Perhaps the cruelest thing… we do…to ourselves. We see ourselves as being part of a group or groups and judge ourselves according to their faulty archetypes, altering our lifestyles to “fit in”, believing we are “sinners” or “the chosen” or whatever they want to tell us we are. We see our groups & archetypes as being superior to other groups and their archetypes, and become more hostile to people in other groups. Some social psychologists claim that prejudice is a result of personality. To me this is a little like saying that being fond of too-tight hats is a result of going bald. It is a correlation, not causality. As far as perception is currently concerned, it’s a circle: personality is a result of prejudice (because our personality is built up from our like/dislike response, and then is subject to the prejudice inherent in perception.) Society doesn’t help. Often, ‘conformity’ is a way of gaining social approval (or avoiding rejection) and increasing status. - Alex Ramonsky

I have a site called Pathbreaker.tv. And though i haven’t updated it much since its inception, the site’s main thrust is to promote a message sorely missing in our world - Do what you love. Live your passion and, whenever possible, find or make that perfect combination of making money doing what you love.

About a year back, during a training i gave at Bard college, i called up one of the essential hero myths of our time - Luke Skywalker. Now, the story of every hero follows a basic pattern. Within that pattern, immediately following the call to adventure comes the threshold guardians. The guardians deter the hero from heeding the call. With reason, logic, violence, morality or anything else that works, the guardians keep less worthy heroes from their adventure.

In Star Wars, that guardian came in the form of Luke’s adopted father, his uncle, Owen. “Don’t go off to space school Luke, i need you on the farm for one more season. Just one more season.”

Kiela, one of my best friends, essence of the iconoclast, and pathbreaker elite, has since made this commentary:

and this:

and for the kids:

p.s. for those of you who don’t know, Kiela is also responsible for the original composition and vocals on Installing Inner Game.

Tags: Joseph Campbell, Luke Skywalker, pathbreaker, road less travelled, Star Wars, Uncle Owen