Heroic Journey

It is helpful to view the process of cultivating BHI as a heroic journey.

It is helpful to some explorers of BHI to view the process of cultivating it as a heroic journey. Our journey in life is replete with obstacles and crises. The art of BHI and integral resilience is to learn to ride with them. The history of humankind is filled with archetypal role models beginning with Odysseus. Other epic historic figures are Hypatia, Cleopatra, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Madame Curie, Ella Fitzgerald, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Michael Tyson, and Mattie Stepanek; and in literature and film, Scarlet O’Hara, Moll Flanders, Jane Eyre, Beck Sharp, and Belizaire the Cajun. The bibliography contains a list of epic heroes, classical and modern, historic and fictional. But the real fun is to imagine yourself as the hero or heroine in your own very special life, surfing the waves. The Internet overflows with stories of ordinary people who have suffered terrible losses who preserved and rose to greatness. Their stories can soften our own travails and inspire us. (See for example the story of Mama Marie Goretti Amurere whose children were murdered and who saved her life by caring for the orphans of others).

Notes:

• Hypatia of Alexandria, Philosopher, Astronomer
• Her world ended when her kids were murdered. Raising dozens of orphans saved her life
• Mattie Stepanek, Peace activist
• Belizaire the Cajun

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