Heroic Growth

09/18/2025

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09/15/2025

Hold The Line. At all costs. Gandalf knew this enemy would destroy him, but the quest was more important.

“His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.

'You cannot pass,' he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. 'I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'"

- The Fellowship of the Ring.

Art Khazad-dum by Donato Giancola

09/01/2025

Stay safe out there, Heroes.

08/13/2025

Register now for the Sept. 18th/19th 2025 BluePaz First Responder Conference at www.bluepaz.com
On September 18th Dr. Thomas Coghlan will present regarding the”Trauma, Transformation, Triumph” regarding the Heroic Growth approach to psychotherapy with law enforcement.

07/19/2025

The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils.

But Gandalf stood firm.

‘You cannot pass,’ he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. ‘I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.’

06/22/2025

Anger, sadness, and worry are often manifested fear.
What conquers all fear?

“Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!” ~ Aragorn

Gandalf was not a wizard, rather “wizard” was the costume he wore to hide his true form. Gandalf was an angel, sent by the divine beings of creation to advise Men in the battle against Sauron. Gandalf - and his four fellow angels - had their full powers restricted, were put into mortal bodies, and were expressly forbidden from directly fighting against Sauron.

What was Gandalf’s purpose? Hope. To stir hope in the hearts of Men, to rouse them with hope into cooperation and partnership.

Why did Sauron fear Aragorn? Aragorn was a Númenórean, of an elder race of Men with enhanced strength, long lifespans, and the grace of their divine creators. But Sauron did not fear Aragorn because of his ancestry. Sauron feared Aragorn because he kindled in the hearts of Men the fire for battle, the spark of living free, the courage to face death for the sake of life.

What did Aragorn inspire in Men? Hope.

How does Sam not falter? When all is lost, and Frodo can no longer go on, when nothing is left but doubt, and fear, and loss - what is Sam’s purpose? Hope.

Hope conquers all fear.

Tolkien knew despair, knew hopelessness, knew fear, anger, and sadness. And he knew that Hope conquers it all.

06/22/2025

Fear no darkness!
Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Ride to ruin, and the world’s ending!
Death! Death! Death!

Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King___________________________________Théoden: Éomer, take your éored down the left flank.Soldier: Flank ready.Théoden...

06/13/2025

A Partner is not a friend. It cannot be described in those terms.

You cannot be helped to understand it because if you have not lived it, you will never understand.

In the year 3141 (Fourth Age 120), at 262 years of age, Gimli Elf-Friend, Son of Glóin, sailed to The Undying Lands on a ship built by his Partner, Prince Legolas, Son of Thandruil of Mirkwood.

Legolas’ and Gimli’s friendship could not be described in those terms - they had shed blood together, faced death together, broken barriers together, forged a path together built on a bond of cause.

If you have not done it, you will never understand it.

It cannot be bound by time or death.

06/13/2025

“The dark fire will not avail you.” ~ JRRT

06/06/2025

What was Ungoliant? What was Shelob?
Why does it matter?

Before time, Ungoliant entered Arda (Middle Earth).

Ungoliant is our primordial terror of lacking all hope.

Shelob is Ungoliant's last offspring. Ungoliant is universal, transpersonal hopelessness.

Shelob is our individual hopelessness.

Why is Sam the true Hero of LOTR? Because he defeats hopelessness.

06/01/2025

How was Moria illuminated? Because in darkness there is light.

“The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.”

Tolkien, from The Song of Durin

———————————————————-

Gimli, son of Gloin rose and standing in the dark he began to chant in a deep voice, while the echoes ran away into the roof.

“The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone
When Durin woke and walked alone.

He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.

The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond
And Gondolin, who now beyond
The Western Seas have passed away:
The world was fair in Durin’s Day.

A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.

There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes’ mail,
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.

Unwearied then were Durin’s folk;
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.

The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge’s fire is ashen-cold;
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in Durin’s halls;
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.

But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep.”

06/01/2025

What is your Modern Mythology?

What story are you living? What mythology do you play out in your life? You are living a script. Know the script, become it’s author.

You will never stop repetition until you recognize the myth.

Our lives are often replayed scripts of primordial narratives, repetition of timeless and innate experiences, re-experiencing of the typical and archaic - the archetypal.

Since the death of classical education (the unfortunate death and replacement by Dewey’s horrific progressive experiment), we no longer understand classical literature. So - our mythology has been replaced by modern re-telling of ancient, primordial common storylines.

In Heroic Growth, we expose the narrative that you are reliving and rewrite the narrative. Through Heroism, The Hero, and the heroic - we grow.