We all know about the hero’s journey.
What about the monster’s journey? Isn’t that as important, and perhaps more interesting since it has traditionally been ignored?
The monster is created in our childhood, when we learn that something in our experience – our emotions, reactions, thoughts – is wrong. We learn to hide it. Push it away. We make it into a monster in our own mind.
Then, we learn to see it in others. We learn to tell ourselves that they are like that, not me.
Later in life, and through grace, we may re-find the monster in ourselves. We get to know it. Listen to its story. Befriend it. See its value and contribution. And we can create a more mutually supportive relationship with it.
After a while, it may no longer look like a monster. It has returned more to what it was before it was made into a monster, although with the benefit of the experience of its journey.
How does this look from the perspective of the monster? It depends on the monster, of course. In each of us, there are several and also several combination monsters. I’ll interview one in a later post.
Seed: Seeing there is a new book with this name. (I haven’t read it.)
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The monster
Formed in early childhood, to protect, out of love, then shunned, projected, then met, included