How we cite our quotes: (Page.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The so-called rites of passage, which occupy such a prominent place in the life of a primitive society (ceremonials of birth, naming, puberty, marriage, burial, etc.), are distinguished by formal, and usually very severe, exercises of severance, whereby the mind is radically cut away from the attitudes, attachments, and life patterns of the stage being left behind. Then follows an interval of more or less extended retirement, during which are enacted rituals designed to introduce the life adventurer to the forms and proper feelings of his new estate, so that when, at last, the time has ripened for the return to the normal world, the initiate will be as good as reborn. (8.3)
A coming of age story involves the same kind of death-and-rebirth cycle that you see in the entire universe in Campbell. It's just one part of the larger process…kind of a practice transformation to prepare for the bigger ones that will eventually come our way.
Quote #2
It is the business of mythology proper, and of the fairy tale, to reveal the specific dangers and techniques of the dark interior way from tragedy to comedy. (27.3)
Fairy tales are associated with children and we're eventually supposed to leave them behind. But they're very powerful, and that power can stay with us when we grow up. There are plenty of old fogeys who still love Superman and Wonder Woman.
Quote #3
As we soon shall see, whether presented in the vast, almost oceanic images of the Orient, in the vigorous narratives of the Greeks, or in the majestic legends of the Bible, the adventure of the hero normally follows the pattern of the nuclear unit above described: a separation from the world, a penetration to some source of power, and a life-enhancing return. (33.2)
That cycle is what coming of age is supposed to prepare us for. Graduation, getting your first job, passing the driver's test… they're all designed to send us out into the world, to follow the Hero's Journey in our own way.
Quote #4
The myths and folk tales of the whole world make clear that the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be one's own interest. The future is regarded not in terms of an unremitting series of deaths and births, but as though one's present system of ideals, virtues, goals, and advantages were to be fixed and made secure. (55.2)
Refusing the call is kind of like deciding to live in your parents' basement for the rest of your life. Yeah, you can do it, but you're missing out on a lot of what life's supposed to be about—the risks you need to take if you want to be a hero.
Quote #5
For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass. (63.3)
Transformation doesn't take place all at once. You need to do it in stages, and the mentor is there to help you. We've all had that awesome teacher or relative (a cool aunt perhaps) who helps us gain confidence or teaches us cool things like understanding Hamlet or changing the oil. Those are the mentors in our lives, arriving at the start of our journey and showing us the way.
Quote #6
This popular motif gives emphasis to the lesson that the passage of the threshold is a form of self-annihilation. Its resemblance to the adventure of the Symplegades is obvious. But here, instead of passing outward, beyond the confines of the visible world, the hero goes inward, to be born again. (84.3)
Once we grow up, we're never going to be children again. There's a certain sadness to that—we don't know about you, but we'd give anything to spend the day building blanket forts and coloring—but to hold fast to childhood is to avoid living a full life.
Quote #7
The problem of the hero going to meet the father is to open his soul beyond terror to such a degree that he will be ripe to understand how the sickening and insane tragedies of this vast and ruthless cosmos are completely validated in the majesty of Being. The hero transcends life with its peculiar blind spot and for a moment rises to a glimpse of the source. He beholds the face of the father, understands —and the two are atoned. (135.2)
Freud was big into killing the father and taking his place, a big sign of transformation. Campbell thinks so too, but he doesn't think that killing him is the way to take his place. Instead, you need to recognize the parts of him that are in you and see that he is the same as you.
Quote #8
This godlike being is a pattern of the divine state to which the human hero attains who has gone beyond the last terrors of ignorance. (138.1)
Terrors are supposed to be childish feelings. And when we grow up, we're not supposed to be scared of monsters in the closet anymore. But those fears are still there. Transformation means not silencing those fears, but understanding that they're a part of the world.
Quote #9
The hero-soul goes boldly in —and discovers the hags converted into goddesses and the dragons into the watchdogs of the gods. (201.2)
Once the hero attains his or her goals, things don't seem quite so scary anymore, and s/he's able to face down those fears more confidently. Even more importantly, s/he starts to understand how those scary things work and see them as a lot more benevolent than they first appeared.
Quote #10
The hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is. (225.4)
In some ways, transformation never ends. It's an ongoing process of developing and changing. You're not a grown-up just because you get a driver's license or graduate from high school or become old enough to vote. Each of those is a step that brings you further along the journey of life.