Favorite Joseph Campbell Quotations

Are you looking for a quotation that you can't quite place? Trying to track down a hard-to-find publication? Here, folks can help you find the answers, or discuss ways for you to discover them for yourself.

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David_Kudler
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Favorite Joseph Campbell Quotations

Post by David_Kudler »

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We are gathering up quotations to add to the database that feeds both the JCF.org pages and our Google gadget. We've got over a hundred in the database already, and quite a few more that have been suggested by our associates, but we would love to include your favorites.

We're looking for nuggets of up to sixty words or so. Please include the title of the work that you've pulled the quote from!

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Last edited by David_Kudler on Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:34 pm, edited 4 times in total.
David Kudler<br>Publications<br>Joseph Campbell Foundation<br>publications at jcf dot org

Andreas
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Post by Andreas »

This is perfect, thank you. Here is one of my favorite.
What is the universe? Space. Out of space came a coagulation that became a nebula, and out of the nebula, millions of galaxies, and within one constellation of galaxies, a sun, with our little planet circling it. Then out of the earth came us, the eyes and the consciousness and the ears and the breathing of the earth itself. (Pathways to Bliss, p.106)
More tomorrow :).

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Post by Clemsy »

Same book!
Survival, security, personal relationships, prestige, self-development-- in my experience, those are exactly the values that a mythically inspired person doesn't live for. (pg. 89)
And...
You start doodling with things like painting and they might doodle you out of your life-- that's what happened to Gaugin. (pg. 90)
One more...
It is at the heart, they say, that the hands of the devotee touch the feet of the god.(pg.90)
I'll let the others play now. 8)
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Neoplato
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Post by Neoplato »

Here's one of my favorites:
And so, it seems to me, there is a critical problem indicated here, which parents and families have to face squarely: that, namely, of insuring that the signals which they are imprinting on their young are such that will attune them to, and not alienate them from, the world which they are going to have to live; unless, of course, one is dead set on bequeathing to one's heirs one's own paranoia. Myths to Live By page 214.
Wow, that's only one sentence. :wink:
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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Post by Jimbo1023 »

Favorite JC quotes.

Fate leads those who are willing. The unwilling it drags. (don't know the source)

Full circle, from the tomb of the womb to the womb of the tomb, we come:
an ambiguous, enigmatic incursion into a world of solid matter that is soon to melt from us, like the substance of a dream

Poetry is not the thing said but a way of saying it. The intellect is not the fount of poetry, may hinder its production, and cannot even be trusted to recognize poetry when it is produced. Art is not, like science, a logic of references but a release from references and rendition of immediate experience: a presentation of forms, images, or ideas in such a way that they will communicate, not primarily a thought or even a feeling, but an impact. -- Primitive Mythology

A work of art, to be plastic, must show both sinister and dexterous aspects; in a word, the work of art must be sinistro-dexterous; or in still another word, the work of art must be ironic.

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Post by Ercan2121 »

Here's one of the final paragraphs of the article 'Envoy, No More Horizons'
'Our mythology now, therefore, is to be of infinite space and its light, which is without as well as within. Like moths, we are cought in the spell of its allure, flying to it outward, to the moon and beyond, and flying to it, also, inward. On our planet itself all dividing horizons have been shattered. We can no longer hold our loves at home and project our aggressions elsewhere; for on this spaceship Earth there is no elsewhere anymore. And no mythology that continues to speak or to teach of “elsewheres” and “outsiders” meets the requirement of this hour.'
Myths to Live By, p.266.

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Post by Andreas »

I could not have left this one out.
Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world. (The Power of Myth, p. 151).
8)

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Post by Cindy B. »

Good one, Andreas. 8)

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

Neoplato
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Post by Neoplato »

This quote is from "Occidental Mythology' from the "Conclusion". This isn't a continuous quote, but it's the first sentence of the description of the four functions of myth.
In the long view of the history of mankind, four essential functions of mythology can be discerned. The first and most distinctive-vitalizing all-is that of eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being.

The second function of mythology is to render a cosmology, an image of the universe that will support and be supported by this sense of awe before the mystery of a presence and the presence of a mystery.

A third function of mythology is to support the current social order, to integrate the individual organically with his group; and here again, in the long view, we see that a great amplification of the scope and contennt of the group has been a characteristic sign of man's advance from the early tribal cluster to the modern post-Alexandrian concept of a single world-scoiety.

The fourth function of mythology is to initiate the individual into the order of realities of his own psyche, guiding him toward his own spiritual enrichment and realization.
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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Post by boringguy »

Oh so many...........

but this one comes to mind at the moment;

POM p.148
Moyers: In this sense, unlike heros such as Prometheous or Jesus, we're not going on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves.

Campbell: But in doing that, you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there's no doubt about it. The world without spirit is a wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things around, changing the rules, and whos on top, and so forth. No, no! Any world is a valid world if it's alive. The thing to do is to bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become alive yourself.

and I'll add this from An Open Life;
The secure way is really the insecure way and the way in which the richness of the quest accumulates is the right way.


bg
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just dance and the world might just dance with you

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Post by Andreas »

Dark but hopeful.
One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light. (Power of Myth, p.44)
:)
“To live is enough.” &#8213; Shunryu Suzuki

Andreas
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Post by Andreas »

Hey guys,

Cindy I think you gonna like this one.
The idea in the hero adventure is to walk bodily through the door into the world where the dualistic rules don't apply. (Pathways to Bliss, p. 114)
“To live is enough.” &#8213; Shunryu Suzuki

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Post by JamesN. »

Great posts everyone; here are some that have helped me. #1. " The metaphor in religious traditions is to something transcendant that is not literally any thing. If you think that the metaphor is itself the reference, it would be like going to a restaurant, asking for the menu, seeing beefsteak written there, and starting to eat the menu." - "p. 56; " The Power of Myth" #2. " The hero's journey is a symbol that binds in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas: the spiritual quest of the ancients; with the modern search for identity. " - " The Hero's Journey" #3. " Jung speaks of the curve of a lifetime: the first half is the time of relationships, and the second half is the time of finding the sense of life within; or as the Hindus say, " following the Marga ", - the path, the footsteps of the human experience you've had - to your own inward life. And then total disengagement. Going through the last passage without anxiety, without fear. You go to your death singing. " - "p. 83 " A Joseph Campbell Companion - Reflections on the Art of Living ". Also from the same book: " The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. " All the Best ! James N.

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Post by A J »

David and everyone,

I am really enjoying having the widget on my igoogle page. I would like to be able to add it to my Webs pages, but can't find a way to do it.

In the meantime, the other day, I saw a quotation come up that was new to me. I wish I had written it down at the time, but didn't. Now I am working of expanding and changing my website, and would like to quote it, but it hasn't come back up at a time I had my homepage open.

It had to do with the idea that a myth cannot be invented. Would anyone have an idea what and where it might have been written?

I must be getting old or something.

AJ
"Sacred space and sacred time and something joyous to do is all we need. Almost anything then becomes a continuous and increasing joy."

A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living

Ercan2121
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Post by Ercan2121 »

Madam,

Here's from The Hero With A Thousand Faces
(Prologue, the Monomyth, 1.Myth and Dream, p. 3)
'For the symbols of mythology are not manufactured;
they cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently
suppressed. They are the spontaneous productions
of the Psyche, and each bears within it, undamaged,
the germ power of its source.'

Ah! Si la jeunesse savait, s'il suffisait d'être jeune :-)

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