Heroes and Mystics 2025

  In class, we talked about Jesus and Christianity as an example of myth. Myths and martyrs are dangerous to systems of control because even if they’re suppressed, they can survive and grow stronger. They last because they’re tied to belief, memory, and emotion---things you can’t fully erase. That’s what makes them more powerful than systems built on forced order or control. Even though much of the early church died gruesome deaths, and were consistently ordered to stop spreading the gospel, the "myth" of Jesus has continued for over 2000 years.      In Frank Herbert's  Dune , we see something similar. The Bene Gesserit know how powerful myths can be, and instead of waiting for one to form naturally, they build one on purpose. Through the Missionaria Protectiva , they plant stories and prophecies across different cultures, preparing the world for someone to fulfill the one part they can't fabricate, the living, breathing "savior" who must be visible and prov...

  THE JOURNEY INWARD The movie Inception has to be one of the best movies in existence. I mean, it has action, psychological thriller, puzzles, existential crises, and of course Leonardo DiCaprio. It depicts a team of spies who travel in disguise and trick foreign adversaries into spilling their deepest, darkest secrets. The best part? It all happens inside their minds. They get them while they’re asleep and infiltrate their dreams—raw, unfiltered information left unprotected by an unconscious brain. Here’s the challenge: If they die in the dream world, then they die in the real world. This dangerous and secretive work has kept the protagonist, Cobb, away from his children for a long time and he accepts one last mission before giving it up. One stark difference that stands out from the beginning is that while oftentimes heroes are depicted as venturing OUT into the unknown, Cobb must venture INWARD and learn about the inner workings of the consciousness if he wants to survive. He m...

     In Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, the threshold marks the moment when the hero leaves the safety of the known works and steps into the unknown. This step is essential in every heroic journey because it begins the transformation process. The threshold is both literal and symbolic; physically, it can be seen when Odysseus sets sail from Ithaca or when Moana leaves her island to restore the heart of Te Fiti. But more than just change in location, crossing the threshold also represents deep emotional and psychological risk. It means stepping away from comfort, security, and familiarity to face uncertainty and challenge. This leap is what forces the hero to grow. Moreover, every hero must cross the boundary because true growth and self-discovery only happen beyond the edges of what is known and comfortable.

     These days, many people enjoy talking about astrology and how their personalities align with their star signs. However, that does not mean the stars define who someone is. Growing up, zodiac signs were everywhere; on websites, social media, magazines, and more, shaping how people viewed themselves and others. But it is important to note that astronomy, the scientific study of celestial bodies, does not support astrology’s claims about personality. Over time, constellations have shifted making many astrological placements outdated or inaccurate. Ultimately, identity is far too complex to be reduced to a birth chart. People should seek to understand themselves through self-reflection, personal experiences, and relationships, not cosmic labels. While astrology can be fun or insightful for some, it should not define who we are.

 For my final blog post, I wanted to end with a topic I wrote about in the beginning of the semester: Percy Jackson. In my first essay, I touched upon his “demigodness” but after reading Somewhere I Have Never Travelled , it made me think about how his experiences compared to Gilgamesh and Achilles. While they are all demigods, I feel like Achilles and Gilgamesh were more in-tune with their godly side while Percy is more connected to his mortal side. After giving it some thought, it’s definitely because of their mothers. As talked about in The Hero with a Thousand Faces , the mother is meant to shield the child away from danger. This is consistent with all these demigods as their mothers try their best to protect them from the world. But, in order for them to grow, they must depart from the comforting arms of their mother and step into a world full of responsibility and opportunities for growth. For Percy in particular, his departure happens when he has to leave to Camp Half-Blood ...

     At the beginning of the epic, Gilgamesh is arrogant and abuses his power, showing little respect for tradition or the gods. He fears neither mortals nor immortals, and his unchecked pride leads the people of Uruk to plead for divine intervention. In response, the gods create Enkidu, an equal to balance Gilgamesh’s strength. Their deep friendship becomes Gilgamesh’s greatest joy, but when Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh is overcome with grief. This loss shatters his arrogance and drives him away from his palace in a desperate search for everlasting life. His fear of death becomes overwhelming, and he believes that immortality is the only way to escape it.      However, through his journey, marked by both failure and revelation, Gilgamesh undergoes a profound transformation. He eventually accepts that death is unavoidable and realizes that true meaning lies not in living forever, but in living well. He returns to Uruk with a new perspective: life, with all its jo...

     Cummings’ poem explores themes of emotional openness and surrender, which deeply align with the nature of heroism. In many myths and stories, true strength lies not in physical power, but in a hero’s willingness to feel deeply, risk pain, and remain open to both love and fear. This emotional vulnerability often becomes a defining trait of the heroic journey.      Vulnerability is central in myths because it humanizes heroes and gives their struggles meaning. Characters like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings face immense fear and sacrifice to save others. Frodo’s courage as a small, seemingly powerless hobbit to enter a horrific world was essential; without it, Sauron would not have been defeated. His journey shows that heroism emerges not from physical strength, but from emotional resilience and selflessness. The corrupting influence of the Ring, which feeds on selfishness and desire, contrasts sharply with Frodo’s willingness to carry it despite the cost...

In the excerpt of Narcissus and Goldmund given to us, I was immediately drawn to Narcissus and his character. The first paragraph especially pulled me in, with him bluntly telling Goldmund that they are very different, and this difference is important enough for him to emphasize it so vehemently. Wanting a bit more context about how they met and what exactly their relationship was like, I looked for the book and read through it a bit. What I can deduce from my limited reading is that Narcissus is a teacher to Goldmund but also a “friend”. I use friend in quotation marks because it seems each interaction they have with each other only makes Goldmund more frustrated with Narcissus as the older man belittles him. He is constantly talking about how different they are and how their friendship is only meant to show that. Goldmund had suspected that Narcissus thought of him as only a child. His suspicions are proven to be correct when the two of them get into a disagreement about whether a ch...

 During class the other day, we had a discussion about the Allegory of the Cave from Plato as well as the simile of the line. On this line, half of it is the universals, which are more real, and the other half is the particulars, which are less real. The universals are considered the fundamental truths but can also be considered as the world of being which are perfect ideas that are fixed/unchanging. On the farthest left part on the spectrum, we have the form, which is basically the essence of which you define anything related to it in the physical world. The example of the cat goddess, as strange as it is, helped a lot. There are many types of cats in the world, ranging from house cats to lions, but at the end of the day, they all are based on a sort of blueprint that is “The Cat”. The other side of the universals is the concepts, which is a vague description of the form. So, for cats, this would be an animal that has four legs, a tail, canines, etc. So, it’s basically the likenes...

 I wanted to write about what I got out of the story, “In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo; In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad”. The first line interested me the most, with it saying, “Strange how all who ask questions are sent to Cairo”. Later in the story, we are introduced to a man who inherited a lot of wealth and squandered it, so he calls out to God to help him. While God does want to help him, he knows that immediately satisfying him with new riches will only enable him to live passively. This loss of riches acts as a catalyst for him to be proactive in finding himself rather than relying on his wealth to support him. His first action of praying to God for assistance is done with passion because now he is “empty”. Most people do not want to admit they need help but once they reach rock bottom, they no longer have anything else to lose. This same concept goes for this man from Baghdad as once he had nothing to turn to, “The tears came. The habitual stubbornness dissolved”. Now that ever...

    In this class, a basic concept most of the authors and practices presuppose is that the subconscious has the ability to convey truths not only about current psychological state of the individual, but also about the broader cultural and objective truths. It's an interesting confliction between the idea that experiences are important, that the brain needs external experiences and that reliance on only the self and the mind is not enough, and the intense valuation of isolation and any processes which assist in listening to the quiet discourse of the subconscious. The belief that the subconscious is equally capable of insight as the conscious is not something I've overcome my doubts about.      Like, take shamans. If you ignore potential spiritual realities, what are they really learning in trances? The subconscious is powerful, but still subjective. Do dreams or visions tell you reality, or do they affirm what you already believe about your situation? If they t...

Nortwick’s Somewhere I Have Never Travelled has once again made me think about other pieces of media I’ve consumed that may include a second self. It brought me back to a book assigned to me in an honors class I took my freshman year that I ended up really enjoying and have read multiple times ever since. The book Passing by Nella Larsen is about the relationship between Irene Redfield and Clare Bellow, who are both white-passing African American women living in the 1920s. As Nortwick notes in his book, the second self is someone who is complementary to another character, with each person having something the other person lacks. This is a perfect description for Irene and Clare because despite their similar complexion, they have very different worldviews and generally referred to as foils of each other. Irene, as the first self, is a cautious woman who takes pride in her black identity, only choosing to pass when in public white-only spaces and is very involved in the black community, ...

 While giving “Following the Uncharted Way: Aesthetic Journeys on Land, Sea, and Within” a reread, the section that stood out to me was the part about the journey of ascent. The line reads, “He who does not think himself in need does not desire what he does not think he lacks”. This sounds incredibly relevant to me because it made me think about the latest chapter of Blue Lock that was released. As Blue Lock is a program attempting to create a team to participate in the Under 20 world cup, there would be 23 players needed; 11 that would be on the field and 12 that would be on the bench. The latest arc called the Neo Egoist League brought in 5 teams from all over the world for the Blue Lock players to join and experience different types of football, testing to see if the players had what it took to move on to the world stage. There is a character named Nagi Seishirou who is a genius in football despite having only played for 6 months before the program. Like many genius types, he wa...

 Last semester, I had the pleasure of walking on the Noland Trail. I had walked on it numerous times before, but I only made it about one mile out of the total 5 miles before turning back. On this expedition specifically, I had spontaneously decided to walk the entire time. The reason why I usually cut my walk short is because I get tired easily and 5 miles of walking sounds like a daunting task to take on. On this particular day, I had wanted to walk around 2 miles because I felt that building up slowly would make it easier to one day tackle the entire trail. However, right when I walked to the 2-mile mark, I felt like I wasn’t finished yet. While it would be another 2 miles to walk back to the beginning, I felt like pushing forward instead through the remaining 3 miles would be the better option. It was hard to explain my reasoning back then but because of what Dr. Redick has talked about in class and in his book American Camino, I think I can say that it was because of all the s...

While writing my term paper about how tournament arcs facilitate personal growth, I had thought of many examples of media I wanted to talk about. However, since I want to go very in-depth with my examples, I decided I had to cut a good portion of them out. One of which being the anime My Hero Academia where I wanted to analyze the relationship between the main character and a supporting character who went through a major change during the anime’s tournament arc. My Hero Academia is about a boy named Izuku Midoriya born into a world where most people have a superpower called a quirk. Midoriya had always dreamed of becoming a hero but because he wasn’t born with a quirk, he was encouraged not to. However, after being acknowledged by the #1 hero in Japan, he is given a quirk and a chance to enroll at the top hero high school in the country, the only problem being that he can’t use his quirk much because he can’t control it. At this school, we are introduced to Shoto Todoroki, son of the s...

 During class today, Professor Redick talked about his time on the Camino de Santiago and showed us some pictures from it. One series of pictures that caught my interest were of this modern-looking town that was in the middle of nowhere. He said going through this town was like going through the Twilight Zone because it was so out of place. I can definitely say I’ve felt that before. The first thing I thought of when he was talking about this was actually in my hometown. When I was in middle school, my mom would pick me up from school every day and we would drive down this one street. It wasn’t anything special, just a street with houses and a few businesses. The only thing was that it was on a busy intersection. My town is kind of old, and the infrastructure reflect that so everything on that street was pretty run down. Of course, this was what I was used to so nothing ever stood out to me during that time. However, right around the time I was leaving for college, someone decided ...

 I wanted to compile all my thoughts from the discussion we had of Somewhere I Have Never Travelled in class. First off, I actually ended up really enjoying the book itself. I have heard of Jung before but only briefly during my psychology-related classes, so while I was somewhat familiar with his concepts, I have never delved deeper into Jungian thought. I thought this book was a great gateway into the Jungian model of developmental psychology using the idea of the second self. The analysis were easy to follow but also insightful, which I believe brought life to the original texts. Anyway, back to the in-class discussion. We talked how the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu/Achilles and Patroclus. Professor Redick and President Kelly brought in some good points about how close male relationships get misconstrued since American culture views these kinds of relationships as homosexual. While there’s nothing wrong with gay relationships, it’s interesting seeing how intimacy b...

 I have not read many of the classic Greek stories. It feels weird to say that since I enrolled in a Heroes and Mystics class and I used to and still am very interested in Percy Jackson, which is a known children’s book that introduces people to Greek mythology. The only one I’ve read is Antigone but that was only last year. I was supposed to read the Odyssey in 9 th grade but due to unforeseen circumstances (the COVID pandemic), I never got around to reading it. Since I knew that I’d needed to read these stories for this class, I’ve started looking around for one that would be a good starting point. In the end, I decided I should read the Iliad first because it was inspiration for one of my favorite songs “Achilles Come down”. Again, it feels weird to say that because knowing Achilles’ story probably would have been very helpful in understanding the song, but I got the general concept. It’s a song about suicide, with Achilles sitting on a roof while different speakers try to conv...

While reading  Somewhere I’ve never Travelled , I became interested in the concept of the second self. According to the book, the second self is complementary to the first self and their integration creates a unity that is stronger than the two of them separately. But this comes only after the first self can accept this second self. I am not completely confident about this comparison but what popped into my mind was the anime Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki is a boy who dreams of becoming the leader of his village, the Hidden Leaf. The only problem is that he has a dangerous beast that is sealed inside of him that attack the Hidden Leaf before he was born, causing him to be ostracized by his village. What I’m thinking is that Kurama is Naruto’s second self. For one, their first encounter matches the dynamic of the second self discussed in the book where the second self appears when the first self is most vulnerable to its influence. Their first official meeting occurs when Naruto is thrown ...

 While reading Somewhere I’ve never travelled , the section that says, “The journey often represents a going into the dark places of oneself, to find certain truths hidden from us in our conscious life”, caught my interest. This is a book analyzing myths so, of course, Odysseus was brought up. It is mentioned that Odysseus entered the underworld to find his way home. While that is true in the Odyssey, in Epic the Musical, his trip to the Underworld serves that purpose and another: for him to reconcile with his movement from a man to a monster. In the second song of the musical “Just a Man”, Odysseus is grappling with the knowledge that he’d have to kill Prince Hectors son, Astyanax. The song sounds like a lullaby, as if he is trying to soothe the child and maybe himself too by extension. Because Zeus gives him no choice but to do it in the previous song “The Horse and the Infant”, saying no matter what Odysseus tried, Astyanax will kill him when he gets older if Odysseus didn’t kil...

     Forever the bridesmaid and never the bride, George Meredith (1828-1909) remained stuck on the edge of literary renown throughout his career. A novelist and poet, he received seven nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature and won none of them. He was a respected contemporary of Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who paid homage to him in a Sherlock story) , a nd a n influence of Robert Louis Stevenson, three men who have greatly outstripped him in fame and prestige in the century following his death. While he does have some respect amongst academi c circles for works including The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of Father and Son (1859) which is considered to be one of the first examples of a modern English novel and The Egoist (1879) which is a lauded tragicomedy, his rea dership among modern lay readers is low. I have read no prose works of his myself. Perhaps this would not have bothered him too greatly however, as he considered his own...