Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
* On the Hero *
~*~
PROLOGUE:
THE MONOMYTH
1. Myth and Dream 3
2. Tragedy and Comedy 25
3. The Hero and the God 30
4. The World Navel 40
PART I:
THE ADVENTURE OF THE HERO
CHAPTER I:
DEPARTURE
1. The Call to Adventure 49
2. Refusal of the Call 59
3. Supernatural Aid 69
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold 77
5. The Belly of the Whale 90
CHAPTER II:
INITIATION
1. The Road of Trials 97
2. The Meeting with the Goddess 109
3. Woman as the Temptress 120
4. Atonement with the Father 126
5. Apotheosis 149
6. The Ultimate Boon 172
CHAPTER III:
RETURN
1. Refusal of the Return 193
2. The Magic Flight 196
3. Rescue from Without 207
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold 217
5. Master of the Two Worlds 229
6. Freedom to Live 238
CHAPTER IV:
THE KEYS
*
PART II:
THE COSMOGONIC CYCLE
CHAPTER I:
EMANATIONS
1. From Psychology to Metaphysics 255
2. The Universal Round 261
3. Out of the Void—Space 269
4. Within Space—Life 273
5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold 281
6. Folk Stories of Creation 289
CHAPTER II:
THE VIRGIN BIRTH
1. Mother Universe 297
2. Matrix of Destiny 302
3. Womb of Redemption 308
4. Folk Stories of Virgin Motherhood 311
CHAPTER III:
TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE HERO
1. The Primordial Hero and the Human 315
2. Childhood of the Human Hero 318
3. The Hero as Warrior 334
4. The Hero as Lover 342
5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant 345
6. The Hero as World Redeemer 349
7. The Hero as Saint 354
8. Departure of the Hero 356
CHAPTER IV:
DISSOLUTIONS
1. End of the Microcosm 365
2. End of the Macrocosm 374
EPILOGUE:
MYTH AND SOCIETY
1. The Shapeshifter 381
2. The Function of Myth, Cult, and Meditation 382
3. The Hero Today 387
The mythological hero, setting forth from his commonday hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntary proceeds, to the threshold of adventure.
There he encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark (brother-battle, dragon battle; offering, charm) or be slain by the opposition and descend in death (dismemberment, crucifixion).
Beyond the threshold, then, the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him (tests), some of which give magical aid (helpers).
When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the hero's sexual union with the goddess-mother of the world (sacred marriage), his recognition by the father-creator (father atonement), his own divination (apotheosis), or again--if the powers have remained unfriendly to him--his theft of the boon he came to gain (bride-theft, fire theft); intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being (illumination, transfiguration, freedom).
The final work is that of the return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary); if not, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight, obstacle flight). At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread (return, resurrection. The boon that he brings restores the world (elixir).
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