CoachVille Book Club – The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Starting on Monday, March 25th we’ll be jumping into the much-revered “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. In this book, “Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions.”
The CoachVille Book Club discussions are free for all CoachVille Members (TEAM CoachVille). They take place on Mondays from 7-8 PM ET via Maestro Conference.
Click here to log in (or become a CoachVille member) and become a member of the CoachVille Book Club community. Once you’ve joined the Book Club community, you can get your own call-in credentials for the series. You will also find your invitation to join the Facebook group, which is especially good for those who want to participate but can’t join the calls live.
In every conversation we explore ideas from the book and how we can use them to play life bigger and coach life better.
IMPORTANT! You do not need to read the entire book to get value from and contribute to the community. Even if you read a few pages you can jump right into the conversation! Book Club is not an Industrial Age school!
The Hero Framework
A note from Coach Dave:
When I talk with my players I ask them to choose their “Play Framework”.
How do you see yourself in how you are playing for your dream?:
1) Life is performance art.
2) Life is a game.
3) Life is a quest.
Most people Either 1 OR 2 … AND 3.
Almost everyone sees that they are on a quest.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the ultimate resource for
guiding someone on a meaningful quest.
Exploring this book will make you a better coach.
“The passage of the mythological hero may be overground,
incidentally; fundamentally it is inward – into depths were
obscure resistances are overcome, and long lost, forgotten
powers are revivified, to be made available for the transfiguration
of the world.” -Joseph Campbell
Schedule
Mondays at 7 pm ET
- March 25: Book Introductions & Epilogue (pages 381 – 392)
- April 1: Session 1 – Prologue | The Monomyth (pages 3 – 48)
- April 8: Session 2 – Part 1 Chapter 1 | Departure (pages 49 – 96)
- April 15: Session 3 – Part 1 Chapter 2 | Initiation Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 (pages 97 – 148)
- April 21: Session 4 – Part 1 Chapter 2, cont. | Initiation Parts 5, 6 (pages 149 – 192)
- April 28: Session 5 – Part 1 Chapter 3 | Return Chapter 4 The Keys (pages 193 – 254)
- May 6: Session 6 – Part 2 Chapter 1 | Emanations (pages 255 – 296)
- May 13: Session 7 – Part 2 Chapter 2 | The Virgin Birth (pages 297 – 314)
- May 20: Session 8 – Part 2 Chapter 3 | Transformations of the Hero (pages 315 – 364)
- June 3: Session 9 – Part 2 Chapter 4 | Dissolutions (pages 365 – 380)
- June 10: Session 10 – Epilogue (pages 381 – 392)
Book Overview
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (first published in 1949) is a work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell. In this book, Campbell discusses his theory of the mythological structure of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world myths.
Campbell explores the theory that mythological narratives frequently share a fundamental structure. The similarities of these myths brought Campbell to write his book in which he details the structure of the monomyth. He calls the motif of the archetypal narrative, “the hero’s journey”. In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell summarizes the monomyth:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.
Since the publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell’s theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. Filmmaker George Lucas acknowledged Campbell’s theory in mythology and its influence on the Star Wars films.
Joseph John Campbell (1904–1987) was an American Professor of Literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. Campbell’s most well-known work is his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. His philosophy has been summarized by his own often repeated phrase, “Follow your bliss.”
Next book: The Bellwether Effect by Lance Secretan
Your Book Club Hosts…
Coach Erin Brimmer
Coach Erin is an artist, designer, and life coach with an unbridled wanderlust that fuels her travels around the globe in search of beauty. (And boy does our earth deliver beauty in spades!)
Create beauty. Go wild. Shine your light. Trust your inner compass. Choose to bless the world. And above all else, love — always love.
Coach Erin earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia and honed her marketing chops during a decade long stint at Microsoft. She learned the art of coaching at the CoachVille Center for Coaching Mastery, and through Martha Beck’s Wayfinder Life Coach Training.
Coach Dave Buck, MCC
Coach Dave is an MBA, Master Certified Coach and the CEO of CoachVille the original global online community for Coaches with over 36,000 members in over 70 Countries. He is also a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council with Jack Canfield.
Coach Dave is a leading visionary voice of professional coaching. He collaborated with Thomas Leonard – the “Founding Father” of Professional Life-Business Coaching – to found CoachVille in 2000. A 2008 independent global survey of 10,000 professional coaches named Coach Dave the 7th most influential person in the history of professional coaching.