Hi Felix
Did you ever get a chance to view the YouTube movie FINDING JOE? I really do think that you might find it interesting if not helpful.

I should leave the comment at that… but want to say something about the word ‘G o d’ which ought to transcend all words and duality. Its true  the word ‘God’  to day is associated with a Santa Clause like being ,judging the good and the bad, rewarding and pushing the good and the bad – reward and punishment theology.

Yet every wisdom tradition (when allowed to speak to the heart) points out that such a limited view of G_d is at best unskillful, (if useful politically But then we are talking about something else not G_d).  When the word ‘G_d’ allowed to be a holding place for that which transcends the language and opposites… now we might learn something.  The language of religion and the wisdom traditions is a language of symbol, pottery and song. a language that is meant to point past it self, to something greater then the words them selves (the word ‘tree’ is not a tree, the word ‘God’ is not G_d. )

All words are symbols and a wonderous world opens up when we learn to read and ‘see’ by looking past the words. For example even a simple story like Cinderella transforms from being about a prince that saves a princess, to a heroic story about overcoming depression, or working through the dark night of the soul where the end goal of the story is the “Alchemical Marriage” between ones Being and Doing, ones Thinking and Feeling, the union of duality.

When I read your post, the call to the hero journey screams out to me…. The question at the heart of the quest is “How am I responding to Life as it Is, to the Universe as it is, to G_d as it is if you will. The question I hear you asking in your posts is similar, How should I respond to Life as it is?

My own experience is that when I answer that question with a ‘No get me off this ride’ or ‘No I can fix’ I will  end up frustrated, disappointed and or depressed.  Fighting against the flow of life as it is, is exhausting! A answer of Yes, accepting Life as it is, the wonders and horrors, allows one to enter into the flow of that which is. This Yes is not a giving up but a engagement with life.  It may feel counter intuitive, yet It is when we are in the Flow of that which ‘is as it is’ that we have the opportunity to influence it as we may hope it to be. This I believe is the Zen art of doing by not doing. You can’t fight your way out of the rip-tide, you can “influence” your way out by working with it…

I know easier said then done.  To the question ‘How should I respond to Life as it is’ it seems to me that you have rejected the answer of No while not fully embracing YES. Now the task is accepting what it means to say Yes, that is the hero journey.

“What is it we are questing for? It is the fulfillment of that which is potential in each of us. Questing for it is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself. There is nothing you can do that’s more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way you will find, live, become a realization of your own personal myth.”

“Make your god transparent to the transcendent, and it doesn’t matter what his name is.” — Joseph Campbell

Hi Felix

The movie did simplify Campbells work focusing mostly on the surface of the Hero Journey and only hinted at the deeper question all Hero’s face. How to respond to Life As It Is.  Campbells work looks through the words of myth (symbolic language, transparent to the transcendent ) for deeper meanings. Objective language tends to be liner and limiting.

I would argue that the world we ‘live’ in isn’t the objective “real” one of the five senses. but a subjective inner one.  We have experiences that are of the five senses but then filter them through our expectations, fears, hopes… turning them into a subjective inner personal experience.  What is real? The actual event in which we actually have very limited knowledge of (we just think we have all the facts), or the inner one which we actually engage with. In trying to understand our experiences we turn them into stories and like dreams, when we look through the words we use, point to deeper truths. Chose the better story.

We work for that which no work is required and so we go around in circles. We experience both the objective and subjective worlds and live in neither. Demanding that only one be ‘real’ trying to force Life to conform. It is easy to experience inner peace sitting alone quietly by a lake… and then we have to prepare our supper only to discover we forgot to bring food. Life has demands on us regardless of our desires and intentions. We must eat.  The trick is to remain sitting quietly by a like while fully engaged in Life as it Is. This is the still point of being which is dancing with Life. Those words won’t mean anything unless one heads the Call of the hero journey, allowing the stories we tell (our way of being) to be transparent to the transcendent. It is the still point where acceptance is already and always present.

Not having someone close to talk things over with our inner conversation often turns dark. Projection is often a attempt to escape these dark thoughts however that usually takes us out of ourselves .

I found checking my thinking and writing for cognitive discordance (becoming more mindful of how my thoughts  manifested) helpful. My tendency is to overgeneralize, all or nothing thinking, catastrophizing and thinking I Knew what others were thinking. I also keep an eye out for victims and villain stories. The intention is to notice and not judge myself.

The interview or company may or may not be looking for geniuses, however you can’t know that, or likely define what geniuses means to those representing the company in the interview.   I suspect a ‘fit’ would include personality and ability with personality often more important assuming the candidate has a good working foundation and ability to learn.

The best interview I ever had was one in which when I arrived and looked around thought no way would they hire me. However, instead of choking I had the thought that I had nothing to lose. I was relaxed, enthusiastic and engaged in active listening which create more of a conversation vibe. I surprised myself and got the job.

This corresponds with suicidal thoughts. One if you really wished you were dead you would have nothing to lose so might as well be yourself and let go of the anxiety which isn’t helpful ( some anxiety can be helpful). In dream/symbolic language the ‘desire to die’ is a desire for change and recognizing that all change requires a  dying.  The letting go of the old to create space for the new. (the old often becoming fertilizer for the new). To the ego change is often experienced as if one was actually going to physically die and so the ego resists change even as the subconscious push toward authentic self.  We find ourselves wishing to die and at the same time afraid to die. Subconscious communicates though a langue of  symbol and will use dreams of death or even suicidal thoughts to communicate that a moment of birth is possible if we let go of our fear and ego… scary stuff.

In the above context the thoughts of wanting to die don’t have to be taken as suicidal thoughts but the reaffirmation that you are really seeking growth.