John Paul also contributed to society and brought back to the community, by creating World Youth Day. This was his return from the hero’s journey.

Conclusion

In the hero’s journey. the journeys evolve organically as a dialogue between oneself and the world. They explore the potentials, make a decision, and our journey unfolds. Pope John Paul II deeply reflects and entails the cycle of the hero’s journey because he has been some of the phases of the monomyth. Eventually, all hero’s follow the hero’s journey whether they are fictional or real. Pope John Paul II was a real hero.

Works Cited

1. Fredriksen, John C. “John Paul II.” Biographical Dictionary of Modern World Leaders: 1992–Present, Facts On File, 2003. History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=14368&itemid=WE53&articleId=254520.
2. “John Paul II.” Modern World History Biographies, Facts On File, 2016. Modern World History Online, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=14368&itemid=WE53&articleId=192092.
3. Mazurczak, Filip. “How St. John Paul II changed the Church and the world.” The Catholic World Report, 22 Oct. 2016, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2016/10/22/how-st-john-paul-ii-changed-the-church-and-the-world/.
4. Sarti, Roland. “John Paul II.” Italy, Facts On File, 2004. History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=14368&itemid=WE53&articleId=267861.
5. Walters, R. Dennis. “John Paul II.” Encyclopedia of the Contemporary World (1950 to Present), Facts On File, 2016. History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=0&itemid=&articleId=244264.