Senior Breakfast – CHS – May 15, 2009
GOOD MORNING CLASS OF 2009!
And also a good morning and welcome to all our gathered BOE members (name them), faculty, and staff. Most especially, those who have graciously prepared food for your body and those who have offered prayers and song to feed your spirit. I hope for the next few minutes, that I can feed your intellect once last time. Plato’s harmonic balance of mind, body and spirit.
I am truly honored and humbled that you have chosen me to offer the last official words of wisdom from a faculty member before you “Walk the Line” Sunday afternoon. The last two weeks, I have contemplated what to say in less than 15 minutes. As the hundred, or so, of you who have had my classes know, I believe that we show our values by how we spend our time and money. So, just like I have asked you to do, I have used Bloom’s taxonomy as my guide. I have tried to synthesize the concepts that bind our lives together as human beings. Then I evaluated, for quite some time, which one is most important to use the limited time we have together.
I will try to explain it and then name it.
In the 1950’s there was a television show called “This Is Your Life”. A celebrity guest came out on the stage and was presented a scrapbook of their life. One after another, voices came from beyond a curtain telling of some incident in the guest’s life. After each tale, the speaker would reveal themselves and the guest would be overwhelmed. A common theme was the impact the guest had made on others’ lives by little things which had long since been forgotten, and vice-versa.
As you prepare to leave high school and embark on your life journey, I want to present you with a vision called “This Can Be Your Life”. Actually, it is a story you have already begun, and you can choose now to be “The Hero of Your Own Story”! In reality, you have already begun this story, and the future is just a continuation.
Joseph Campbell, author of Hero With a Thousand Faces, the inspiration for the Star Wars trilogy, calls this the Hero’s Journey. He uses ancient hero myths to illustrate man's eternal struggle for identity. In the end we die alone with ourselves after a lifetime of struggle – struggle to truly know ourselves and recognize the truth.
The basic stages of the Hero’s Journey can be understood as Loss, Search, and Redemption. Although there are scholastic centers and Institutes that break these ideas into more detail, the basic three will suffice for today. Just like my anatomy students understand a system is simply an aggregate of the smallest structural and functional units, the Hero’s Journey is not only our individual story but it is the story of civilizations and the Cosmos as well. It is our collective story. It is THE STORY. We all share, at the deepest spiritual level, a common experience of human existence. To know each other is to know ourselves. Be the Hero of Your Own Story!
For example, I tell a story in my class about a young man who became a pilgrim seeking the truth and the meaning of life . . . . . . . . . . . ..
A young man set off on a pilgrimage to find the meaning of life. He wandered for 10 years until he came upon a small cabin on the top of a distant mountain where lived a wise sage. He knocked, and a voice answered, “Who’s that at my door?” The pilgrim replied, “It’s me!” “Go away said the voice, you’re not ready to learn anything” The pilgrim departed.
He wandered among the plants and creatures for another 10 years until once again he was at the cabin door. He knocked, and a voice answered, “Who’s that at my door?” The pilgrim replied, “It’s me!” “Go away.” said the voice, you’re not ready to learn anything”
The pilgrim departed and
wandered high and low among the peoples of the earth until he once again was at
the little cabin door. He knocked, and a voice answered, “Who’s that at my
door?” The pilgrim replied, “It’s YOU!”.
“Come in myself.”
How does this story manifest itself? In the beginning we experience, consciously or unconsciously, a great loss: lost opportunities, loved ones, health, security and safety, innocence, social structure, morality. For example, we all experience the loss of our youth – it begins with puberty. Mostly, as we travel we lose important parts of ourselves that had made us whole. We become spiritually and emotionally fragmented.
Usually, the knowledge, or awareness, of our deepest Loss comes to us a small still voice from the distant past. Although some individuals are made aware through cataclysmic events, most of us hear the voices of the past through great music, art, poetry, literature, philosophy and cross-cultural stories. The messages contained in these works have stood the test of time because they speak to the basic human spiritual condition, across cultures and across civilizations.
The second stage of your life may seem like a constant Search for meaning and purpose in your loss. It is actually a search for one’s lost self. This is no more evident than when one leaves adolescence and enters adulthood. Somewhere along the way, a reflective or introspective person will find that the search is a never-ending cycle of smaller searches that repeat themselves. Understanding this is critical to being The Hero of Your Own Story!! Victor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor, tells us that the meaning of life – any life – is the meaning we give it. In my own life, that is why I established the scholarship in Valerie Brown’s name.
In mythology, the Hero is called from the past to recover themselves (or an object, such as Parsifal’s Holy Grail) and redeem the world, through a series of trials. This can include overcoming monsters and sorcerer’s, great disasters, cunning opponents and long periods of loneliness. Each trial, is in and of itself, a mini-Hero’s Journey that repeats itself.
The Hero is often called to the search by a voice from the past who directs him (or her) to a mentor. The mentor may provide our Hero with a talisman, an instrument or secret he can use along the way. Used correctly, the talisman aids our Hero in overcoming all obstacles (Excalibur, light saber, etc.). He enters another world and returns a citizen of both and shares his secret with those he left behind – This Redemption is also called Restoration. Carl Jung describes this redemption as a psychological process that is an inner journey of individuation. Where the fragmented parts of a person are reconciled into a whole and healthy self. In making this inner journey, the awareness of loss is termed consciousness. The ultimate Hero’s Journey is an inner journey manifested by our behaviors. As we learn about ourselves our behaviors change.
In mythology, a typical portrayal of redemption is when our Hero restores the kingdom to its original state. This is also the story of the great religions, cultures and civilizations. It is the story of the Cosmos! You see it in movies, in books and in art, and it speaks to you deeply in a way you may feel, but not yet understand. It is also YOUR story, when you are restored to all you were meant to be – fully human and aware, or conscious. You can be The Hero of Your Own Story!
One of the critical components of The Story is the period(s) of loneliness – a time in the wilderness. Another is that light is provided during this time. Light that cuts through the darkness of depression, lies and abandonment. The story is the same whether it is the story of religions or the legends of the Odyssey or King Arthur. Luke Skywalker had a light saber, and Moses had a guiding pillar of fire. What will you have during the wilderness of your life?
As your mentor – as Yoda in disguise – I suggest that it is the light of education. The truly educated never graduate! The symbol of education is the torch of enlightenment. The enlightenment symbolized by the Olympic Torch that we are all one in our humanity. The torch held by the Volunteer statue at the University of Tennessee, that speaks “expand your mind!”
Education is the light that cuts through darkness and reveals the truth. The truth of who we are. The truth of the world in which we live. The truth sent to us from those who went before.The truth that we are sharing the same journey. As the cartoon says, “Be kind, we are all carrying heavy burdens.”
So how do you learn the lessons that will be put before you? Again, one way is to pay attention to those who have gone before. They have great wisdom for you. Great wisdom will be all around you. Great art, great music, great literature – the things that have stood the test of time and are classics. What is a classic? Why do people of many cultures and generations value these creations? It is because they speak to basic human attributes – or archetypes. If you pay close attention, they all contrast light and dark and tell of the Hero’s Journey to navigate among them. Educate yourself in the liberal arts, as well science. Read, listen to great music such as Wagner’s 1852 opera The Ring Cycle, study other cultures, travel to other countries and most of all – look for pieces of yourself in everyone and everything. “Come in myself!”
The truly educated never graduate because they understand the value of life-long learning to their own spirtual, emotional and intellectual health. I also live the Hero’s Journey. Each year, I lose my students and the relationships I have with them. Each new year I have a quest to establish new relationships, and I find redemption/restoration in each new one. Along the way, I learn more about myself, because I find myself in you.
In closing, I
want to revisit some quotes from my web site that illustrate how sages of the
past and present understand the Hero’s Journey:
The study of myth is the search for
that which connects us most deeply with our own nature and our place in the
world.
. . . . Angeles Arrien . . .
Dr. Angeles Arrien, cultural anthropolgist, tells us that the
critical study of mythology is a window to understanding our Hero’s Journey
People pay for what they do, and still
more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it
simply: by the lives they lead.
-James Baldwin-
Author James Baldwin
suggests that how we lead our life is a choice and there is a price to
pay for the decisions we make. Some people decide not to be the
Hero of their Own Story.
The Prisoner of Chillon
is a 392-line narrative poem by Lord Byron. Written in 1816, it chronicles the
imprisonment of a Genovois monk, François Bonivard, from 1532 to 1536. The last
four lines are:
My very
chains and I grew friends,
So such a
long communion tends
To make
us what we are - even I
Regained
my freedom with a sigh.
--
Lord Byron --
The fear of the unknown is one of the greatest barriers to change. For an
alcoholic or drug addict, it takes a realization of loss – that any change is
for the better – fear of the present is stronger.
The metaphysical poet John Donne tells us that we are all part of humanity,
and to accept this is part of the Redemption. Hemingway took the title for a
famous book from Donne.
No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of
the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory
were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine
own were.
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am
involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the
bell tolls
it tolls for thee.
- - John Donne - -
T.S. Elliot simply summarizes the journey in his poem Little Gidding,
We shall never cease from exploring,
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to return to where we started
And know it for the first time
--- T.S. Elliott --
As you go forward on your personal Hero’s Journey keep in mind the words of
Paul Coelho:
"Remember that wherever your heart is, there you
will find your treasure. You've got to find the treasure, so that everything you
have learned along the way can make sense."
- Paulo Coelho,
The Alchemist
In my own journey, this is why I teach – so that all I have done
before makes sense. I hope at the end of your quest it will all make sense.
Next to last, Sir Thomas Browne writes that at the end; when we look back on
our life we will see the power that carried us on our quest.
"Surely there are in everyone's life certain
connections, twists and turns which pass awhile under the category of Chance,
but at last, well examined, prove to be the very hand of God."
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici,
And lastly, your journey, your quest, is a choice and love is the answer.
Knowledge can be
passed along from person to person like a baton in a race, but the pursuit of
knowledge, and love for the pursuit of knowledge, that particluar passion, can
only be chosen -
Sue Halpern, Four Wings and a Prayer
So now Class of 2009
You have a choice to make – to recognize this call or stay lost in ignorance
You are called to be the Hero of Your Own Story. You are called to leave your youth and become part of the world. You are called to pick up the light of life-long education and beat back the darkness of fear, despair, prejudice, intolerance and war (on yourself and others). You are called to discover yourself in others. You are called to change the world by changing yourself.
But first you must come to truly know yourself. This is your quest.
You will have many questions along the way. Love, not fear, will always be the answer.
So, take up the armor and light that you have received at Clinton High School and be on your way. BE THE HERO OF YOUR OWN STORY.
“Come In Myself!”