Joseph Campbell, Donald Trump, And The Hero With A Thousand Faces

The best example I can ever give anybody about Joseph Campbell and his mythology of the hero who goes through various adventures, renews himself, and reappears in the end as the hero or the savior is Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. He fulfills the entire narrative of Campbell’s so-called The Hero’s Journey.

In his book, Joseph Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces, he believes there is a principle in mythology whether it’s the life of Jesus, Ulysses, Moses, Muhammad, or King Arthur. We all read the mythology, Campbell called it the mono myth.

What I witness now is the emergence of the new church, the true believers, the people who in the French Revolution always addressed each other as “citizen,” or the Bolsheviks who addressed each other as “comrade.” Now we call one another “patriot.”

Donald Trump has assumed the role of savior and martyr. People like Sidney Powell, the kraken, the unsavory version of Mayor Giuliani, the court jester Lynn Wood, the acting pope Mike Lindell, and the runaway bride Jenna Ellis. They’re the cheerleaders in the mythology part of a religious trust. Mike Lindell has become a spokesperson for the rapture. Those of you who follow that form of Christianity know the day Jesus returns true believers will automatically disappear, cars will be empty, airplanes will fall out of the sky, and radio talk show hosts will disappear.

Now we all remember the rapturist in the 19th century, Reverend Miller in Georgia, who took all of his followers wrapped in sheets up the mountain for the rapture and it didn’t happen so they became Seventh-day Adventists.

Lindell first said the rapture would be August 13, but has now declared the rapture has moved to before New Year’s Eve of 2021. Lindell would make Joseph Campbell proud. The important part of this is the falling of the wayside of all the original members of the church. Giuliani, Powell, and all the rest who have been discredited. Lindell has kept the drive alive. New saints and martyrs appear daily but ultimately Campbell is right. The journey must end. I had the opportunity to meet Campbell prior to his death. His structured stories on what he called the mono myth have been repeated in Christian churches, Jewish temples, Islamic mosques, Samurai legends, Arthurian legends, and people we need to create to keep the drive alive. Campbell knew he stood alone. Let’s play ball.

— Peter Boyles