The great late Joseph Campbell http://www.jcf.org/ taught us about the world’s mythology in a way that defied ideology and theology. He brought together the universe of ancient myth and heroism, allowing us a glimpse into the realm of the unconscious. What has stuck with me for years and years is his simple definition of the dragon (the western dragon not to be confused with the entirely different Chinese version).

According to him, the dragon is the ego, the dragon inside ourselves. It’s the mind that says, ‘this is what I want’, ‘what I love’, ‘what my life’s aim is’, what I can do’, ‘what I can achieve’, ‘what my purpose is’… and so on. The dragon is the binding of self to one’s ego cage. If it is broken up, a larger field of relationships manifest, as well as liberating experiences. To break up that self, a person needs to be in accord with the inevitable of life: loss, death, change. A person needs to be in direct contact with Source.

He says, the mind (our intellects) that we prize so heavily is a secondary organ. Our mind’s must serve the humanity of our body. The heart is the first organ. What that means is that we each need to listen to our true heartbeat. That heart is not made up of mere emotional feelings. It is also the invisible that gives our humanity soulfulness. It is the region where realms of imagination live and thrive.

What is our heart life?  That life is one beyond the boundaries of programmable systems. If we listen to what society tells us to be, how to act, how to perform, what to say, how to say it, what to do, how to do it, then all creativity of the heart is stolen, forgotten and locked away. When we stop listening to self we commit to a system that destroys our truest heart. That is precisely when we become confused, lost, sick, out of balance, groping, seeking, searching and scheming. It is at these times that we need to regenerate our hearts.

The beauty of the heart is that it can align itself to Source at anytime. So long as the ego remains in that cage. That is when the dragon has been slayed.