The Journey Within

The journey within

Stories decoded

Myths were the films of the ancient world, and films are our myths. Watched with Beebe's eight seats and Campbell's journey in mind, a story becomes a mirror: you can watch a type's journey happen.

Why stories

Campbell showed that the hero's journey is not only a way to tell stories: it is a picture of how people grow. That is why the same pattern appears in myths, novels, films and anime, and why some stories move us so much. We recognize a road we are on.

Campbell

How we read a story

We read each story as one mind, not as a cast of characters with a type each. The hero is the ego; the other figures are the parts of the psyche the hero meets on the road: the mentor, the shadow, the trickster, the beloved. Campbell read myths the same way, and it spares us endless arguments about which character has which type.

Each story here follows one spine: a Hero function that the story makes fail, and the Inferior at the other end that the hero must find. Two types share each spine, so each story is the journey of two types.

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Read any story yourself

Any film, anime, myth or novel can be read with four questions:

  1. What is the hero good at? That is the Hero function, and the ordinary world of the story.
  2. What does the story make impossible for that strength? That is the call.
  3. What, or who, carries the opposite? That is the Inferior, at the other end of the spine, and often the beloved, the guide or the thing the hero fears.
  4. What has the hero become at the end? That is the gift: the strength, joined with its opposite.
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One story for each spine

Each journey opens with a tap; it tells the ending. The story of your spine is marked. Pick your type at the top to find the story of your spine.

Anime film, Satoshi Kon, 2006

PaprikaYour spine

Ni Hero, toward Se Inferior: the journey of INFJ and INTJ

In the near future, a device called the DC Mini lets therapists enter their patients' dreams. Dr. Atsuko Chiba, a cool and controlled researcher, works inside them as Paprika, a free, playful alter ego. When the device is stolen, dreams start to spill into the waking world.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldAtsuko lives in control: composed, reserved, reading patterns and keeping the world, and her own feelings, at a distance.
  2. 2. The callThe theft: chaos breaks into reality, and with it everything she has kept apart, including her feelings for her colleague Tokita.
  3. 6. TestsPaprika moves through the dreams with a freedom Atsuko does not allow herself: the bodily, spontaneous side of one woman, split in two.
  4. 8. OrdealDream and waking life merge over the city, and the man who wants to own all dreams swallows everything.
  5. 12. ReturnThe split closes: a new self, born of both Atsuko and Paprika, takes in the nightmare and grows up in one breath. Atsuko lets herself feel, and choose.

For a strong Ni, the journey does not lead to a better vision. It leads back to the body, the present and the feelings held at a distance: Se, the other end of its spine.

Anime film, Mamoru Hosoda, 2006

The Girl Who Leapt Through TimeYour spine

Ne Hero, toward Si Inferior: the journey of ENFP and ENTP

Makoto, a cheerful high school girl, discovers she can leap back in time. At first it is a game: replaying good days, dodging awkward moments, trying every option.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldMakoto's world is open and light, full of friends and options, and she avoids choosing between them.
  2. 2. The callHer friend Chiaki starts to tell her he loves her.
  3. 3. RefusalShe leaps back so that he never says it, and spends her leaps on karaoke and second chances.
  4. 6. TestsEach change she makes lands on someone else, until a friend is nearly killed in an accident she set in motion.
  5. 8. OrdealShe has no leaps left. Chiaki uses his own to save her friends, reveals that he comes from the future, and must leave.
  6. 12. ReturnShe promises to keep the painting he came to see safe until his time. The girl of a hundred options commits to one thing, and waits for it.

For a strong Ne, the treasure is not one more possibility but something worth keeping: Si, memory and commitment, the other end of its spine.

Animated film, Pixar, 2009

UpYour spine

Si Hero, toward Ne Inferior: the journey of ISTJ and ISFJ

Carl, a widower in his late seventies, lives in the house he shared with Ellie, surrounded by their memories, while the city grows around him.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldHis world is memory and routine: the house kept exactly as it was, every object a piece of their life together.
  2. 2. The callForced out of his home, he ties thousands of balloons to it and flies away to Paradise Falls, the place Ellie always dreamed of.
  3. 6. TestsA boy scout hidden on the porch, a giant bird, a talking dog: the unexpected keeps forcing its way in.
  4. 8. OrdealHis childhood hero, an explorer stuck in his own past glory, becomes his enemy: the man Carl could become.
  5. 9. RewardIn Ellie's adventure book he finds their whole life together, and her wish that he go and have a new adventure.
  6. 12. ReturnHe lets the house drift away and turns to the boy and the life in front of him.

For a strong Si, growth is letting the past bless the future instead of guarding it: Ne, the open door at the other end of its spine.

Animated film, Disney, 1994

The Lion KingYour spine

Se Hero, toward Ni Inferior: the journey of ESTP and ESFP

Simba, heir to the Pride Lands, believes he caused his father's death and runs away. He grows up far from home with two friends who live by one rule: no worries.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldLife in the jungle is the pleasure of the present: no past, no future, no worries.
  2. 2. The callNala, his childhood friend, finds him and tells him that his kingdom is dying.
  3. 3. RefusalHe refuses: the past is the past.
  4. 4. MentorThe old baboon Rafiki, and his father's voice in the clouds: "Remember who you are."
  5. 8. OrdealBack at Pride Rock he faces his uncle and the truth about his father's death.
  6. 12. ReturnHe takes his place in the circle of life, and the Pride Lands come back to life.

For a strong Se, the call comes as meaning: who am I meant to be? Ni, the sense of a destiny, is the other end of its spine.

Anime film, Studio Ghibli, 1992

Porco RossoYour spine

Ti Hero, toward Fe Inferior: the journey of INTP and ISTP

In the Adriatic of the 1920s, a former war ace cursed with the face of a pig lives alone in a hidden cove, hunting air pirates for money.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldMarco is skilled, detached and sardonic. He flies alone and keeps away from people, politics and feelings.
  2. 2. The callPeople come to him anyway: Gina, who has waited for him for years, and Fio, a young engineer who rebuilds his plane.
  3. 6. TestsA rival pilot, the fascist police, debts and pirates: he cannot stay outside the world forever.
  4. 8. OrdealA duel for Fio's sake, which ends not in the air but in an exhausting fistfight in the water.
  5. 12. ReturnFio kisses him, and the film lets us believe he may have become human again.

For a strong Ti, the curse is isolation, and the cure is letting people matter: Fe, the warmth at the other end of its spine.

Novel by Charles Dickens, 1843, and its many films

A Christmas CarolYour spine

Te Hero, toward Fi Inferior: the journey of ENTJ and ESTJ

Ebenezer Scrooge, a rich and miserly businessman in Victorian London, cares only about profit. On Christmas Eve, the ghost of his old partner warns him that three spirits will visit him.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldThe counting house: efficiency, profit, and no time or money for anyone.
  2. 2. The callMarley's ghost, wrapped in the chains he forged in life.
  3. 3. Refusal"Humbug": an undigested bit of beef, nothing more.
  4. 6. TestsThe spirits of Christmas Past and Present show him the boy he was, the love he lost for money, and the Cratchit family he never saw.
  5. 8. OrdealThe spirit of Christmas Yet to Come shows him his own neglected grave.
  6. 12. ReturnHe wakes on Christmas morning, generous and joyful, and keeps Christmas in his heart all year.

For a strong Te, the ghosts are its own feelings and values, left behind for success: Fi, the heart at the other end of its spine, which can then steer the work.

Anime film, Studio Ghibli, 2001

Spirited AwayYour spine

Fi Hero, toward Te Inferior: the journey of INFP and ISFP

Ten year old Chihiro and her parents wander into an abandoned theme park. At nightfall it becomes a town of spirits, her parents are turned into pigs, and she must survive alone in a bathhouse for the gods.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldA sulky, frightened girl, unhappy to move house, clinging to her parents.
  2. 2. The callHer parents are pigs, and in this world you work or you vanish.
  3. 4. MentorThe boy Haku tells her what to do; the boiler man and the girl Lin help her.
  4. 5. ThresholdShe signs a contract with the witch Yubaba, who takes her name: she becomes Sen.
  5. 6. TestsHard work, a filthy spirit to bathe, the hungry No Face: she does the job, and keeps her heart.
  6. 9. RewardShe remembers Haku's true name, and frees him.
  7. 12. ReturnShe passes the last test, frees her parents and walks away without looking back.

For a strong Fi, the world asks for work, rules and contracts: Te, the other end of its spine. The gift is doing the work without losing your name.

Anime film, Hayao Miyazaki, 1984

Nausicaä of the Valley of the WindYour spine

Fe Hero, toward Ti Inferior: the journey of ENFJ and ESFJ

A thousand years after a war that ruined the earth, a toxic forest spreads across the land. Nausicaä, princess of a small valley, loves every living thing, from her people to the giant insects everyone fears.

The journey, stage by stage
  1. 1. Ordinary worldA beloved princess who calms angry insects, heals and keeps the peace.
  2. 2. The callWar comes to the valley, and her father is killed.
  3. 6. TestsCaught between kingdoms, she tries to save everyone at once.
  4. 7. Inmost caveFalling beneath the toxic forest, she finds the truth she had begun to test in her secret garden: the forest is cleaning the poisoned earth.
  5. 8. OrdealShe stands alone before a stampede of giant insects to return a wounded young one, and is struck down.
  6. 12. ReturnThe insects heal her, and she walks through the golden field of the old prophecy.

For a strong Fe, love is not enough without understanding how things really work: Ti, the other end of its spine. Nausicaä saves her world because she studied it.

Our readings of these stories. MazWiz reading

More stories to read this way

Films that follow the same spines, to watch with the four questions.

Ni Hero

  • Millennium Actress
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995)
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion
  • Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Ne Hero

  • Howl's Moving Castle
  • The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl
  • Penguin Highway
  • Lu Over the Wall

Si Hero

  • Your Name (Mitsuha's story)
  • Violet Evergarden: The Movie
  • In This Corner of the World
  • The Secret World of Arrietty
  • A Letter to Momo

Se Hero

  • Promare
  • Redline
  • Mind Game
  • Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
  • Children of the Sea

Ti Hero

  • Sword of the Stranger
  • Steamboy
  • Expelled from Paradise
  • Summer Ghost

Te Hero

  • Akira
  • Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
  • Patlabor 2: The Movie
  • Metropolis (2001)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash

Fi Hero

  • A Silent Voice
  • Weathering with You
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
  • The Boy and the Heron

Fe Hero

  • Tokyo Godfathers
  • Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
  • Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel
  • The Anthem of the Heart