it’s what we should do
raise your hand if you’ve recognized any
of the following names katniss everdeen
odysseus harry potter siddhartha you may
have read about them in the book or
maybe saw them to film their wizards and
hobbits huntresses heroes but they all
share a single trait they’re all heroes
and the funny thing about heroes is that
no one’s born one you all have to earn
that title and it’s no small feat but
the prize is well worth it do we have
any heroes in the house today
ok so today I have the honor of sharing
with you the secret path to becoming a
hero if you accept this call to
adventure you will earn your superpowers
but with great powers come great
responsibility so if you follow along
with me on this path you will be charged
with having to save the world so do you
accept all right let’s do it so we’re
gonna start by going back in time about
1.8 million years to be exact back then
humans lived as hunter-gatherers roving
bands of 30 to 50 individuals tied by
blood and kinship and now these bands
would roam different territories looking
for sustenance and every individual was
crucial for the survival of the
collective so whether you’re out there
gathering plants hunting for meats or
back home building shelter or taking
care of the young you were indispensable
and thus as a result everyone was equal
and thus the Galit Aryan men and women
equally of importance and there was a
flat leadership practice in other words
leaders would arise only in times of
crisis as soon as that challenge was met
powers would be devolved and there
not to being part of the collective so
the nomads they travel seasonally
finding optimal living conditions as
soon as they found their home they would
set out small teams out to the unknown
in search of sustenance and as one can
imagine when you’re out there in the
unknown challenges arise a saber-toothed
tiger might jump at you maybe an
avalanche would fall maybe you’d run
into a rival band who casts spells on
you
so the nomads would be there face the
challenge defeat the challenge collect
the prize come back home to tell the
story and so imagine yourself walking
back with a bundle of bananas or maybe
the skin of that saber-toothed tiger you
beat and you’re sitting by the campfire
and as we all do embellish the stories
of it you know maybe that one
saber-toothed tiger is now a dozen that
avalanche kept us under for three days
and those spells turn us into zombies
you know and we tell these stories and
that same pattern would occur we’d head
out we defeat the enemies come back and
tell the story head out come back tell
the story campfire to campfire
generation to generation these simple
stories became legends they were passed
parents would use these stories to teach
their kids to behave you know if you
don’t clean that room that saber-toothed
tiger is gonna get you elders would use
these stories to explain natural
phenomena like why the Sun replaces the
moon why water falls from the sky it’s
these stories that became the building
blocks of all the great epics that we
know and love part of the Canon that
made our shared cultural history from
the first one
Gilgamesh through the Odyssey the tales
of King Arthur to Star Wars Harry Potter
and The Hunger Games but what’s the
common thread amongst all those stories
from that first hunter-gatherer all the
way to Katniss and a word travel
Travel is as fundamental a human need
for us as our need to breathe so we
already covered how the hunter-gatherers
would have to move around all the time
for survival but even today in our very
lives and in our most sacred traditions
Travel plays a role in many cultures
children become adults the rites of
passage like the Vision Quest couples
transition to married life with a
honeymoon right and even Wars
unfortunately have historically been
romanticized as opportunities for the
youth to travel to exotic lands as an
industry travel encompasses 10% of
global GDP one in every 10 people in the
world works in the travel industry the
big number
travel is hard coded into a cultural DNA
it’s what connects each and every one of
us together as individuals and as a
collective back in time to our shared
history it’s no wonder then that United
Nations have enshrined the freedom to
travel as part of our Universal
Declaration of Human Rights ok so now we
know that travel is the key to becoming
a hero now we need to find the map how
do we become the hero what’s the path so
in case anyone has not been paying
attention so far I can’t really see you
but now’s the time to listen because
this is your treasure map and it begins
with a call to adventure Joan of Arc was
a 13 year old farm girl in war-torn
medieval France when she had her first
vision the angel Gabriel came down and
told her it’s on her to save her people
so she answered the call she left her
farm and she went and did just that
bilbo baggins had an incredible life in
the Shire I mean he had his friends
there it’s beautiful garden area house
why leave
yet when the call came and you had to
return the ring to Mordor you did it
some of you people you have that just
burning itch to leave set out the
adventure me I know I don’t want to go
life’s pretty good right now
I got an awesome community of people
around me but the thing is meaningful
change can only happen us out of that
comfort zone and heroes only emerge in
the unknown so we answer the call and we
cross the threshold and there’s no
looking back right now
this is Katniss leaving the district to
go to the Capitol and face the Hunger
Games right this is Theseus leaving
Athens and setting out to the labyrinth
to defeat the Minotaur and save his
fellow Athenians now if you look back
you won’t find home any longer so you
might as well keep her gaze forward and
march on until you find the ordeal this
is the central challenge that stands
between you and the prize for some of us
it might be a physical obstacle it might
even be a live adversary Wonder Woman
had to defeat Ares to save the world
right some of us though it’s gonna be
internal Prince Siddhartha decided to
sit under the Bodhi tree and refused to
move until he found answers to what he
was looking for so he sat down in lotus
position close his eyes and decided to
meditate and eventually he achieved
enlightenment and became the Lord Buddha
and some of us have this challenge in
our mind and we know what we’re going to
be facing plenty of us are just going to
be on our road and it’s gonna hit us but
whatever that challenge is I know you
will find it and you will best it to
achieve the prize also known as the
initiation you know the thing about the
prize I’m gonna let you in a little
secret most people think about the prize
is a hidden treasure something of that
sort the truth is and this is a secret
that’s been held close for generations
the real prize it’s internal
hence the initiation it’s a
transformation you beat the bad guy you
cross the finish line that prize is you
as individual becoming the hero it’s
finding your superpowers so now with the
prize in mind you set back for home you
think it’s over this is just the
beginning no no the road home is long
and full of obstacles but the central of
obstacles is knowing that the adventure
is almost over you got to go back home
and face the challenges there
because home remains the same fragile
place that’s beset with great challenges
challenges only a true hero could help
solve but you’re changed you are now
that hero and it’s on you to be the
change you want to see Mahatma Gandhi
left for South Africa and then to
England where he honed his craft gained
a great education but also saw
oppression firsthand and only there he
realized what his role is when he came
back to India and led his people to
independence learning the wily ways of
Hakuna Matata Simba realized what his
role is so he came back to Pride Rock
defeated Skaar and the hyenas claimed
the mantle of The Lion King and put the
circle of life back in motion see the
path of the true hero’s journey is
learning is defeating the challenges but
it’s only really when you come back and
applying those gifts at home okay so see
we traveled quite a bit already Pride
Rock to Hogwarts India to the hmn it’s
Iranian back in time now we’re back in
and the funny thing is again these
stories that we know and we love you
know that taught us right from wrong
I kept us from hours of boredom that
showed us that if we just look a little
farther on maybe more to this world that
we think there is they all follow the
same basic pattern it’s a pattern
that’s often referred to as the hero’s
journey or the monomyth it’s a term that
was popularized by the mythologist
Joseph Campbell and what Campbell did
was basically boiled down all those
stories to simple set of stages right
this is your treasure map so whether you
have your passport in hand and you’re
about to set off across the ocean we
have your bus pass in hand and heading
downtown to explore our new neighborhood
for the first time it only takes that
first step that first act to travel to
sit on the path of the hero’s journey
it’s another question remains will you
accept a call to adventure thank you [Applause]