How we cite our quotes: (Page.Paragraph)
Quote #1
These are dangerous because they threaten the fabric of the security into which we have built ourselves and our family. But they are fiendishly fascinating too, for they carry keys that open the whole realm of the desired and feared adventure of the discovery of the self. Destruction of the world that we have built and in which we live, and of ourselves within it; but then a wonderful reconstruction, of the bolder, cleaner, more spacious, and fully human life—that is the lure, the promise and terror, of these disturbing night visitants from the mythological realm that we carry within. (7.4)
As with everything in this book, it's what inside that counts. And the hero's external exploration is matched by a lot of looking inside to see who he or she is.
Quote #2
The two—the hero and his ultimate god, the seeker and the found—are thus understood as the outside and inside of a single, self-mirrored mystery, which is identical with the mystery of the manifest world. The great deed of the supreme hero is to come to the knowledge of this unity in multiplicity and then to make it known. (37.2)
This what lies at the end of exploration…but is also part of the exploration. In other words, if the hero were simply teleported to the end of the journey, her or she wouldn't gain anything. The exploration brings the rewards.
Quote #3
The effect of the successful adventure of the hero is the unlocking and release again of the flow of life into the body of the world… The torrent pours from an invisible source, the point of entry being the center of the symbolic circle of the universe, the Immovable Spot to the Buddha legend, around which the world may be said to revolve. (37.3)
Exploration here leads to movement, flowing, and a torrent of cool mojo. Notice how Campbell talks about the reward in the sense of moving…the same way an explorer might move through a landscape.
Quote #4
With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in the four directions — also up and down—standing for the limits c the hero's present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is dark less, the unknown, and danger; just as beyond the parental watch is danger to the infant and beyond the protection of his society danger to the member of the tribe. (71.2)
Exploration only counts if it involves things you haven't seen before…and the terrors and dangers they might hold.
Quote #5
Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials. This is a favorite phase of the myth-adventure. (89.1)
Every type of exploration involves tests and trials, which is why it's so dangerous. If the goal of exploration is to learn, then it needs to be a test like this.
Quote #6
In a vocabulary of more modern turn; this is the process of dissolving, transcending, or transmuting the infantile images of our personal past. (92.2)
And again, exploration in this book doesn't just mean a physical journey, but a spiritual one as well. By exploring the spiritual side of yourself, you invariably change into someone new.
Quote #7
When the hero-quest has been accomplished, through penetration to the source, or through the grace of some male or female, human or animal, personification, the adventurer still must return with his life-transmuting trophy. (179.1)
The exploring may be down at the end of the journey, but the travelling isn't. This is actually an important step, since the hero needs to convey the details of the exploration to others. Nobody knows what the explorer found if he gets eaten by a bear, after all…
Quote #8
If the trophy has been attained against the opposition of its guardian, or if the hero's wish to return to the world has been resented by the gods or demons, then the last stage of the mythological round becomes a lively, often comical, pursuit. This flight may be complicated by marvels of magical obstruction and evasion.
You can see this in action in a couple modern versions of the Hero's Journey: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Pirates of the Caribbean. Note also that both Indiana Jones and Jack Sparrow are explorers.
Quote #9
Nevertheless—and here is a great key to the understanding of myth and symbol —the two kingdoms are actually one. The realm of the gods is a forgotten dimension of the world we know. And the exploration of that dimension, either willingly or unwillingly, is the whole sense of the deed of the hero. (201.1)
Exploration isn't technically meaningless here, even if everywhere is the same place. It's by exploring that we come to understand how universal everything is.