The Hero's Path

I'm currently reading a book by Joseph Campbell called "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." The book discusses myths from all over the world and cites the common elements they share. According to Campbell, the hero in all world myths goes through several stages in his/her journey. The first is the call to the journey which the hero may either accept or decline. Once the hero accepts the task, he/she must go through trials that test the hero. Once the hero succeeds in the tasks set for him/her, the hero emerges triumphant and transformed. The hero must then return to his/her home, bringing his/her reward to the people to transform their own lives and the world in which they live.

These stages common to all myths are also the stages of our lives as "everyday people." We are all called to be transforming forces in this world. Accepting this task is terrifying and a lot of people choose not to accept the task and either refuse to "grow up" or get absorbed into the mundane routine of the world. Those who do accept the task fight a constantly uphill battle against the "evil of the world" be it corruption in all human institutions, physical illness, mental anguish or constant despair. I think a lot of people I know are actually in the midst of these battles right now, myself included. But, according to the myths, we must persevere and we will succeed, with our own abilities and the help of others sent to our aid. And once the task is done, we will emerge as heroes, with the power to change the world for the better good of all humankind.

Meditations on pottery

Clay is a very interesting medium. It's basically mud... the stuff we played with us kids that made us all dirty. It's wet and soft. And it can be turned into anything from a mud pie to a work of art. I've always been familiar with the "You are the potter, I am the clay" metaphor that all Christians know, but it really did nothing for me. I liked the image of The Refiner's Fire much better, until I started pottery.

Although clay is really soft and malleable, it changes immensely once you put it on the wheel. The first step in making anything on a potter's wheel is centering your ball of clay. This is one of the hardest things to do. You basically try to get the ball into the center of the wheel by pushing and pulling the ball. Then you have to press down into the ball to compact the clay. It takes a lot of strength and effort to do this because you are basically fighting against the clay ball the whole time. The soft blob suddenly becomes a force to reckon with, once it's on that spinning wheel. Once the ball is centered, you can start pulling it into the shape you want. You have to do this really gently and slowly or else you'll get an uneven shape, or even worse, a collapsed or broken form. Then once you get the shape you want, you have to cut the formed shape off of the wheel, transfer it to a flat surface and let it dry so it becomes hard. You then trim the pot to get the final shape, paint and decorate it, and finally fire it to get your ceramic.

I think this accurately describes how God shapes us. I never liked the idea that people were soft balls of clay, all ready to be shaped and molded, but now I see that that soft ball is really difficult to deal with. It has a mind of it's own and will not submit until forced to do so by a strong, skilled potter. Once it submits though, it can be turned into not only beautiful, but useful pieces that are necessary for everyday living.