How we cite our quotes: (Page.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation—initiation—return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth. (28.2)
Coming of age starts this process off, but it's also a complete encapsulation of the Hero's Journey in and of itself. You step outside your comfort zone, you take tests to ensure that you can do the things you need to do, and eventually you have what you need to handle whatever else life can throw at you.
Quote #2
A blunder—apparently the merest chance—reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood. (46.3)
We all start out like children. We don't know how to find reverse, we can't order a drink in a bar, and we likely haven't been anywhere outside our hometown except on vacation (in other words, in very carefully controlled environments). But then something happens and we get a glimpse of the real world beyond it all. It's scary, but also exciting…and that's coming-of-age.
Quote #3
That is why the approaches and entrances to temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles: dragons, lions, devil-slayers with drawn swords, resentful dwarfs, winged bulls. These are the threshold guardians to ward away all incapable of encountering the higher silences within. They are preliminary embodiments of the dangerous aspect of the presence, corresponding to the mythological ogres that bound the conventional world, or to the two rows of teeth of the whale. They illustrate the fact that the devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis. His secular character remains without; he sheds it, as a snake its slough. (84.3)
Coming of age is closely connected to transforming…and we're not just talking about puberty. As you grow up, the scary things you need to face – finding a job for example – lead to a change in who you are and the confidence with which you confront other grown-up problems,