The State of Perfection: Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery

The State of Perfection

Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery

By Joseph Riggio, PhD

Smashwords Edition

Digital Version ISBN: 9781476028064

Paperback Version ISBN-13: 978-1475241259

ISBN-10: 1475241259

LCCN: 2012907718

Published by IM Press, Inc.

Cover Design by Laura Dawn Lewis

Copyright © 2012 by Joseph Riggio.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any other form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that all information in this book is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as, nor replace medical or psychiatric advice. If you are suffering from any physical or psychiatric condition, please seek the advice of the appropriately qualified health professional.

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For

My Family …

Especially

My Wife, Nancy

My Children, Jason and Michaela

&

My Mother and Father

PRAISE FOR

The State of Perfection

An Incredible Journey

Most personal improvement books begin with the assumption that the reader is somehow damaged and needs to be fixed. Joseph Riggio starts out with the belief in great potential and sends the reader on an incredible journey.

Alan Weiss, PhD

Best-selling author, Million Dollar Consulting & Million Dollar Coaching

A unique and powerful process for transformational change.

John La Valle

Co-author of Persuasion Engineering®, President of the Society of NLP™

Beware!  This book will change your life.

"In The State of Perfection Joseph Riggio operates on so many cleverly interwoven levels that it cannot fail to transform whoever reads it. From the moment you turn the first page you will find yourself willingly going down the rabbit hole of your deepest desires, entranced by Dr. Riggio’s exquisitely woven tapestry of masterful and entertaining metaphorical stories, superb hypnotic and linguistic skills combined with the powerful experience of being in the seminar room with one of the greatest personal transformation facilitators of all time. After 20-years, Joseph Riggio has finally found the formula to convey in a book what he does in his personal work.  A masterpiece of its kind, The State of Perfection is set to become the #1 self-help book of all time. Ignore it at your peril!"

Peta Heskell,  

Best Selling UK Author and Society of NLP™ Licensed Trainer

Rarely is the curtain of life thrust aside to reveal the elusive truths

"What is the meaning of life? The clues are within the secret paths of consciousness – our personal program for excellence - but few can read the map… until now.  Rarely is the curtain of life thrust aside to reveal the elusive truths of self… Dr. Joseph Riggio's new book, ‘The State of Perfection: Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery’ is the guide and you are the treasure!"

W.L. Hoffman, J.D. –

Author of The Soulstealer War series

Refreshingly Innovative

"Unlike the countless volumes written on self-understanding and mastery, which often focus on understanding past traumas and their impact on the dilemmas you are currently facing, Joseph begins from an entirely different, refreshingly innovative premise: you already work perfectly; you’ve just forgotten what that’s like and how to retrieve the state in which it occurs. Drawing upon the ideas of some notable and influential people in his life—Joseph Campbell, Richard Bandler and most eminently, Roye Fraser, Dr. Riggio synthesized some of their ideas with his own to create the Mythoself Process.

Dr. Riggio’s teaching style is uniquely entertaining and hypnotic. Often, being in his presence will provoke an experience that initially may seem unidentifiable and yet show up in the recipient’s behavior as profound, lasting changes. This is based on his unique approach, which in part he describes as, ‘wholeform learning.’ What is often amusing if not astonishing is that this style of teaching leads one to feel as if Joseph is simply having a conversation with you and no ‘learning’ per se is actually occurring; until a little later when you notice you are living your life instead of letting it live you!!

The essence of this amazing book is learning or rather re-learning how to conduct your life from a physical place of extraordinary peace and well-being Dr. Riggio refers to as, perfection; a place where nothing is missing or required, where you live your life absent the cognitive internal dialogue that reinforces the dogma of a deceptive society with its mantra: fit in.

Alan Alda (Dr. Hawkeye Pierce) once said in an episode of M*A*S*H, Insanity is just a state of mind. Joseph exhorts us to escape the paradox of living in an insane society that determines for us what is normal, whether or not we fit in.. Using the Mythoself Process model to re-discover perfection, again first evident through the position you hold in your body, and the stories that represent your mythology or mental map of the world, you will become healthy in mind and body, make decisions that are in your best interests and learn to become what he describes as an elite performer.

As he so succinctly states near the end of the book: ‘You are the story you are living. Change the story and change your life!’ So c’mon—let the wisdom of Dr. Riggio scratch that itch! Get off the fence, step into this powerful vehicle and hang on for a wild ride to a place where anything is possible".

Randy W. Green, PhD

Author of Decisions, Decisions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Dr. Richard Bandler

Preface

CHAPTERS

Introduction:

The Transformational Journey

Chapter One

The Roots of Personal Mastery

Chapter Two

Profound Liberation

Chapter Three

Getting IT

Chapter Four

Making Up The World

Chapter Five

Accessing & Installing the Ready State

Chapter Six

The Stories of Our Lives

Chapter Seven

Reforming Yourself

Chapter Eight

Shifting the Filters & Forcing the Sorts

Chapter Nine

The Start of A New Life

Chapter Ten

Integrating the Deep Structural Form

Epilogue

About The Author

Recommended Reading

& Resources

EXERCISES

What Do You Want? (Setting Up The Ready State)

Mouse Hallucination

Amplifying and Intensifying The Ready State

Aligning Form and Function

Limiting The Limitation

Finding The Mythic Form

FOREWORD

By Dr. Richard Bandler

I’m pleased to open The State of Perfection for Dr. Joseph Riggio with a few comments about what he’s written. I’ve been familiar with the work Joseph is doing that began while he was apprenticing with my colleague and friend, Roye Fraser. I think that the unique approach and model that Joseph has designed, the MythoSelf Process, is a major advance in the application of the technologies I’ve been developing for the past three decades.

One of the most powerful aspects of Joseph work is the absolutely positive position that he takes in working with clients. Rather than beginning from the problem state he immediately leads people to a powerfully resourceful state where they experience anything as possible. From this position limitations literally disappear, while at the same time opportunities come rushing forward. The work Joseph does goes beyond change as it’s normally thought of, to present an exposition of transformation based in pure creativity.

For more than thirty years I’ve been developing models that make making change efficient and effective. Beginning with the roots of the material that became NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) these models have been used by thousands of people to make changes in their lives and to facilitate change in the lives of others around the world.

NLP is based on the art of replicating genius in performance excellence. The NLP model allows skilled practitioners to calculate and predict behavior based on subjective experience. Using NLP new patterns of behavior can also be created that the original geniuses never displayed themselves, using behavioral and linguistic patterns that were modeled based on them.

I have continued to work with geniuses to extract their methods and approach to uncover the essence of how extraordinary individuals do what they do, allowing them to perform exquisitely. Considering what is possible by going beyond the patterns that these geniuses have already expressed in their performances, opens up the path to creating models of human performance and excellence in addition to the NLP model. Two such models are DHE (Design Human Engineering) and NHR (Neuro-hypnotic Reframing).

While the original NLP model was based in replication and sequential sensory processing, DHE is based in creation and simultaneous sensory processing. Once you’ve gotten these distinctions it is possible to go beyond your current experience, and begin creating skills and states that are dynamic and compelling. Along with new skills and states, DHE also provides the tools you need to create the new strategies to get things done – including the motivation strategies that drive the action required to produce your outcomes.

More recently revealed than either NLP or DHE, NHR is another life-changing, transformational model. Leading from feelings and using hypnotic process NHR restructures neurological and chemical experience. NHR begins by training people to flood their experience with feeling good...really good, to the limit of having all the pleasure you can stand. In this way extraordinary state experiences are established that make it possible to achieve anything, and everything, that you are capable of doing.

DHE and NHR are some of the obvious models that came from asking the right questions, beginning from the premise that anything is possible when you are in the right state to achieve it. Now more than thirty years after the presentation of the original NLP model, the creativity and innovation continues, and what humans are capable of continues to amaze me...driving the exploration even further.

In The State of Perfection you’ll read about one of the most exciting applications I’ve seen emerge from the fundamental technologies I began developing more than thirty years ago, the MythoSelf Process. Society of NLP Master Trainer, Dr. Joseph Riggio, designed this transformational model to provoke personal excellence and elite performance by blending NLP and hypnotic protocols with the structure of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model and Roye Fraser’s Generative Imprint model.

Joseph’s mentor, Roye Fraser, was one of the first NLP Master Trainers and a brilliant innovator himself. His work was built on the premise of going to where the problem is not and Joseph takes this concept to an extreme. This book is based on transcripts from a workshop he ran in Taipei, Taiwan where he led the participants to experience themselves as extraordinary and without limitation. He led the participants in that workshop to experience an elite performance state he refers to simply as the Ready State.

As you’re reading you’ll find yourself immersed in the experience of what it’s like to access the Ready State along with the participants in the workshop. Rather than telling you about what he did, Joseph brings you with him on a journey of profound transformation. This alone would make this book unique and remarkably worthwhile, however he goes further...much further. Interspersed in the exchanges from the transcripts Joseph pulls back the curtain and exposes exactly what he’s doing with the group, and explains why he’s doing it.

If you’ve ever hoped to experience the work of a master change artist in action here’s a chance in black and white. Because Joseph presents this material as an example of multilevel communication you ‘ll walk away from your reading with this material installed in you versus just having an intellectual understanding of techniques. After exposing the installation of transformational change through his communication with the group, Joseph then provides access to the technology for making these changes in his communication with you directly as a reader.

Dr. Riggio has done a fantastic job of presenting the essence of the kind of work I’ve been at the forefront of since the early 1970s. Read this book with an open mind, as you would a good novel, enjoying the stories and descriptions that Joseph presents as you go. By choosing to set aside what you might expect, and experiencing what you’re reading as you’re reading it instead of making any attempt to understand it, you’ll pick up an amazing amount of knowledge and skills regarding the art and science of transformation.

While there’s no replacement for experiencing this kind of work live with a skilled practitioner, to paraphrase Joseph, you’ll turn your brain from being a potential enemy into being your best friend by the time you’re done reading The State of Perfection. Joseph has penned a major contribution in the field of change-work; elite performance and human excellence...read it, absorb it and enjoy it for yourself.

Dr. Richard Bandler

Ireland, 2011

PREFACE

This book was written to express one idea, with three unique audiences in mind. The idea is that we are all born in a State of Perfection. Over the course of their life, most people lose touch with this experience, yet despite this all that may happen to them, it remains their birthright. The process of re-engaging with the State of Perfection is transformation. In this book you’ll read about a workshop I ran with a group of participants in Taipei, Taiwan. That workshop was designed to provoke a transformation leading to a profound awakening and re-experiencing of the original State of Perfection. I’ll be revealing what occurred in the room with the participants, and behind the scenes in regard to the process I was using to enkindle the process of transformation. As you read these stories you will be moved along your journey to a reawakening of your own State of Perfection as well.

I first came across the idea of a State of Perfection while studying Joseph Campbell’s work on applied mythology. I designed what would become, the MythoSelf Process, for provoking profound transformation, based in part on Campbell’s ideas. In his seminal book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces he speaks about being called to the adventure of your life. Campbell says, We are not born fully human, but we have the opportunity to become fully human. Immediately I realized how powerful this concept could be when it was integrated with a highly effective technology of transformation.

Right around that time I was studying NLP, neuro-linguistic programming, with Roye Fraser, who had created a powerful transformational approach of his own, the Generative Imprint Model. The first time I met him I made the choice to reorganize my life so I could study intensely with Roye. I was lucky that the timing was perfect for him to be open to taking me under his wing as an apprentice. Over the course of the next seven years, I just kept showing up, learning everything I could from him. In the process of sitting for thousands of hours in the room with Roye, I mastered the art of doing transformational work – mostly via exposure and osmosis. Using the technology of NLP, and the framework of Roye’s revolutionary model, the Generative Imprint, I designed the MythoSelf Process. Today I work with private clients and present workshops to audiences around the world. In this book I’ll be sharing the story of one of these workshops, one I ran in Taipei, and the unique experience of the participants.

Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model is a map to the journey of becoming human. My intention is to provide you with a trail guide for that journey – i.e.: the journey that leads to becoming fully human. Unlike a map that identifies the path to take, a trail guide is a resource to be consulted about what you’re likely to find along the way. You can use this guide to plan the journey and prepare yourself for it before you begin. I hope you’ll find this guide suitable for both purposes, a) to plan your journey and prepare yourself for it before you begin, and b) to alert you to what you’ll find along the way, providing you with the advice you’ll want and need to be completely successful on the journey.

I designed this guide using dialogue from the workshop I ran in Taipei, combined with my comments, explanations and observations about what was occurring, behind the scenes so to speak, as that workshop transpired. Along the way you’ll meet people who were part of that workshop, and in their examples, you’ll be experiencing your own virtual journey with them. In the process you’ll become more familiar with what to expect, and some ideas to make the trip you’re on a bit less terrifying...and a lot more rewarding.

The first – and primary – audience I’m writing for are all the readers who are looking to powerfully transform their lives. The first part of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model is the Call to Adventure. If you are in this first group, you probably recognize that you are engaged in responding to this call ... and you have already heard, and have begun to answer it ... you are on the precipice of your adventure.

The second audience is comprised of those who are interested in the technology and process of transformation. While this book is not written as a technical training manual, it will provide you with a glimpse beneath the surface. I do my best to present what I doing, and why I was doing it, very transparently to you as a reader. I will be as open with you as I can be in regard to how I was doing what I was doing with the group in Taipei. I’ll also share why I specifically choose to do it in the way that I did.

People in the third audience are the professional change-work artists, including people who are trained in NLP and hypnosis, like myself. These are all the people whose life’s calling includes helping others to transform their lives. I expose what I am doing with the group in Taipei explicitly in my comments, explanations and observations that accompany the dialogue from the workshop. If you are in this third audience you’ll recognize that I’m often writing about my philosophy and thinking about transformation.

Imagine for a moment that you are simultaneously viewing three books in front of you instead of just one. The first manuscript is a record of the Taipei workshop I refer to above in the form of an edited and abridged transcript that would be perfect to read without the additional commentary I’ve added to get the gist of the transformational experience for yourself. This manuscript ideally matches my first audience who are most interested in powerfully transforming their lives.

The second manuscript is a series of comments on the process, including methods and techniques, from the Taipei MythoSelf workshop that I used to induce transformation in the participants. This manuscript would be perfect for my second audience who are most interested in the technology and process of transformation, especially on the utilization of NLP, advanced integral learning, behavioral communication, somatic hypnosis, and conversational hypnotic protocol.

The third manuscript is the combined transcript and running commentary that goes back and forth exposing what I did and why I did it during the MythoSelf workshop that forms the backbone of this book. Weaving between the transcript of the interaction with the participants and myself in the form of our dialogue, and my interspersed comments about what I was doing and why I was doing it, will transparently expose the unique approach I take when doing transformational performance work with both individuals and with groups. This manuscript is designed to speak deeply and directly to professional change-work artists, as well as anyone interested in absorbing the full impact of what it takes to access and assimilate what I call the State of Perfection for themselves.

If you have the time, energy, willingness and inclination it would be ideal to read the book literally as three separate manuscripts from chapters two to ten (the introduction, chapter one and the epilogue are not based on transcripts and commentary). First read just the transcripts of the dialogue, like you would a novel. Then read just the commentary like you would a non-fiction book about transformational methodology. Finally, read through both the transcripts and the commentary together, letting them take you deeply into the experience as it unfolds.

Of course I don’t expect every reader to devote themselves to this book in this intense way, I don’t even expect all but a very few, highly dedicated and intensely interested folks would be willing to commit to such a regimen. A great game to play would be to try and guess what I’ll be pointing out in the commentary when you read just the transcripts, and check your guesses against my comments, explanations and observations. If you choose to take that challenge I’d be curious to hear from you how closely we match in our conclusions. What I do know is that for those books where I’ve committed myself to the absorption of their contents in this way, the rewards far outpaced the effort. However, regardless of how you choose to read this book there are a few things that remain consistent, including my desire to serve you as the author.

If I’ve done my job as an author well, each audience I’ve indicated above will benefit by my desire to speak to all of them effectively and in simultaneity. One of the benefits that emerged for me as a writer was my need to remain aware of the impact of using multi-level language and communication. In fact, one of the things I’m most pleased with was the opportunity to include a substantial amount of hypnotic protocol in the writing. I hope you are entertained and informed by this unique approach I took, and will indulge me my misappropriations of the English language here and there, as well as the style and format I have chosen to use to present this material to you.

I got the idea for the essential structure of this book from two books, both of which influenced me profoundly as a reader myself. I came across the first book, The Judoka by W.D. Norwood, when I was just fifteen years old. It is the story of someone who practices the martial art of Judo. In the book the main character, a judoka, is living on a beach apart from ordinary society, so he can fully have the experience of being on his journey. The book is divided into two parts, the story of the judoka, and a series of commentaries about Judo. The story part of the book caught me in its spell, and the commentaries blew me away – speaking deeply to a life I dreamed about pursuing and living myself. I am now on my tenth, or eleventh, reading of this book, and it still find new things in the reading that blow me away each time I re-read it.

The second book I used as a kind of template for this book was Richard Bandler’s Magic In Action. This was one of the earliest books on NLP that I ever read. When I first read Magic In Action I thought that it was the most transparent manual of NLP ever written. This book is based on a series of transcripts of Richard doing actual work with clients. What makes it different is that he annotates each of the transcripts, pulling back the curtain and letting you see into the magic he’s performing. It transformed the way I thought about and practiced NLP, and hypnosis as well. In my opinion, if you took the time to study this book alone, in the full depth that is present in what is written, you could learn an imposing amount about using NLP to do significant transformational change-work.

Between my exposure to these two books, and the experience I had reading them, the kind of book I wanted to write was inscribed onto my psyche. This book is my attempt, and homage, to the profound impact these two books had on me as a reader many years ago.

Before I move onto mentioning all of the people who contributed in some way, large and small, assisting me in getting this book into your hands, I want to acknowledge and thank you as a reader for giving me this opportunity to engage with you in the conversation in the pages that follow.

First and foremost, on my list of acknowledgements is my teacher, mentor and friend, Roye Fraser, Master NLP Trainer and Developer of the Generative Imprint™ model. It is truly upon his shoulders that I stand with regard to the foundation of the work I am writing about here. He was instrumental in guiding me into the life I live today, and I remain endlessly grateful for his presence in my life.

Another major influence in my early foray into learning NLP and hypnosis was my colleague, and friend, John LaValle. We met originally when I attended a NLP training program that he was running. Today in addition to being a highly talented professional I’ve often had the privilege of working with, I count John among my few trusted friends – the one my daughter aptly and affectionately refers to as the Silly Man.

I must also mention Dr. Richard Bandler, whom I learned much from in many days spent in front of him as he elegantly demonstrated the art of transformation, during the many NLP training programs I attended with him.

There are others whom have influenced me professionally as well, but there would be too many names to mention if I attempted to make this list of those in the NLP and hypnosis community I have benefited from meeting along the way, including all those I’ve had the extraordinary honor and pleasure of training, and working with as clients, myself.

However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Joseph Munshaw, Colleen Newlin and Jo Cooper – who helped me launch the first MythoSelf Process programs I ever ran, along with a few outstanding students who have studied this work with me. Most of those whom I could mention will remain anonymous for the sake of brevity – though I’d like to acknowledge MythoSelf Master Trainer, Jeff Leiken, M.A. for his excellence and longstanding commitment to this work.

There are others who have been instrumental to expanding the international presence I’ve developed with the model of work you’ll read about here as well. These names include some of the professional colleagues I have worked with over the years, bringing this work to clients around the world. First I’d like to thank Siegfried Andersen, from Denmark with whom I founded JS Riggio International, Finn Standgaard, is another Dane whom I worked closely with developing programs and co-training – he is a true seeker and finder that opened up new worlds to me.

Two Brits come to mind that deserve my thanks as well – Michael Roman and Peta Heskell – both of whom supported me as I was developing my European audience. Today I continue expanding my work in Europe with the help of Henrik Wenoe of Acuity World in Denmark and Piernicola DeMaria in Italy. Recently I’ve been traveling to Asia regularly with the assistance of Vivian Wang, director of Hong Li International Consulting Studio who has been promoting and sponsoring my work there – she’s the one who put together the Taipei workshop you’ll be reading about in this book.

Special thanks go to my cousin Joseph Vincent Riggio, and my friends Michael Cage and Charles Moore, who read the first few drafts of this book, offering encouragement and some advice to help keep me going, and making what you’re now reading better than it would have been without their input. A dear family friend, Stephanie Hoffman, took the time to meticulously proof an early draft, demonstrating to me just how much work was needed to get the book you’re reading now into final form. Stephanie’s husband, another close personal friend, and fellow author, Bill Hoffman, kicked my butt into high gear, when he said to me, Are you really serious about being a writer, or just playing at it? – well Bill, Frack you very much! too...I wouldn’t have written this book without that particularly well aimed jibe...thanks I needed just that, then and there at the Main Street Café, when you showed me all the blue mark-ups you had on the pages of Chapter One!

Also, thanks to all the professionals that helped me get this book out as well. One of my editors, Deborah Englander, Mahesh Grosman at Author’s Stream who helped me organize my thinking about what to be writing and how to be writing it, Laura Lewis who has been a godsend in helping me get this book into print, editing it, formatting it and designing the cover art, and last by not least to Paul Donner, and all the other folks at IM Press for agreeing to publish this book and putting up with me along the way to seeing it done.

I saved my greatest thanks for friends and family who have been instrumental in helping me along the way long before the first words were written. First among many is my wife Nancy, who in creating the ground of our family made it possible to even conceive of writing this book, my two children Jason and Michaela who have so informed and inspired me – intellectually, emotionally and spiritually – just by being who they are every day. My deepest thanks goes to my parents, Frank (Chick) and Assunta (Sue) – my brother, Louis and his family, along with the all the others, who are part of the loving family I am so fortunate to be a part of that allowed me to become who I am today. My wife’s family also get my thanks, especially her father, Lee Schekter who diligently reads what I write and keeps telling me he’s enjoying it (whether or not that’s true, thanks Lee it means a lot). All of this reminds me in every encounter that this is truly a life worth living ... fully and from the heart ... Buona Fortuna and Abundanza!

Joseph Riggio

Princeton, New Jersey

July 2011

INTRODUCTION:

The Transformational Journey

I don’t like to be too predictable so you might want to start by preparing yourself to expect the unexpected ...

Let me start with a bit about what this book is about, before we officially begin this journey together in Chapter One. I am Dr. Joseph Riggio, the architect and designer of the MythoSelf® Process, a unique, transformational, personal development program

In its simplest form, the MythoSelf Process model starts with the idea that we all begin life in a state of perfection. Then, life, in its many ways, shows up and demands our attention, drawing us away from experiencing ourselves as being in that state of perfection. As a result of this drawing away, we literally forget that we are perfect.

Our earliest training and teaching reinforces the idea that we are actually not perfect. We are told there is so much for us to learn, and the implicit message in this is that we cannot possibly be perfect. Almost immediately at birth, the process of training and conditioning to fit into society begins. This process occurs even when it requires quenching our natural instincts and intuitions about how to be our best selves. This book offers you a way to reverse this negative learning that you’ve received, causing you to move away from being yourself.

I am writing this book as if I was talking face to face with a friend. I’m choosing to write this way because I want you to feel as if you’re having a conversation. I expect that as you’re reading and hearing my words in your mind’s ear, you’ll be engaged in what you’re hearing just as you would if you were having a friendly conversation. You may even have plenty to say yourself.

I suggest you approach this book like you would if you were reading a complex mystery novel, instead of reading it like any other non-fiction book. You can begin by assuming that I will not present all the information that I write about where or when you might expect it. I may introduce an idea on page fourteen and only complete it on page eighty-nine. By the time you are finished reading, however, you will have the precise knowledge you need to rediscover yourself at your best.

The Call To Adventure

I originally called what is now known as the MythoSelf Process, the Mythogenic Self Process. I named the process that because of my fascination with Joseph Campbell’s mythological model, the Hero’s Journey. While the model I’ve developed is not limited to what I gleaned from Joseph Campbell’s work, the idea that we, as human beings, are organized and primed as mythological beings captured me completely.

Campbell’s premise led me to thinking in terms of mythological form, more than of mythology as the specific stories that were recorded and re-told. Mythological form, as I use that term, refers to our innate ability to make the maps and models of the world as we experience the events of our lives. Neuroscientists call these mental models, and suggest that our propensity as humans is to use mental models for what we experience as reality. Another cognitive scientist, Gary Klein, wrote extensively about the power of mental models in regard to how experts, and elite performers, use them to make high-quality decisions. Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the co-developers of NLP, wrote extensively about them as well in The Structure of Magic – pointing out how we build narratives that become more real to us than the actual events we experience, i.e.: they become our default reality. Naming my model the Mythogenic Self Process, pointing to the idea of applied mythological form or more simply applied mythology fit my intentions well.

Getting just this one idea, that we live from an applied mythology will allow you to reawaken to the notion of the state of perfection that is innate in you. When you begin to get this idea the essence of what this book is about, and what it can offer you, will become immediately and profoundly obvious. Don’t worry if this idea doesn’t make complete sense to you yet. As you read through this book, you will slowly, naturally and effortlessly be absorbing what you need to so that the idea of what it means to live your life in relation to mythological form becomes second nature to you.

Starting with the idea that we are born in a state of perfection, and then virtually immediately experience a fall from grace, the Hero’s Journey clearly delineates the path to regaining our lost innocence. To make some sense of this for you now, let me share a little of Joseph Campbell’s model, the Hero’s Journey, including a diagram I designed based on Campbell’s work.

The fall from grace we experience begins with society’s desire to shape us, so that we fit in, even when it means we have to give up ourselves to do it. So, by the time we are five, or six ... or maybe at the latest seven or eight ... we’ve begun to take on the shape that society has been training us to assume, and we begin to forget who we are at our core and center ... our natural selves ... our most essential selves.

Later on in our lives ... maybe around twelve or fourteen, most surely by the time we are eighteen or twenty ... we hear the Call to Adventure, as Joseph Campbell put it. This is the inkling that there’s more to life, and more to who we are, than we’ve been told or let onto, by those who have been training and teaching us. We become aware that our many teachers – including our parents, family and even our friends – may not know it all as they may have led us to believe. We realize that for the most part they don’t even have absolute answers about whom they are – let alone who we are – as unique individuals. We conclude that if we want to uncover the truth of who we are at our center or core – before the interruption and imposition of our social training and conditioning occurred – we must find it out for ourselves.

The Call to Adventure can be viewed as an itch demanding to be scratched. The demands of life, as our teachers and society present them, are often overwhelming. These demands distract us from attending to relieving and resolving the itch, the Call to Adventure, we have now begun to experience. So we put the yearning to scratch that itch aside – for a year or two ... or ten or twenty ... or a lifetime.

The people we trust, and society-at-large, tell us that it’s important to pay attention to the particular demands they know are in our best interests to attend to:

Listen to your parents ... be a good boy or girl ... get a good education ... listen to your teachers ... be a good student ... graduate from a good school ... get a good job ... be a good worker ... find a good person ... be a good partner ... have a family ... raise your family ... be a good parent ... take good care of your family and yourself ... be a good wage earner ... put money away for the future ... be a good citizen ... pay your taxes ... be good ... be good ... fit in ... fit in ... fit in.

FIGURE 0-01

I’m sure you get the idea that life demands of you to be good and fit in as it’s been told to you by others ... as you’ve been trained and conditioned to believe in your formal education ... and by what’s being constantly reinforced by society-at-large. You’ve been indirectly and implicitly taught that being good and fitting in are equivalent. In other words, if you want to be good you must fit in – e.g.: do what you’re told ... be who you’ve been told you are/should be