Hero's Breath

In the third episode of Power of Myth interview series with Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell spoke on the rituals of initiation that human...

I often refer to myself as the “World’s Worst Pagan” mainly because I don’t actually worship the old gods. Sure, I believe they are real,...

I didn’t go back to that world for over a month – not until well after my car accident. Maybe if I had, the crash wouldn’t have happened....

Two weeks passed before I had the mental fortitude to go back into that subconscious world. What happened when I did was…well…almost...

I wouldn’t see Andrea again for six weeks, but after our last session she implored me to keep going back into that world, and to do so,...

The best way I could describe the Borderlands video game franchise is as a story-driven blend of first-person-shooter and role-playing...

Iroh’s question to his nephew, “Who are you, and what do you want?” has been ringing in my mind a lot lately. This was a pivotal moment...

In part four of the last miniseries I said that the elixir I brought back with me, that of personal responsibility, meritocratic hard...

Once they arrived at the hidden firebending temple, Aang and Zuko found a series of statues depicting a martial arts form called, “The...

Balance is the central theme of ATLA, and it’s no accident that much of that world is inspired by Asian cultures and their art. Eastern...

Before Iroh taught Zuko how to redirect lightning, he tried teaching him how to create it. However, after nearly blowing himself up...

By the second season of ATLA, Zuko and Iroh became more than exiles; they get branded as traitors by Zuko’s psychopathic sister, Azula,...

A show that I do not talk enough about in these blogs is Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA), and that’s a personal failing. I’ve included...

When discussing the Atonement with the Father stage in my first round of blogs, I said that the only way to counter the Dragon of...

Visionary inventor Buckminster Fuller said, “You never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build...

In 2003, psychologist Dr. Maja Djikic (then a graduate student) penned a paper with her professor entitled, “You Can Neither Remember Nor...

In my first round through the monomyth, the Elixir I attained was the discovery of conservative ideals of meritocracy, rugged...

As I went deeper into my unconscious mind, I went from battling a mighty dragon that made me both manic and depressed as it pushed me to...

If it’s one thing I’ve learned in going through the hero’s journey, it’s surrender. Not surrender in the hippie-dippie,...

The moment that the hero crosses the first threshold from his ordinary world to the special world is usually pretty quick. It’s often...