Growing Up Culture. How Not To Lose Yourself In The Second Third Of Your Life

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

The universe is made of stories, not atoms.

Muriel Rackeyser

In the novel End of Rainbows by Vernor Vinge^[1] describes the relatively near future (2025) through the prism of the experience of the poet Robert Gu, a man in a wheelchair - who, thanks to the latest medical technologies, was healed of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 75, and in addition was "rejuvenated". Robert needs to adapt to the new world (technical progress has changed him significantly), and he "sits down at the desk" at Farmown High School, where teenagers and "straggler" adults like Robert learn together. The hero tries to continue writing, to find like-minded people among his peers, and in the course of dramatic events provoked by technological progress and the resistance of "traditionalists", he finally realizes that he has irreversibly changed in his essence, having lost his poetic gift, but having discovered abilities in the field of new technologies. And that again he faces a choice: "where to live?"

And we will be there. It is already clear that many of us will change several professions, and some will invent their own. That it’s okay to learn all your life, and it’s not okay to learn once. That the problem is not the inability, but the unwillingness to cross the boundaries of the unknown. In fear - to open up to new skills and emotions. In laziness - to choose, to take care of the restoration of integrity, "die", "resurrect". New is not easy to perceive. At first, it is annoying, like updating a familiar interface - and over the years, it starts to scare at all. But science fiction will help prepare.

Growing up scenarios

Decision making is the privilege of an adult. Around they talk about development and personal growth, leadership and evolution - but they are silent about growing up, it is not fashionable to grow up yet.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that we - in Eastern Europe - have not yet formed a culture of professional development. "Soviet" algorithms in the current economy are unrealizable, Asian ones are unfamiliar, and so far we only get borrowed scenarios from the life of the "Western" world, which is accustomed, first of all, to "build a career": to build up the "knowledge base" and "develop competencies." Most often, we get scripts through films and fiction, less often there are "stories" from the first person in the form of books. In order for such books and films to happen, the hero must live his experience, therefore, at the time of release, such scripts and role models can be considered outdated. In addition, life expectancy is increasing - 1960+ generations will face an additional 20 years of active life. Knowledge is more and more accessible, but connections are more and more complex. Success goes to those who know how to work with greater complexity: longer projects, more complex structures, hybrid business models, relationships, markets, technologies. The upcoming world is always more complicated than the previous one, and it has a different heroism. You can build it, you can cognize and equip it built by someone instead of / before you, or you can use the strategy of an ostrich, thrusting your head into the sand of the familiar. Changing and mastering worlds in the first third of life is just preparation for the trials of the second third, life "between scary and boring."

Where does the wisdom come from for growing up when scripts become obsolete so quickly? The answer is generic structures. And one of the most important is monomyth.

Monomyth. Hero's Journey

Below we see the structure of the story called "The Hero's Journey". Structure designed by Christopher Vogler^[2] based on research by Joseph Campbell^[3], who introduced the term "monomyth^[4]»

The scheme is worthy of close study, because this is how we live - or rather, "pack our lived". Looking back in time, we will see that we have already lived and will still live several similar journeys, each of which can be put into the logic described by Campbell, consisting of seven key elements:

1. two worlds and the border between them;

2.outer circle (plot);

3. inner circle (hero changes);

4. conflict;

5. climax;

6. transformation;

7. return home.

Following Jung^[5]Campbell researched the stories of different times and peoples and came to the conclusion that the structure of any story is probably rooted in the depths of the human psyche, since any narrative fits into the scheme, which he called "Monomyth". The title emphasizes that most narratives, regardless of where they originated, go through the same stages: the familiar world - initiation (crossing the threshold) - a series of trials - the decisive battle and transformation - victory - return to the "ordinary" world - the temptation of the familiar^[6] - and changing the familiar world with a new self.

The researcher put forward the hypothesis that monomyth is the path of personality maturation. In millions of fascinating stories of different peoples and cultures, the hero's personality matures, matures and improves, living through internal conflicts.

In addition to the structure, researchers distinguish certain plots of the development of events: from four (Borges) to seven (Christopher Booker), and even up to 36 (Georges Polty) variations.

Consider a monomyth with examples from works known to us. The "topography" of history usually includes two worlds: the familiar and the other. The action begins in a familiar world where the hero is an ordinary person. The beginning of "War and Peace", "The Idiot", detective stories by Daria Dontsova, novels by Jane Austen, scenarios for "The Matrix", "Harry Potter", "Shrek", "Cinderella", "Star Wars" at a high level of abstraction is the same: once upon a time an ordinary person, boy, girl, girl, goblin, kitten, "old man and old woman" in an ordinary, "normal", familiar world^[7]… Sometimes the narration begins with a striking event in the middle of the story, but over time, the author still brings us back to the beginning.

Quite quickly, we see how the familiar world begins to "crackle" - and through its metaphorical "cracks" the hero hears the "call". Someone has a call for adventure (Harry Potter, Cinderella, Faust), someone has disturbing signals (stone, strange guests in Neo's house^[8]), photo of an unknown beauty (Prince Myshkin^[9]), tragedy (death of the father and brother of the main character of "Braveheart").

This stage means the beginning of changes in the life of the hero, and as a consequence - another, not expected by the hero, future. The hero crosses the border of the familiar world and enters another world - full of uncertainties and conflicts between the familiar and the new. In the "borderland" the traveler is often met by the "gatekeeper" - "local", "guard", otherworldly essence, sage - his character depends on the plot. Baba Yaga, Nightingale the robber, Sphinx … Hagrid for Harry Potter, Fairy for Cinderella. Crossing the threshold, border, "Rubicon" can be considered initiation, especially if the guardian of the threshold resists and must be defeated to cross. But crossing the border of the worlds is only the beginning. After going through a series of tests, the hero comes to the climax of the story - the decisive battle.

And in it, he usually encounters an adversary who personifies the Shadow - those aspects of the personality that he could not accept in himself. Therefore, death and resurrection are almost always the result of the decisive battle. Real death and resurrection in a new capacity in the case of the story of Jesus Christ and Harry Potter - or metaphorical "death" and "resurrection".

The term “Shadow” was defined and formulated by Carl Gustav Jung: “We are constantly learning something new about ourselves. Year after year, something is revealed that we did not know before. Every time it seems to us that now our discoveries have come to an end, but this will never happen. We continue to discover in ourselves one thing or another, sometimes experiencing shocks. This suggests that there is always a part of our personality that is still unconscious, which is still in the making. We are incomplete, we grow and change. Although that future personality, which we will once be, is already present for us, it is just that for now it remains in the shadows. It's like a running shot in a movie. The future personality is not visible, but we are moving forward, where its outlines are about to begin to emerge. These are the potentials of the dark side of the ego. We know what we were, but we do not know what we will become!"

It is customary to interpret "shadow" as "negative" - but this is not true. A shadow is just something that I personally cannot relate to myself. And often this is "beautiful", which we do not believe in ourselves. We do not believe that they are beautiful, strong, smart, free, creative, feminine or masculine; we do not believe in our uniqueness and peculiarity, in the ability to say "no" and "yes" to something or someone.

The moment of metaphorical death is the climax. "Death" means that certain parts of the personality, ideas, elements of the picture of the world or character of the hero must "die" in the battle of the internal conflict between "valuable and valuable". As a result, a key personality transformation occurs. That is why he is a hero in order to bring new values, models of behavior to the familiar world, thus solving the problem that arose at the beginning of history. Examples of such battles: Doctor Strange [10] over and over again accepts defeat (what he feared and avoided in the "familiar world") - and so wins the battle for humanity. Shrek^[11] kisses Fiona, confident that after that she will become a beauty, and he is unhappy - but Fiona remains a monster ("Shrek" is a postmodern reading of "Beauty and the Beast"). Neo accepts his "chosenness", in which he did not believe (we see the death of conviction at the risk of life) - and destroys the program code of Agent Smith.

Monomyth teaches us that it is worth crossing the boundaries of the familiar and the new; that reality will always be different from what you expect; that in the culmination a choice is made between the valuable and the valuable; and that without death there is no transformation, and without transformation there is no maturation, there is no new "I".

In literature and journalism, the hero always crosses the border of the worlds - otherwise the story will not take place. Agree, in real life, crossing the "threshold" often does not happen - we do not like changing the rules of the game, we feel sorry for the energy, time and money for mastering something new, trials and the risk of loss, the role of a beginner frighten us. Deep inside nestles "original fear" - the very first bodily, unconscious, and therefore even more terrible, experience of birth, which is also the intersection of the tomb of worlds: on the one hand, a warm, soft uterus - on the other hand, crampedness, pain, hard light and air cutting the lungs … When we encounter similar situations later, we feel the urge to refuse.

Israeli thinker, theologian Pinchas Polonsky^[12] once said: “Old age is the inability to go through the next transformation.” Psychological old age sneaks up on us at the age of 30-40, when we are faced with the choice of “development or stability”. Having refused to cross the next “threshold”, we choose “grow old” instead of “grow up”. Yes, not all invitations are “ours”, but to be honest, we recognize “ours”. And, nevertheless, sometimes we refuse. It is very important to “catch” the moment when “protection from invitations and challenges” begins - instead of enthusiasm and gratitude for the opportunity. It is worth learning to consciously cross borders and accept the idea that crisis and transformation are good. And discomfort, sometimes pain, "metaphorical death" are an indispensable part of this process.

“It's always worth starting from scratch. A thousand times, as long as you are alive. This is the main message of life."

Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay 2010-2015

Excerpt from The Meaning of Life and Its Marketing, due out in October. You can support the publication, make a pre-purchase at the link

Tatiana Zhdanova is a branding specialist (founder of Brandhouse), part of the WikiCityNomica team. She led the working group of the project "Tourism Brand of Ukraine" (2013-2014), the project "Land Response" (2017), coordinates the project "New Mythology of Ukraine" (2014 - …) author of the video course "The Meaning of Life and Its Marketing", sponsor "Urban 500 », TEDx speaker.

^[1]Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge with elements of satire. Rainbow's End won the 2007 Hugo and Locus awards.

^[2] Christopher Vogler is a Hollywood producer best known for his The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for writers.

^[3] Joseph John Campbell is an American mythologist best known for his writings on comparative mythology and religious studies.

^[4] The concept of "monomyth" or "single myth" was first used by Joseph Campbell, who borrowed the term from Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake. By monomyth, he understood the structure of the construction of the hero's wanderings and life, the same for any mythology. In his opinion, in any of the myths known to us, the hero goes through the same trials, the same life path.

^[5]Carl Gustav Jung is a Swiss psychiatrist, the founder of one of the areas of depth psychology - analytical psychology.

^[6]"The temptation of the familiar" is not in every story - this is an option I noticed - take it as a hypothesis - author's note

^[7] If this is fantasy, then the local worlds are only unusual for us - and for fantasy heroes there is nothing more usual than their usual world

^[8] Neo is the protagonist of "The Matrix"

^[9] Prince Myshkin - the hero of Dostoevsky in the novel "The Idiot"

[10] Doctor Strange is the hero of the Marvel film of the same name

^[11] Shrek is the main character of the cartoon of the same name

^[12] Pinchas Polonsky (at birth Peter Efimovich Polonsky; born February 11, 1958, Moscow) is an Israeli researcher of Judaism, popularizer of Judaism among Russian-speaking Jews.