General Discussion

Most of myth and literature, since Gilgamesh at least, addresses the "hero's journey" in one way or another. I think there's an instinctive impulse at play here and that these writings are instructions for living a meaningful life by taking on the role of hero as part of the normal process of becoming an adult. We need such stories because the call to heroism can go unanswered. A key aspect of the hero's journey is that the hero takes on this non-transactional sacrifice reluctantly so we have to be encouraged to do so by a subconsciously influenced literary tradition. This is all because of a biological fact that human offspring need to be taken care of, without reward, for nearly two decades before they can care for themselves. So we are drawn to caring for the innocent and the powerless because of this impulse, and the benefit is to the survival of the species. When someone fails to answer that call, they become preoccupied with their own appetites, which never adequately satisfy the need for meaning.