So I was writing in response to @metametheus's recent post, Chronic Illness, The Heros Journey, Part I, and yet again I've managed to tie it into another great post, Mind the SJW Trap, by no less than @zyx066.

So now ofcourse, I'm going to have to merge the two...

The Hero's Journey

I related talking with my roommate Zombie about this back in '96... We were both new to witchery and had studied mythology extensively in our lives. The thing is, ofcourse, that the Hero's Journey is of a cyclical nature, and happens again and again and again, granted you don't die somewhere along the way. I've been through it... Sheesh.. this must be the third time... Granted, this time around, the lessons have been coming rapid-fire...

One terrible thing that might have been overlooked, is that you will have a GREAT DEAL of assistance in ignoring The Call (to step upon the Golden Road of the Hero's Journey).. There are entire industries, philosophies, even paradigms absolutely insistent on keeping you stagnant so they can profit from your misery. This isn't even counting the everyday assholes who try and convince you to stay in a box of their choosing. The tactics are always the same; Deny, Distract, Decry... with a mountain of shaming.

Luckily, in these days of mass personal-communication, the game has changed somewhat. Before, it was all on the gods and tricksters to try and get this through your head, because there was no proper community, as such. Inventions certainly helped, the printing-press, radio, television, and finally message boards.

Ofcourse the powers that be are quick to adapt, but the sheer deluge of community-building is pushing even -their- limits. They are doubling down on old-school tactics, rebranding the same old methods, targeting (and destroying) upfront threats... And they are good at it.. really, really good. Trust me, they see both the forest AND the trees...

But were they looking for this?

The link in question goes to an article about how megaflora, such as trees, utilize a symbiotic relationships with fungi to share information, feed each other, and -literally- perform CPR (of an arboreal sort) on each other.

So how does this touch on Information War?

Because, while @metametheus was speaking more from a pharmacological/dietary point of view, the concept of the Hero's Journey is excruciatingly relevant in the branch of Cultural Management / Information Warfare, which is what I was getting at. While I myself first came upon the concept during my early days of witchery and bargaining with certain parties, I immediately found it applicable in the Industrial culture of the 90's. I had long known of the malfeasance of corporate and governmental parties, but I never imagined precisely how many infections our culture is carrier to.

Lately, I've come to understand this more, and well.. I've been on a Hero's Journey of an entirely different sort this winter. There was a certain paradigm sold to me, without question due to good intentions, that has served me very ill for many decades. Perhaps, in one sense, this stunning naivety on my part protected me... but still.. it is most horrid to find that while you -thought- you were marching to the tune of a "different drummer"... that tune itself was most unhealthy...

I'm coming out of the Underworld again, and gods only know how long I will have before I hear the call again...

But make no mistake... If you weren't worth calling, They wouldn't bother.