Mi'sen

Talk in the marketplace is that @jordanbpeterson is doing job #3 well for some. I’m doing an amateurish job of #4 because qualified wizards have gotten scarce. Neither of us is old enough to do job #5. You could try Robert Bly.

Unpacking this fairy tale: The quest that takes you from 3 to 4 vanquishes chaotic emotionalism. You need magical weapons for that: methods of systematic rationality and self-discipline.

The Quest for Rational Self-Authorship is not easy. Most heros need a mentor to show them how to wield the flaming sword, and to sketch the way through the dark wood. You also need inspiration & assurance: a “holding environment” (Kegan’s term) of brave knights at a round table.

The Quest from 4 to 5 travels through nebulosity: swirling fog in which half-seen monstrous forms loom. The Chaos Dragon you thought you slew reappears and taunts you. You realize she has been dwelling invisible in your Castle of Rationality, and laughing behind your back.

“Turning points in the tale” are the stage transitions… I was alluding particularly to the 4.5 crisis of nihilism, in which you may well be eaten by the Chaos Dragon.