The plot of the journey may be the most popular and fundamental plot in literature. Presumably, the metaphor of life as a journey is based on the human lifecycle. Were it not for human mortality, this might not be a universal metaphor and central literary plot.
By contrast, a neglected comparison is a plot based on a divine calling. This, of course, figures prominently in the Bible. Paradigm examples include Abraham, Moses, OT prophets, and the apostles.
You might say Jesus had a calling although it would be more accurate to say he had a mission. On the divine side he was an architect of his own vocation, so that's not a calling in the usual sense.
However, the larger point is that every human being has a calling. It's just that most men and women are unaware of their calling. They fulfill their vocation without knowing they have one.
That's because world history is like a drama in which everyone has a divinely assigned role to play. Unbelievers don't realize they are actors in God's drama, but nonetheless they play their part. Ironically, atheists have a divine vocation. Their calling is to play the foil and fall guy.
Even bit players may have a deceptively significant role to play. No one remembers who Abraham's great-grandfather was. He's a long-forgotten nobody. Yet without him, Abraham would never exist. Little events in the past can become increasingly significant due to their long-range impact.
Not only is everyone on a journey, everyone has a calling. Vocation and journey are conterminous.
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