The return is essentially a contraction. From the expanded state, just like a balloon, eventually, you begin to deflate, to come down from the high, or turn back towards earth. The return is never pleasant, in fact, it is often riddled with doubt, fear, disbelief, and ambivalence, “Did that really happen?”
You do not want to go back. Returning means that you have to talk, explain, or worse, you might have to do something that you don’t want to do, face someone that doesn’t want to know, or be among those that that will now reject you. Returning involves deep reticence or worse, terror. And yet, you are tried. There is a real way in which the thought of going home provides the promise of solace, rest, and normalcy—afterall, you have experience something that is not “normal.”
The return has hesitancy at the very least, and more commonly, grave distain. Joseph Campbell explains that during this time, we can try to get lost in a forest of melancoly, but at some point, we must face the reality of inevitable homecoming.
