Chadwick Boseman - celebrated for portraying heroism

August 28 the world was shocked by the announcement that 43 year old Chadwick Boseman, actor extraordinaire of multiple heroic figures had succumbed to four years of battling colon cancer. Few knew of his battle as he maintained active portrayal of such great figures as Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and of course T’Challa of “Black Panther.”

Chadwick's rise to stardom was meteoric and his death inexplicable. In his last film, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," Chadwick plays the role of Levee, a struggling young musician who doesn't fit the conventional heroic figure of his earlier films. Except that Chadwick brought the transcendent into the room as his character shouts his protest to God who Levee decries as having abandoned him. Fellow actors recognized, and I dare say viewers will also, that God was in the room. Levee's lines ring through to define Black's struggle in the U.S.A. from the days of slavery to the present and they serve as a protest to Chadwick's own death at such an early age. The witness Chadwick leaves in the roles he played as well as the way he lived his life is that everyone needs to be the hero of her or his own story, a sentiment shared when he was interviewed by Trevor Noah.

 

Mythic stories, often including some form of heroic figure, give us meaning in life, as author Joseph Campbell has portrayed. When we read, view a film, or simply take a moment to reflect, we realize that many of our motivations from day to day are inspired by someone who has faced great challenge and either conquered or transcended it. These mythic stories seldom come from individuals who claim their heroism. Instead, individuals are more often granted heroic status as a result of doing what they are driven to do, fulfilling the promise that results from pursuing one’s passion.

 

As Chadwick Boseman declared in his 2018 commencement address to the graduating class of Howard University, "struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose. When I dared to challenge the system that would relegate us to victims and stereotypes with no clear historical backgrounds, no hopes or talents, when I questioned that method of portrayal, a different path opened up for me, the path to my destiny." Boseman chose to define himself rather than be defined by others. Taking this path was not an act of grandiosity or a proclamation of his heroism. It was simply a way for him to be true to himself during his short and conviction-filled life. Boseman's example inspires me and is likely to inspire many others who will follow in his path.

Campbell - A Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work

 Mythology is an organization of symbolic images and narratives metaphorical of the possibilities and fulfillment in a given culture in a given time. Mythology is a metaphor. God, angels, purgatory, these are metaphors. (from interview with New York Times, 1985)

Joseph Campbell was a professor of philosophy at Sarah Lawrence, author, and speaker who influenced many artists from the mid-20th century through today. Some of the most provocative movies mirror his philosophy (e.g. 2001 Space Odyssey, Star Wars) and countless other artists have found inspiration in his ideas. The core of Campbell's major contribution is in understanding mythological stories as metaphors for the human journey, as reflected in the above quote.

A Hero's Journey (2018) is a summary collection of quotes from Campbell's writing as well as references made by others to his work and interviews/panels in which he was involved. Reflecting on his writing, Campbell said, "That's the function of the artist, you know, to reinterpret the old stories and make them come alive again, in poetry, painting, and now movies." (p. 13) This quote captured his purpose in life - to remind readers and listeners that myth is a way of enlivening the mystery of life.

Campbell's belief was that myths are universal and transcend time, reflecting consistent archetypes that contribute to a long, unfolding story. He believed that study and internalization of myths was especially important in the modern era where cynicism can inhibit full engagement and inquiry. The antidote he advocated was to follow your bliss, digging deep to identify your passion and following the path it opens to you. The hero's journey was one of going in, "It is a movement beyond the known boundaries of faith and convention, the search for what matters, the path of destiny, the route of individuality, the road of original experience..." (p. 23) And the myths were both ancient and contemporary with the contemporary stories coming from music, athletic competition, nature and human's encounter with it.

Campbell's most notable book is The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) which followed an extensive period of study and editing of Heinrich Zimmer's (Celtic scholar and Indologist who fled Hitler's Germany) lectures given at Columbia University. Through studying Zimmer and other mythological stories, Campbell arrived at the idea that "...there's one mythology in the world. It has been inflected in various cultures in terms of their historical and social circumstances and needs and particular local ethic systems, but it's one mythology." (p. 201) One of the most profound assertions of this one mythology was that "deities are symbolic personifications of the very images that are of yourself." "...god is out there and the god is in here. The kingdom of heaven is within you, yes, but it's also everywhere." (p. 202) Fundamental to this view was that mythical stories, particularly those in the Christian Bible, must "be read as metaphorical of what ought to happen to me, that I ought to die and resurrect, die to my ego and resurrect to my divinity." (p. 216)

Some of Campbell's ideas are a product of the time in which he read, thought, and taught. Particularly in relation to women's roles, Campbell advocated what might today be perceived by many as an uneasy balance between affirmation of women pursuing whatever they wish in career and life against roles of nurturer and care taker. Likewise, his view of men's roles included a degree of gallantry, even referencing the "five virtues of the medieval knight: temperance, courage, loyalty, courtesy, and love" (p. 179), that many in the current era would find stifling. As products of the time, these ideas can surely be subjected to Campbell's four major functions of mythology:

• Mystical - opening the heart and mind
• Cosmological - opening to what science teaches us
• Sociological - validating and maintaining social systems
• Pedagogical - guiding us through the inevitable crises of life

Application of the functions of myth to the socialized gender roles of mid-20th century reveals different conclusions in the 21st century, a conclusion that Campbell would likely embrace.

The four functions of mythology also help me understand how Campbell was able to maintain such great optimism while fully living in "...joyful participation in the sorrows of the world." (p. 328, from Wings of Art, Campbell) Various positive and negative experiences in life bring us to new realizations, "unshelling a system of life and immediately moving into a new system of life." (p. 123)

Moving into a new understanding of the world and our role in it is the hero's journey. Especially during the journey of maturing and even growing old, Campbell said, "Trying to hang on to youth, trying to hang on to what was really great twenty years ago, throws you totally off. You've got to go with it and seek the abundance that's in this new thing." (p.299)

Spirituality and leadership

Research has confirmed a link between student's exposure to different cultures and their efficacy in leadership, a dynamic that is likely mirrored after the college years. Spirituality is a type of diversity that is now garnering greater attention, evidenced by the publication of Spirituality and Leadership in the New Directions for Student Leadership series. Having shared my own journey in a chapter for this book (Discovering Purpose: a Life-long Journey), I believe that the exploration of faith and spiritual difference may actually be a necessary, and perhaps easier path, to introducing diverse cultures and backgrounds. I describe parallel paths of understanding diverse cultures and faiths in this chapter, although my reflections are that exploring diverse faith perspectives offered my first deeper dive.

As the focus on diversity throughout cultures around the world increases, spiritual diversity may be one of the more promising and critical areas to explore. However, a gap in understanding across faiths was captured in a recent survey of college students. The survey found that college students lack religious literacy saying that "...student participation in formal courses and activities that build interfaith skills is low and, in some cases, declined over students' college years. And while nearly three-quarters of students in college agreed with the statement that they dedicated time in college to learning about people of a different race or ethnicity (74 percent) or from a different country (73 percent), far lower percentages said they dedicated time to learning about people of different religions." The report went on to say that interfaith understanding can be enhanced through courses, experiences outside of class, through positive friendships that explore religious difference, and by fostering a campus culture that welcomes diverse faith groups. 

My own collegiate experience validates these research findings. I have realized that another element of my own journey is music, which served as an introduction to other faith perspectives while I was studying music as an undergraduate student. Once I saw how the music of different religions inspired similar feelings and insights, it became only natural to explore the similarities and differences of the cultures I began to encounter in graduate school and beyond. Life as a student affairs educator and university administer in multiple locations in the U.S.A. and then abroad in Qatar allowed for the exposures of my undergraduate and graduate school years to deepen over a lifetime.