FINDING JOE | Full Movie (HD) | Deepak Chopra, Robin Sharma, Rashida Jones, Sir Ken Robinson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8nFACrLxr0
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015370
A truly inspirational film, Finding Joe explores the studies of famed mythologist Joseph Campbell. Take a journey through the human psyche and discover the pattern hidden in every story.
TEXT
many years ago in Thailand there was a

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temple that was called the temple of the

Golden Buddha

and there was a huge statue of Golden

Buddha

and word came to this village where the

monastery was that an army from

neighbouring country was about to invade

and they got the brilliant scheme to

cover the Golden Buddha which is quite

large with mud and concrete's so that it

looked basic like a stone Buddha ma the

army would perceive no value in it

[Applause]

and sure enough this army rolled in with

his case signs and weapons

and as they passed by the monastery they

saw nothing with a big stone Buddha and

they had no reason to plunder it

while years went by because the army

continued to occupied until there was a

time when the monastery in the village

when no one remembered that the Buddha

was golden until one day a young monk

was sitting on the Buddha meditating on

his knee and as he got up a little piece

of concrete happened to crack off and he

saw something shiny he realized it was

gold under there and so he ran to his

fellow monks said the Buddha's golden

the Buddha's golden they all came out

and they realized he was telling the

truth and they took their picks and

hammers and eventually unearthed the

Golden Buddha

[Music]

[Applause]

now what's submitted for here's the

metaphor is that each of us is golden by

nature we were born golden we're born

high we were born knowing were born

connected to our bliss were born knowing

truth were born knowing everything every

great spiritual master has ever said we

were one with the Christ the Buddha

everyone but then we went to school on

they said you had to just like this and

this would boil it girls do this with

black people this with white people do

on and on and on and so we developed a

casing of stone over the Buddha to a

point where at a young age maybe four or

five six or seven we believed that we

were the stone Buddha not the golden one

and then something comes along that

cracks our casing maybe it's an injury a

divorce the financial setbacks our

government will change something that

really scares us some bugs us and knocks

off a piece of our our armor and only in

that moment of the armor being knocked

off do you get to look inside and see

the goal then let me tell you friend at

the moment you see that gold the armor

and the concrete will never satisfy you

again at that point you truly answer the

true hero's adventure and all you want

to do for the rest of your life is pick

away the stone because the gold is so

much more fun

[Music]

who is Joseph Campbell and why should we

care a topic that comes up a lot

Joseph Campbell was one of the leading

mythology experts of all time

Joseph Campbell is a philosopher the man

who had this ability to see the truth in

a world where we've lost sight of that

in many ways

he studied all of these classical myths

traditions and they actually started by

studying Native American mythology he

fell in love with it when he was a kid

this was his bliss he wound up studying

the Aboriginal cultures he studied Greek

mythology he studied Arthurian a legend

he dissected and really diagrammed all

of our stories he compared the

philosophies the mythic stories of the

whole world our myths or movies or

novels or romances and he find this one

story within all the stories that we can

relate to no matter where you come from

he recognized that in spite of all the

different stories we seem to be telling

there's really only one and he called it

the hero's journey there must have been

thousands and thousands of hero stories

from every culture but until Joseph

Campbell came along

certainly I never realized how they all

kind of fit together and how they were

basically the same story I was a

religion major in college I was taking

my final exam I had a moment where I've

just gobsmacked

[Applause]

it's just like holy crap it's all the

same thing

I mean it is really all the same thing

the hero's journey is a pattern you can

almost think of it as an algorithm that

has three basic parts separation

initiation and return separation you are

in one kind of a reality in one kind of

a place you are separated from it

initiation you're put into another place

where you are in some manner initiated

returned you come back

a simple version of the hero's journey

is you know someone starting out in

their normal protected world and then

Vinci getting a call to adventure a call

to adventure there's a vision there's a

quest it's the story of the hero

enduring some trials various trials and

ordeals meeting different obstacles

along the way people that hurt you

people that help you doors will open as

Campbell would say for you where there

are no doors for others dragons will

appear that your dragons alone you get

to like the innermost cave where you're

really challenged like the greatest

crisis and you find your true self the

achievement the glory but then that's

not the end of it that has to bring that

back to the community there's a return

to tell the story that is a heroic

journey separation initiation return all

of the adventures of the human story are

in there all the heroes all the villains

all the gods and goddesses and all of

the knights and all of the fantastic

creatures we can conjure up in animation

they're all in there because they're all

in here because they're all in here this

is where they come from

if you look at some of the greatest

pieces of literature the greatest works

of philosophy they all have what Joseph

Campbell called the hero's journey and

if you look with a piercing eye you can

recognize his outline and just about any

movie a story would read Star Wars The

Matrix Harry Potter Wizard of Oz that's

a classic story of a hero's journey you

first see Dorothy and her natural

environment and just like out here in

regular life a person is operating in

their natural environment every day and

living in their house and that kind of

thing and then something happens to

shake that world up and you go on a

journey in which you have to face

certain tests and challenges

[Music]

storytelling is typically about people

learning something

you go to a place which is dark and

mysterious you are faced with yourself

there is a relationship between facing

fear and this kind of soul gain you

acquire quality a hidden strength of

value

moments where somebody is tested

somebody moves to a place where it feels

like a crisis point and then they are

restored redeemed made better through

that trial and we call them heroes

[Music]

if all of these stories boiled down into

one map we can use that map because all

human beings are the same whether

they're going through a war like World

War two or going through a war inside

it's basically the same kind of process

in other words we're not separate from

the characters we see in our movies and

in our novels they are us it's one

journey

[Music]

the whole idea of hero's journey a

journey of life clear patterns to guide

you through you're born you you have a

childhood you have a adolescence and you

try to find the place for you to become

an adult and you go through adventures

you struggle with your inner conflict

and finally you become a hero you slay

the Dragons use you succeed in in

conquering all the demons and and you

step over stressful with the final you

have arrived we can old we die but

within the short span we have to have

some meaning some reason for this

existence doesn't have to be higher

mighty and fantastic you can have a very

simple life still go through the similar

pattern

we go on we watch a great hero's journey

movie it's that impulse within us that

seed of potential that wants to be

actualized that's being talked to during

those movies and being whispered to it's

time for you to do that that's the story

here that's what it's all about there's

wonderful narrative iconography for how

to live life

[Music]

the idea that trihard you get the little

engine that could I think I can I think

I can I think I can I can

this idea that we really can do better

be better that our greatest cells are

still hidden and that the future is the

prospect of coming to terms with that

cell

Dorothy had to confront her inner

barriers and so the journey she went on

was not just a journey to find out how

the deal with the Wicked Witch of the

West it was how to deal with her own

inner resources how to claim her own

inner resources and at the end of the

movie how did she get back home while

she clicked her heels together so she

had it all the time the ability to get

back home but it didn't get mobilized

for her until she went through all of

those challenges and was able to kind of

test herself

it's kind of the ordinary moving into

the extraordinary it's going through the

dark to come out to the light

going from an unsatisfying life to a

satisfying life by pushing through the

scariest things you could imagine

you

the most important thing that the myths

teach us is to go beyond what we

perceive as the limits of our

possibility so mythology needs to be

seen for what it is which is a metaphor

for our human existence it's not a

history lesson

it's a metaphor for life and for

universal experiences a lot of people

read the myths and they say well that

refers to something historical the

creation of the world or something like

that but Joe didn't think that he

thought that it's really a narrative

about the psyche what Jung called the

self

[Music]

the problem is that many of us are

metaphorically impaired we don't realize

that this thing that they're talking

about is actually a metaphor for a

transformation process just kind of like

the holy grail where it's not the thing

it's not the actual concrete grail it's

an intangible thing but the holy grail

is a metaphor for that intangible

feeling and so if you look at a book and

it says you will go to heaven and you

don't realize that they're talking about

heaven on earth heaven in our bodies

heaven right now in the now you might

fall into a trance of thinking that

you're literally gonna go someplace else

if you follow the rules

having been brought up in a mythical

culture I was very familiar with the

different motifs and themes that were

encapsulated in say a mythical being

whether it was the Lord Shiva or Ganesh

or a goddess just thinking the name of

that person the whole story was evoked

Carl Jung called these archetypes

archetypes up from module encapsulated

stories or mythologies and they're in

this form of a seed in consciousness

when you plant that seed in

consciousness that archetypal seed that

mythical journey

then that seed starts to sprout and as

it sprouts the patterning forces create

the situation circumstances events and

relationships for the unfolding of the

story

it's better to have a story to look

through at life than an explanation the

reason for that is the story is richer I

[Music]

say select two or three heroes and

heroines either in mythology or religion

or history and then ask these mythical

beings to incarnate through you and then

don't be surprised when you see

situation circumstances coincidences

synchronicities relationships short

suddenly short that actually are part of

the story that you have been seeking to

Express

once upon a time in the forest there was

this little tiger cub amongst a flock of

sheep

and he ate grass and he wandered around

with the Sheep

[Music]

and when he tried to say anything all

that came out was a sort of little meow

not much of a roar

and one day through those forest comes a

large male tiger

and he's just about to pounce on the

sheep and he sees this tiger cub he says

what are you doing here tiger cub goes

man picks the tiger cub up by the scruff

of the neck and he carries him over to a

pod and he puts his face over and he

says look see that face you're not a

sheep you're a tiger

the male tiger says okay we need to do

something

he slays a sheep but he grabs a big hunk

of raw meat and he shoves it in the

little tiger's mouth

[Music]

and the little tiger gagged on it is all

do on the truth

but it went down and he got a little bit

energy and pretty soon he had a bigger

tiger roar and eventually he had a full

tiger roar he went off with the male

tiger

I think the moral here is self-evident

if you're a tiger living among sheep

you're a pretty poor specimen of a tiger

and we are all Tigers living among sheep

we are all individuals with an a self

that we don't even begin to understand

and unfortunately I've you could open a

metaphor out the food we get from the

culture around us is maybe food for

sheep it's not food for Tigers

[Music]

we have to catch at least the spark on

what your life is going to be or you may

spend those dreary decades in corporate

America climbing the ladder only to

discover it's against the wrong wall you

get to the top who cares if this path of

the hero's journey is fairly simple in

design why then is it that everybody

isn't living it

[Music]

well the answer is that most people on

the planet live under a kind of a mass

hypnosis

[Music]

there's a tremendous pressure even in

the media on really keeping people in

their place in the sense of keeping them

happy tranced out consumers

[Music]

it's a trance of comfort

it's a trance of not sticking your head

up above the crown very much

that keeps the enterprise nor most

people think it's a luxury and a great

privilege to stay home and look at their

800 inch television if you just spaced

out you're not developing we're

stimulated by some images and some loud

noise it's about collecting things and

stuff and making a lot of money and

doing a lot of things and it's

impossible to enjoy that because you end

up on that treadmill and you can't get

off

and so most people unfortunately because

they are so victimized by the

environment they have no time to think

or be themselves they become bundles of

conditioned reflexes and nerves that are

constantly being triggered by people and

circumstance into very predictable

outcomes and predictable patterns of

behavior there is no creativity

that's the trance that's the wasteland

where we're just guided toward this

weird sense of what's real in our lives

and those ideas that are imposed on us

from the outside about what we should

and should not do it usually starts out

with something like you shouldn't talk

to that person because they're from a

different tribe you certainly shouldn't

marry that person you should go to this

school you should have a certain type of

car you should live in a certain type of

house you should have a certain number

of kids buy this type of age should

should should should should what I

experienced in my own life was I gotta

have the degree from this University

I've got to have this advanced degree

from this university preferably either a

law degree or a medical degree or

something to that effect some letters

after my name which would say that I

have a stamp of credibility I can go out

and make my six figures in society can

kind of deem me worthy I have countless

examples of young people who go to

college because they expected to go to

college and they studied biology because

since the time they were 6 they were

supposed to be a doctor it's very

difficult for a person who's brought up

in this environment of instant

gratification with the media with

advertising with all the promises of

instant gratification by buying

something for example or having a

certain

level of affluence that you lose contact

with this mythical domain which is

actually part of your soul it's there in

everyone it's their passion with their

blesses their unique skills is their

unique ways of expressing themselves is

their soul which if they think they

could do anything

if you look at every her own journey the

hero has been confronted with the fact

that the world that they thought was

reality was nothing more than an

illusion I go back to the matrix which

is what was the matrix it was just this

big illusion it was the dominant values

and beliefs that the world had put

around this guy neo the seeker on the

hero's journey and what did he do he

felt this longing to go beyond the

illusion to go beyond the matrix so he

took the red pill and he woke up to

reality and what was a reality reality

was he was full of potential

[Music]

separation begins with what we call the

call to adventure Campbell tells us

there's literally almost a phone ringing

it's like the universe the divine God

whatever you want to call it literally

dialing you up and ringing and giving

you a call asking you to step out until

with your journey something breaks into

the your quotidian reality and makes it

impossible for you to continue well you

could hang up the phone

you can run away but he'll keep coming

back it'll keep coming back until you

finally answer the call

[Music]

if you're not paying attention the

wake-up calls come in the form of a

sledgehammer you know if you're paying

attention they might come in a tickle

feather

so we don't always get the call as a

choir of angels with trumpets singing to

us beautifully one Sunday morning in

Star Wars Luke comes back his house has

been burnt down he's gotta go

oftentimes it comes in the depth of our

despair in losing a job getting fired

getting divorced - having your House

foreclosed on these things that you just

would never want to have happen or often

the exact things we need to catapult

it's to catalyze us into the next that

next version of ourselves bad things

happen to good people and when that

happens to them they typically are

thrown for a loop because they

frequently have felt everything's going

along I'm doing everything right what

happened well you know the universe just

up ended you and it does do that Chinese

symbol for crisis r2 symbol the first

wise danger and second why immediate is

opportunity so crisis is ballz danger

and opportunity this idea that if one

storyline collapses that that's the end

of the movie it's not true of human life

and never wants true of human life I

know people who have prospered in the

most extraordinary way in the worst type

of adversity but actually reveals

something to them about themselves they

didn't know and that became the new

journey they took let me put this into

really practical hundred-pound terms

because if the camera had been pointed

at me when I was 24 years old what it

would have seen was a person who weighed

320 pounds you would have seen me

puffing on two or three packs of

Marlboros a day relationship that I

didn't want to be in and I had a job I

hated everything was wrong in my life

and so those are ripe moments for a

wake-up call in life you know if you

haven't been paying attention enough so

that you end up with the job you hate a

relationship you don't want to be in a

body you don't like and you're addicted

to a bunch of things you're ripe for a

sledgehammer blow from the universe and

I got it you step over a threshold

meaning you move from one world into

another sometimes you're shoved from one

world into the other I went out for a

walk and I stepped on the ice

on the road and my feet shot out from

under me and I smacked my back of my

head on the ground frozen ground and it

knocked me out just enough I wasn't

completely unconscious but I had a

vision

while I was semi knocked out I could see

down through all the layers of myself to

this pure consciousness inside and I

could see how all the fat I had was

organized around a whole bunch of

feelings I didn't want to let myself

feel like sadness from childhood and a

lot of old grief and my family and anger

and things like that and I realized that

the fat was there to keep me from

feeling those feelings and so as I began

to come back to normal consciousness I

made a vow that I was going to change my

life so that I could live in that state

of pure consciousness instead of having

to have all of that armor around me once

you make the decisions that Joseph

Campbell is talking about about really

hearing the call and being willing to

take on the challenges of that new

awakened life once you do that you begin

to feel a power that it's like nothing

else I've ever experienced and I think a

lot of us are just plain old afraid of

that

[Music]

I tend to think that people wake up to

the fact that they're the hero of their

own life when they get tired of being

the victim of their own life at the

point that that you say enough you know

IIIi don't want to listen to my parents

anymore I I have had it with my boss I'm

really having problems perhaps with the

sermon I'm being taught you could either

surrender to victimhood and a lot of

people do or you can surrender to a

fundamentalism you can basically give

your responsibility to someone else and

say tell me what to do and I'll do it or

you can say I have a choice here and I'm

responsible now what what does it mean

to be the hero of your own life it means

to be responsible for your own adventure

[Music]

Campbell talks about metaphorical death

where something dies so that something

can live and in every hero's journey

there's some death moment where some old

has to go on some new has to stay he

quotes Nietzsche and he says that the

snake that cannot shed its skin must

perish

[Music]

when death is a motif in a myth

it doesn't refer necessarily to what

happens at the end of one's biological

and physical existence

it's an indication that changes taking

place

I went through that process when I

stopped being a tribal administrator and

started becoming a writer I put that

aspect of myself way it was valuable and

I learned a lot and that drawn it but it

enabled me to go on no death no life no

death no transformation no death no

change

I said okay I don't want cut anymore I

want this put that away

made myself into something else and in

essence resurrected into being right

the whole key to blessing death is to

recognizing that it's just a death of

one old form that has played itself out

has no use anymore which always as the

phoenix rises and gives way to some new

form that has new intrinsic meaning i

makes your life even bigger and better

you want a new birth new revelation new

insight into life as you grow as a human

being you will learn to keep dying

[Music]

I think it's tricky to afford a proof I

think there are proofs in our lives

I think the proofs exist in our ability

to transcend the worst things that have

happened to us um my proof is I was

abused as a little boy and not something

I chat about typically but in this

context it was the whole the worst thing

ever you know and it went on for a very

long time I was very young and and I'm

Who I am in part because I had to face

that because I had to wrestle with that

because I had to accept that and

acknowledge that and forgive and and all

the terribly difficult things that come

with that I had to tell my parents I had

to you know it's this you know and by

the way it's one of these things that

you work with for the rest of your life

but from that most difficult thing also

came a kind of understanding I get high

marks on compassion

I wouldn't wish it on anybody but it is

part of what made me mean so the truth

is it's not what happens to us it's what

we do with it

the forest represents the darkness the

unknown the edge of your world and it

takes the courage of a hero to go into

that forest

the people in your community don't

understand why you want to go into that

for us

and in fact they're pulling you back

asking you why can't you be happy with

what you have here but there's this urge

that exists within the year to go and

explore Joseph's often used the knights

of the round table when they behold the

golden chalice there's a story with King

Arthur and his knights

[Music]

after the night's have seen the Grail

and decided to go forward on a quest

they made a vow

[Music]

they decided that the Knightly thing to

do the noble thing to do as individuals

seeking their own in the collective was

to go in to the forests at their own

points

each night enters the forest where it

was darkest and there was no path

they cannot follow other people that

they have to go in find their own entry

into dr. Horace and Campbell makes it

really clear if you go into the forest

where there's already a trail that's the

one sure sign that you're not on your

path

because if they follow somebody else's

entry is somebody else's path that's not

going into the forest that's not

initiation you need to find your own

path and that kind of comes from that

impulse within to go out and really

discover who you are beyond it's the

narrow confines of how you've been

conditioned what you've been told to do

and go out and explore for yourself what

your truth is and how you can go out and

rock it

[Music]

the hero's journey for me is having the

courage to look within yourself and say

what am i here to do what am I most

passionate about in my life what are my

greatest gifts how do I give them to the

world and Joseph Campbell captured it

with a phrase follow your bliss follow

your bliss I don't think more profound

teachings that have been given than this

one follow your bliss means listening to

your heart and following your truth

there's something specific about the

word bliss it's not ecstasy it's not um

happiness there's a serenity and bliss I

like to talk about your bliss is the

thing you can't not do so it's your

authentic journey I've heard follow your

bliss but I didn't know where it came

from and what's cool is that it's

grounded in deep Hindu spirituality and

philosophy and it comes from the

Upanishads

there were three launching points into

enlightenment sat-chit-ananda

so saath means beingness chit means

consciousness and Ananda means bliss or

rapture Joseph Campbell said to himself

I don't really know what my beingness is

if I'm honest with myself I don't really

know what my consciousness is but I do

know what my bliss is and I can follow

my bliss and that idea of trusting

ourselves and trusting that deep impulse

within us to go out and follow our bliss

do what makes us feel most alive that's

the path that's the key that's the

essence of the hero's journey

[Music]

follow your bliss does not mean get

addicted to pleasure it's more than just

something that you wish for

it doesn't mean escapism it doesn't mean

hedonism

it doesn't mean selfishness it doesn't

mean listening only to sensory pleasures

like having sex with anybody to look at

or sticking up a candy store if you want

candy don't follow what other people

think is your bliss don't follow your

wallet follow the thing that's

presenting itself as as your your most

serene and fulfilling state sometimes

it's difficult to let go of that inner

resistor and just say okay I accept the

possibilities of the present I will

follow my bliss I will listen to the

call of spirit that's a very big deal

[Music]

daddy said what do you want to do I said

I need to leave school I'm never gonna

learn anything I'm not going to

university said I want to play drunk

I've learnt to play drums in the Attic

and that's my world and totally naive

like so dad sends me off to London with

the drum kit so I went to London and all

of it came true of course I'm not

sitting out I've got to be originally

got to be famous but I have to be doing

something I love to do and I have so

much passion and I didn't even know what

that was really all about but I do now

[Music]

how do we find our place this is what

everybody's as

[Music]

first thing is ask yourself what am i

passionate about now what are the things

I love do it what are the activities

when I engage them it feels like hours

go by in minutes

that's one big clue about what you

Blizzard

[Music]

what I say is find out what you most

love to do and then do more of that

thing

ask yourself right now what was it that

made me different as a child what set me

apart what caused me to cry at night in

my pillow because I didn't fit in with

the in-crowd

that is probably precisely where the

door to your bliss is going to open go

back and find it

[Music]

let's say you would never had to think

about money and you never had to think

about time but all the money in the

world and all the time in the world how

would you express yourself and how would

that benefit the ecosystem the larger

web of being we have to find a way of

reflecting on those experiences we've

had that engaged us in where we became

lost and totally absorbed in them so for

some people that way to do that might be

to write these things down

others don't think like that they don't

like to use words all the time so maybe

collect some images you know cut some

images just magazines collect music

that's always inspiring you but some way

to to bypass that outer barrier to your

own sense of energy it's not about being

successful

it's not about feeding your family right

some bad poetry do something that gives

you that moment you can write in a

journal is writing in a journal as a

conversation you have with yourself you

can get to know your gifts your talents

your weaknesses your hopes your dreams

your lessons

[Music]

Joseph Campbell always gave the same

advice to his students graduating Sarah

Lawrence don't do what daddy says

because daddy has one interest in mind

for you and that's your security and if

you bargain away your life for security

now you will never find your bliss I

started skating because my older brother

was into it and I enjoyed it but I

didn't take it that seriously until the

first time I went to the skate park and

I saw these guys literally flying out of

empty swimming pools

I got so excited that that was even

possible as a person to be you know to

be flying in the air with a skateboard

in your hand once I saw what was

possible and what you could do with this

this thing that I had come to enjoy I

had to keep going I mean I just wanted

to fly

[Music]

I think it's really important to do

things that make you happy and I know

that sounds very obvious and you know

some of you the viewers might say well

now let's hold hands and sing Kumbaya

but when you look at every great

inventor every great business person

every great scientist you look at these

people who have gotten to the so-called

mountaintop and almost every single one

of them to a person didn't do it for the

money they did it because they were

chasing their bliss if you're following

your dream and you're doing what you

love it's not always going to be a

financial success but it will be a

personal success because you are still

doing this thing that you love doing and

what's more important

[Music]

I would describe my discovery of surfing

exposure

[Music]

I was just watching surfers there

watching what they were doing and what

surfing was all about and the routes

that they were taking and the ways they

were doing it I think I knew

subconsciously before I knew consciously

I think I knew that I was gonna do

something in surfing I knew that surfing

was gonna be a big part of my life so I

wanted to absorb all the information I

could

just because you don't know what the

call on your life is right now doesn't

mean play ostrich and stick your hand in

the sand and say well just because I

don't know and I guess I shouldn't move

towards anything the very fact that

you're looking for your bliss means that

you're in the process of getting to your

bliss I mean part of life and part of

the whole journeys exploration human

results is often buried very deep we

don't know they're there and we don't

know they're there often because we

don't look for them we don't take the

journey some people found them and many

people have not found them and because

they've not found their talents they

think they don't have any I believe

passionately that we all have deep

talents go look try things you've never

done before if there are things you wish

you'd done but you never did well why

didn't you go and do it try if you

always go the same route to work take

some different motives that people you

never speed to go and speak to them at

least put yourself out there but don't

anticipate what you'll find put yourself

in uncomfortable situations at least

every seven days if every set at least

every seven days people aren't laughing

at you are scratching their heads

wondering why you're dreaming so big or

doing what you're doing or have such a

fierce resolve to achieving your goals

that I don't think you're stretching

enough and ultimately we grow the most

through the things that stretch us the

most

you

[Music]

my personal journey I was bright enough

I got into the best university but a

part of me need the journey I was

interested in the West so I jumped at

the next opportunity to get a

scholarship and then get on the boat and

my slow boat to the West took 14 days I

am I landed in Portland Oregon and to be

a foreign student I stretched myself

I arrived I know very little English and

go to a classical English for foreign

students I learn English and I embrace

the Western culture I search myself so

suddenly I see a part of me which which

I never knew us there

[Music]

one of Joe's most beloved quotes about

bliss is that when you follow your bliss

the universe will open doors where there

were only walls a wonderful image and in

fact a lot of people's experience is so

like this you feel like you're beating

your head against a brick wall and then

suddenly you you shift just a tad and lo

and behold there's a passage that opens

up

when you truly step forth and and trust

your bliss unseen forces have the power

to rearrange things to accommodate your

step of faith

I took that robert mckee course i

thought well that's not that hard

um and I wrote a screenplay and I sent

it to a friend of mine who was

somebody's assistant who left it on his

desk and some other agent wandered by

and picked it up and read it and said oh

this is good

and so then my friend went oh and

he ran to his boss he said you should

read this because that guy over there

who's a junior agent liked it and his

boss was a senior agent and then I got a

phone call that was fantastic was the

craziest thing and so it seems like I

sold the first screenplay ever a row but

the truth is I kept writing till I got

lucky if I stopped writing I would never

gotten lucky there was no luck coming to

my house going hey here's a book deal

hey we want to buy that screenplay that

you haven't written you know you just

keep doing it and eventually you're

likely to get lucky why do most people

not follow their voice one word fear

right we're literally overwhelmed by

fear and primarily were overwhelmed by

the fear of what other people will think

of us Campbell says that what will they

think of me must be put aside for bliss

one of the biggest inhibitors to

following our bliss is what will they

think of me am I going to look like an

idiot if I follow my bliss and I fail am

I going to look like a fool all these

different questions come into our mind

your friends and family you know it can

be very well-meaning but really we'll

collude with you to create a story that

is hard for you to get out of for

example you know don't do music you

won't be a musician you know there's no

point trying to be a dancer because you

never make a living doing them I think

that's the first step to the journey

there the demons we often have to face

down

we are each our own greatest inhibitors

and so people people can say oh yeah

this guy's holding me back or this

situation but really you're holding

yourself back and you're deciding hey I

don't want to look bad in front of those

guys or I don't want those guys to say

some bad things about me so I'm not

gonna do that

who made that decision you I am NOT

going to do that it means you've decided

[Music]

there's a poem of Rumi the great

mystical poet from the Middle East in

the 12th century who said I want to sing

like birds sing

not worrying who listens or what they

think but if you can do that then you

can achieve the impossible

[Music]

for me one of the most formative times

the first probably most formative time

was when I dropped out of law school all

of my friends at the time told me at

least stay through the first year and I

couldn't make it through the first

semester I was literally nauseous at the

idea of completing this that burned my

resume I had no desire to live within

the corporate world in any sense and at

in the same 24-hour period of time and

did my relationship of five years and

dropped out of law school it was an

incredibly gut-wrenching soul wrenching

time moved back in with mom there were

several months where I just laid in bed

and slept and read it wasn't a pretty

process but the only thing I knew I

wanted to do was to coach a little

league baseball team

a little bit of instinct that I had a

little bit of bliss I had my life at

that time was to work with these kids

and I had no idea what would come out of

it and then three six months later I had

an idea that wow there's an amazing

opportunity to serve families and sports

the internet was just getting going this

was 1998 and I had a vision of what I

could do to serve these families and

created a company that there's no way I

could have imagined when I dropped out

of law school no possible way but as it

turns out I started this business we won

the business plan competition at UCLA we

raised five million dollars I hired the

CEO of Adidas to be our CEO and we hired

the law firm that I would have wanted to

work for before I graduated from law

school so this is beautiful you know

sense of this is it this is what happens

when we follow our bliss magical things

happen that we couldn't have imagined

when we're going through the tough point

of making the decision to take the leap

to go for it and to make the difference

[Music]

there are two roads in life the red road

in the Black River the Red Road is the

tough road because it's narrow it's

winding it's full of storms it's full of

obstacles the black road is easy it's

straight and it's wide doesn't offer any

challenges the storyteller never says

you have to travel this road or you have

traveled this road

[Music]

they end up telling you the story of the

red and black road by saying this the

choice is yours

always the choice is yours

living the spontaneous life with my

father the bond and the passions that my

father shared with me we got on a plane

7:00 in the morning out of Santa Monica

Airport flying towards a Big Bear where

I had won a ski race the day before

we're returning to Big Bear to collect

my trophy on the way we enter storm and

we crash headlong right into this rugged

mountain 8200 feet it's the level we

crash I woke up our bodies were sprawled

in this 45-degree icy shoot it was a

blizzard it was hard to find everybody

it took me about you know half hour 45

minutes peace everybody where they were

my dad's girlfriend Sandra was still

alive my dad was hunched over and it was

unclear whether he was dead or just so

knocked out that he you know sort of

like comatose or something I just told

myself that he was knocked out at a

certain point I had to admit that he

wasn't able to help me anymore that was

on my own Sandra and I took shelter

under a wing many things happen

eventually we started down this initial

icy chute she slipped and was killed an

hour later I came across her body I

covered her with twigs and leaves and

stuff even though I knew she was dead

pretty much but her eyes were open so it

was confusing for me at that age I was

11 and then I continued down and varied

terrain and all kinds of things happen I

got stuck in snow I had to get through

Little Creek gulches and broken rock and

ice and I just wanted to go away more

than anything in the world I wanted that

pain to go away now had I not had I not

you know gone in there and seen that

that thing that that thing I feared the

most I would not have

learned to sort of find the gem and the

treasure of pain those answers that were

there for me and had I not face that

pain had I not gone and stared in the

eyes of the thing I feared most that I

wanted to run through most I would not

be here now with this book which is

really besides having a kid the most

satisfying experience of my life

[Music]

Campbell talks about the fact that when

we go on the hero's journey there's a

dragon we must sway

now a dragon is the most challenging

fierce creature that can ever be created

in mythology Joe Campbell describes the

dragon as being a beast covered with

scales and on every scale it says either

thou shalt without shalt not

[Music]

so this beast is a construction of all

of the rules regulations social

obligations cultural accretions that

have made you feel that you either have

to or can't do certain things

[Music]

slaying the dragon to me is the most

interesting

it's the final moment it's the time when

you are faced with the scariest thing

you've been faced with and you get to

take everything you've learned and and

knock this guy out

if you were to ask me what's the one

thing that's that keeps people from

their mountaintops what's the one thing

that keeps people small rather than

allowing them to present their genius to

the world it's it's they're fierce or as

Joseph Campbell says it's they're

dragons there is anything that gets in

you it's a beast it's a monster fear is

you know what we face every day you know

we fear that we're gonna be rejected

that we're going to be you know no one's

gonna answer return our phone call that

no one's gonna like what we made or what

we did or what we said fear that is

unfazed has a tendency to creep it moves

through your experiences it starts to

toxify your perceptions you become

scared and love is what web on with and

fear is what we learn and I think

there's a great truth in that I

I decided I wanted to do a full loop

round you know and I had this idea I

knew it was physically possible I mean

you know you do what you do with hot

wheels you can do with a skateboard

right

and so I presented the idea to my

sponsor at the time and I said hey I

think I could do this and they said that

sounds awesome let's build a ramp and I

designed the ramp you know and all this

was on paper and it was my idea

and I'll never forget driving up and

seeing it and this wave of fear just

crashed over me like oh my what tonight

are you serious like I made a loop I'm

really gonna like and I'm the only one

that's even volunteering to do it and at

that point I felt like there was so much

at stake to not do it you know cuz at

the time no one was building extravagant

ramps no one really had money to do that

kind of thing and there was and I was

like and I just had to sort of

internalize and say okay you keep

telling yourself this is possible this

is the time we got to make this happen

and little by little I figured it out

and I took some heavy heavy hits that

day

[Music]

actually now we own one for our hot Jam

tour that we can do on tour every single

night but but that first time you know

that was so I was just frightening but I

had I had to really step back and go

okay you can do this

[Music]

fear is a very interesting fact first of

all we need to realize that fear is an

inherent part of the human experience

but it's not about getting rid of fear

where is it gonna go it's not there's

nowhere for it to go the issue is to

have courage to move forward in spite of

the fear you feel the courage is not a

lack of fear the courage is is dealing

with your faith

nobody would ever be smart as courageous

you didn't confront their own fear

that's not courage at all it's just

doing something that you find relatively

unchallenging curt is when you know what

to do and you do it and lack of courage

is when you know what to do and you

don't do it

courage is is the ability to to get up

after you've fallen and and try again

exploring the unknown and trying stuff

that maybe people have thought was

impossible it's just like a muscle if

you want to get stronger you want to run

a triathlon to run a marathon or do

whatever you want to do physically you

know you need to train you need to get

stronger courage is exactly the same

thing you think of it like courage Jim

you've got to consistently go up to your

fears and go one step past it one step

past it and you'll find your comfort

zone expand each time you do that things

used to freak you out won't freak you

out as much and now you have the tools

you have this strength literally to lift

more in your life as you face your fears

more and more authentically there is

some power monsters get by being

darkened in the closet and there is some

diminishment by facing them facing them

head-on

so joseph campbell talks about slaying

dragons and what do most of us do in our

lives whether it's a difficult

assignment at work whether it's a

difficult conversation we know we should

have with a loved one whether it's

something we're resisting we leave and

run in the opposite direction

rather than running away we should go

closer to because once we can see our

fears the death of the fear becomes

certain do the things that scare you

you know courage is what comes afterward

it is okay to be scared that shouldn't

stop you

a healthy warning but it shouldn't stop

[Music]

[Music]

Oh grrrrrr dragon that hoards all of

these stories talking those terms for

several reasons on the one hand we could

call it projection in a psychological

sense so we project out and we create an

antagonist that we have to slay but

what's actually happening is we're

dealing with the energies inside

ourselves what is outside is in fact a

reflection of what's inside that in fact

you've sort of chosen your monster of

course in Star Wars which was pretty

much entirely based on Campbell's

paradigm Luke Skywalker has to go into

the cave where he does battle with Darth

Vader where finally he cuts off Darth

Vader's head and the head rolls to his

feet and Darth Vader's helmet opens up

what does he see but his own face he

thinks that there's evil outside of him

when the struggle between good and evil

is understood to be going on inside of

us it can be very beneficial this is

part of a personal transformation

overcoming our negative aspects

emphasizing our good ones but what often

happens of course we want to feel that

we are good so we don't find the

negative within ourselves we're gonna

find it somewhere out there the great

obstacle for most of us really is

ourselves you know if we can overcome

that basic fear about what we might

achieve and we take that risk I think

all kinds of things open up in

Campbell's terms know we we can all be

heroes

[Music]

the hero encounters these obstacles and

inflames at the

and that's how we react when we find

ourselves in a situation where we have

that kind of cognitive dissonance how do

I get out of it well first thing is you

have to surrender you have to stop

fighting it

so slaying the dragon is really coming

to terms with that inner part of you

yourself that you think is bigger than

you and in doing that then you grow a

bigger sense of yourself

[Music]

however I think that it's loving your

dragon

that's the much more efficient thing to

do it also feels a lot better

[Music]

when you do that then frequently

whatever the dragon was hiding hoarding

they step away and give it to you they

give it to you because there's nothing

what are you fighting you're fighting

yourself when you stop fighting yourself

then you're no longer engaged in the

fight and you're open to what might come

to you

there's always a gift in battling demons

and overcoming them because that's what

our souls journey is about it's about

facing fear and growing beyond it and as

we overcome our fears we gain power

to look at her lives the best most

rewarding moments have come after a

struggle

as such what we do with our lives is

what makes us heroes or not

[Music]

and

there's Grayson knowing that and there's

a gift in believing that every - is half

of a + waiting for stroke of vertical

awareness in other words on one level

it's a negative yeah you had your device

yeah you had that health challenge yeah

you got fired okay we're not arguing

that was not troublesome but what

awareness can you add to it so you get a

far bigger picture that helps you master

it at a certain point in the hero's

journey it's going to become about you

loving and accepting yourself as you are

that's a powerful moment because that

lines you up directly with the universe

now there's no more war going on inside

yourself and as that gap heals between

you're unlovable self and your ability

to love that unlovable self you gain an

awesome power in life

the way we think of time is as linear

I'm born I'm gonna go through these

things and I'm gonna die the hero's

journey tells us no you're gonna go here

you're gonna have this adventure and

you're gonna come back and guess what

you're gonna be right back where you

were now you're gonna go over here and

have this adventure you come back you're

gonna go here you're gonna have this

adventure in your and come back and

guess what you're gonna be right back

where you were now you're gonna go over

here and have this adventure you come

back and guess what you're right here

what did you bring back what the hero

brings back is a story Gilgamesh for

example the Gilgamesh epic he went out

and even if it looked for the plan of

immortality he went through all kinds of

trials with the feminine with the

monster and so on but he finally swam to

the bottom of the sea and got the plan

of immortality he came up on the shore

and put it down while he was bathing the

snake serpent came and got the plan of

immortality but he went home to auric

anyway and he had this story to tell for

Gilgamesh there was no concrete

objective thing widget to give to the

community no gold no treasure and so on

the story of the Train getting the

treasure is the treasure

and so the giving of the story is the

invitation for other people to make the

same journey that's why it's a circle

and never ends I love that idea that

there's a circle and the circle needs to

be closed and the way to close the

circle is to come back return with

something different than you started

with and to share that and that to me is

like a perfect hero's journey that's the

ultimate into the hero's journey it's

not slaying the dragon it's not being

the bad guy it's giving back the essence

of that journey

what's life about how can I make a

difference and who can I make a

difference two and four and then it gets

real easy hey can I get a shirt oh yeah

here the shirt hey can I get a board

yeah here's a board oh my friends got an

autistic son he's trying to make a movie

he doesn't have the money what can we do

that finish the movie all of a sudden

we're doing things that we are gonna do

anyway but down the said we can make

money for him and make him finish the

movie and then I'll send it's like well

let's do that again that was great

[Music]

when I found this success in skating

that I never dreamed possible the first

thing I wanted to do was to try to help

kids get a facility and that was the

first thing I did I started a foundation

for public skate parks to date we've

helped build about 500 skate parks it's

my passion it's of what I would love to

do is to provide facilities for these

kids who who deserve a chance I love

talking to young riders about riding

there's a scholarship i fund which is of

screenwriting scholarship at Wesleyan

where I went to call it we owe it to

everybody who wants to be what we are

when they grow up they say if you speak

to somebody at the level of the mind and

you'll speak to them right

if you speak to me a heart you will

speak to the heart but if you speak

through your life and your life is the

story then you'll change lives and

that's what mythical beings do and it's

why stories are great because my story

right now which is my also my truth may

have an effect on you and therefore

I am picking the internal I'm making it

external and through that I'm sharing

experience

[Music]

no matter how long you get to live life

is ultimately very short and before all

of us know we're gonna be dust and the

street sweeper gets buried next to the

CEO and all that really matters at the

end of the day is how big we showed up

and how courageous we were

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

and I think when we are on our death

beds what fills our heart with the

greatest regret is not all the risks we

took and not all the opportunities we

seized and out all the times we went out

on a limb and looked silly what fills

our heart with regret at the end if our

lives are all the risks who didn't take

in all the opportunities and you didn't

cease and it's really all you got to do

to get to the next step I believe we all

have it in us to think to ourselves I

can't give up that choice to not give up

is a story you're telling yourself

[Music]

makes you feel the morning that makes

you feel like you can overcome anything

that makes you feel transcendence

and that's all we done

[Music]

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you

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you

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