"We're always living a myth". in need of quote a

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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judithfeldman
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"We're always living a myth". in need of quote a

Post by judithfeldman »

"We're always living a myth. We just don't know it." or in the alternative, "you're always living a myth, you just don't know it."

I remember reading those words in what i thought was "The Power Of Myth". But i can't, for the life of me, find it! is it there? is it anywhere? did i dream it up?

thank you for any help you can offer! Judith

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Post by Clemsy »

Hi Judith! The closest I could find at the moment is when Campbell is discussing what Jung said. This is from Pathways to Bliss, page 86:
When Jung finished this book (Symbols of Transformation, I believe) it did not mark the end of his insights on the topis. "Hardly had i finished the manuscript," he says in Memories, Dreams, Reflections, "when it struck me what it means to live with a myth, and what it means to live without one..." It occurred to him to ask himself by what myth he himself was living, and he realized he did not know. "So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know my myth, and this I regarded as my task of tasks."
Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Clemsy
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

judithfeldman
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Post by judithfeldman »

Clemsy, thank you so much. i could have sworn i heard it in power of myth, but this brings its own charm. that particular book of Jung's played a major role in my life, at another time. in answer to another question. i was immersed in the myth of David and Saul and Bathsheba, in my life, and wondered to myself who Uriah was in that myth...what role was he playing? and, at the beach, i opened Jung's Memories Dreams and Reflections to the place i had left off just the day before, pl.219 -- to a dream of Jung's where he followed his father up a steep flight of stairs to an upper door, a solitary chamber, wherein dwelt, his father said, the highest presence. And in that chamber was Uriah. the very Uriah i had just asked about . The highest presence.

all my best, Judith Bathsheva (married to David, daughter of Saul) 8)

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Post by Clemsy »

My pleasure, Judith! :-)
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Myrtle
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Post by Myrtle »

Judith and Clemsy,

I haven't found the exact quote, but it reminds me of a line in the book The Power of Myth (Chapter II "The Journey Inward" Page 57)
We are all manifestations of Buddha consciousness, or Christ consciousness, only we don't know it.
On the DVD ("The Message of the Myth" segment) he says:
We are all manifestations of Buddha consciousness, only don't know it.
Myrtle

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Post by Robert G. »

This is one of my favorite quotes with a similar sense:

MOYERS: How do we transform our consciousness?

CAMPBELL: That's a matter of what you are disposed to think about. And that's what meditation is for. All of life is a meditation, most of it unintentional.
(bolding mine) A lot of people spend most of life in meditating on where their money is coming from and where it's going to go. If you have a family to bring up, you're concerned for the family. These are all very important concerns, but they have to do with physical conditions, mostly. But how are you going to communicate spiritual consciousness to the children if you don't have it yourself? How do you get that? What the myths are for is to bring us into a level of consciousness that is spiritual.

The Power of Myth, p. 19

judithfeldman
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Post by judithfeldman »

Thank you Myrtle....Thank you Robert. Myrtle, I wasn't aware of your posting before this. Otherwise, I would have responded sooner. Thank you. I wonder if the quote I'm seeking is hidden there in that masterwork - POM - somewhere. I know I heard it while watching the work. But maybe what I heard is between the lines. But I continue to search. Robert, Ive gotta say that my favorite of your quote is the parting line.
"What the myths are for is to bring us into a level of consciousness that is spiritual."
To see the story we're living...to understand the myth within it, is to lift our consciousness to that higher vibration. No wonder when I began to see the myths operating in my own life...in this world...it all became so rich...so alive....with meaning and purpose...and energy. still is....
From that vibration I send you both ...all ..wishes for a Happy and Myth Filled New Year!

Cindy B.
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Re: "We're always living a myth". in need of quo

Post by Cindy B. »

judithfeldman wrote:"We're always living a myth. We just don't know it." or in the alternative, "you're always living a myth, you just don't know it."

I remember reading those words in what i thought was "The Power Of Myth". But i can't, for the life of me, find it! is it there? is it anywhere? did i dream it up?

thank you for any help you can offer! Judith
Hi, Judith.

What you're looking for comes from PATHWAYS TO BLISS, Chapter V: Personal Myth, p. 87:

...With respect to the development of each individual's psychology, we have such varied sources from which we've come and such varied opportunities in our lives that there is no single mythology that can have it for us. My belief is that within the field of secular society, which is a sort of neutral frame that allows individuals to to develop their own lives, so long as they don't annoy their neighbors too much, each of us has an individual myth that's driving us, which we may or may not know. That was the sense of Jung's question: what is the myth by which I am living...

Happy New Year!

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

judithfeldman
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Post by judithfeldman »

indeed Cindy, this may be it! but i've never read this work....and wonder how it got lodged in my consciousness after viewing POM? oh, well...they didn't call it the mystery school for nothing! So interesting that the answer to my query would be found in/on a pathway to bliss! thank you! and a Happy New Year to you!
Last edited by judithfeldman on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cindy B.
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Post by Cindy B. »

Just so you know, Judith, I did search my copy of POM, too, for a variation of these words and found none. Perhaps you read some quoted material along the way...?

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

judithfeldman
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Post by judithfeldman »

very possible...but it definitely got lodged after watching POM...it became part of my narrative about that work....that's what so puzzling....off to order pathway! as i said in my revised reply to you, .... So interesting that the answer to my query would be found in/on a pathway to bliss! thank you, again! Judith

Cindy B.
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Post by Cindy B. »

You'll enjoy PATHWAYS TO BLISS for sure, Judith, a wonderful merger of Campbell and Jungian ideas. 8)
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

judithfeldman
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Post by judithfeldman »

Doesn't get much better than that! Then again, there's Fritz Kunkel and Jack Sanford.... :) and Emmett Fox ... Standing on the shoulders of giants..... in gratitude for all the wisdom....

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Post by Cindy B. »

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

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Post by JamesN. »

Hello Judith and everyone.

What a really nice discussion you have going here and one which I think is so very relevant. Not only as a vehicle to interpreting much of Joseph Campbell's ideas; but also to the day to day practical application of integrating them in a very human and individualized sense for the navigation of one's personal life geography. Especially when Joe quotes Jung as saying when he realized he did not know what his myth was: " I made it my task of tasks to find out. " Also ( Pathways to Bliss ) is an excellent compliment to this theme and to my way of thinking actually expands on this approach. ( Just my personal thoughts here. )

If I may add to everyone's observation concerning the quote; it should be noted that between both the book ( and ) the video of " Power of Myth " ( there are differences in the dialogue probably due to the editing process ). I have also encountered this problem before on more than one occasion; and I too seem to remember this line in the video but as to it's presence in the book I'm not sure of where it would be if at all. ( There is mention of this specific kind descrepancy or divergence in dialogue in the Editor's note at the beginning of the book. ) So none of us are suffering from abscent-mindedness. ( Comforting ; huh? :lol: )

Cheers
What do I know? - Michael de Montaigne

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