Lesson 2 – Part 4: The Hero’s Adventure
Original journal entry from May 31, 2025 (edited June 20, 2025) – Personal reflection tying Lesson 2 (The Hero's Adventure) to my own life story. After exploring Campbell's hero pattern, I wrote about how it mirrored my journey — repeated calls to leave comfort, face sacrifice, heal old wounds, and follow an unexpected path toward chaplaincy, including the emerging possibility of Jedi chaplaincy.
(since I somehow messed up the order on the video version I suppose I owe you another part now from the transcript version)
When Campbell was explaining The Hero’s Adventure it actually reminded me a lot of my own journey. I would never describe myself as the hero in my own story but Campbell seems to allude to the idea that everyone has a unique story to tell in which we all are the hero because we all at one point or another follow the pattern that all the heroes follow.
Having grown up in Switzerland over the first 24 years of my life, I became aware that there was a physical place where I needed to be in life to fulfill my life’s purpose and it was not in Switzerland. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it there. It was my life, I had a job and a decent place to live… I liked my life as it was. But I knew that this wasn’t where the journey would end. First, my directions took me to the USA. I had the opportunity to stay with family in Indianapolis for a year where I became aware that this was not the final destination either. It took about 15 years of living in San Diego for me to be convinced that this is the place where I’m supposed to be. People in Indianapolis had trouble with my understanding that I needed to be in San Diego to do what I was created to do. Because, couldn’t anyone claim that, knowing that they would get to live in such a beautiful place? But what the naysayers failed to realize was what I gave up to be here in the first place. I gave up my good life in Switzerland to follow an unknown path that led me here. And another 20 years later I’m still giving up things to pursue what I believe is my purpose.
Right now, I’m slowly transitioning again. I got my bachelors degree in web design and interactive media and I have been working in that industry for nearly 15 years. Making a pretty good income too. I became aware that I needed to become a chaplain. It’s not impossible to be a chaplain in an organization or work full time in a job while still serving as a chaplain on the side. But for me it became clear that being a chaplain would eventually become a full time engagement. I looked into the military chaplaincy and learned that the department of defense requires a master of divinity degree (accredited). Several other organizations require or prefer that as well. What drew me towards the military chaplaincy was a combination of camaraderie (I served in the Swiss army when I lived in Switzerland after all) and hearing about the high suicide rate among service members. Honestly, this still breaks my heart!
So I began a program that would allow me to eventually earn my MDiv. And now I’m finding myself sacrificing something here and there to move forward on this path. I didn’t know how much unforgiveness I was carrying around with me and I had to deal with traumas that happened 30 years ago that were affecting my thinking and behavior now. I had to learn to forgive and let go of so many things that were holding me back. When your journey takes you up a mountain you realize that you’re going to have to leave most of your baggage behind or else you’ll never get up there.
And again, here I am at another point in my journey that is taking somewhere unexpected. While I was taking a chaplaincy course in my MDiv program last semester, I learned about how Jedi chaplains serve in the prison system and it turns out that the first Jedi chaplain in the US military was commissioned in 2023 and serves in the Space Force now. Having a spark in my eyes whenever I’m telling people about my “discovery,” I have now been encouraged enough times to follow this path myself on my journey that I’m taking it seriously. The Jedi beliefs don’t take anything away from the beliefs I already have; if anything, I find myself enriched. And yet again, pursuing this path will require sacrifice. Sacrificing being misunderstood by my peers and church leaders. But I know that this is my path now and it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Umalohókan
House of Twin Suns
TM: Carlos Martinez
"You don't have to see the whole staircase just to take the first step."
(Signature links to IP Journal, Apprentice Journal, A.div Journal, and Degree Tracker omitted for brevity — these were forum navigation links at the time.)
The following user(s) said Thank You: RosalynJ
Last edit: 20 Jun 2025 20:56 by Yelt97 IPTC
Looking back now: This was one of the first times I openly wrote about how the Initiate Program lessons were intersecting with my real-life calling toward chaplaincy — including the unexpected pull toward Jedi chaplaincy. Sharing the sacrifices and misunderstandings felt vulnerable, but it marked a turning point in owning my path fully.