in the belly

As I mentioned, I am rereading Campbell’s The Power of Myth. Myth is so critical to Campbell because he sees, at their core, that “all myths have to deal with a transformation of consciousness of one kind or another.” In last Sunday’s post, I talked about venturing out and returning home; since then, I have reached Campbell’s section called “The Hero’s Adventure.”

Some heros are self-selected, deliberate adventurers; others are thrown to their challenges unwillingly; all will be transformed.

Campbell: That’s where they were, down in the belly of the whale.

Moyers: What’s the mythological significance of the belly?

Campbell: The belly is the dark place where digestion takes place and new energy is created. […] a mythic theme that is practically universal, of the hero going into a fish’s belly and ultimately coming out again, transformed.

Moyers: Why must the hero do that?

Campbell: It’s a descent into the dark. […] In the first stage of this kind of adventure, the hero leaves the realm of the familiar, over which he has some measure of control, and comes to a threshold […]. The conscious personality […] has to learn how to come to terms with this power of the dark and emerge, at last, to a new way of life. (Chapter 5)

For me, my thirties were a time of great adventure; they also contained times of great heartache, betrayal, doubt, and self-delusion. I came to realize at a certain point that I was actively trying to learn how to be okay with my shadowy, less desirable parts. Confronting them in the dark and then learning to either embrace and laugh at, methodically excise, or deliberately transform them was a project not for the faint of heart. It was a hero’s adventure. (And yes, it still goes on.)

What’s a darker part of yourself would you need to be trapped in the belly of a beast to confront? Is there a way you can step towards it compassionately?

Be well, beautiful people.