If your life were turned into a movie, would you watch it? Would others be interested in it and invested to see if you reach the climactic finale? Author Donald Miller encountered these very questions as his life was being turned into a movie. For Miller the sad answer was in fact no. This began a long season of introspection in which Miller concluded that the same elements that make up a good story in a novel or movie also make up a good life. To which he began questioning if his life was a good life lived to that point. A good movie, a good story is not one in which the protagonist goes from thing to thing, each event being fun and good with no conflict, setbacks, or challenges. And yet for many of us, we think that a good life should follow that pattern, just one good thing after the next until our last breath. His conclusion was that a good story just as a good life has to have a meaning, a purpose, or perhaps a series of missions in order to be interesting, engaging, good. Being disconnected from a sense of purpose or something greater than yourself can lead to all kinds of psychological challenges, from being ungrateful to feeling disconnected, isolated, alone, unseen, uncared for, to being overwhelmed by the problem of evil and much more. All of which can either exacerbate or in some instances be the cause of anxiety, depression, and more. While there is no one specific path to meaning, the hero’s journey is a common story pattern that examines how a person may transform their life, finding meaning along the way.
Donal Miller, in his book, Hero on a Mission, identifies 4 archetypal characters that are often present in a hero’s tale. Those characters however are not just played out for an audience in a book, play, or movie, they are roles we also find ourselves in as we journey through life. Those characters are: the hero, the victim, the villain, and the guide. We may vacillate between these characters or identify more one of them for seasons of our life. Miller notes however that it is a life of meaning and purpose that we all seek, which he takes from Logotherapy and Viktor Frankl’s work. Frankl along with many of the Existentialists argue that it is ultimately up to us, the responsibility is ours and ours alone to find that meaning and live into it. This is the journey of the hero, to be called to action, invited into a meaningful role in a story and transform into who they have been called to be, in order to attain the goal, find peace, slay the dragon etc.
What I will be doing is discussing each of these four characters here, to help you identify and understand when you are operating as each of these four characters, and how you can ultimately choose to be the hero finding meaning in your own life. Miller says, “[i]f we are tired of life, what we’re really tired of is the story we are living inside of.” The hero is one who accepts a calling of some sort to adventure and challenge and transformation. This all is informed and facilitated by the mission. To be on a mission is to be sent with intent. Bilbo has the intent to help the dwarves get their gold back from the dragon. Superman is sent to earth not just to escape the destruction of Krypton, but to show the people of earth a better way live. As you reflect on your own life, how clear is your purpose right now? Do you know why you’ve been sent? In what ways are your choices being directed towards a greater sense of meaning, are you contributing to something greater than yourself? These are the types of questions that can help us begin our hero’s journey, or perhaps get us back on the path if we have fallen away. If you are struggling, mentally, physically, spiritually, it could be that gaining clarity around which character you are living as and making intentional choices to be more heroic will play a role in your healing and growth.