Dear D,

Charitably, we can regard the hero’s journey from a number of different, and quite valid, points of view. There’s no problem with this. Maybe it’s a myth of Growing Up (in Wilber’s sense); maybe one of Cleaning Up or Growing Up.

Earlier today, I offered one such interpretation, which seems straightforward. It is that taking myself to be a hero on a unique journey is just how maya–the enchanting spell that makes “the world” so fascinating to me–works. That’s OK. It’s good to see how the sausage is made.

From this point of view, seeing the hero’s journey as if this were what it’s like to put on a VR headset (to allude to a Donald Hoffman analogy) may offer me another “in” to self-inquiry, or atma vichara. Since this is how the dream unfurls, what makes possible the spider-like spinning-out of this dream web? If, in truth, I’m not a hero (I’m just one form in which Lord Shiva “experiences out”) and if, also in truth, this life is not a journey (it’s none other than the play, the revelry of Lord Shiva) in which I have some great task to perform, certain unique gifts to offer, then who or what am I?

With palms joined together,

Andrew