Moving into the Call to Adventure

We, Human beings are remarkable creatures. Out of all of nature we have the capacity to change, and change we must, we are constantly developing, and in the process of change. But what is remarkable is that we can self guide the direction of this process of change. As of yet we do not know of our pets having secret developmental schools, or changing their environment to suite them-selves, such as air conditioners, buildings, or temples. There is no evidence that cats or dogs have a belief system, that there is a Devine Dog that created all dogs in its image, or a Dali Lama cat sitting regally as the font of all wisdom. I know cats may act in this fashion adopting humans as slaves for their needs, this may be the evidence that all cats are wise. It is however the human imagination that have made movies to illustrate the battle between cats and dogs, attributing personality and a language that manufactures archetypal behavior for the animal characters in the movie.   By placing blame outside the person helps in creating coping strategies to deal with the evils around them, while keeping their self-esteem intact. However by the end of the Hero's journey the hero will learn that the source of control dwells within the decisions we make. By placing trust in the groups or therapist, creates movement away from the Orphan attitude towards adaptive skills and making decisions for themselves. Eventually they will see that they did it all them self (Pearson, 1989, p. 40).   To read the entire Posting please pay $8.00 Via PayPay. Add to cart and then you will see the Shopping cart on the top of the Left hand Menu. Then I will email the password to you for the entire posting. [wp_cart:Moving into the Call to Adventure:price:8.00:end]   Pearson, S. C. (1989). The Hero Within: Six archetypes we live by. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Moving into the Call to Adventure

We, Human beings are remarkable creatures. Out of all of nature we have the capacity to change, and change we must, we are constantly developing, and in the process of change. But what is remarkable is that we can self guide the direction of this process of change. As of yet we do not know of our pets having secret developmental schools, or changing their environment to suite them-selves, such as air conditioners, buildings, or temples. There is no evidence that cats or dogs have a belief system, that there is a Devine Dog that created all dogs in its image, or a Dali Lama cat sitting regally as the font of all wisdom. I know cats may act in this fashion adopting humans as slaves for their needs, this may be the evidence that all cats are wise. It is however the human imagination that have made movies to illustrate the battle between cats and dogs, attributing personality and a language that manufactures archetypal behavior for the animal characters in the movie.   Unlike our Neanderthal predecessor that only have a very limited design of tools for more than 100,000 years, we make new tools and devises every week. With the influences of the world around us and our own imagination we are capable to not only change the world around us, or how we interact with the world around us, we can change our views, beliefs, our perspectives of the world, and our attitudes about situations, and the world around us. It is with the Theory on Mind that humans can anticipate the wants, desires, and actions of others. Furthermore with our prefrontal lobe gives us the power to visually simulate an experience before the experience happens in reality, which no other creature now or in the past can or could do. With this we have the capacity to practice any behaviour in out imagination and be come more proficient at that behaviour than anyone that have just stared practicing in reality. Though it is our limiting thoughts, the Cop in the Head, the Perceptual Inertia, the Mind Trap that stops us believing that we are capable of change, the schemas that we have developed prevents us from taking the leap of drastic change, and it is others that instil the self views we have that makes minor changes difficult. The resistance to change hinge on what we have built to be seen as "our life" as unchanging, developed by the idea of "devil we know is better than the devil we don't know".

There are the gradual changes that we do not recognise as change and then there are the fast changes that come over night. Like wise there are changes that are self initiated, to those changes that are initiated by others. Here are the extremes, the polar opposite of change, but all combinations are possible with different speeds and different levels of self agency. The slowest form of change that is out of our control is the journey from birth to death, but here we will talk of the practical view of moving towards the call to adventure, which is part of the Mono Myth of J Campbell's The Hero's Journey. Which is potentially counter intuitive to human behaviour, we are more likely to move towards things or events that feel good and shy away from things or events that feel bad, also known as operant conditioning.

Though this is a story of change, it is also a story of your life and the countless amounts of changes we go through in our lift. As you are unique among the unique, the stuff you are made of have been in existence have been in existence from the beginning of time, stars had to be born and die for all the atoms and molecules that you are made of. You are unique in the face that you are the only one in existence in the entire universe that has your unique DNA and your experiences. You are the Hero of your life because you do not know life from any other perspective, you see life from your 5 senses' and no others. Thus, as you have life, you are destined to change, and fated to move on beyond life.     Moving towards change is a buildup of all the past decisions to the point that a change must come. We habituate to the life we live to the point that a craving comes to take on something new, for better or for worse. The decisions we make can stall change, or bring it on with vigor, wanted or unwanted. To give substance to what I have talked about in a practical manner, let me tell you a story. I ran a successful auction house, selling items from deceased estates, proceeds of crime, government assets, unredeemed pawnbroker items, bankruptcies, and general items that people wanted selling. I was proud of my skills, and worked hard in every aspect of my business. I loaded my 8 tone Issus truck with furniture and white goods, all too soon I saw myself doing this till retirement, only seeing small amounts of further success. The decision to work harder and longer was a decision I soon regretted, but that regret soon became a blessing once I accepted the call to adventure. But the time between that decision of working harder and longer and the call to adventure were many months, almost a year. At times I would spend more time in the truck, going alone to save wages, I would travel 300 kilometers to pick up stock and then return to unload the truck, just to get back into the driver's seat and travel once again to get more stock. When I got tiered I would sleep in the truck, and only eat when the truck got refilled with fuel. The strength I had in my body, and the skill of handling stock knowing the fulcrum point as to shift stock with ease, I continued to work. As you can guess I accumulated a back problem and then sciatica pains were shooting down my leg to my toes, I could hardly walk, sitting down for a long time hurt, laying down hurt. I went to my Doctor, and he wanted to send me to surgery, I then went to two other Doctors, they gave me the same response. I eventually was taken to a chiropractor by a customer and after 2 months he got me walking pain free, with a warning that if I continue lifting heavy furniture I will need surgery. I refused to slow down with my business, though I did not overdo my lifting. Within a year the call to adventure came knocking at my door, and I had to take it because my body could not keep up with my will. You may see a pattern that may be the same here as there may be in your life or someone you may know. Now that I work with people with substance addiction. So to like my story many addicts have the same path to the call to adventure to change their ordinary life into something ells. I will now create a character "John" that is a synthesis of several clients that I have looked after. John is a Nurse, in charge of a unit of nurses, each weekend he goes out with some friends to the pub to have a good time and escape from reality for a time. Soon he is drinking during the week. John's decision to drink after work loosens his inhibitions to facilitate an affair with a co-worker, hiding it from his wife. John's drinking reduces a little, but his affair grows, using the excuse that he needs to work back late, or he is going out with his mates. Every time John meets his co-worker is a decision that leads him down a path of his own making, sooner or later John will come to a call to adventure. John's wife soon finds out about the affair and an argument that almost splits the marriage occurs. John promises that it will not happen again, but he does go to the pub and drinks too much. John starts his car and drives home from the pub, the police pulls him up and books him with drink driving. This is John's first offense and he is fined and required to do some community service. John settles back into his old life, he goes to work and home each day, and drinks with his mates on the weekend. Full of self-pity one day he calls on his co-worker to rekindle the affair. With that decision he starts the affair, wanting more in his life, to feel that hint of a thrill and a tender touch of another, other than his wife. Well you guessed it, his wife finds out once again, but this time she leaves with the children. Once again John is full of self pity, once again he drinks too much, and once again he is caught by the police. Thus John's call to adventure is just on the horizon.   It was from a story such as this I came up with the name "Ripple Affect". All too often we only look at the last decision for the consequences that we now suffer. All too often we blame others for the fiats that befall us. A series of decisions repeated time after time are the cause of that what we suffer or take pleasure in. Thus, we very rely take responsibility for the original decision and all the decisions following, because we cannot remember the first decision and think that following decisions are not of our making. Decisions we make follow us for a long time, we should hope that these decisions have favorable consequences. If they are favorable the call to adventure will not be so hard to fulfill, though if it is unfavorable the call to adventure becomes so much more difficult. It is here on our approaching the start of the Hero's journey we feel like an Orphan. We were living in relative peace with our surroundings knowing our role in place of our home, job, and friends, enacting the Innocent archetype. The Innocent in secure in their life, knowing that their needs are being meet, and that a routine is being upheld in a sense. Though it is now in this time of upheaval that stability and routine is upset, we need to deal with something new, we are being called to adventure. However just before we feel like a victim of life. We take on the archetypical role of the Orphan. C Person (1989, pp. 25-50) describes the Orphan archetype as a person ripped out of security, asking the questions "why me?", "Why do I have to suffer like this?", feeling abandoned, betrayed, and outraged, though still wanting to go on this journey in part. Though the adventure of the Hero has not yet begun, some people try old trick to correct the unbalancing of their world. C Person (1989, pp. 25-50) argues that a pseudo-Warrior emerges in our behaviour to make things right, forcing their will on others to correct the damage, to bring stability back into their lives. In my years as a therapist I know of several females that have done just that. I recall two girls doing the same thing but for two different reasons, but in essence it was about controlling their partner. Firstly one girl was about to loose their partner because she did not let him discipline her children yet the children were running a muck and walking all over her partner. He had enough and wanted out of the relationship. So when the time came that he was going to leave her, she took enough tablets, yet knowingly not enough to dye, so she would be hospitalised, manipulating him into staying with her. I must say that this worked for another two years, but his animosity towards her grow to the point that he left, and never talked to her again. Likewise another girl wanted her partner to give up using drugs, so she cut her wrists to manipulate him in giving up drugs. However in this case the ploy did not work, so she joined him in using drugs. Now that relationship is over because of the drugs and a bad relationship, but now she has a drug habit that she is having difficulties stopping. The same happened to me, the pseudo-Warrior emerged. When I had a bad back, I went to Doctors, Osteopaths, and massage therapists, till I went to a Chiropractor that got me waling without pain, but still I wanted to be an Auctioneer and get back to my way of life. Yet I was told by each professional I went to that I needed to stop the work I was doing otherwise I will end up living in a wheelchair, but did I listen? No. Being in this pre-Adventure Orphan stage we are so self-absorbed that the feelings and words of others mean nothing (Pearson, 1989, p. 31). The Orphan will walk all over others to get back to a safe feeling, and not trust anyone that can help. Yet all the people that are trying to help are mentors trying to help you grow out of this stage to take on an adventure. As the Orphan within us starts to mellow out and start to trust the world and the people in it, the Orphan will accept a mentor and see that the mentor is trying to help. Mentors do not come out of the blue, they are all around us at the beginnings of the Hero's Journey, it is that the Orphan will not see them because the Orphans are so busy blaming the world for their problems and are so self-absorbed trying to bring safety back by our selves. C Person (1989, pp. 25-50) calls the mentor a rescuer, what ever the name we give the mentor, the mentor gives hope to the Orphan that safety is imminent and can give practical answers that help. The mentor give the Orphan a sense of stability and a reliable person that can be trusted to supply answers and company in a time of feeling lost. The mentor can be your mother, father, brother, sister, lover, counsellor, therapist, AA Sponsor, etc. The Orphan will accept the mentor so much that the mentor will be able to point out any failings that the Orphan needs to work on, and the Orphan will take on these constructive criticisms and work on them (Pearson, 1989, p. 37). The Orphan does this because the mentor is seen as a source of Love and Hope, and a guiding spirit (Pearson, 1989, p. 37). The Orphan does not see them self as responsible for their fall from security, but blames the situation or the people around them, it is the mentor that guides them back to taking responsibility for their decisions. I have adopted Person's (1989) archetype of the Orphan because to describe the attitude of the person at the moment just before the Call to Adventure comes to the Hero. Within my work of being a drug and alcohol therapist, I hear it all the time that clients constantly blame others for their own bad choices. It is the Partners fault, the Parents fault, the fault of the Police, the legal system let them down. Best of all stories are the clients that are kicked out of Rehab because they smuggled drugs into the Rehab and then blame the staff for kicking them out of rehab. These people break the rules of rehabs or detox centres lie to get out of trouble make it hard for them self and for others around them. Alternative a social inequality will be blamed whether real or imagined, thus substance use, ageist, sexist, racist, religious discrimination in others, or either God or the devil will be blamed for their misfortune (Pearson, 1989, pp. 37-39). If this person will not listen to a mentor or realise that they are stuck in an attitude that is maladjusted for them the Orphan and will be stuck in this role. Ironically there are groups organised to help the Orphan attitude and help them place greater blame on their perceived enemy (Pearson, 1989, p. 40). By placing blame outside the person helps in creating coping strategies to deal with the evils around them, while keeping their self-esteem intact. However by the end of the Hero's journey the hero will learn that the source of control dwells within the decisions we make. By placing trust in the groups or therapist, creates movement away from the Orphan attitude towards adaptive skills and making decisions for themselves. Eventually they will see that they did it all them self (Pearson, 1989, p. 40). That will be the boon that we will talk about latter in this text. Like my Grandfather told me, "the only enemy you have is the one you look at in the mirror". Likewise my Grandmother told me another saying that means the same thing. "If a horse would know its own power, no human could tame it". We need to learn for our self the power that we have, the self belief at this stage on our journey is needs enhancing, that is why we take the journey. It is the self belief, and new skill that we gain, gives growth to our life and is the success of the hero.    

Bibliography

Pearson, S. C. (1989). The Hero Within: Six archetypes we live by. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.    

Feelings and Behaviour

You cannot feel your way into good behavour,

But

You can behave your way into good feelings.

  In other words fake it fake it till you make it. Our behaviour dose control our feelings and the way people interact with us.

AA Australia Unity Recovery Group meeting room

I have a list of Detox Centers and Rehabs for people of Drug and Alcohol addiction on this web site. But here is a great place to go to an AA meeting without leaving home. AA Australia Unity Recovery Group meeting room By using another program that is very much like Skype, you can meet these people and talk (not type) to them and have a AA meeting online. All you need to do in download Paltalk from their web site, register for free. Once you have down loaded the program have a look in the "View all chat Rooms" and under "Health" you will find a list of rooms in "Overcoming Addiction"   Have fun  

The decisions we make dictate the lives we live

The decisions we make dictate the lives we live.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Brian Goldman: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that?

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