The Myth of the Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell

The problem in middle life,

when the body has reached

its climax of power

and begins to decline

is to identify yourself,

not with the body,

which is falling away,

but with the consciousness

of which the body is a vehicle.

This is something I learned from myths.

What am I?

Am I the bulb that carries the light?

Or am I the light of which

the bulb is a vehicle?

— Joseph Campbell