The Return
(Warning spoilers ahead...)
In most superhero movies, and in most hero myths in general, there is almost always the 'return from the epic battle' scene- the Millennium Falcon busting out of the sunlight after Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star; the Avengers regrouping after Thanos kills half of all life in the universe; Odysseus finally revealing himself to his wife, Penelope, and slaying her suitors after 20 years away from home; Arjuna readying himself to face his own extended family in war after his own internal battle with indecision and despair.
Usually, as they make their return home, (or to the next sequel) our heroes are pretty beaten up. They've often lost most of their soldiers and colleagues in battle. They might barely have made it back alive themselves. They're bruised, broken-hearted and battered. The last thing they might feel like is a hero.
And rightly so- most times, the return is just the middle of the story. The hero, upon their return, has yet to assimilate the experiences and events, often traumatic (however action-packed they might appear), that will shape them into the heroes they are eventually known to become.
While we too, might feel ourselves as the furthest from what we believe heroes to be, we all have emerged (or are still in the process of emerging) out of a battlefield of sorts- be it one of plague, oppression, violence, rising inflation, depression, or takeover by an evil war lord. We are unsure of what's next, barely clear of what just happened, and we are all, to some degree, a bit bruised, broken-hearted, and battered.
But this is still the middle of the story.
For all of us are heroes in the making of our own myths. We are all dealing with our own daily battles, fighting to align ourselves to truth and integrity, not knowing if we have the proper tools to ensure making it through, let alone a safe return home. All we often have to guide us is our own deep inner knowing- what makes us a hero is actually following it.
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From Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces
We have not even to risk the adventure alone
for the heroes of all time have gone before us.
The labyrinth is thoroughly known ...
we have only to follow the thread of the hero path.
And where we had thought to find an abomination
we shall find a God.
And where we had thought to slay another
we shall slay ourselves.
Where we had thought to travel outwards
we shall come to the center of our own existence.
And where we had thought to be alone
we shall be with all the world.