The preceding chapters have addressed what to do during a transformation process, offering suggestions to those who are going through the experience as well as to the people around them. Now comes the period when one returns to daily life, whether after a relatively subtle awakening or an all-consuming crisis. What can one expect to feel during this time of transition?
This period is the homecoming. People at this stage frequently experience a new home within themselves, an inner source of comfort and nourishment. They also often discover or rediscover meaningful and comforting elements in the world around them, such as sustaining relationships with those who are close, or familiar environments and activities.
Some of the general changes include the elimination of many difficult personal problems, the addition of positive elements in one's life, a shift in values, and an increased significance of spiritual dimension. These are the rewards toward which people have been traveling during the transformational process. They may have a sense of being reborn and rejuventated; they feel different than they did at the start of the journey, born into a healthier relationship with themselves and the world.
A sense of renewal may or may not happen all at once. Some people experience a sudden resolution of their emergency and a rapid and easy transition to a new way of being. Most people however, go through a time of re-entry during which they are somewhat unsure of themselves and their place in the world.
In general, none of the diverse and sometimes dramatic experiences we have described are of any value unless they are brought back into ordinary reality and applied in the behaviors and activities of daily life. Many spiritual traditions warn that the transcendental realms can be seductive and that we can be tempted to abandon the world in their favor.
Coming back into everyday life does not imply giving anything up. Instead, it means bringing back what we have gained during our adventure in the unconscious realms back into the domain in which we live twenty-four hours a day. By doing this, we can merge the two worlds and discover that the divine impulse is everywhere. We learn to seek and to see it all around us, in every action we take, in every person we encounter.
Joseph Campbell, in The Hero With a Thousand Faces, masterfully describes the re-entry problems. As we discussed in chapter 6, the elements of the hero's journey reflect the inner experiences of a person traveling through transformation. The hero has left home, a place of safety and known reality, and set out on an expedition that takes him or her into lands of mystery and adventure. Here, he or she is met by many challenges and initiations. When the final ordeal is completed, the hero returns to the place from which he or she began. The setting and the cast of characters there may be the same; however, the hero is very different now. He or she now has the gifts of wisdom and understanding developed by the many experiences along the way. But the hero, filled with new insights, finds difficulty in adjusting to the old world. Because of the magnitude of their transformative experiences, many people find it difficult to accept and embrace the seemingly trivial aspects of ordinary reality. They may also face the very real problem that the everyday world around them is often not very receptive to their newfound discoveries.
Many of us are very good at looking after and helping other people, often at our own expense. During the transition period, as well as afterward, meeting your own health-promoting needs should be your first priority. You need to nurture yourself before you turn your attention outward. Following are some of the challenges you will likely face and general suggestions as to what to do about them. Because your experiences and needs are unique, you will probably find variations or additions that are ideally suited to you.
Source: The Stormy Search for the Self.
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