I first became interested in the idea of “hearing a call” through the work of the mythologist Joseph Campbell. Probably the most famous aspect of Campbell’s work concerns the archetypal pattern of transformation he named the “Hero’s Journey.” It was this concept, — originally presented in 1949 in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces — that first brought Campbell public acclaim. Drawing upon mythologies from many cultures and across thousands of years of human civilization, Campbell observed that heroic stories generally share a common underlying pattern of stages.
The first and perhaps the best known of these stages is the one which Campbell describes as “The Call to Adventure.” This is the moment when something disrupts the comfort and security of the hero’s current situation and presents a challenge or quest to be undertaken. The hero’s is then confronted with a critical decision, a choice between saying “no” and remaining safely in their comfort zone or saying “yes” and embarking on a new and often daunting course of action.
Anyone who’s viewed Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, the series of televised interviews between Campbell and Bill Moyers, knows that the idea of the “Hero’s Journey” profoundly influenced George Lucas in the creation of the original trilogy of Star Wars films. In the first of these films, the Call comes to the young hero, Luke Sywalker, in the form of an intercepted urgent message from Princess Leia about the danger posed by the Empire combined with Ben Kenobi’s revelation of Luke’s true identity as the child of a Jedi Knight.
Given the universal nature of the Hero’s Journey, it’s not surprising that many films have drawn upon it. For example, in the film The Matrix, the call comes to the protagonist Neo when he is given the choice between ingesting the Blue Pill – the safe option of returning to the security and blissful ignorance of being a slave to the Matrix — or the Red Pill – the dangerous path to knowledge and freedom. In the film Field of Dreams, the call comes to a disillusioned Iowa farmer named Ray Kinsella in the form of a whispering voice emanating out of a cornfield enigmatically telling him “Build it and he will come.”
Looking back at my life, I know that I’ve been confronted a number times with the challenge of being beckoned in some new and unfamiliar direction by a call of some kind. Sometimes these calls related to my professional life, the awareness that I needed to move away from work I had been doing which, for a variety of reasons was no longer a meaningful option for me. More personally, I still vividly remember the moment in my mid-twenties when I finally felt called to fully embrace my homosexuality and leave the safety of the closet behind, a decision, which back in the mid-1970s carried serious risks.
Most powerfully, however, was the profound sense of hearing a call that occurred in my mid-forties. As in other cases of a calling manifesting in my life, this call was preceded by a period of depression about the state of my life, which then included a sixty-hour workweek as a middle-manager at a high-tech start-up. My stress level was high and, though I truly liked and admired the people I worked with, very little in my job description bore any intrinsic meaning or value for me. More importantly, I became increasingly aware that the deep malaise I felt had less to do with the nature of my work than with the quality of my spiritual life.
Through a series of events that felt very much like hearing a call, I ultimately decided to pursue a doctorate in Mythological Studies. From a pragmatic perspective, spending six years of my life and many thousands of dollars on a degree with little monetary potential made absolutely no practical sense. Yet something emanating from deep inside of me called me to do that very thing and in the years since I have never doubted saying “yes” to that call. That experience not only healed my midlife discontent, but also gave me a revitalized spiritual perspective which continues to enrich my life and my work in countless ways.
In thinking about the spiritual nature of calling, I’m reminded that one of the phrases Campbell uses to describe the Hero’s Journey is the “Soul’s High Adventure.” Indeed, the word “calling” – as well as it’s synonym, “vocation” – have both ancient and profound spiritual associations. Long before these words were used to refer to a someone’s career, they indicated making some form of religious or spiritual commitment.
In trying to make sense of the spiritual aspect of calling, we might start by asking what it is that ultimately concerns us. A term coined by the existentialist philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich, “ultimate concern” implies the simple yet profoundly personal realization that there is “something in life for which you would give your life,” something that, as a result, “you take with ultimate seriousness.”
The world’s great spiritual traditions are filled with stories of figures who heard some kind of call related to a concern that felt ultimate. According to Buddhist scripture, the young prince who would later become the Buddha is called to leave his father’s palace to teach compassion in the face of the sorrows of humankind. In the Jewish Torah, we are told of Moses hearing a call from a burning bush urging him to confront the might of Pharaoh to free his people from bondage. Meanwhile the Christian Gospels tell the story of a humble carpenter’s son named Jesus being called to preach a radical, new gospel of unconditional love to the world.
Teaching compassion in the face of sorrow, overcoming oppression and tyranny, manifesting unconditional love in the world, these are some of the most powerful concerns we can imagine. That said, are these stories just about the experiences of saints, prophets, and saviors or do they offer some wisdom, guidance, and inspiration for ordinary people like us? I think the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.” I believe that each of us, if we inquire deeply within ourselves, will discover that we do have concerns with the quality of ultimacy about them. Asking what these concerns are and, more importantly, how we are called to serve them is crucial if we truly wish to make a difference in the world and create the beloved community we dream of.