Sometimes

@@StoryManiac Thanks for responding! Can you tell me if I am understanding this quote correctly? It sounds like the hero comes to peace with life being a zero-sum game: "The battlefield is symbolic of the field of life, where every creature lives on the death of another. A realization of the inevitable guilt of life may so sicken the heart that, like Hamlet or like Arjuna, one may refuse to go on with it. One the other hand, like most of the rest of us, one may invent a false, finally unjustified, image of oneself as an exceptional phenomenon in the world, not guilty as other are, but justified in one’s inevitable sinning because one represents the good. Such self-righteousness leads to a misunderstanding, not only of oneself but of the nature of both man and the cosmos. The goal of the myth is to dispel the need for such life ignorance by effecting a reconciliation of the individual consciousness with the universal will. And this is effected through a realization of the true relationship of the passing phenomena of time to the imperishable life that lives and dies in all.”

@@blaketheshepherdI think hes saying that because life is a zero sum game that we delude ourselves into thinking that our choices are good ones and the people who lose out because of our choices are therefore bad. Its a fallacy that myths dispel by showing us that our individual needs are connected to things that are universal in all of us. So its not necessarily becoming okay with life being zero sum game but becoming more okay with our choices/ ourselves.

@@blaketheshepherd Thats how I see it anyways

@@StoryManiac Becoming ok with getting what you need to have a good life, even if it means someone else misses out because they would do the same due to us all having the same internal drives

Not necessarily. It could be that its a more interesting story to see the steps out of order but they are usually there in one way or another.

Just cos they are playing within the rules doesnt mean they are playing nice.

@@StoryManiac Ah ok I get what you mean now..yes he indeed spites him

Glad to meet you fellow hyper nerd! haha

Chris Voglers the writers journey is also really good.

Thanks Im glad you got something out of this. I have read Poetics and was thinking about doing a similar series on youtube about it.

I would say some people dont want you to go on the journey because they want to keep you safe and that can come from a place of love. Some people dont want you to change cos it means they would have to change and they can be tyrants in our lives. But I dont think everyone that tried to take you off your path is necessarily evil. I appreciate this content has an element of self help to it I just want to be clear that I'm a screenwriter not a therapist so my advice only really applies to telling stories. It doesnt necessarily translate with the real world. There are trained pros out there who can help with if thats what you are after.

Its genuinely inspiring to me to hear that someone who is almost twice my age is still learning and growing. And you cant have courage without fear. Im sure you will find the courage to conquer whatever fear is holding you back from selling your pots. If thats what you want to do.

I haven't seen No Country for Old Men in a very long time but if memory serves I think its the theme that goes through a transformation. So the change isn't personified but abstract. So the abstract concepts explored are the hero to give a direct answer to your question.

Thats exactly right that there are many stages of a return. But depending on the story there may not be a return. and depending on the circumstances of the return it could be either the Magic Flight or Rescue from Without

Belly of the whale is about the protagonist leaving their ordinary world and entering the special world where they will change. It appears to their ordinary world that they have died (Neo being unplugged), and where they learn how the special world works (Neo being rehabbed and Morpheus showing him around the ship and showing him what the Matrix is) . All these elements line up with the goals of this stage. To completely remove the protagonist from the Ordinary World and prepare them for journeying through the Special World.

@@StoryManiac thank you. I understand the point better now. And also, did you skip the woman as temptress? That means that it's not a perfect heros journey right?

@@ronnyrondrickson8607 With the Matirx the Meeting with the Goddess and the Woman as temptress are both in the same scene with the Oracle. Where she tells him he is not the one (the thing he needs to hear ie meeting with the goddess) but also that he has to choose between himself and morpheus (forces him to make a moral choice with the amoral information she provided ie woman as temptress)

@@StoryManiac but doesn't atonement with the father encompass a father like figure

Im glad it helped!