ABSTRACT
To help you understand the structure and stages of the hero's journey to maturity – especially, of course, how it might apply in your own life – I will briefly share my own story. The titles of the stages refer to the archetypical model, derived from antiquity. One of the first and perhaps the most famous hero's journey is Homer's story of Odysseus. He, you may recall, went off to fight for Helen of Troy, somewhere around 800 BC. After struggling against all odds, he returned home 20 years later to bring his story to a violent conclusion. In the introduction to the Penguin edition of the book, translator E. V. Rieu points out that the story is not told in linear temporal sequence. If we were to read the enneagram as a linear sequence, we would have:
In the world but not of it
Respond to the call
Cross the threshold
Learn to learn – growth through trials
Into the melting pot
Naked before God
The self awakes
Gift of deeper knowledge
Integrate to wholeness
Return home
