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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 8484858" data-attributes="member: 59082">Yeah, I know, and while I agree that it is metaphorical, I think there are different approaches to this idea that go beyond simply "growing up with adult responsibilities," which has somewhat mundane connotations -- like paying taxes and stopping at a red light.  Jung would say it has to do with individuation, which is a process whereby the person becomes truly whole, a "full human" (my words, not his) through integrating the conscious and the subconscious. Campbell's hero's journey links this to world mythologies, holding that all--or at least most--myths describe the same basic underlying process. Humanistic and transpersonal psychologies elaborated and varied these themes. For instance, Abraham Maslow discussed "self-actualization" and James Hillman described it as "acorn theory," whereby our seed of potential ("acorn") desires to actualize (as the "oak").Intrinsic to the idea of the chosen one is a unique destiny of some kind, and a quest to actualize that destiny. There are basic patterns by which this occurs--thus Campbell's framework--but the details of how it unfolds are different for all of us. But my point is that--at least in the framings of Jung, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology--it goes beyond mere psychological maturation. The "child" is not an actual child, but humanity in its pre-actualized form, even larval stage. Thus what we call "adulthood" is merely the basis from which a further, deeper path can unfold, or the "quest for the Grail." Meaning, the Chosen One motif uses the framework of a child becoming an adult as a symbol for the process of self-actualization. Meaning, we're all "chosen" to fulfill our on uniqueness, something that no one else can do, and this process only starts once we leave the home of childhood, be it the Shire or Two Rivers.I don't think most fantasy authors who employ this motif are consciously using it in that way, but that the mythic archetype points towards this "higher path." Or to put it another way, the "outward journey" of the Chosen One is symbolic of an "inward journey" of self-actualization and/or enlightenment that is not a child becoming an adult, but an adult becoming fully human.</blockquote>

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