The duality of life is the fulfillment of our human existence and the material and spiritual journey we must go on in order to become the best version of ourselves. Recently, I read a novel called The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, a brilliant writer and philosopher who specialized in comparative religion, comparative mythology, and the hero’s journey and how they affect our religion and our culture and every book and film ever made. We have all watched movies and we have all read books, most of us have gone to church and we are all affected by our culture. However, there is one thing which connects us all as humans in all four areas mentioned; there is only one which helps us fulfill the duality of life: the hero’s journey.

The hero’s journey is a theory discovered by Joseph Campbell which outlines the story of a hero/protagonist and the essential events that must take place in order for our hero to undergo a massive transformation. Campbell often used something called “the monomyth,” a diagram/concept he created himself which follows a hero and the steps he/she must take on their journey. Remember the monomyth? It was that big circle thingy we learned about in our High School English class to understand basic story structure and then we would watch Star Wars to teach us how to apply the knowledge of the monomyth to a story. Well, it turns out, our High School English class actually was teaching us the meaning of life. Who knew HS English was so important?! (Not me). Anyways, the hero’s journey goes like this:

1. The Ordinary World
2. The Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Denial
5. Threshold (Decides to Go for it)
6. Challenges and Temptations
7. All Goes Well
8. All Falls Apart
9. Revelation/Crisis (Death & Rebirth)
10. Transformation
11. Atonement
12. Return

All great storytellers have used this structure: George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, even Rom Coms, even Sharknado, even Jesus, and even Hitler! YES! Hitler! All of these story tellers have used this structure to tell their journey/story, inspire a relationship with God, or manipulate millions into allowing a dictatorship which resulted in mass genocide. And why? Because, we can all relate to the hero’s journey.

Now, let’s apply this to two of George Lucas’s Films starting with Star Wars:

1. Luke Skywalker is a bratty Tatooine Farmer; Bored out of his mind.
2. Luke gets two droids (C-3PO and R2D2) with one containing a secret message from Princess Leia to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
3. Luke finds old Ben Kenobi, Obi-Wan, who tells Luke to leave his home and go with him; Luke, who was being so whiny before, doesn’t want to go on an adventure after all.
4. Luke’s foster parents are burnt to a crisp by storm troopers looking for the droids.
5. Luke’s old life has collapsed, he must go with Obi-Wan; Starts to train Luke in “the force.”
6. Don’t have a way off the planet (in comes Han Solo and Chewy), Has to rescue the princess from the death star, Have to escape the death star…
7. They succeed in all of their endeavor.
8. Obi-Wan “dies,” Empire plans to use death star against the rebels, Han Solo leaves before the battle of the death star.
9. Luke’s coping with Obi-Wan’s death actually causes him to become more powerful in the force. (In this case a literal death and rebirth of Obi-Wan losing physical form but attaining rebirth in the form of a pure spirit of the force.)
10. Luke gets a taste of what being a real Jedi means, uses the force to blow up the death star; Han returns to come help him, he's not just a scruffy looking nerf herder after all.
11. Luke and Han reconcile and are war heroes.
12. Luke and Han return to the Rebels and get awesome medals as they are accepted into their new world.

Now, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark:

1. Indy is an whip and revolver wielding archeologist on weekends and hot anthropology professor on weekdays.
2. The nazi’s are searching for the ark of the covenant, Indy needs to find it first and stop them from finding it (and using its power).
3. Though he isn’t that reluctant, he is surprised they came to him for the job, he doesn’t really believe in the power of the Ark, and decides to go.
4. Tries to recruit and get info from Marion, she punches him and says get lost.
5. Marion’s bar is burnt down and Indy and her become partners, they go to the middle east together.
6. Indy and Marion search for the Ark and fight off a bunch of crazy peeps.
7. (Keep in mind 7 and 8 bounce back and forth from each other presenting new problems) Indy finds the location of the Ark, Indy finds the Ark, Indy and Marion (whom Indy finds out is alive) escape the tomb of the Ark
8. Marion presumably dies, the Nazis discover Indy’s plan and trap him and Marion in the tomb of the ark, Marion is captured again on the boat, Indy is captured as he refuses to kill Marion.
9. The Nazis open the Ark of the covenant, they all die, but Indy and Marion shut their eyes and survive.
10. Indy and Marion learn the true power of the Ark, are now true believers.
11. The U.S. government decides to take the Ark into a storage facility and plan to study it, Indy thinks its power should never be studied or seen again.
12. Indy and Marion move on with their new lives together.

Now! Finally, here comes the whole point of this observation. The duality of life shows that we all have our own “hero’s journey,” we all have goals and aspirations and our personal battles, but, it is not necessarily that we achieve each and every goal, but that we learn from our experiences and make something better out of ourselves. The duality of life (and of the hero’s journey/monomyth) is that we go out into the world, like our heroes, hoping to achieving some sort of materialistic goal. That goal could be wealth, power, a career, expensive possessions etc. but, it is the spiritual awakening that we receive which fulfills our lives.

Now, look at Luke Skywalker, he wants to join the rebels and go on adventures, and yes, he does that, but, he also begins an important and deep spiritual connection in the force and understands and welcomes a new part of himself. Luke starts as a bored farmer boy, but by the end of the story he is a seasoned war veteran and hero. He attained his material achievements to be a rebel fighter and experience life on his own, but is the deep emotional and spiritual enlightenment that he gets which matters most. He went from a whiny, privileged, middle-class farmer to a tough, more mature, experienced war vet. Now, look at Indiana Jones, he wants to find the Ark before the Nazis get to it and use its power. However, and many don’t pay attention to this, Indy fails in almost every way possible! Indy finds the material item, the Ark, just to have it stolen by the Nazis, he is kidnapped and the Nazis attempt to wield its power! Then, though the Nazis die, the U.S. government takes it and essentially plans to do exactly what the Nazis did! Indy fails in every way possible, and, if Indy hadn’t gone to look for the Ark, the Nazis still would have eventually found it, and they still would have died when experiencing its true power. So, Indy is a pointless character right?! On a physical and material plane, yes, Indy sucks and really doesn’t matter as the Nazis fate would have been the same regardless if he had intervened or not. Sure, he's awesome and a badass, but he didn’t really change anything. But, we don’t watch movies to see everyone achieve all of their hopes and dreams perfectly (though it is nice to see someone win every once in a while). Movies reflect the duality of life through the hero’s journey and also reflect our own lives and our own journeys. Indy fails, but he goes from being a skeptic to a believer in the power of the Ark and to respecting its power and, though he was tempted to look, the willpower and other virtues which he attained on his journey saved him from becoming a victim of the Ark’s Godly power. Luke wins and Indy fails, but, they are equally as fulfilling to us simply because, at the end of the day, material items don’t matter, they don’t fulfill our lives or bring us a spiritual enlightenment. Luke and Indy both change for the better and get a deeper and more personal connection to their spiritual side. So, let us remember this, in everyday of our lives: We can aspire to be wealthy, to have power, to be famous, to be great, but we can achieve all of those things and still be empty inside if we haven’t fulfilled our spiritual journey in life. The duality of life/the duality of the hero’s journey is that we go on a journey to achieve some physical/material object and fulfillment, but ultimately obtain a spiritual awakening regardless if we obtain that object or not. Our spiritual journeys are the ones which give us meaning in life, which gives our existence purpose, and which truly brings us satisfaction and fulfillment. So, I challenge you to ask yourself not what do you wish to acquire, but, who do you hope to become?