THE STAGES OF THE HERO'S JOURNEY
' A BEAUTIFUL MIND" film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVamZHi0ojQ
The film "A Beautiful Mind" is, true to its title, a beautiful story. The scenes depict a journey, very much approximating Joseph Campbell's, Hero with a Thousand Faces – that the main character traverses the stages of the hero's journey. The face of a leader with an adventure went through the twelve stages…and so I did! Toward the end, another one of the "thousand faces" emerged…the Leader Belle.
Consolidated and Reflected by: Belina S. Katigbak
1.) The hero is introduced in his ORDINARY WORLD.
In 1947, John Nash (Crowe) arrives at Princeton University. He is co-recipient, with Martin Hansen (Lucas), of the prestigious Carnegie Scholarship for mathematics. At a reception, he meets a group of other promising math and science graduate students, Richard Sol (Goldberg), Ainsley (Jason Gray-Stanford), and Bender (Rapp). He also meets his roommate Charles Herman (Bettany), a literature student.
2.) The CALL TO ADVENTURE.
Nash is under extreme pressure to publish, but he wants to publish his own original idea. His inspiration comes when he and his fellow graduate students discuss how to approach a group of women at a bar. Hansen quotes Adam Smith and advocates "every man for himself", but Nash argues that a cooperative approach would lead to better chances of success. Nash develops a new concept of governing dynamics and publishes an article on this. On the strength of this, he is offered an appointment at MIT where Sol and Bender join him.
Some years later, Nash is invited to the Pentagon to crack encrypted enemy telecommunication. Nash can decipher the code mentally, to the astonishment of other decrypters.
3.) The hero is reluctant at first. (REFUSAL OF THE CALL.)
He considers his regular duties at MIT uninteresting and beneath his talents, so he is pleased to be given a new assignment by his mysterious supervisor, William Parcher (Harris) of the United States Department of Defense. He is to look for patterns in magazines and newspapers in order to thwart a Soviet plot. Nash becomes increasingly obsessive about searching for these hidden patterns and believes he is followed when he delivers his results to a secret mailbox.
4.) The hero is encouraged by the Wise Old Man or Woman. (MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.)
Meanwhile a student, Alicia Larde (Connelly), asks him to dinner, and the two fall in love. On a return visit to Princeton, Nash runs into Charles and his niece, Marcee (Cardone). With Charles' encouragement, he proposes to Alicia and they marry.
5.) The hero passes the first threshold. (CROSSING THE THRESHOLD)
Nash begins to fear for his life after witnessing a shootout between Parcher and Soviet agents, but Parcher blackmails him into staying on his assignment.
6.) The hero encounters tests and helpers. (TESTS, ALLIES, ENEMIES.)
After an incident where Nash endangers his infant son and accidentally knocks Alicia and the baby to the ground (thinking he's stopping Parcher from killing her), she flees the house with their child. Nash steps in front of her car to prevent her from leaving, after he realizes that he's known Marcee for a long time, yet she never grew older. He finally accepts that Parcher and other figures are hallucinations. Against Dr. Rosen's advice, Nash decides not to restart his medication, believing that he can deal with his symptom himself. Alicia decides to stay and support him in this.
7.) The hero reaches the innermost cave. (APPROACH TO THE INMOST CAVE.)
While delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash tries to flee from people he thinks are foreign agents, led by Dr. Rosen (Plummer). After punching Rosen in an attempt to flee, Nash is forcibly sedated and sent to a psychiatric facility he believes is run by the Soviets.
8.) The hero endures the supreme ORDEAL.
Dr. Rosen tells Alicia that Nash has paranoid schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee, and Parcher exist only in his imagination. Nash is given a course of insulin shock therapy and eventually released.
9.) The hero seizes the sword. (SEIZING THE SWORD, REWARD)
Frustrated with the side-effects of the antipsychotic medication he is taking, which make him lethargic and unresponsive, Nash secretly stops taking it.
10.) THE ROAD BACK
Nash approaches his old friend and rival, Martin Hansen, now head of the Princeton mathematics department. He grants Nash permission to work out of the library and to audit classes. Years pass and as Nash grows older, he learns to ignore his hallucinations and earns the privilege of teaching again.
11.) RESURRECTION.
In 1994, Nash is honored by his fellow professors for his achievement in mathematics. He wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory.
12.) RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash, Jr. experienced it all. A mathematical genius, he made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery. After many years of struggle, he eventually triumphed over his tragedy, and finally - late in life - received the Nobel Prize.
The movie ends as Nash and Alicia leave the auditorium in Stockholm; Nash sees Charles, Marcee, and Parcher standing to one side and watching him.
|
"MY BEAUTIFUL MIND" STORY
Early on in childhood, I was reared to believe that challenging poverty begins with the power of the mind. The adventure started with a good education, both informal and formal. And as years passed by, I came to a deeper realization of the power of the mind to "conquer the world".
Scenes drawn from the movie "A Beautiful Mind" journeyed me to my personal journey. As the story unfolds, the plot led to my very own life. I drew certain parallelisms. It did make a sense of my life in doing my craft to decipher the code in solving the mystery of poverty. Using the intellectual gifts that God gave me, I embarked on the journey.
THE STAGES OF THE HERO'S JOURNEY
1.) The hero is introduced in his/her ORDINARY WORLD.
In 1980, I was employed in San Miguel Corporation (SMC) as an ordinary person, carrying with me a 15-year formal education and a license as certified public accountant. In the ordinariness of life, earning on my own, I thought, would entitle me already to privileges that I was deprived of early on in childhood. But then, I still had a younger brother that needed support. At that time he was striving to make do of what the family could provide him while in pursuit of an education at the Aquinas University in Bicol. His own adventure there, miles apart from us, was a clear indication that the world of education is borderless. By that time our family had already moved to San Fernando, Pampanga where my eldest sister had acquired a house through the low cost housing loan from SSS before she entered the convent.
I personally took on my shoulders the responsibility to provide for my parents' and my younger brother's financial needs. Two years later, I married a very good man who came from a renowned family. Our marriage was blessed with two sons who are six years apart from each other, and with an almost perfect mother-in-law, who influenced very strongly my character during this second phase of my life. My husband and I agreed to live with her, as she was a widow and alone in their big ancestral house. My mother-in-law is well remembered for her great deeds, her acts of benevolence, and simplicity. Who would forget a woman who during the great floods of '70s kept all the people whose house submerged to floodwaters? Every space of the big ancestral house was occupied; a sack of rice cooked each day for the evacuees would not suffice.
2.) The CALL TO ADVENTURE
SMC honed me to be a leader. I rose from the ranks. I had a great career. My boss developed me from analyst to internal auditor, to unit head, team leader, QC leader, and ISO assessor. I was exposed to different fields and was sent to varied seminars to prepare me to occupy a higher management posts at an opportune time.
In 1995 when my mother-in-law passed away, I felt a great sense of responsibility to take over her "mission". That "mission", seemingly sounds sublime, yet would only mean, to sanctify my work life, family life, and to get involved in the lives of others who are less privileged. The life example of my mother-in-law, the inspiration from the Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminars that I regularly attended, and my spiritual journey inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises led to the discernment of God's call.
I penned my vision and mission. My strategy was to change course, apply for early retirement in San Miguel, and made financial projections. The long-term plan about my retirement pay includes setting aside funds for the needs of a poor community that I was drawn to help. I had big dreams to alleviate the plight of the poor.
3.) The hero is reluctant at first. (REFUSAL OF THE CALL.)
The call to give up my career came very strongly. However, I was not freed from the reluctance of giving up the great opportunities offered to me in San Miguel. I was torn apart when on the day that I filed my application letter for early retirement (even when I was only 39 years old then), I was informed by my superior that he would be promoted and moved to SMC head office. What is the implication of this? It was the best opportune time to bring me to the position that I dreamt of early on. I cried as I've never cried before, thinking that I made a mistake in my discernment.
4.) The hero is encouraged by the Wise Old Man or Woman. (MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.)
I went back to my co-discerners – my mentors. My spiritual fathers journeyed me back to the process that I went through during my decision-making years. From them I received so much encouragement. My almost endless spiritual exercises brought me to a great resolve and determination to carry the vocation to do something greater in life…something greater than me.
5.) The hero passes the first threshold. (CROSSING THE THRESHOLD)
My initial work in the church posed great challenges. I wanted to share the knowledge that I acquired in San Miguel. I facilitated focus grouped discussions. I led prayer meetings. I engaged poor parishioners in Problem-Solving Process, just like how I did it way back when I led a quality circle in San Miguel. Yet I was confronted with the reality of poverty. Like Nash, I thought that I could decipher codes to unlock the mystery of poverty. One of my bold attempts in unlocking the "code" was to sell all my SMC shares of stocks, 6-digit worth, to start my volunteer work in the church. I thought I was generous enough because I did not leave a single share of stock for myself.
6.) The hero encounters tests and helpers. (TESTS, ALLIES, ENEMIES)
Working in the church exposed me to the realities of varied enslavements of people to vices, moral issues, mendicancy, etc… How can we deepen the formation of moral values with hungry stomachs? Even if I spend my whole life catechizing to children, how could they absorb in their minds and hearts the love of God when their stomachs are empty?
Fortunately, my collaborative work with the Jesuit-inspired Basic Ecclesial Communities led by Fr. Sim Sunpayco, S.J. proved me wrong. Addressing poverty, in a holistic perspective, takes the whole of the person. The perspective considers the root cause of "material, moral, psychological, and spiritual" poverty.
7.) The hero reaches the innermost cave. (APPROACH TO THE INMOST CAVE.)
Along the way, my family suffered a great setback. My husband lost his business during the worldwide economic crises. Financial debts brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. We almost succumbed to this great loss. Then I realized that while securing our future with my retirement pay is important, addressing current pressing needs of my husband was much more important. I decided to let go of all I had – my retirement pay, including the funds intended for the poor community, and paid for the business' obligations. It was at that point that my husband needed me the most. While it was heart-rending to part with our properties one after the other, there was a great sense of freedom in being able to conquer attachments to material goods. I was able to confront fears about insecurity and overcome them.
I went back to my mentors. The wisdom of "Holy Indifference" – the hallmark of Ignatian spirituality, was introduced to me. As a servant of God, I must be indifferent to material goods. In short, I must not be attached to them. Whether I would be blessed with abundance or whether I would be in want, I must be indifferent.
8.) The hero endures the supreme ORDEAL.
At that point of reaching rock bottom in terms of material dispossession, my friend in college, who arrived from the United States visited me in my office at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Secretariat. My friend knew me very well, and he challenged the meaning of what I have been doing. He even threw a remark that cut my heart, "What a waste that you are making out of your intelligence! You are no longer the smart girl that I used to know!"
I endured the supreme ordeal of humiliation. My friend's view of success is in the perspective of what the world holds dear – power, fame, glory, and honor, which is exactly the opposite of what St. Ignatius inspired me to take on – "that man was created solely for the praise, honor, and glory of God, our Creator, and that all things are to be used to attain this end".
My childhood experience of God's Providence, generosity and benevolence of benefactors, and the many miracles in my life, helped me endure the supreme ordeal of fighting a battle both "within" and "without".
9.) The hero seizes the sword. (SEIZING THE SWORD, REWARD)
I seized the sword. I continued with my service in the church. It is not easy doing so. As I have said before, people, poor and rich alike, are enslaved to different forms of poverty. One may be materially rich, but morally poor. The materially poor can be morally poor at the same time. But everyone, each and every person is "POOR" in that our only treasure is "GOD", who owns the whole of us. As the famous Job in the Old Testament exclaimed, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked will I go back to God".
One of things that I learned in the Basic Ecclesial Communities is the wisdom of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines. When it convened in 1992, it espoused the battle cry, "One is not so poor as not to be able to give something; and one is not so rich as not to be in need of any thing".
With the wisdom learned from the poor, that they have something to give also, I was inspired to do more in serving the church.
10.) THE ROAD BACK
On the road back, I was pursued by the clamor of the outside world itself. What is this clamor? Material Security? Partly, yes. My journey is a continuous struggle. At the height of my service, I faced another "innermost cave". In 2009, my husband suffered life-threatening multiple strokes. I had to take a different role now, which is domestic leadership.
11.) RESURRECTION
Just like the cross that did not end in calvary but instead on a Easter Sunday that made way to humanity's salvation, I embraced the cross that led me to a new life.
12.) RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR
What is the elixir that I brought home from my journey? It consists of wisdom learned from the "poor", renewed inspiration that the next journey is another facet of the mission, and that my transformation is the secret to influence transformation.
CONCLUSION:
In 2012, I was awarded by my alma mater as one of the "The Outstanding Alumni of the University of the Assumption" for Apostleship Award. I am the first one to be accorded such honor, and the first lay person to receive the prestigious award, which is reserved only for priests, nuns, and religious. This humbles me even more. If I were to share this award, it would be shared with the poor people who shaped my understanding of what poverty is all about, and what true "richness" is. When I was participating actively in the mission of evangelization, I at first thought that I was bringing Christ to the people that I encountered. Little did I realize that I met Christ in a more intimate way in the "poor". For instance, I saw Christ vividly in the life of Fe, a lavandera turned drunkard after the untimely demise of her husband. Her children strived to continue living by garbage picking. Coming home each day, the children would find their mother sulking in misery, only to pick her from the canal where she found momentary relief from the heat of the day. Soon, Fe's neighbors, after experiencing the series of life-changing evangelization seminars that my team and I facilitated, became interested in Fe. Eventually, Fe joined these seminars. Her life changed when she experienced the love of the community, and when she herself was exposed to the lives of those who were poorer that she was. Transformed by the experience, and becoming aware of the plight of the poor through the exposure programs, Fe started to lead her own group. She went back to laundry job. With her daily earnings, she bought rice, brought home to her children half of what she bought, and the other half to the poor members of her small group. She sponsored the snacks of her group members when they needed to attend to the seminars in the parish. The rest is history. Fe is not the lone story. We hear about stories of changed lives because they, too, have experienced love, care, and affection. They were transformed when they became more aware of their condition and that of others', and that they have the power to make a difference in the lives of others.
I have done so little in changing the face of poverty. But I have discovered what it takes to decode it. It takes "A BEAUTIFUL MIND". It starts with self-awareness. I treasure my values – those instilled even early on from childhood. I possess the dignity of a person, which make me co-equal to my fellowmen. This dignity is being a child of God. And no matter what situation we are borne in, whether poor or rich, ordinary or extraordinary, intelligent or intellectually challenged – we are all born equal.
This self-awareness brings me to self-regulation. Though childhood difficulties gave me a poor understanding about an "unfair world" then, I discovered that, in each person is the innate responsibility to transform and take the responsibility to uphold the dignity of each person. That self regulation consists of being just – to give each person his or her fair share in life. That self-regulation is conquering selfish desires. Self-regulation led me to look outward and exposed me to the pitiful plight of the poor. Self-regulation allowed me to control myself. Self-restraint allowed me to control my wants and focus on my needs and the needs of others. Such motivated me to work for the good of others. Empathy, more than sympathy, is the name of the game. It was only when I entered the sacredness of the "temples" of the poor that I understood the meaning of their poverty. The dialogue with the poor which was facilitated with regular small group sharing brought me to a better appreciation of my service in the church.
Today, as vice-president in a university owned by the church, I am in another facet of the mission in serving the church. On my shoulders rest the responsibility for leading an archdiocesan university toward financial sustainability. I grapple with fear…what if my actions lead to negative bottom lines? Fr. Alex Balatbat reminds me, "The world needs mercy right now. In the encyclical of St. John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, he says that mercy seems to have no place in human life and the human heart. We develop an image of the human person who is in absolute control of the world, and those who have such tendency to control are filled with fear. Fear leads to self-preservation". Then it dawned on me that a hero is fearless! The world needs fearless heroes. I must face the financial challenges by balancing my acts and decisions.
Once I asked the high school principal on how she sees my work for the poor being continued in my work as VP for Finance. Without hesitation, she told me, "Your leadership changed the kind of food served on the table. With what you and the Execom did, that is, upgrading salaries and benefits, you made a difference in the lives of our personnel!"
As VP for Finance, I continue the work. I have been doing studies on how to make catholic education more accessible by the poor. I have been rallying toward lower activity fees, austerity, and cost consciousness, not to mention other financial sustainability measures. For now, this is how I serve the church. I am almost fulfilled while being part of a university whose mission is the "formation of morally upright and competent catholic leaders".
This is how I am trying to become a "woman for others"…to do more, to be better, and to be more (magis)! vg purpose in life. 4
No comments:
Post a Comment