The Hero's Journey
and the Inner Game
Sean Brawley
Is there a connection between my work in the Inner Game and the hero's journey so brilliantly described by the late mythologist Joseph Campbell? If you don't know his work it is more than worth studying.
Campbell did a compelling series of interviews on PBS with Bill Moyers shortly before his death. (Click Here.) But he had published a long series of books before then.
The Hero's Journey (Click Here) is probably the best known. It can be summarized this way: a hero or even an ordinary man goes on an adventure, faces a decisive crisis and comes home transformed.
But what does that have to do with tennis? Let me give you the background on that from my own life. It all started with Star Wars.
Background
When Star Wars first came out in 1977, like most people, I absolutely loved the movie. The advanced special effects for the time were amazing, of course, but I especially liked the story line about Luke Skywalker going on the adventure of a lifetime, learning how to use the Force, fighting Darth Vader, and feeling his obvious deep sense of purpose in what he was doing.
Fast forward a dozen years later and I would discover the man behind the story. The man without whom George Lucas said Star Wars wouldn't have been made. Joseph Campbell and his ideas about spirituality and mythology would help me process a great loss in my life and help me see parallels in the Hero's Journey and the life of my mentor and my relationship with Tim Gallwey and the Inner Game of Tennis.
