The Thirteen Thieves blog is about life, exploration of thoughts, glimpses into the lifestyle, motivation, grooming recommendations, and sometimes men's style and style staples.
In the 70s, when I first heard the phrase “follow your bliss,” popularized by mythologist Joseph Campbell, it immediately hooked my attention. In college, while studying the ancient wisdom teachings of the Upanishads, I heard the word “bliss” used frequently but never really stopped to consider what it meant in practical terms.
Read MoreWe might ask, why explore the Hero’s Journey? Sure, Hollywood uses it as their dominant story structure for its films (more on that later), but what relevance does it have for us as individuals? Today, when we speak of “myth,” we refer to something that’s commonly believed, but untrue. Myth, for people like Campbell and Jung however, had a much deeper meaning. Myths, for them, represent dreams of the collective psyche. That is, in understanding the symbolic meaning of a myth, you come to know the psychological undercurrent—including hidden motivations, tensions, and desires—of the people.
And because the hero’s journey represents a monomyth that we can observe in most, if not all, cultures, it represents a process that is relevant to the entire human family.
Read MoreHuman beings are hungry for an ultimate understanding, some kind of cosmic communion, a treasure at the end of the rainbow, a pot of gold. We all dive through the looking-glass, we all tumble down the rabbit hole with this idea that there will be some final answer, some ultimate meaning, some noetic quality that is rendered more real than everyday literal reality. Carl Sagan the astronomer, he used to say that "understanding is a kind of ecstasy.
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