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The Hero's Journey
In order to better understand the essence of occultism, considering the
incredible variety of motivations and methodologies available, it is use
ul to
consider what may be common to all seekings into the occult. The mythologist
Joseph Campbell took a similar perspective on mythology and discovered that
common to all cultural mythoi were va
rious archetypal patterns that met in
a process he called the "hero's journey," or the 'monomyth.' The hero's journey
consists of various stages of the quest from the hero's call to adventure (which takes hir
beyond the bounds of hir society) to hir triumpant return into hir culture. While
a good deal of variatio
n may occur within the basic map, Campbell observed the
essence of the hero's journey to be the same in almost all cases. A similar commonality
seems to exist in all occult quests; indeed, the pattern is basically equivalent to
that of the hero's journey, except that while the hero may or may not focus upon
experiential knowledge as hir triumphant attainment, the occultist always does;
and while the successful hero generally retu
rns to hir culture with some kind of valued
contribution, the occultist might ignore or act as an enemy or adversary toward hir
social environment. Common to the journey of the hero and the occ
ultist is the
transgression of the vicissitudes of circumstance in constrast to participation in some
sanctioned form of escape or meaningful experience. The successful occultist and the
hero both participate in the world while remaining liberated from its influence.
The extreme popularity of interactive forms of escapist entertainment
in modern culture may be
considered a sign that the average person
is probably more likely to be sympathetic to the occult quest (although, perhaps,
less likely of actually succeeding at it) than ever before. The 'simulation,' whether
in the form of a complex computer or role-playing game, or in the form of a
'self-referential' film like the Matrix, is perhaps the most subtle occult symbol
for the structure of the reality th
at emanates from the unconceivable potential
that the occultist seeks to plumb. It is in appreciation for the ideal state of perpetual
play, or "optimal stress," that the occultist m
ay achieve some rapport with
modern society, if s/he chooses. The occultist, in contrast to others, is unsatisfied
with forms of 'simulation' that exist within the greater simulation thought of as 'reality,'
and seeks to be able to regard this system with the same understanding that a
consummate game player regards hir favorite mode of entertainment.
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