Athalour

"We'll never survive." "Nonsense, you're only saying that because no one ever has." - Wesley and Buttercup (when preparing to enter the Fire Swamp), "The Princess Bride" This is Stage Five in the Hero's Journey.  The earlier stages are here: Stage One – The Call to Adventure Stage Two – Refusal of the Call Stage Three – The Helpers Arrive Stage Four –  Crossing the Threshold By the time we reach this stage, the hero has committed to the adventure.  She is on the plane; she has accepted the new job; she is pregnant; she has said “Yes” to a big opportunity. (Not all at once, obviously, but you get the idea?) The die is cast, and t...

In previous journal entries, I talked about  The Call to Adventure , and Refusal of the Call . This - the third - stage of the hero’s journey is where helpers arrive to support the hero in her quest. "It all depends on what you want, you can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin - to the bitter end.  And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself.  But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word.  We are your friends, Frodo." The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien Helpers can take various forms – think about fellow travelers, BFFs...

Share| Archive “Some use Ink, I confide in Silver” — Lauren E. Simonutti @lauren-rabbitQuote by Lauren E. Simonutti “ The misfirings of my beloved/despised mind that conspire to convince me to destroy all have rendered me housebound and led to a solitary life. A creature of past, proof, memory and imaginary friends, I am aware enough to know the things I see and hear are not real, but that does not mean I do not still see and hear them.” Foreword by @techgnotic For a very long time Lauren Simonutti's haunting photographs were a spectral presence amongst the deviantART community, as emulators sought to discover and replicate the mysterious...

"Alderaan? I'm not going to Alderaan. It's late, I have to get home. I'm in for it as it is." ~ Luke Skywalker, in Star Wars: Episode IV Last week's journal presented The Call to Adventure – the first stage in the Hero's Journey. The next stage comes when the hero thinks twice about taking on the adventure that is beckoning her forward. She may have known that something needs to change or that she needs to take action, but then reality hits as she realizes that this endeavour may be more than she wants to take on. That's the point of this stage. Being a hero is hard, and adventures are often supremely unpleasant. "We are plain quiet...

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." ~ Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV The call to adventure yanks our hero out of their ordinary, everyday life with a clarion call to down tools, take up a sword (literally or figuratively) and head off into the unknown on an adventure.  The call may be a gradual realization or it may be from a cataclysmic event, such as the potential destruction of one's planet. "Come off it Mr. Dent, you can't win, you know. You can't lie in front of the bulldozer indefinitely... I'm afraid you're going to have to accept it... this bypass has got to be built and it's going to be built!"   ~ Mr Prosser t...

Oh hello. I’m finally getting around to making this news article that I said I might do, like, a month ago. Sorry, I’m not used to writing news articles. Bear with me.Back in August, I started a series in my forums for cool foreign words. It went over extremely well and numerous people requested that I combine them into a handy-dandy news article for deviantART at large to enjoy. So, here you are: fifteen foreign words that the English language needs to steal appropriate. Hiraeth (Welsh) What it means : A feeling of longing associated with displacement, but not necessarily displacement from one’s original home. An intense yearning to be...

We have art so that we may not perish by the truth. Friedrich Nietzsche Life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler For me, painting is a way to forget life.   Georges Rouault An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world. George Santayana A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.   Albert Camus While I recognize the necessity for a basis of observed reality... true art lies in a reality that is felt.   Odilon Redon The question of common sense...