The Hero with a Thousand Faces Part II, Chapter 4 Summary

Dissolutions

The End of the Microcosm

  • Each and every one of us is the hero. There, Campbell said it.
  • We all have a king or queen within us: the greatest that we can be spiritually, and not just physically.
  • In death, the individual is taken into the universe and becomes one with it.
  • The journey of the soul through all stages of life is the same as the Hero's Journey: the final journey is the one we all take at the end of our lives.
  • Copious examples from China, Egypt and the Aztecs follow.

The End of the Macrocosm

  • The universe follows the same cycle as the individual: being born, living, thriving, declining and perishing.
  • End-of-the-world stories from Mayan culture illustrate this trend, as do the Viking story of Ragnarok and the Christian notion of Armageddon.