Life is Not a Hero's Journey
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
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About this video essay:
Why are stories so purposefully structured whereas our reality is so often messy and chaotic? Why do characters have clear transformative arcs when our identities and personal journeys are so much more complex than that? It's questions like these, and their implications that are explored in this unabridged cut of what was originally a 3-part series on the nature of storytelling and the way it shapes our identities.
Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: nebula.app/videos/like-storie...
Chapters
0:00 Introduction to Part 1
3:38 1. Foundations
11:13 2. Cosmic Purpose
17:41 3. Unheroic Journeys?
22:13 4. Storifying Reality
26:11 Introduction to Part 2
28:28 5. A History of Adventures
36:05 6. Life as an Adventure
41:03 7. Imagined Destiny
46:00 8. Everyone as a Hero?
52:28 Introduction to Part 3
55:00 9. Experiencing the Adventure
1:00:02 10. Perpetually Unfolding Stories
1:06:24 11. Cosmic Salvation
1:10:13 12. Freedom
1:17:18 Credits
Sources:
Simon Gusman & Arjen Kleinherenbrink - Avonturen Bestaan Niet: www.boomfilosofie.nl/product/...
Joseph Campbell - The Hero With A Thousand Faces: amzn.to/2WcOhl1
Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex: amzn.to/3cwbIMU
Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea: amzn.to/2XeFZKM
Albert Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus: amzn.to/2Be84tm
Further Reading:
Like Stories of Old - The Complete Reading List: kit.co/likestoriesofold/readi...
10 Books that changed my life: kit.co/likestoriesofold/10-bo...
10 More books that inspired my thinking: kit.co/likestoriesofold/10-mo...
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Hey everyone! I'm taking a little break this month because of vacation and a family wedding that’s happening on the other side of the world. And so even though I can’t offer an entirely new video I am still very excited to finally share this unabridged version of one of my favorite projects! Originally, this video was released in 3 separate parts due to the constraints I had at the time, but a while ago, I decided to remaster them into one video; my director’s cut, as it were. It was always my vision for this project to be enjoyed in its totality, and I hope this unabridged version will help you do so! Also, if you are on Nebula, you were already able to watch this for some time. If not, I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to watch this completely ad-free, and enjoy exclusive videos not just by me, but by many other amazing creators. The best way to get access is by signing up for CuriosityStream, which is less than $15 for a whole year, and comes with a free Nebula subscription! To learn more, check out: www.curiositystream.com/likestoriesofold
Have a nice holiday!
Maybe you should call it director’s cut
This video was so good untill u mentions straight white males
Really dissapointed in someone like you preaching such dogmatic slave morality.
I take Joseph Campbell's theory on the Harold's Journey over yours in a day and yes life is totally about each one of us having our own hero's journey. Everyone has goals in life, everyone has fears in life and everyone has to try to work through those things
How amazing is it that we live in a world where a stranger can put together a documentary from their own passions, supported by a community of individual patrons, and that I can watch it at the other side of the world and be profoundly changed by it.
I was thinking the same thing
I didn't think the same but now I do. Almost as if life's greater than a story.
Thank you for this little burst of truth and positivity. In a world where people are senselessly and ceaselessly negative, it's good for my spirit to see comments like this. Good vibes coming your way, stranger.
@@lizc6393 All negativity passes for me when i understand that I wasn't here for 13 billion years. Feels like a short ass time of non existence. Why should i be bothered by a blink of a time where I do exist?
I would prefer a world where people could do things like this without need of patrons.
How many more things like this would we be able to see without the existence of the monetary system?
Almost every person we see has this kind of thing within them.
Most don't have the means to express it.
Our world has the potential to be so much better than it is now. We have restricted ourselves in the belief in the monetary economy.
A belief system that is forced upon every human being on this planet.
Weird how we supposedly have religious freedom as long as we ALL believe in money above any other religion.
“Life can only be understood by looking backward; but it must be lived looking forward” - Soren Kierkegaard
Can a person be looking at the ocean from the back of the ship as it sails and at the same time, be looking from the front of the ship to the ocean ahead?
@@richardc861 if you spin around really quickly you can.
@@richardc861 use a mirror
or you can be here right now in the present
There is always Ayahuasca or Mushrooms in the words of Tom Hatsis - Go within or Go without.
I didn't realize how deep of an issue the entitlement to adventure was until I left the military.
When you're in you always have a struggle to conquer and an end-goal, whether it's the end of an exercise, a deployment, or your contract. Your life gains a structure and can be divided into a beginning, middle, and end. Losing that broke me for a while, and I still have to convince myself that it's okay to just **exist**
A huge part of it has to do with the structure of your day when you had school growing up. Then you go to the military and you need to have that structure built up even further.
You come back after leaving the military and its a whole new world of living, its hard to break into new ways of living if your brain always knew a routine
Vet here too man facts
Ya ive been told by friends that the marines almost brainwashed him so this makes sense
Being still in my college years I feel that the routine I had created for myself over the past two years with calorie deficit and military-like sleep deprivation was more righteous than the life I am living now, driven by my creative aspirations alone. "It's okay to just exist." I always feel the need to produce something, yet I find that I would die in the creative act. I wonder which necessity is best to succumb to. That's my biggest preoccupation.
I went through something similar brother. When I left there was this weird void. No purpose, no direction, that I could literally do what I wanted. At the same time didn’t know where to start. I had a plan when I left but that plan quickly fell through the floor. From there I kind of went back to robot mode from the times before the Army. Almost autopilot through daily mundane life. Then went back and reread a lot of the philosophical books that I’ve gained throughout my Army career. It gave me reason just to exist and than regain some sort of purpose. I thought I didn’t deserve a third chance. The Stoics in particular with their old words told me otherwise. May the rest of your journey be a fruitful one.
I would argue that the differences between story and life are pretty much in the text:
A good story usually (1) leaves out everything that is mundane and (2) focuses on one story thread at a time. Life doesn't do either of these things.
To be alive is to be nested in dozens of "hero's journeys" at the same time. Some of them may not reach their next story beat in months or years. Some of them you might never complete at all. And all of them are padded out beyond recognition by mundane things like buying groceries, doing the dishes and cutting your toenails.
Stories are a product of pattern recognition. The fact that you *need* pattern recognition to see them tells you that you are unlikely to recognize them with the naked eye while they are happening.
Nailed it
Listening to this yt video, i got frustrated that the narrator finds the stories in media to be so much better and more engaging than his own stories and that for him the main difference between stories and life lies in those feelings. This mindset, to me, sounds like more of a problem than the mundanity of his life, but another way to look at problems is as beginnings of stories. It's just frustrating when those psychological stories never get told, because the "character development" stories are the best ones imo.
I like your definition of the difference much more. It is refreshing how it takes away the depressing value judgements.
Yup. A story follows the thru line of a particular series of events that does have a resultion.
Writing a story of a sequence of unrelated events that has no resolution is a great way to bore people.
Many people have stories that have resolutions. We tell their stories rather than the story of the losers. No one wants to read five chapters ending with the person being hit by a car.
So we talk about those who overcome.
Interesting
Agreed and a story has an end like lived happily ever after whereas in life a sudden and tragic end may be around the corner after a “happy ending”
We human beings have been made to seek patterns, Thats why hero's Journey or fiction is só detached in reality. Anything random happening in a story is usually criticized, meanwhile real life is all about the random Madness we face daily
Yes we seek patterns, in this case for the purpose of orientation that helps us, to find our way through the chaotic path of mad reality.
Agree with you both. The hero's journey is just another way we make sense of our world & selves through creating order/patterns out of the chaos/randomness.
So there are no inherent patterns in life? Its all just random madness?
@@deathfalcon602 in the large scale, pretty much random. Either you are mentally strong enough to accept it, or cover your psychological health with ideological illusions, traditions and religions.
Who made us to seek patterns? Is it all so detached from reality? How do you put into a movie or book the same type of meaning that could be lived in any persons life? A life sure has a lot of "random" (as it cannot be calculated) parts to it. Maybe there is, in over 80 years of a life, about one short movie length of sentences and actions that had meaning, whos to say there wasnt?
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
- Zig Ziglar
Ends and means can't be separated.
I like this
I fell asleep at one of his events.
@@silentm999 Oh he's a real person? I just thought it was a funny name... Motivational speaker, ah. Well, wisdom where you find it.
“You don’t have to achieve all your goals but they have to exist. You can’t hit a target you can’t see.” My fav of zigs
Our willingness to strive for the good and the meaningful in a circumstance of complete chaos is what pulls us to epic, heroic storylines
Absolutely. It is what we strive to be, not what we are. The striving to be better is what counts.
Totally, and I think every single human being would agree to that, which leads me to believe that that is what we have been describing as God.
what pulls us to sure things
that's why cutting own roots ended with millions murdered in world wars
People don't live a hero's journey but hundreds of them. The fact that we are not sensitive to it does not mean it is not there. Something as simple as washing the dishes can hide a complex drama. It may not drive tears but other journeys, the ones that took me years, did make me cry. If you distill what matters in them, it is very much heroic and there is at least 1 person who can enjoy it to the fullest.
Everything is possible, questions are, how much time will it take and when are you going to give up?
"Devotion is seen as a sign of weakness in a society that worships heroes and heroines.
Consider the religions of your world, for example. Many people are more comfortable idealizing Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed than they are in really involving themselves in the teachings of these traditions. The hero worship takes the place of their own personal work and endeavor, and so these teachers become idols of worship. This is common, and you can see it all around you. Look at how people are idolized in your athletic events, in your cinema. Everyone is looking for someone to believe in as if believing in someone provides real hope and impetus for change. So it is a curious thing that while people are terrified to give themselves to anything, they would worship other people without a second thought. Worshipping and idolizing others is not the same as joining them. In fact, you place them above yourself where they are out of reach. Beauty, power, excellence, expertise-these are the criteria for heroes and heroines. They are the gods of your world. They evoke more devotion and more attention than the Creator or all those who serve the Creator, both within the world and beyond the world.
There are no heroes or heroines in The Way of Knowledge. There are beginning students. There are advanced students. And there are people who cannot be students at all."
A quote from - _Living the Way of Knowledge_ - one of my favorite books today, it's by Marshall Vian Summers, and along with all his other books he made it available online for everyone to read. I highly recommend any of his work.
Thank you.
God is dead
Great insights. To me faith as in a religious sense, is mental illness. So if I tell a psychiatrist I have been speaking with god I’ll get a smile and a nod. If I tell that same doctor I am having a chat with satan , we’ll then I need some medication or worse. I worship no one. If there is an ALL, and I have a hunch there is , it does not need worship that’s for sure. The political parasites that run this zoo have set themselves up as demigods. Our world is in decay , it’s nice to know not all are infected. Thanks
I mean it can be ut also place unhealthy value on th striong man theory and hirarchies.
You make a very good point, in fact you've pointed the problem with taking the idea of role models to an extreme, role models are necessary to serve as a compass to point to true north (what we hold as a higher value), but that's where it should stop, idolizing only leads to losing touch with reality, and I also think idolizing people is a product of fear and laziness.
"special people do exist, all that means is that I was never one of them" - commandant Keith Shadis
Attack on titan is the best show ever man
Special people are not as special as we make them out to be, be careful in meeting your perceived heroes/"special" people
His recounting that whole whole story was my favorite part of the series.
@@pencilkid1123 elaborate bro?
@@pits7035 Obviously it’s his opinion and subjective, but it’s an opinion that many hold to be true because Attack on Titan is more than just an anime about kids fighting titans. It’s a story that deals with the deeper problems we’ve seen in life in a way that hooks you in and makes you question what is right or wrong.
"If I have to create my own meaning, I'm going to create as much as I can... If I have to tell my own story, I'm going to fill it with beauty."
Wonderful.
Unfortunately, that's an impossible task in a world where (human) life is not a hero's journey.
"Life is not a Hero's journey."
-Not a Hero
(Hah, I wrote this before your summation. I'm glad you did and am now slightly embarrassed for taking up all this space!)
I don't really take issue with anything you've said here, but I am saddened that throughout this entire piece, it is still about a journey that you take on alone. The individual is still propped up to be the sole arbiter of meaning - which itself can be an existential pitfall, because we tend to diminish that which we have done, and inflate that which we have yet to do. And the connection to others is not ever really mentioned at all. The notion of "playing a part in someone else's life" is only ever touched upon negatively. But, if there was no one for us at the very start, we would all have died. And surely that caveat remains true throughout all of our lives. Without parents and siblings we would be adrift; without friends we would be unable to broaden what we believe we are capable of, or what we are made of; without partners we would never understand the highs and lows of a true connection, or of the severing of one. And lastly, the loss of any one of these, whether temporary or permanent, these are also meaningful.
Much like how our entire economic and political system is centered around (unscrupulous, unfettered, unmanageable, impossible) growth so too is the monomyth, for it relates the idea that we should be looking for fulfillment ever further "outward" from ourselves, that every individual should swallow the world. That metaphor becomes far less dangerous and horrible if we recontextualise human growth as: being able to touch more humans like and unlike ourselves, and in doing so, discovering things about ourselves that we didn't know could be true.
Such a beautiful comment!
LIKED
Isn't that the way the video ends, saying the most important thing is our relationships with others? Did you watch it to the end?
I literally got goosebumps when I read that last line.
Wholesome.
When I was 5 or 6, I recall asking my mom a question that she could not answer. I asked her "why do I see through THESE eyes?"In reflection, it can be synonymous with "why do I perceive this life?" or "why is it that I'm experiencing this existence vs another?" or "Why am I me and no one else?" It is quite difficult for me to clarify or describe this initial question but as a 32 year old, I still ask it to myself every single day. I look around and it is so difficult to relate to anyone else because I have no idea if they are even capable of "seeing through eyes" in the way that I'm looking for. It feels as if I'm the only one. It's like I'm stuck in a first person camera watching a movie; a first person movie of an entire life that feels awfully lonely. Everyone on Earth could say that they share in my questions but it wouldn't change the fact that I feel stuck seeing through THESE eyes. So what is it all for? What is the answer? Why am I trapped in the confines of experiencing THIS life? I seek stories to grasp at the vapors of hope to gain a better understanding of what it means to simply be. Why am I me? It is hard to grasp that anyone else experiences this because I cannot see through any other pair of eyes yet here I am still looking for the answer of that question I've been asking myself all my life. Why do I see through THESE eyes?
Edit: This took roughly a month to see certain things after I vocalized this question for you all to read. This is extremely difficult for me. This question…. I realized how alone it makes me feel. Because, I constantly feel like I’m the only one who can see things this way. It isolates myself. I am alone and I am lonely. This 1st person perspective that traps me makes me feel disconnected from literally every one else in existence. Because it’s impossible for me to know how or if they understand. I’m detained here. Perhaps, even though this is an important question about consciousness, that this question has been significantly toxic for my health and well-being. Maybe there’s a concept of “too much” in this case. I don’t know how to stop. The question haunts me. Perhaps some questions are not meant to be answered. I’m tired of feeling alone and lonely because of it. After so many years, I’m no closer to any sense of truth as to what it is. I reconciled it be believing that I’m unique and that I’m meant for some purpose. What laughable, selfish, conceited thought that must be. I’ve never forgiven myself for my failure to discover why am I me. I need to try and live for once instead of search.
…I have to let go….
Thank you all for you insights and kind words. You all gave me a lot to think about.
The simple answer, the Big Bang
There is a weird theory about one single consciousness, one single point of view that exists simultaneously in all possible entities that can have it. But by the nature of those entities, namely that they are not connected in any way, this single consciousness is perceiving itself as if it placed only in one particular entity.
But with the technological advancement if people learn to create interfaces connecting different brains we will be able to experience this single consciousness. And there won't be any other if no brain will be left alone - so the question will become irrelevant.
So basically you are me and I am you but with the different perception caused by different brains. And we are the same single consciousness as a phenomenon in this universe.
I remember asking myself the same question when younger! It's a profound question without an obvious answer. Just my thoughts out in the open below:
To start, the ideal answer to this question would be to share direct access to my subjective perspective with you: to show you my exact thoughts and feelings and sights and sounds, etc. that I am feeling right now, to let you see out of my eyes. Now, I don't have the ability to do that, so we can't resolve our conflict so easily, but this is the ideal case. Anything else falls short: neither reasoning nor emotional/empathy appeals can cross the barrier between us with 100% certainty of communication between subjects actually occurring; after all, everything I can communicate with you is coming to you by complete mediation of your senses, which do not have access to the subjecthood of others. We can only infer the most likely case based off of indirect data: you have eyes that see on your body, and others with bodies like yourself have eyes that see, and so it makes sense to hypothesize that both sets of eyes correlate to the subjective experiences of "a consciousness seeing through eyes." It's a story you tell based off of likely evidence, its a useful one because it helps you understand the behaviors of other people, and it aligns with what is (for myself) an in-built conviction in the subjecthood of others. It is just this that fascinates me: that I can be so personally convinced of the subjecthood of others, but with a simultaneous inability to prove it conclusively!
I'll leave with this: many mystical traditions across the world have held that acheiving certain special states of consciousness can result in the overcoming of the barrier between subjects, the achievement of a transpersonal/metapersonal perspective. I myself haven't ever achieved such a state, I have heard others claim it is possible, that they have been there. It is said to be beyond even the experience of "ego-death," since even in ego death one remains observing from your own eyes. Again, I've yet to be there, but it was my asking if the question "why do I see from my eyes and not yours" that a respected teacher of mine recommended meditation as a worthwhile pursuit towards the experiential answering of this question.
I asked the same kind of stuff when younger... We were born to be philosophers, that's a part of the answer i've come to accept. I think, part of that question is formed* in founding(seeing) the limits of your being and it's a simple way to guide u into coming to terms w/it(those limits of the entity that's existing) so u can really start excelling at being the best YOU that's possible in the actual world... it's a big important question, but that's a philosopher's terrain, my dude :)
I mean, i hope i didn't F*d Up the english cause i'm used to use other lenguage for this kind of things haha
My fundamental question is "What am I doing HERE? “... I'm 54, and still don't have my answer. I don't know, I'm just... Here. Oh well 🤷🏽♂️
Since stories mostly only focus on short outstanding episodes in the protagonist's life, we cannot see our own life as one single story either, but rather as a lifelong series of stories, each of which contains small versions of a Hero's Journey. Some are more important than others and from some we might learn, while others will set us back. Sometimes we will take the role of the hero, while we might find ourselves on the opposing side another time. And sometimes life is just not fair and can turn into an episode of tragedy forcing us through our darkest hours. And there are even times in our life, when we feel indifferent and passive to things that happen around us and our own stories seem to stand still for a while. Every new experience is - highly dramatized - a start from our mundane everyday life into the unknown and we as protagonists have to face whatever life throws at us. Be it lucky or painful, everything we encounter leaves a mark on us and transforms us, even if only with little visible impact, into a newer version of ourselves.
Our lifes might only seem meaningless to us, if we want to see imaginary stories as accurate representations of our reality, when they are actually made to help us deal with the obstacles and trials we face or inspire us to try out new directions.
Yei. SPOT ON
you are born as next chapter of a very long story
it's not your fault if your parents didn't share it with you letting you figure out the next step of it
I'd say my life in the past few years has settled upon this topic... it's not easy to live in the question of "What am I *supposed* to do?". Thank you for this man
Same. “Who will I be once I’m done with the next step in life?” That’s another huge one for me.
@@Fractured_Unity yeah i totally get it, the thing is, tgese are rather dangerous quedtions to be concearned with as they can grow into an obsession, even to the pint of not being able to make the smallest decisions, as your mind automatically goes to thinking if that choice you are making is in line with your story
You're not *supposed* to do anything. You're not here for any purpose, nor are there any you can find that have some absolute truth to them. It might help you mentally to accept this and not torment yourself looking for the end of the rainbow.
I've personally always followed up questions like these with "supposed by whom?" "Am I meant to do this? Meant by whom?"
If you're an atheist or agnostic, and don't really believe in the existence of a higher power with the qualities of a person who watches over your life, then there is no one to mean anything for you. No one to suppose you do anything. A thing only has purpose because it has been given a purpose. A stone is just a stone until you pick it up with the intent to destroy something with it. Your parents might have a purpose for you. Your teachers might have a purpose for you. Maybe your boss or your nation has one for you, but what is their word against yours? Maybe you agree with one of them and decide to follow whatever path they lay out for you, but the important part is that it has to align with your values. Why do you want to fulfill your parents' wish to become a doctor? Is it to please them? Is it because you're afraid of disappointing them? Or is it because you think you can use your skills and talents to save people's lives and provide for your family?
You have to figure out what you value. What you think is ultimately important. If you look for cosmic purpose originating from outside our known world and things don't work out, you're going to be disappointed. However, if you see things from a naturalistic perspective, understand that all things have a cause but few things have a reason, and dedicate your life to increasing wellbeing and decreasing suffering in both yourself and others, then you may find peace in your life. Because even if you fail, you'll be left with the time and energy to lament your failures without the added deep confusion of what it all means. What it means is that you tried your best to be good in your own way, and you simply weren't successful, because sometimes that's the way it works out. Life is not a story, and there is no one who intended for your life to turn out the way it did. It just happened. It may make you sad, but there isn't any cosmic purpose you've let down. In my eyes, there's peace in this.
I'm of course biased towards atheistic agnosticism, but if it's the only perspective I can offer then so be it.
I have a similar question that I seem destined to live with. “What am I supposed to want?”
I constantly find myself feeling like I'm missing something or like I'm falling back in life... This helped ease that feeling
if you know how to play piano you are already with a much better life than my lazy one 😂
I'm constantly feeling like I lost 30 years and too late to build anything feeling old
but it's not true and I know deep that I wish to live long to see wonders of future and important knowledge of our real humanity from past and going back reverting deformations of civilization pressing hard on our souls
I'm reverting time going forward (if it even makes any sense) reverting mistakes and adding good improvements daily researching original ways
imagine walking bare foot grounding fixing posture breathing sleep dietary habits exercising eyes body brain getting more contact with nature
it's possible to regain vitality
and waking up with that incredible feeling like when being surrounded by children laughing running screaming going crazy
as if your batteries were full and with impatience
excitement to do something even random
noticing magic and grandeur in every small move and free thought
world is lacking children energy as much as energy of nature
we ossify with every day of life
I never touched any drugs never even smoked and hate alcohol
but i will definitely do psychodelics at some point
but only after having own clear plan and structure in life
not before that moment
that's what our ancestors did for thousands of years looking for these answers and inspirations
the same as by using dreams and customary celebrations
breathing fast to fullest a releasing breath with humming
try it
you have no idea how much we loose by just not giving body enough oxygen
clean water (in animal fat, low in deuterium)
real human food - meat, eggs, fish, dairy, seafood
healthy thoughts in healthy body
Happiness is a narcissit's dream, but joy, its always there, in a moment of you holding a childs hand, driving a car and singing a song you love, in a hug of a loved one, be there for those moments, life goes quickly for those who don't stop for a moment and see its beauty
also life is an adventure! Sure life might not happen as clinically clear and uni-directional as a movie or the hero's journey, but I've had short and tempestuous flings, long loves, wonderful friendships, but also heartbreak and loneliness. I've been my own action hero going skiing or jumping off cliffs and the worlds highest bungie. I've overcome so many many things, big and little, meaningful and trivial. Been in sickness and in health. Dealt with serious chronic illness, neurodivergence, depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideations. Gone to therapy and psychologists and unpacked life. Have had to say goodbye to people, family, forever. Met kind strangers, travelled, I even saved a life once. I've had to fight the system, multiple times. Survived multiple near death experiences, several car crashes, been in an earthquake, a tornado, a forest fire, been to a live volcano. and this isn't all to say I think I'm the main character of a movie, but just a human experiencing the utter wildness of and wonderfulness life. I've partied hard, but also gone years abstinent. All this and I just turned 30. I just realise life isn't going to be as simple, and obvious as "one hero's journey", for in reality we go on many, and they all shape us. So yeah, I didn't relate to this video much. I enjoyed the presentation but couldn't connect or prescribe to the idea that life isn't a wonderful journey just because it can't be made into a single digestible story with clear arcs. We probably do that in stories to get to deeper truths, the archetypes we all have to deal with and go through in. And they do this to make the message clearer, because real life IS messy, but just because it is doesn't make life less of an adventure. These stories have inspired me, entertained me, allowed me to live vicariously through others, a way of trying out other realities, and perhaps learn from some of the mistakes they made. And I have shared in their truths through life's many experiences. Just because they are not an identical facsimile of our own reality does not make them any less valuable in my eyes.
"Narcissist" is such an ugly word though.
For me anime bring me a lot of joy, since watching the best anime imo HXH, i haven't been able to get over it's amazing storytelling, i hope the writer finishes the arc so I can enjoy more of it, but I will learn Fullstack Web Development on the side to keep myself busy and break into WebDev. I like electrical but IT has really made me feel joy
@@Tenchi707 Exactly, it is in anything you enjoy, be there with the moment, whatever makes you feel joy
@@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319 Because it is not a good trait, that is what i meant, Happiness is not a real thing, but a narcissist wants it more than anything, that is why they are never happy
i dont have the words to explain how meaningful this whole discussion was to me
One of the greatest video essays I have ever seen. Part analysis of hero’s journey, part commentary of our times, part introspection.
Earlier this month, I moved across the world to begin a new adventure; I can only imagine that nearly every day will feel like rubbing up against a freshly-sharpened cheese grater. Although I expect this to be grueling, I want to believe that this will be worth it.
In a year and half, I will know if I have been admitted to the doctoral program of my dreams -- one that I have been working tirelessly to get into. Any time after the summer of 2024, ask if it was worth it.
Set a new massive goal. When you get your goal, you must set another immediately.
This is protective as much as it is orientating. I’m not going to explain why. That takes energy n time to do.
Please dwell on what I’ve said. Test it.
@Erik Ferreira Yes, in due time, I’d like to come back to this video to supply more context. For now, I can say that I was living in East Asia and now live in North America. So far, I’m off to a decent start on my journey.
Thank you for your well-wishes and do be kind to yourself.
‘til next time!
How's it been?
@@animehunter3234 I can say that it's been alright, friend. On some days, my life has been like something out a movie. On others, I am completely overwhelmed. Such a long ride on this rollercoaster of emotions is taxing, but it's also 110% worth it. This has maybe been the most significant 6 months of my life. I am already beginning to see some of the fruits of my labor; I already feel like I am becoming a better version of myself.
I was even able to help my partner get into their dream school -- and to see the sheer joy on their face when they got the letter.. well, that means the world to me. I am relieved to know that I could use my newfound skillset to help another person.
As for myself, I have undoubtedly inched a bit closer to my goal. There are still about 12 months left before I know whether or not I will be admitted. I am very nervous about it the whole thing, and not a single day passes where I do not think about it. In truth, I feel like I am naive to have been so optimistic. Still, I will put my best foot forward.
You be well, too.
Onward and upward we go.
@@_KITE Is everything good?
I've experienced the greatest trauma of my life this year with the ending of a 7 year relationship and discovering I am autistic while abusing marijuana to the point of psychosis and accepting my life didnt turn out the way I planned. I've discovered I have huge problems with ego, black & white thinking, and needing for my life to be one that leaves behind a legacy like a hero's journey.
But I did therapy for 5 months and recently have become obsessed with philosophy for the first time in my life, both to re-learn the joy of being alone and to combat my ego and discover what I truly want out of life.
The despair and suffering I have experienced has been the greatest of my life so far and I'm looking forward to looking back on this time in a few years to hold a new perspective on how I improved.
1:02:53 "the grand climactic kiss is implied to carry the rest of the relationship without conflict"
That's such good line. We only seem to tell ourselves the stories of the starts and ends of relationships. I wish I knew more stories of people saving their marriage. True Lies comes to mind.
we didn't have these problems before divorce was legalised
if you take something for endless and granted
you plan other things with this as a stable foundation
you don't get thought about cheating
or about harming other person as it's part of you
and your life
problem there is only mirroring your own unsolved problems
biggest of them being not understanding own nature
and never observing oneself from second person perspective
that second half helps you in doing so
if both aren't focused majority of time on doing things unrelated to actual living life not some ultimately meaningless works
I'm actually going to tell the next person who I kiss that I now fully expect the rest of this relationship to resume without conflict.
@@avamasquerade well, realistically, if your body count is under 1-2, the chances of that happening will be a lot higher than say instead of your body count being 5-10-15-20+
Introspection is the hero's journey. That's what people are missing in their adventures, romances and lives.
We are all heroes, villains, and extras in everyone's lives at all times. And sometimes even in our own lives
Tom - i appreciate the single video format. Though useful to include chapter bookmarks in the Descsription. This is deep and rich; so repeat viewing of certain sections will be required.
Good point, will add those asap!
@@LikeStoriesofOld I see them now! Thank you so much. Your voice is great to listen to and your prose is lovely :)
@@LikeStoriesofOld what is the song at 1:14:49 ? Or which movie soundtrack?
This video spoke to me and forced me to recall again the memories of going to Afghanistan and coming home to a country that I no longer recognized. The more time passed, it was me who was different.
I'm there right now. That's the only real problem with the hero's journey for those who have completed and understand it. The last step is the problem, returning to society changed but no guidance on what that means. I preferred the cave to coming home.
Stop being so negative. If you approach such unpleasent situations with love & enthusiasm you will find yourself making the changes you need to instead of fighting with yourself.
Making this comment before I finish, to make sure that I remember this point: A major factor in the lack of alignment with the Hero's Journey lies in that this hypothetical structure is not entirely valid. Campbell shoehorned a great many stories into his theory that did not actually fit within their native context or understanding (cherry-picking elements) and reduced an _array_ of archetypal story structures into a single homogenous one and which is distinctly Indo-European and (Neo-)Platonic in nature, which not all religions and stories are. Indeed, _most_ myths do not adhere to it, which is generally a solar or martial narrative, reflecting his extensive Christian and Greek bias.
I’m a big fan of LSOO. But I must say this video was a downer.
Yes, I think that's an absolutely critical point about Campbell, and about the growing legacy he's left. The grim reality of Campbell's expanding popularity is that it stems less from genuine philosophical significance but from the fact that it creates the illusion of a shortcut to wisdom. We don't need to study philosophy or the classics. We can watch Star Wars. And it doesn't matter if we don't travel or learn anything about other cultures, because they're all the same story, right?
Except they aren't. What Jung was getting at, even through the filter of his Euro-centric worldview, was that it was the differences, not the similarities between cultural stories, that were most worth examining. They show what makes different cultures unique, and that uniqueness is what those cultures have to offer one another, and reveal more about the human condition than the cheap reductionism of universality.
What Campbell did with Jung's work was not all that different from what Christian missionaries did to convert others, pretend that other religions were really just Christianity in disguise. Pagan holidays were rebranded as Christian, their traditional symbols assimilated or dismissed as merely incidental. Easter, for example, a fertility holiday named after a pagan goddess and symbolized by rabbits and eggs, had Jesus's resurrection inserted into it. After all, the concept of rebirth vaguely fit. But What Campbell does is say "Pagan fertility and Christ's resurrection represent the same thing." Beyond being insultingly reductive, as you point out, it carries on the erasure of earlier cultures in favor of this pseudo-intellectual version of Christianity.
Really, Campbell's Hero's Journey is little more than a Hollywood script-doctor template, no more profound than "Save the Cat." And though I highly admire Tom Van Der Linden's work, I think he'd do well to look deeper into more real anthropology, and leave Campbell behind. And, I think, he'd clearly smart and wise enough to strike out and create some of his own, leaning less on citations of easy answer material like Campbell, and more on his own thoughtful interpretations.
@@rottensquid Jung had some similar problems in misappropriation (perennialists almost always do) and Neo-Platonic presuppositions, although he was not nearly as bad about it as Campbell, yes (and I think Jung got far more correct, or in the right direction, than Campbell did). And in fairness, they (Jung especially) did not have the benefit of our more recent understanding of the breadth of Indo-European and Platonic influence given how much of that study was done after their work.
Universal elements have a lot to offer, though must be understood as often not being convergent evolution; quite often, similarities arise not from universal truths or intuitions but from sharing a common lineage. Significant elements of Native American mythology indicate a shared lineage from Siberia at the end of the Pleistocene with much of Eurasia. The differences are indeed thus vital for ascertaining what is unquestioned tradition versus genuine archetypes.
I think the Hero's Journey structure _is_ a valid, universal or near-universal structure, so long as one pulls back on the Neo-Platonic assumptions. Indeed, the oldest surviving written story we have, the Epic of Gilgamesh, is actually one of the best embodiments of it. However, it is a very _particular_ narrative focusing on a specific type of figure. Most cultures have _at most_ one or two stories each that fit it, and while usually important, is rarely *the* central narrative of the culture (creation/formation of the world, progenitors and formation as a people, the nature of being post-mortem, etc). The Hero's Journey or something like 'the epic' is much more appropriate than the complete misnomer that is 'the Monomyth'.
I extend a similar sentiment on Linden's work to his emphasis on modern, mostly mainstream, cinema as a whole. The mainstream entertainment industry- _especially_ Hollywood-is relatively hegemonic in philosophical and ideological thought. It is extremely easy to come away with a pessimistic and self-contradictory existentialist or nihilistic outlook with an overfixation on their art or by taking them as authorities. While existentialism and nihilism have some very strong arguments, that does not necessarily mean that they are entirely correct or the _whole_ truth, and 'movie magic' often deliberately obscures critique and counterarguments in favor of a cohesive narrative and theming. I think stepping back from that one source could do much to broaden and deepen his work as well.
@@nevisysbryd7450 My folks are both Jungian analysts, and they're the first to agree that Jung was a man of his time, which is a reason, but not an excuse, for his euro-centricism and notable racism. In fact, my mom is working on a paper about unconscious racism, and cites Jung's dream in Memories, Dreams, and Reflections about being tied to a chair by a black woman and having his hair forcibly kinked. Make of that what you will, but in my experience, a cigar is never just a cigar.
The biggest problem I see with the Hero's Journey is that it's very specific to very patriarchal cultures. And as Tom's video points out toward the end, to fit women into the template as Campbell defined it is to leave out a gigantic amount of life experience unique to women. One of the patterns I often see is how the Hero's Journey is built on character building through conflict. Mastering the new world almost always seems to mean dominating it, rather than simply learning to understand it. Even the language used, to be the "Master" of two worlds, indicates domination. Why not belong to two worlds, rather than rule them? I get that "mastering" also refers to acquiring skill, but any Jungian will tell you that double meanings are never meaningless. A cigar is never just a cigar.
Regarding Tom's take on popular movies, I would never accuse him of taking them as authorities, quite the opposite. The realities of the TH-cam algorithm mean that you have to focus largely on popular media to get noticed, which is why Evan Puschak wisely focused Nerdwriter on pop media before turning to things like art history. But I've always found that there's something important about finding the deeper meanings in popular entertainment. In the realm of avantgarde, movies tend to bring up the rear, but nevertheless, what catches the public imagination can often be a barometer of where the public consciousness is. And what the public rejects is also telling.
For instance, the mass embrace of Star Wars tells you a lot about the culture's craving for some kind of spiritual journey, which doesn't preach, or explicitly indoctrinate the viewer in some cliched depiction of specific ideologies. Such a thing just didn't exist before Star Wars, not in movies. And it got the balance exactly right. That's why, all these decades later, people are still trying, and failing, to reproduce it, using the Hero's Journey template as a cheat sheet, and wondering why nothing else has come close.
Meanwhile, The Last Jedi's extreme divisiveness also speaks volumes about the culture's refusal to accept the post-hero story. We see there how Star Wars spoke to some about a boy finding his adulthood, but to others about a normal person becoming a legend. They didn't want that story to go in reverse, for the grandiose legend to be confronted by his human self, to be humbled. For much the same reason, Spider-Man 3 was also reviled. As Tom pointed out in his magnificent video about that film, humanity has a grandiosity problem. We love seeing our heroes die gloriously, but we hate seeing them become human beings again. Which to my mind is an incredibly revealing insight into the problems of society as a whole. Our world is constantly being torn apart by grandiose leaders trying to live up to the impossible heroic image their followers demand of them.
I think this great set of essays points out the problem of our culture at large seeking identity and meaning through popular culture, which is limited and skewed toward the western white patriarchal perspective. And Tom, in a wonderful way, is interrogating how this perspective has programmed him to see the world, and himself, in limited ways. Movies, like dreams, present an inner world, where everyone is, to some degree an extension of the protagonist. Even movies that try to teach the lesson of objectivity can't escape this inevitable model, which is what Tom's video about Christopher Nolan's films is all about. We only see the world through our subjective view, so we must make a leap of faith to an objective understanding that everyone else is their own protagonist in their own story. And it's only by transcending that self-centric understanding of the world that we can truly connect, experience empathy, and create harmony with one another. T
hat means understanding the Hero's Journey as merely a lens through which we see ourselves, not a universal truth. There is no monomyth. The shapes and shadows we see described by those story commonalities are too loose and amorphous to ever pin down, and the more we try, the more disconnected we become from the real world, with all its infinite complexity. The only way to see those shapes at all is to apply a template, and like quantum mechanics, we change the shape by looking at it.
There's a tendency, when one stretches one's mind too far into finding the meaning of the universe, and one's own place in it, to imagine on the horizon an ultimate answer that ties self, the universe, time, and meaning into one big interconnected mandala. There is, of course, an answer at the end of that road, but I strongly suspect that answer is psychosis. When you start thinking that everyone and everything in the universe is about your life and experience, or that Christopher Nolan movies are messages to you personally, answering your questions about the nature and meaning of existence, that's a psychotic break.
My big takeaway from this essay is that the meaning Tom is trying to understand isn't really supposed to be understood consciously. Stories, ultimately, are humans speaking to one another in riddles. We don't have to understand subtext consciously. Back to Nolan again, the subject of the inception, Robert Fisher, didn't need to remember his dream for it to change him. That film was about remapping our interpretation of our life's story. We're not defined by what we know or understand. We're defined by what we believe. Stories aren't about telling us things, they're about showing us what we believe. We don't have to be consciously aware what a story is even talking about. It all happens below the surface. Once we start putting words to it, like "Hero's Journey," or whatever, we reduce it.
Router is what i g
I never really understood why people always seemed to think something else was putting meaning into their lives. To me, the only thing that creates meaning is the individual. Life is chaotic and shit happens. What matters is that you get back up and continue fighting to realize your desires. If you get back up enough times, you might win. but even if you never realize your vision, it doesn’t take the meaning away from all you did. You never truly fail until you give up. I think this distinction is what truly makes a hero. Never giving up. Anyone can do that.
nothing is chaotic in nature
only human made world is chaos
it wasn't so
the less the farther in history you go back
get back up
if you choose too hard fight you won't get back up...
if you tolerate around you things bad for you you will get worse
it's all working like muscles including brain
you exercise it pushing limit farther
but effort damages you so you need pauses to recover and rebuild
your free will , consciousness, energy, health, strength is a limited and renewable resource
you don't control your life directly AT ALL
that's what keeps ppl in cages
but you control it indirectly
pushing away temptations things pulling you down
creating conditions of growth good habits good feedback loops
and then you get shocked how you can indirectly prime own fate in some desired direction or even discover it in process of giving yourself more chances
some small things unknowingly made big differences
as making yourself more visible and memorisable in crowd repeating small actions typical only to you
we filter out nearly all data around us except our actual focus
and when we are tired we become a sponge unknowingly sucking in every nonsense around
that primes us unconsciously
we living in world without ever considering what are the rules of it objectively 😂😂
it's like playing a new game blindly or first figuring out conditions of winning or having the best playing experience
we are clueless and we hate it
we never discover laws and shortcuts
and so we grind through it
being in prime of life without resources to fulfil dreams or changing world
and slowly leaving with useless resources accumulated
Albert Camus might have an answer to that. According to him, once a person realizes life has no meaning or direction, they instinctively scramble to anything that would answer the question of their life's purpose and direction. Some go to organized religion, others succumb to nihilism. Others go with ideology...
Hero’s journey is a spiritual journey within facing and discovering your own inner shadow, fears, limits of your ego and expansive spirit to learn who we truly are and acquiring the broader vision to be able to help make things better on this planet. We live in a materialistic and individualistic culture that encourages and gives us an illusion that the adventure is out there: to go on the hero’s journey in the external world. The adventure is not out there, it is within us. I believe that we are all destined to venture on this journey unless a person is brainwashed to believe that his/her body and brain and material world are all there is.
After I had my mindset changed from material gain long ago I still am not sure wether the desire in society comes entirely from the basic human desires for safety, control, family, and life or there is some component of someone that keeps them selfish through “maturity”? It may just be ignorance. That is my hope at least. Ignorance can be defeated bloodlessly, maladaptive brain patterns of a small percentage of the population can not.
Ignorance and pure unawareness play a role. We are born into this 3d reality without any clue who we truly are. People in power know it. We are being kept distracted, divided and in the survival mode by media, multinational corporations, government. They are trying to contain us through fear and intimidation. But people are waking up from the slumber…
Exactly.
You come from presupposition with pre-cooked ideological opinion, not from the place of curiosity and wander. You are boring and mechanical, not spiritual at all
I am beyond impressed. I've been thinking for years about the connection between storytelling and how we build identities, and this just nails it for me.
There is much that resonates with your work in me. The journey of a life is the destination, in my most recent realizations. The wonder and awe that came in the moment I experienced reality as - 'I' am not by body, nor the personality of the psyche - was and is full of meaning. As a person in this society, it takes a lot to turn away from the norms and expectations overtly and subliminally pumped out with greater and greater frequency and volume. The path to bliss is not outward in the world but rather inward to the Self. Your work illustrates this beautifully with all the movies I love. I write this in deep appreciation for the depth you continue to offer. 🙏
This is beautiful. The video with looking back on our own life and faith in the unknown is just what's needed for the viewing.
No over analysis of topics like school projects just plain viewing and understanding and looking at it with a open mind to better help yourself and just claming all the anxiety of reality away.
Truly beautiful, @LikeStoriesofOld
You know what I thought when he asked why the heroes journey or the protagonist in a story is so different to reality? I thought: “Because reality sucks and we want to escape it. Stories are the exit.”
because reality is fake world made by selfmanipulated humans
that couldn't be farther from original optimal
conditions of human life in nature where he belongs
Kinda cringe
Since I started watching your videos, it made me more wiser, more stronger, and more mature day by day. The change and conciouseness i am feeling after watching your videos is profound. Thank you so much for pouring your heart and thoughts to make these amazing life changing analysis videos.Thanks and love from your aundiences around the world.
This must be my favorite video essay I've ever seen, truly wonderful in all aspects and I think I'll cherish it for a very long time. I also think you may be the very hero you're describing, just think the amount of people you will probably impact with such a video.
Hero's journey is a distilled depiction of successful process of positive change through personal struggles. A tragedy is a depiction of an unsuccessful one. In modern culture the representation is heavily scewed towards the former, while reality is more closer to latter.
I think yours may be my favourite channel on this platform. Many of your videos have greatly impacted my attitude to life and functioned as emotional and spiritual balms. Thank you for all you do!
I'm so thankful for this epic essay. I'm in tears now this was amazing a true journey beyond the heroic and into oirselves... a minutes ago I told a friend at work "we have to steal some life out of existence" and it is true... thank you
I love this channel so much. I can't wait to dive into this topic more.
Really love popping by this channel and seeing the ongoing critical project. There's something to be said for understanding why people love these things, and patiently exploring where and why they're not necessarily good for us.
I saw the title of this video and knew I needed to see it. I keep climbing and clawing in my career and I keep waiting for my ultimate triumph or happy ending, but the truth is that life has constant ups and downs. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose.
Every struggle we face in our life has the potential to become an adventure. Regardless of it's ending as a victory or a tragedy.
I studied for seven years and I don't belong to the smartest kids. So when I passed my examina, I felt like I won a big world shattering battle. Only there was no music playing. No narrator explaining my hardships. No flowers around my neck or crown on my head. No one knew of my victory.
BUT I KNOW. and I am proud of myself. And I will live my life content as an unknown hero.
I'm from Indonesia. I love this video essay & analysis so much. It's exactly what I've been looking for all this time. As a movie lover myself, I'm really glad that finally there is such an excellent & in-depth analysis on the contrast between reality .vs. imagination (which is usually inherent in movies, or any other artistic mediums such as: video games, novels, comic books, anime/manga, etc etc etc). Much respect for making this video.
Tinggal di Bali.
Muslims don't need to think about such things
they have bliss in obeying and serving like soldiers
the Hero's Journey is available to those with courage, the willingness to change and to be their OWN hero.
First of all ,thank you for your work here..your videos are very special to me. They always grab hold and toss my ass around the room.
I'm always reluctant to watch sometimes, I end up crying my eyes out every time...and feel changed every time , or at least long to be.
I always feel like I just came from church
For an ordinary guy like me who does an ordinary job day after day, movies are my mental painkiller. They gave me moments to escape from the fact that I will wake up at the same time tomorrow and repeat what I have been doing for years.
This is truly, truly stellar work. Thank you for doing this.
Even an essay follows the hero’s journey. The conclusion is the mirror of the thesis.
Someone once wrote an opinion piece on screenwriting formulas like in Save the Cat, and deliberately patterned it after the structure described in Save the Cat.
@@IZEASGT see that’s what Jordan Peterson would call “play”
@@IZEASGT I love it
@@jw6487 I took a minute to look and found the piece - it was written by Peter Suderman in 2013 for Slate, and titled “Save the Movie!” He reveals the trick three paragraphs from the end, with a now-dead link to an annotated version of the essay with each beat labeled. (I was able to find it on the Wayback Machine.)
I always feel so profound and truthful after watching your videos. They move me. Make me think and rethink what i think I know. Your thoughtful and positive insides are a breath of fresh air, always. Keep it up, it's marvelous what you do!
This video gave me a lot more insight that I expected, and I love that about your videos. I've had heroic moments and lived through accidents that I've created in search of such, but the story and the fulfillment of my life is perfect for me.
I kind of just wish modern media didn't exist, I grew up glued to the TV as a way to survive the isolation and torture my abusive mother was subjecting me to so my entire developmental period was spent with fiction being beamed into my head and a total detachment from reality,
I was too young to understand the effect this would have but now as a young adult I am shackled to said consequences, I do not exist in the real world in any capacity, I do not function there, I keep waiting for the adventure to begin, for the pain to go away, but I simultaneously understand it never will
Tom, you have hit an extraordinary high note with this film - thank you so much!
Thank you for all the incredible work and thought put into these videos, and to the overall narrative you've just told with the closing ideas being so unifying!
Those two words "The End" at well, the end, made me smile so much, evoking all the movies I've seen sitting in cinemas over the decades. So many good moments, gratitude.
the amount of time and effort you put in to make something beautiful. I really respect it
Life may not be so, but stories can and they should be.
no
You always get me excited for reading when it’s been so hard to motivate myself to do so. There is literally no other force in this universe that I’ve encountered that has the same effect. You contain a great power within you
I really enjoy the clarity and depth of your videos. The amount of work and thought you put into each of your videos must be staggering.
The hero's journey...at its most fundamental level...is a journey of self-acceptance. Learn how to love this being you are...explore yourself and the world around you...see how you fit into this reality you inhabit.
Would you wish child molesters and rapist to accept themselves and learn to love themselves?
I think this is the lesson of most good stories. The problem with the majority of movies is that the hero is usually someone who already has talents that are acceptable to society or at the end they have become acceptable to society, which isn't self-acceptance at all. It is still chasing the acceptance of others.
❤
Self-acceptance? No, this is completely antithetical to the traditional conception of heroism and represents a feminised regression typical of modernity. True heroism is about self-overcoming, transformation, striving beyond oneself, beyond the human, the earthly, the contingent and temporal towards what is godlike, solar, transcendent, essential, and eternal. This is revealed through analysis of the traditional archetypes of heroism such as Hercules, Gilgamesh, Perseus, Beowulf, Odin, and Siddhartha. These are all archetypes of the Olympian, solar spirituality achieved through the two paths of action and contemplation. It was thought that man could overcome the conditioning of individuality and participate in the supernatural reality by means of contemplation or, equally, by means of action. Self-acceptance on the contrary is the philosophy of the last man.
@@rexnemorensis8154 good luck on ur way to self acceptance ❤
The Hero's journey in mythology and stories - as written by Joseph Campbell - is just metaphor in the context of the time it was written about the inner journey each of us experience from child to adulthood and shows the path to enlightenment of the human experience if you have the fortitude and willingness to walk it, what Campbell would call "following your bliss".
That is a little different than looking at stories as concrete examples of the human experience and wondering why you don't see your life experience in those stories.
A veritable treasure trove of wisdom and deep insight, thank you for uploading this video. It asks questions I have run away from, terrified by the delusion they have unveiled. It confronts me with the spectre of one skimming across the surface of life, uninterested in probing deeper, or living a BIG life. Thanks again …😊
Thank you for these insights. You've given me a lot to think about and a lot to feel grateful for. I appreciate you taking the time to share them.
This video proves that Blade Runner 2049 is indeed one of the best and most underrated films of all time. It completely broke the traditional format of the protagonist being some "predestined hero" and chosen one. He wanted so badly to be, but in the end...he was just a normal robot.
I would like to start by saying that this might be the best documentary I have ever watched period.
Secondly, this is a philosophical topic that I have pondered on for years. This video gave me much more insight into the relationship between reality and stories. I love the ending about “cosmic salvation”
I believe that stories are embedded within who we are because that is how God intended it. We see examples of this within the stories of the Bible. More specifically, the story of Jesus. The story of a chosen one who saves the world from evil through the power of his love. This is why we cling to stories like “the lord of the rings” “harry potter” “star wars” and many more. We are drawn to the story of Jesus and those that are like it because the story of Jesus is not only about who he was but who we are meant to be. And who God is calling us to be.
As C.S.Lewis said,
The Gospel is the true Mythos.
Fantastic! Thank you! To quote a part of an Inuit story. " I will let you live this time. But dont eat people " In other words, don't eat their spirit for your own gain. No matter where you go, there you are. The real geography is the landscape with in. Compassionate objectivity on the outside, is compassionate objectivity on the inside. Learn through meditation to care for your monkey mind. And learn to be in a perpetual state of gratitude and you will honor the wisdom of the elders.
35:20 "this was just a rough historic overview" lol dude this was an epic analysis of how we got here, I loved every minute of it!! 🔥
remember that you can always use google lens to read a book in a foreign language. Also, I think that the reason why stories are structured in the manner of the heroes journey is simply because in the past people actually did leave their homes and went out to venture into the world. A world that seemed so strange and new. Also, many cultures have the mentor pupil dynamic with young men who pass on their knowledge and provide guidance before going forth etc etc.
The dissonance is real but simply because modern humans dont live their lives in the same manner as they did in the past.
Does Google lens have facial recognition? I want something that will tell me about a person by looking at them. A series of their social media posts, or whatever they want to curate about themselves for presentation. IDK if this exists or will exist, but was just yesterday contemplating this with my daughter and just now synchronistically came across your post when I was wondering yet again “what am I supposed to want?”
There’s 3 anime I think you should watch, or at least know about:
1.) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
2.) Lucky Star
3.) K-ON
I think these stories in particular mimic real life very closely, especially Lucky Star and K-ON. As far I can tell at least 2 of them completely break away from the hero’s journey.
Not only that but they’re very popular in the anime community while also being a lot like reality at the same time. I’d really like to know what you think of these stories in particular and maybe even add to what you already know about stories.
One more, Madoka Magica. It subverts every characteristic of the “magical girl” trope that is so well known, them being destined, perfect and sweet, and able to overcome any problem that comes their way by believing hard enough. And yet, it is wholly a magical girl anime.
Shin seki yori is pretty good that has characters that , ok some follow tragedy, but the main characters are not heroesbut merely children discover about the truth of their world bit by bit. And its fictional, but also in line with the very real process to come in terms with the messed up things that happen in the real world and yes to uncover them, and that in interesting engaging ways.
And based tat its from a real scifi novel, yes it good, and memorable, and ther are no heroes, ut likable characters within it that try their best. Also really good twists.
K-ON stan detected opinion rejected.
humans don't live in originally human conditions
so whatever you see around
99.99% of time it's fake
not human reality at all
it's fake virtual reality made by fake humans
Thank you for these videos. They are so beautifully done and so thoughtful. I find comfort in them all. These are a treasure!
This is a very important video. I thnik many people have to watch this. It's really hard to pin out what you want to do in life because it seems that some people already know their ''destiny'' or their calling but I'm still searching and still can't find any answer. It causes a lot of desperation and anxiety when you don't know what to do with your life because you feel like you're wasting your time
I would say Walter White's fatal flaw is pride, but that's another video. This one is amazing! Thank you for making it. :)
Honestly highest praise I can give this is that your on par with Werner Herzog in how you structure and speak through these documentaries
This is great. I'm somewhat of a nerd when it comes to the monomyth, and this is one of the best video essays on the subject I have seen. Great work!
It's absolutely the case that the way to live a successful life is to move out into the problems when they beckon, deal with them, and return a better person with some lesson's learned. That's probably the fundamental pattern of human life. There's nothing more real than that.
Everyone has the opportunity to become a hero within the context of their own life's journey. Sometimes being a hero is not adventurous but doing the mundane things others are unwilling to take responsibility for. Cleaning up, giving birth, getting a job, proposing, sticking to the job in support of the family, learning a skill, doing what is necessary despite discomfort. Being heroic is about fulfilling one's obligation to grow and develop and take responsibility for one's own life first then being supportive and a catalyst for growth in others. not complaining, not remaining dependent, not being a burden. We all have fears, we are all born underdeveloped, we all start life as unconscious, unskilled, unaccomplished beings. A hero is someone that can grow and develop towards maturity, hopefully overcome challenges, reach the place where they have developed some quality in being, that sets the seed of growth in others to come. one generation growing and developing, being the guiding influence, which shines a light on the next generation, inspiring them to move towards their better, higher self. the other way is a degenerative process. One opposed to the hero. It seems this way to me.
I love this.
Great comment
@@christ.a8764 Thank you
@@WalleBrown Thank you
I wish there was a video that described that weird feeling of feeling like the world revolves around you. not in an egotistical way but in a main character way. The same feeling of starting a game and being fully immersed in it, but always remembering that the game is centered around you. sometimes this feeling gives you hope, as if you're just working out of a big character arc in an inspiring story. but other times it feels like you're not actually special or meant for anything, and your show is just something someone would skip in a cable package that contains millions of other shows most of which are better than yours. even depressing stories that lack inspirational moments are entertaining due to drama alone but it's SOMETHING. it's kind of why being depressed or in a low state feels somewhat comforting. it's a belief that all the confusion and suffering has some point to it.
I can relate to this completely
The world doesn’t revolve around you. Just your perception and understanding of it. It’s like you’re discovering an endless map in an rpg with all the different possible permutations of The World. But everyone lives in THEIR world, and we collectively have to try and deduce what The World is.
If life were a game it would be a weird mullti player game wher you are not the main character but just jome randomized person, and its way to much pay to win. an what you get to do that or lack it randomized too,
ther is the crazy ex girlfriend song end of the movie that really is good nailing that sentiment (and the seri explores mental health too in a relative uplifting way)
Also you dont doi things becaus a inherent meaning that you have to, its because it means something to you a meaning you create or adopt. Not one you are meant to be, but what meaning you give it, and as depressing an hard that is, it makes you free to not be confined by need to be great ot fullfil others needs, but your own, and there i no formula, no path you have to follow, but what within your limit you want to follow. .
I mean you can take from stories, but important is that you can do what the hell you want , and that there is no destiny, no fate, no inherent justice otr guarantees, you can make them possible, with risk of failure, but nothing is guatranteed, but also, you can possible create them out of that th random weird world we live in.
thank you so much for all your videos you such a calming voice and provide wonderful insight in not just movies but life itself you have made me look at everything in a different and positive way thank you.
you just knocked my socks off. seriously. the content and premise bore such relevance to me, and the production value is outstanding work! I'm not gonna get into specifics here, but I am sharing this with my nearest and dearest who know me, and I am saying "here! this is what I have been trying to express to you! this right here, all these years! listen, think, reflect."
I almost rejected clicking on this which I stumbled over on my way to investigate and explore something else. I saw the title, and thought, oh great, here's some guy gonna try and blow up Joe Campbell's works and ideas and indeed the entire nature of heroic tradition and how it applies to ones individual life....thats my baseline coding for life, and I felt the need to to defend against anything that might examine it too closely or even disprove my operating system on a foundational level.
Then I caught myself and thought, ok, someone besides your egocentric self has examined this closely, and its better to read the thoughts of those who's ideas challenge your paradigm than to brush them off and disregard them. so I clicked play after all. Then you threw in some existentialists and my mind was blown (aside: I've issues with Sartre, prolly more about me than his ideas, not saying his insights are wrong, I just have trouble with his conclusions. Also, I think I just don't like him personally LOL. I am solidly with Kierkegaard and Camus in many respects.
I needs must quiet myself now. please forgive my excitement. You just ignited a fuckton of synapses in my grey matter. I salute you Sir. I now, with, I confess, a bit of trepidation, will view your take on It's a Wonderful Life. You Sir are trampling all over the foundations of my garden. But now I've come to value your perspective. Don't be surprised to see my comments on that link. I pray you and yours are well, and look forward to anything and everything else you might deign to share.
LSOO, you are very good at what you do. Don't ever doubt that. Perhaps you were born to do it. Fantastic work, and more than that, you're words are very moving and eye opening. Pimp shit dude 🤙
just want to say i'm a huge fan of your pacing and overall style. its both relaxing yet engaging. your not afraid to get emotional either. thank you for compiling all this! looking forward to the next video
Such incredible thoughts, analysis, and effort went into this. I’m in awe of your wisdom.
This is absolutely amazing, and nothing short of life-changing! Thank you so much!
The hero's journey is merely a microcosm analogy for the transmission of cultural ideals which promote survival.
Life itself is complex and it always ends in death no matter how heroic one has been. The hero's journey is a small slice of how we approach goal-seeking in general. A story can only model a narrow set of goals and a narrow set of approaches to those goals as well as a narrow set of outcomes. But that's where the art in story is derived -- all art requires working within the limits of a form.
Though the 'people who don't understand statistics will be selected against' thing seems inaccurate, since, if the 'hero' passes the bottleneck, they might become quite reproductively successful. Eh.
Surely life begets life?
@@daddycool228 in a literal sense yes, life begets life. But for the first life, the one who does the begetting, death is the only certainty. And for the begotten, though they are cursed to become the begetter, and death will still come. Our internal drive for immortality may trick us into believing that life we beget is some form of extension of us, but this is only half true. The begotten may carry pieces of the begetter with them, but they are a wholly distinct entity. Each individual instance of life will come to a permanent end eventually. The amount of importance one puts on their “legacy”, to put a complex idea poorly and simply, is up to them. But ultimately, in death, that legacy will be unknown to the one who leaves it behind. So life may beget more life yes, but it will ultimately matter not to the one who does the begetting.
I need this essay to be on Letterboxd so I can stealthily present it to my overambitious, deluded and occasionally depressed film university mates.
Such a truly wonderful video. Listened to the whole thing and I couldn't be any happier. Thank you for your work and these beautiful thoughts
I loved the original video and this longer form is even better. Thanks for this, always a treat
This channel is the only thing keeping me afloat. I hope it never goes away.
You can also check out Every Story is the Same by Will Schoder and his other videos! Hope you’re ok!
This is one of the strange aspects with many epic historical movies. A lot of fictional movies have no problem starting the story with a hero of noble birth destined for greatness, but many historical movies intentionally change history to make the main character start out from nothing, a normal everyman who then gets the Call to Adventure. The Patriot, Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven, Vikings, are all based on historical figures who were born into rich noble families and already leaders when war started. But the movie versions have them all start out as farmers!
I guess it's peddling that sense of relatability or even hope to the audience: "Anyone can change the course of history even those people with humble origins." Mainstream hero-journey storytelling is a difficult sell (not always) if the character begins in opulence, and with some semblance of status. Although, I find it interesting that a female character can undergo a compelling journey even when her origin is one of luxury and wealth, because I suppose the implication is that this particular gilded cage of comfort is preventing her from experiencing an authentic life of freedom, etc. It's kind of one-dimensional and simple, but most of these types of story are this way.
That was beautifully composed my friend! I like how your philosophies have concluded into something with more form. A model let's say! As i saw things through your eyes, I also saw how this applies to my personal journey and reminds me how i need to prepare myself to return and conclude my own path and to present my own model/concept publically. Your words are well defined and the visual montage reflects all of the right instances which define them from each film. That's takes skill and technique! Keep up the good work, i'll be watching whilst i prepare to place mine online... tc
Excellent work. Thank you for this, I really needed it. The timing, for me, is sublime.
Yes it is. Your job is to find that journey. But it's there, waiting for you.
If you are detached from spirit, there s no journey, sure. If you reconnect with spirit, life becomes an incredible adventure.
that's literally just your ego talking, you missed the entire point lmao
@@mintymilkk Why are you so sure?
Explain your argument, explain with factual evidence.
Maybe you're just projecting yourself, aren't you?
Explain yourself, please!
So to agree with you the difficulty here is the personal pronouns, Your and we they, and them. The Journey is about Ego's journey back to Soul. "The journey from the head to the heart is the longest journey". The other difficulty is in the west we (which we? our collective Ego) do not accept the idea of reincarnation and so there is an expectation to finish the journey in one lifetime and so skews the understanding of our daily lives as snippets of a larger and longer journey.
@@PolitoLopez mmm no. I'm talking about finding the real you
@@mintymilkk you poor kids don't really have adventures do you? Fighting my way out of the hood was the beginning of my journey
Summary: We suffer from Main Character Syndrome
"Freedom" is the American dream we sold ourselves to. But the irony of freeing ourselves is to enslave ourselves to the devices in which make us "free." But unfortunately, the only absolute is death. The hero's journey to me has always been about escapism from the inevitable. A hope for purpose either given to me or self given; some form of self justification to keep striving and living. But reality is what it is, and I and nobody can stop it no matter what. All we do is keep deluding ourselves and each other, which corrupts each other's dreams and what we strive for. But ultimately, none of us were meant for anything besides what we are given and what we will have to give away.
These clips are amazingly apt and thoughtfully chosen. You have, with one video, made up for hundreds I've watched that had stale and unrelated and repetitive clips tossed in randomly. You have set the bar and it is very, very high. I'm new to your channel. Subscribed. Can't wait to see the other videos. This one struck me right where I lived, as I am both female and The Commander (MBIP)
I think you missed the point of the heroes journey. You can live everyday acting in the heroes journey.
Could a part of the problem of meaning be that less and less our own meaning is found in a community and through hyperindividualism we now have accelerate this need to imprint ourselves onto a hero story?
I have a similar thought.. i think that is absolutely true.
Masamune Shirow is a good example of a creative person who knows how to throw together a bunch of seemingly random events in a way which plausibly offers a feeling of meaningfulness for the reader. He even knows how to make loose threads fit the overall intrigue. Thrilling.🥶
I'm glad of you made a director's cut. As I mentioned in the previous video, I research entrepreneurship discourses and the idea that the entrepreneur is a hero is common and it leads to the same results of frustration and inequality. A "magic bullet", like a researcher said, but it has more economic consequences. This is good to organize my thoughts in an analysis of it.
One thing I appreciate is how you kind you sound. You really want to make a discussion and make us reevaluate ideas, in this case, the Hero's Journey. I've been preparing a critique of the concept as well, but that reminded me I need ot think better. You even touched upon the political problems with it and did it in such an open way.
Recently I read The Storytelling Animal, it introduces to the general reader the perspective of neurology and stories, you might want to take a look in case you want to enrich the debate.
I'm also reminded of Bertold Bretch's works. He recognized that humanity would always love hero stories so he made his works to try to make people have a more critical view on it - not critical in the negative sense, but in the ample sense. His work Life of Galilee is interesting because it tests the way we see heroes. When Andrea storms out saying "Unhappy is the land that has no heroes", Galilee, when alone, replies "No, unhappy the land that needs heroes." It's to wonder if heroes exist because there's a lack of something deeper in our nature besides the need to fill time.