FINDING THE HERO WITHIN takes you on a personal psycho-spiritual journey to finding wholeness, utilizing archetypal psychology through the symbolic blueprint of Hercules’ twelve labors. This book examines the twelve impossible labors of Hercules, as he aims to achieve redemption from the death of his family, to heal and reach apotheosis. Much like Hercules may have experienced a shattered psyche and deep emotional pain, his hero’s journey can also be one we undertake to heal our personal traumas. Dave’s symbolic breakdown and archetypal parallels of the twelve labors outline the sequential process of our own hero’s and heroine’s journey to wholeness.

Hercules’ twelve labors represent one of the greatest transformational journeys and the most complete archetypal map through the psyche to reach our own individuation. Individuation is a process of transformation, whereby the personal and collective unconscious are brought into consciousness to be assimilated into the whole personality. The labors are not merely physical tasks, but arduous trials that reconciled his being through the development of the psyche, emotions, and spirit. 

The twelve labors play out in a hierarchical sequence of circumstances, each representing archetypal symbols that must be overcome, or mastered. With each labor that he overcame, Hercules conquered an aspect of himself that prepared him to face the next challenge.

The summation of his labors resulted in the unified balance and maturity of body, mind, and spirit: the balanced strength of the body, the psychological development of his consciousness, and the saturation of spirit. Only when the unity of this trinity is made can transcendence take place. There is no such thing as spiritual by-passing to reach transcendence. Each element of the body, mind, and spirit have to be addressed, healed, and integrated.