Perhaps we're lucky enough to be initiated into life's mysteries by a wise person or by a community practice. Great myths have taught us that life itself can do this if we pay attention. This perspective--often called The Hero's Journey--provides interesting ways of thinking about descriptions of spiritual growth that we get from saints like Teresa of Avila. Using lots of stories and movie clips, Dave Schmelzer walks us into this opportunity to discover again who we actually are and what makes us come to life.

Mentioned on this podcast: 

Some resources on the Hero's Journey:

The book Dave first read, and still perhaps the easiest introduction, is a book that applies this to screenwriting called: The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, by Christopher Vogler. 

The seminal book on the Heroine's Journey is Maureen Murdock's The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness.

Kenny Loggins's memoir is called Still Alright. A terrific, gospel song of his that strikingly describes atonement coming from surviving the belly of the whale is "That's When I Find You" from his (regrettably) most-recent solo album, 2007's "How About Now."

A book on the Examen is Sleeping with Bread: Holding what Gives You Life, by Dennis, Sheila and Matthew Linn.

If you'd like to donate towards The Pocket Contemplative, you can do that at the "give" tab at journey-on.net.