The heros true journey begins at the point at which he crosses the threshold separating the ordinary from the extraordinary world. Jim Morrison said, "There are things known and things unknown and in between are The Doors."
When the hero opens the door that takes him from the world of common data to the uncommon world, his life changes forever. One way or another, he will never be the same again. He is leaving behind the familiar to venture into the Great Unknown where there is no comfort zone, and no safety net. The sheeple stare curiously at the strange door that leads to the new world. For a while, it seems enticing but as they shuffle closer, saying "baa" all the while, the door exudes a terrible power.
It creates an invisible force field that keeps away all but the finest members of the human race. Even to reach the door is an impressive feat. To actually go through it means you are capable of becoming God. You are ready to be initiated into the highest mysteries. The sheeple watch in awe as the door swings open and the hero steps through. Instantly, he vanishes from sight, and the door swings shut once more. The sheeple turn away and go back to grazing. "Oh, well be heroes in our video games," they say. "Doing it for real is so much hassle. A virtual heros as good as a real one."
The hero on the other side of the door, the side that only higher humanity ever experiences has nothing but his inner divinity to sustain and guide him. There are no sheeple here. There are no easy paths, soft options or lazy dreams. You did not come here for instant gratification. You came to transform yourself from clay into alchemical gold.
You have chosen the hardest path, the path that mercilessly punishes all weakness. The bones of failed heroes lie strewn everywhere. Almost all of the Grail Knights mightiest and most magnificent of men though they were perished here. If they couldnt make it then who can? You seriously think you can accomplish the impossible?
The hero immediately finds himself traveling downwards, into ever deepening darkness. The blackest and most forbidding mountains arise around him. The path is stony and painfully hard. He reaches the densest, darkest of forests and hears the most terrifying noises…human screams. Just as Dante did, the hero will have to open the gate of hell and venture into the Inferno where all of his deepest fears reside. On the other side, Paradise awaits, but how many can ever get there when hell itself stands between them and their goal?
Hell is the ultimate road of trials. Here you are subjected to every torment, everything from which you have fled in your ordinary life. Here you must reconcile all of the things that have troubled and disturbed you. You must encounter your Father and Mother and come to terms with them, not as their child, but as an equal adult who has put childish thing behind you. You must confront all the bullies who bid you down, every one who harmed you, all those who screwed you over. You must relive all of the things you fucked up in your life and understand why. You must encounter your anima/animus and resolve all the issues you have with the opposite sex.
You will encounter every demon, temptress, conman and monster. You have to overcome them all, and that means reaching into your own soul and summoning forth your Higher Self, that part of you that already has one foot in the divine order. Your task, you now realise, is to replace your lower self with your divine self. Your lower self does not have a prayer of surviving in hell.
Your lower self is weak, trivial, stupid, cowardly and soft. It wants easy pleasures and to fit in with the flocks of sheeple. Your Higher Self, on the other hand, is immortal and, when fully conscious, indistinguishable from God. The gap between you and God is both infinitely wide and trivially small.
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