Flying home from Toronto last night I watched “Clash of the Titans.” Not a great movie by any metric, but, given where my brain has been in recent weeks, it served it’s purpose. You see I was reminded of the great lessons we humans, and especially leaders, can gain from myth. Importantly, myths are not fiction, although they are not factually or scientifically accurate, they are stories about how we connect with ourselves, the world, and our place in it and in that sense their meaning is true. Myth is a fundamental way to connect with our own great life journeys.
Virtually every great myth involves the following process;
1. The hero/heroine’s world is good and ‘normal’ and a dramatic change or force appears that s/he must face. (In ancient myth and modern film these are often monsters human or otherwise, but in truth they are external repesenations of forces that lurk within each of us.) If the hero/heroine do not face the monster, they die, or it will return to challenge them time and again, until they do face it.
2. In facing the change or force, the hero/heroine faces darkness, despair, pain and anguish. (The monster appears at first to be winning) They can stay in this place and die, (and sometimes do) or through learning the lessons of the suffering, they slowly gain wisdom.
3. They relish and enjoy the wisdom, and are excited about the possibilities and power they have gained after the ‘defeat’ of the monster or bad people). Another decision point however, if they stay here, they will wither and die. (It’s why in so many movies, the hero leaves town afterwards, s/he must continue their journey).
4. The last stage is when the hero/herione takes their new found widsom and brings it back into their life, and makes a difference in their world with it.
In any dramatic change in your life this same process repeats itself, time and time again. A challenge for us as humans, and especially as leaders, is to recognize the process, and to face the change or force (monster) face on, knowing that at first it will cause pain and anguish, and knowing that this is part of the journey. In the midst of that pain, ask yourself, what am I learning, who am I becoming, what is being strengthened, what is being purged? (And I know from my own journey that sometimes you’ll ask yourself those kinds of questions, and then simply reply “shut up, can’t you see I’m in pain here?” That’s ok too, but keep asking.) As you realize you’re learning and gaining wisdom, enjoy the experience of your new found clarity and wisdom. Relish in it, and then keep moving, and ask, how am I going to apply this? What good can I do with this new strength?
And then know, that these particular monsters may have been beaten, or beaten back, but they will return, to help us grow again, to help us gain new strength and new wisdom. And it is going on and returning from such journeys that our real strength and power as leaders will be found and cultivated. May each of us face a monster soon.