Esoteric Coffeehouse

Even as I was deeply immersed into research of the Hermetic tradition and the god Thoth, I could not avoid being drawn into the current events of Barack Obama’s US election. I have always thought that the esotericists (particularly those of Hermetic extract) have been men and women of the world, engaged in the transformation of the world into a better place. Perhaps it is down this line that I want to live as well, so please understand if I may from time to time jump thousands of years from Thoth to Barack Obama and back again. This exercise is, of course, carried out in the spirit of esotericism: looking at the underlying trends behind the surface.

It has hence occurred to me that Obama’s image and story can be compared to Joseph Campbell’s myth of the Hero, which Campbell called the “monomyth” (1). Whether consciously or unconsciously, people – and sometimes Obama himself – tend to project this image upon him. As early as 2006, he was called star and legend (2), and recently I have even read an online blog where the writer called him ‘savior’! (3) Mind you, I’m not laying a claim of profound originality on this –  I discovered then that George Lucas has already made note of Obama following the Hero’s Journey (4) and there are two bloggers that talked about it, albeit sketchily (5, 6). However, I would like to look at this more in detail than the others I have read.

Let’s start with the beginning. For those that don’t know, Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was one of the foremost mythologists of his age (7). He is primarily remembered for his groundbreaking book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It is in this one that he articulated the myth of the hero’s journey, which directly influenced George Lucas’ Star Wars, Disney’s The Lion King, and countless movies and books ever since (8). The book ‘deconstructs’ the journey of the hero in a number of steps. It is my intention here to compare these steps with the story of Obama’s rise to power and Presidency.

Preliminary:

As per Campbell’s analysis, the hero is someone naturally special, singled out in some manner amongst his peers. Born of an African father and white mother, Obama’s mixed heritage has marked him out as a ‘special’ person right from the start. Furthermore, a characteristic of the Campbellian hero is that he is often cast aside by his family as in the story of Moses. This is an archetype Obama fits very well: he was abandoned, only two years old, by his Kenyan father Barack Obama Sr, whom he met only once more in his lifetime. This has had a major impact on him, according to his best-selling autobiography Dreams from My Father (9).

1. The Call to Adventure: the hero receives a beacon call, often from another person (called a ‘herald’)

   Obama describes a moment of self-awakening in his book Dreams from My Father, when he realizes, following one-year work with a corporate firm, that his calling was to work for the poor (10). This may have been a dramatized book story. In reality, he seems to have grown into politics from his years at Punahou Academy high school, the Occidental College and Columbia University.  

2. Refusal of the Call – sometimes, the hero initially refuses the call for action.

This is an optional element in Campbell’s book that does not apply to Obama, who comes across as a positive, ambitious person. However, there was a moment, in 2000, when he first ran his campaign to win an US Senate seat and was sorely defeated by his adversary Bobby Rush, when he was forced to question his political ambitions. It was a testimony to his inner strength that he went on and rebuilt his political career after this.

3. Supernatural Aid – the hero is helped by a protective figure that gives him support

In youth, Obama’s main support seem to have been his mother, Stanley Ann Durnham, and his grandfather Stanley Durnham, who acted as a surrogate father (11). In politics, an important figure was Illinois State Senator Emil Jones, the leader of the Democrats. His wife, whom Obama has called his ‘rock’ also had an important influence on his political career.  

4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – the hero must pass a first test to enter into the new world of heroic action

There were some key decisive moments in Obama’s life that shaped his future career as a politician. One was his decision after two years of attending Occidental College in California to transfer to Columbia University, where he graduated in political science. Another, following two years of working in corporate New York City, to seek a low-paid job as a community organizer in Chicago. Thirdly, his decision after two years of working in Chicago to go to Harvard Law School.

5. The Belly of the Whale – the hero must pass through an initiatory trial that involves a descent into a dark or dangerous realm

In Dreams of My Father, Obama presented his darkest moments as the heavy consumption of drugs and alcohol both at  Punahou high school and at the Occidental College in California. Obama confessed to becoming a “pothead” in order to “push questions of who I was out of my mind” (12). Eventually, however, he got his life in order by moving from Occidental College to Columbia University, where he was rather seen as a bookish type.

Ok, that’s it for today. There’s a huge amount of information to brush up on! I will be back in one or two days with the follow up: Obama’s growth to power through initiation, apotheosis, return and his transformation into a hero that can help the other fellow people. In the meantime, I would like to give you a homework: brush up on your Obama biography! (how’s that for a way to chase my visitors off the website!)  The simple low-down can be found on Biography.com (13) and Wikipedia.com (14).

References:

(13) Biography. (2008). Barack Obama. Online. Available at: http://www.biography.com/featured-biography/barack-obama/index.jsp. Accessed on 09 Nov 2008.
(1) Campbell, J. (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Pantheon Books.
(6) Cocca, C. (2008). Barack Obama and the Hero’s Journey. Online. Available at: http://christophercocca.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/barack-obama-and-the-heros-journey/. Accessed on 11 Nov 2008.
(3) Edinger, R. (2008). Obama Rocks: America and the Planet. Online. Available at: http://www.obamabook.org/obama_book_introduction.html. Accessed on 09 Nov 2008.
(2) Graff, G. (2006). The Legend of Barack Obama. The Washingtonian, 1 Nov. Available at: http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/1836.html. Accessed on 09 Nov 2008.
(11) Jones, T. (2004). Barack Obama: Mother Not Just a Girl from Kansas. Chicago Herald Tribune, 27 Mar. Online. Available at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0703270151mar27-archive,0,2623808.story?page=1. Accessed on 09 Nov 2008.
(9), (10), (12) Obama, B. (2004). Dreams from My Father. New York: Three Rivers Press.
(5) Snapp, M. (2008). Obama Walks the Hero’s Journey… Contra Costa Times. Online. Available at: http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-walks-heros-journey.html. Accessed on 09 Nov 2008. ]
(4) The Huffington Post. (2008). George Lucas on Obama: A Hero in the Making. Online. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/04/george-lucas-on-obama-a-h_n_105102.html/ Accessed on 09 Nov 2008.
(14) Wikipedia. (2008). Barack Obama. Online. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama. Accessed on 10 Nov 2008.
(7), (8) Wikipedia. (2008). Joseph Campbell. Online. Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell . Accessed on 10 Nov 2008.

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Tags: barack obama, dreams from my father, esoteric, hero's journey, joseph campbell, monomyth, Mythology, obama, obama hero, obama hero myth, obama mythology, president obama

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