Joseph Campbell was a brilliant man. He saw things so clearly and explained them so simply.

Quotes from Campbell:

If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.

Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.




I needed to read those today. I need to remember them. I am following my bliss, and am currently in my own abyss...heeehee I rhymed.

cmarie,

Glad to hear from another Campbell fan. That statement of Joe's about people not really looking for a meaning to life but looking for the rapture of just being alive had a profound impact upon me. My first post was a reaction to Christianity demonizing Joseph Campbell after his death. After some thought though I decided their attacks were an unintended tribute to the late professor. They really do fear him----------congradulation Joe!!







What is a myth? The dictionary definition of a myth would be stories about gods .... What is a god? A god is a personification of a motivating power or value system that functions in human life and in the universe -- the powers of your own body and of nature. The myths are metaphorical of spiritual potentiality in the human being, and the same powers that animate our life animate the life of the world ...
"We need myths that will identify the individual not with his local group but with his planet." Joseph Campbell

Fundamentalism, which seems to be the driving force behind "The Destroyers of the Faith", should fear any honest investigation of any subject.

Didymos Thomas,

I could not agree more, but the faithful are unlikely to prove to be so honest. Their world is a fragile one, woven from the fibres of pretense and fantasy-Imagination unrestricted by reality--enter fear and hatred. Thanks for the input!

While you certainly do describe a large number of unfortunate souls, let us be careful NOT to attribute these qualities to all of the faithful. We cannot rightly criticize an entire population for the actions of but a portion of that population.

Didymos Thomas,

It is true I am gulity of a sweeping generality, but when you are speaking about an area of group thought, or rather group feeling, I do not think it unwarranted. There may well be acceptions to this feeling of being threatened by the scholarship of Professor Campbell but I personally have yet to meet them. The link that I provided is not the only link of that nature it is simply the most intense, by no means the most outrageous. If there are Christians out there familar with the work of Joseph Campbell who do not feel a hostility towards him you do have my apology for said generalization.