Enter the Forest at the Darkest Point

By: Joseph Campbell

The heroic life is living the individual
adventure.

There is no security
in following the call to adventure.

Nothing is exciting
if you know
what the outcome is going to be.

To refuse the call 
means stagnation.

What you don't experience positively
you will experience negatively.

You enter the forest
at the darkest point,
where there is no path.

Where there is a way or path,
it is someone else's path.

You are not on your own path. 

If you follow someone else's way,
you are not going to realize
your potential.

The goal of the hero trip
down to the jewel point
is to find those levels in the psyche
that open, open, open, 
and finally open to the mystery
of your Self being
Buddha consciousness
or the Christ.

That's the journey.

It is all about finding
that still point in your mind
where commitment drops away. 

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Excerpt from: A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)