Finding Joe

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." ~Joseph Campbell

Who is Joseph Campbell? My twenty-year-old daughter asks me as we prepare to watch a new DVD on his teachings called Finding Joe. As I tell her what a fascinating teacher Joseph Campbell was, weaving a vast knowledge of myth and story into tools and truths that we could understand and utilize in our own life, it took me back ...

It was 1987. My husband, Jamey, and I and our two and a half-year-old son were in northern Thailand in Chiang Mai. We had been traveling for four months, questing really. It was one of those trips where you put your things in storage, take the insurance off your car, say good-bye to your friends and family, and don’t know when you are coming back or to where. Jamey had given up his job as a fundraiser and I was ready to dig into a new mission after extended baby-time off.

We were ready to come back to the U.S. but where? And to do what? Then the intuitive message came to both of us, Go back to Portland! Back in Portland, another message—start a Metaphysical Bookstore! What followed was a circle of events much like the Hero’s Journey spelled out by Joseph Campbell. We had given up our home and old identities to travel in foreign lands, on a journey of spiritual discovery. We came back ready to take on the challenge of a new business. There were lots of dragons of doubt and financial insecurity to fight. But, we returned knowing this mission was ours to do if we chose to take it on.

The hero's journey is a circle of going out beyond your comfort range, taking on the challenge, and then the returning as a changed person to share the story of what happened. Even if the mission failed, you still have the story, which could have been the true purpose of your journey.

And now, Finding Joe, a great DVD by Patrick Takaya Solomon, brings it all back in an updated incarnation of illustrious teachers sharing the secrets of Joe Campbell. It’s Deepak, and Allen Cohen, and Tony Hanks, the skateboard king, plus teachers and guides from all walks of life telling the story of the Hero’s Journey.

You’ll learn:

• Secrets of questing for your hidden treasure

• How to slay your dragons—when you see the fear, it becomes the death of the fear

• Finding your Bliss. But, how?

Even Patrick Takaya Solomon, the director of this film, found himself on his own Hero’s Journey. After spending much time and money in exotic places filming the ancient myths, the final product was just wrong. Then he found his treasure literally in his own backyard. He had his kids and their friends act out the myths on screen. It was truly a low budget project as he paid them in pizza! And then, it all came together beautifully.

But I won’t give it all away. Take the first step on your own Hero’s Journey. Watch the movie and share it. Get charged up for 2012. And Follow your Bliss!

Click here to buy a copy of the DVD Finding Joe by Patrick Takaya Solomon, $19.95.

Namaste, Darlene