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Jung (1953) maintained that myths were “first and foremost psychic manifestations that represent the nature of the psyche.” Psychic content becomes available as it is projected onto events in nature. Certain events or worldly dramas possess emotional relevance in that they represent an externalization of some universal internal struggle. While it is true that particular struggles remain relevant for all generations, the myths that represent them must change in order to have emotional impact. Jung (1953) maintained that we need to “dream the myth onwards and give it a modern dress.” For example, if the internal event is the dissolution of the self followed by a kind of chaotic madness, the myth that represented that for the Viking civilization was Ragnarok, an apocalyptic battle between the gods and the giants in which virtually all life is destroyed; while the modern version of that myth is a full-scale nuclear war. The psychic event is the same in both cases. The external form of the myth changes, however, to make it accessible to men and women of different cultures and generations.
The present paper will look at the internal event of psychic growth and the development of the self as it is represented historically in the myth of the journey and more recently as it has been represented in the process of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy may indeed be the modern version of the journey myth.
First, some thoughts about journeys. The mythologies of many cultures contain stories about extended travels, often in the form of adventures. The hero sets out on an important mission either to subdue some barbaric enemy force, or to find a lost or missing treasure of great value, or merely to learn about and explore the unknown reaches of the globe. The journey usually entails some form of hardship and sacrifice, and some trial must be overcome or some price paid before the hero can reach home again.
Journeys are not all the same, however, and their diversity raises some interesting que