Where the heck has JC been my whole life?

Who was Joseph Campbell? What is a myth? What does "Follow Your Bliss" mean? If you are new to the work of Joseph Campbell, this forum is a good place to start.

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Dionysus
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Post by Dionysus »

Everyone is the Buddha. They just don't know it.

WesF
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Totally agreed with TS

Post by WesF »

Hey everyone, I just joined yesterday and, as this is my very first post, I figured this thread would be the most appropriate place to start.

I have been interested in mythology, legends, and all things folklore since I was a kid. Only recently did a teacher of mine inroduce me to Joseph Cambell's HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. Since I read it, I have been newly immersed in all of the old stories I enjoyed as a kid, but on a whole different level. I've read anything by Dr. Campbell that I can get my hands on, not to mention watch as many videos of his as I can find as well.

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Welcome Wes! Kick your shoes off and make yourself comfortable.

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

Bilrost Yggdrasil
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Post by Bilrost Yggdrasil »

Hello Clemsy & everyone:

In a sense I am new to JC as well. I had the 'good fortune' to stumble across POM ~ 1989 & was extremely intrigued. The excitement I felt with POM reminded me of the one singular excitement I felt in the 4th grade when I read my first book on Mythology.

Both pre- & post-JC exposure I was involved in a high demand ARM {alternative religious movement of the 'christian' fundamentalist variety}. Initially & for the first ~ 5 years it 'seemed' {? wishful thinking via 'groupthink,' self-fulfilling prophecy, etc.} as though the ARM group met some personal 'spiritual' needs, but for the last ~ 5 years of my involvement I began to have gradually accelerating misgivings about the group, but didn't just walk away due to feeling trapped by my "commitments" to 'god' & this iconoclastic ARM, which by 2001 I was perceiving as manipulative, exploitative, deceptive, unethical, promoting hyper-authoritarianism {see Milgram, Obedience to Authority}, utilizing time-honored techniques of coercive persuasion {see Margaret Singer, Cults in Our Midst; Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Persuasion, & numerous others}, among negatives too numerous to mention.

After satisfying myself with tracing the roots of this ARM back to the Neolithic period, which personal research took about 3 years, I lost all interest in 'spirituality.' I still have no interest in most if not all so-called 'organized religion' & even non-denominational, non-sectarian groups.

Naturally in this search I came across aspects of modern esoteric spirituality with roots also running back to the ~ Neolithic period. I was somewhat intrigued with certain aspects of Paganism, Buddhism, Taoism, allegorical aspects of Gnosticism, 'divine feminine,' & the various resurrection cults (Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, Mithra, etc., & to a much lesser extent, Jesus). This intrigue has simmered for some ~ 9 years.

More recently I became re-interested in the divine feminine. It was at this juncture that I re-discovered JC & re-read HTF.

Now at long last I feel that I am intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, & behaviorally ready
(with cognitive consonance, rather than dissonance) to take a much, much deeper mythological hero's journey.
Where the seeking one had thought to find an abomination, one shall find a god via the ordeals of slaying one's personal limitations of egocentricity, externality, & illusions, thus bringing up into conscious awareness one's univeral redeeming god-man, who is immanent within and throughout the multi-verse. Myth is the depersonalized dream; dream, the personalized myth.

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Welcome rhpeeler!

Glad you found us. Browse around and jump in where you will. I look forward to your participation! Your studies will be valued here.

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

Dionysus
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Post by Dionysus »

Welcome rh! Great journey, huh. Reminds me of my own journey. Without the fundamentalist baggage. THAT is quite a load to rid oneself of, but in MHO, necessary. A question: How does one trace a Christian philosophy back to the Neolithic?

Bilrost Yggdrasil
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Post by Bilrost Yggdrasil »

Dionysus wrote:Welcome rh! Great journey, huh. Reminds me of my own journey. Without the fundamentalist baggage. THAT is quite a load to rid oneself of, but in MHO, necessary. A question: How does one trace a Christian philosophy back to the Neolithic?
I tend to think that the answere lies in syncretistic confabulation, renaming, reframaing of the Myth of its unifying archetypical themes.

Or to plagarize tat tvam asi from the 'How did you get into Mythology' thread, "..."Scholars conjecture that a sense of divinity in Nature co-evolved with the first emergence of human consciousness, perhaps 100,000 years ago. The earliest god was Nature."

As far back as we are able to look into the past, says historian Colin Wilson, "human beings seem to have worshipped nature, and connected it to a higher spiritual reality, which they called god or the divine..."

And the rest is (a syncretistic confabulation of) history, whether anthropology, mythology, spirituality, comparative religion, etc.......

OR, to quote bodhibliss: "...In the previous section I'm pointing out why the archetypes of depth psychology are relevant to the study of mythology - which boils down to a recognition that the recurring motifs common to all mythology (the Virgin Birth, the World Axis, the Hero, God, etc.) are congruent with the archetypes of the collective psyche

- which is why these themes keep popping up in mythologies even where there is no possiblity of diffusion (e.g., the dead-and-resurrected god is as central to Mesoamerican as well as Mesopotamian mythologies, despite the wide separation in time and space between these two cultural matrices. If these mythological images reflect pattterns within the
human psyche by means of which we perceive and engage the world, then - the shape of the human imagination, so to speak - then such cosmic coincidences begin to make sense).

Dionysus
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Post by Dionysus »

I hear you rh. And I see what you mean. Check out Joe's four vol. THE MASKS OF GOD. I think he has a great take on these shared mythological motifs as he points out that they have a shared point of origination and diffusion.

Bilrost Yggdrasil
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Post by Bilrost Yggdrasil »

Clemsy & Dionysus,

I really appreciate your kind welcome. JCF would appear to be a wonderfully refreshing resource for those of us so inclined to dig much, much deeper into Myth, archetypes, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, as well as comparative mythology & religion. I look forward to being a participant in this great JCF 'spiritual' adventure!

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Post by Wozrep »

Hi All...new here! JC came into my life through a bunch of coincidences. Im 33 years old and had never heard of JC and all of a sudden he was popping up everwhere in the strangest of places. He also came intio my life during a crisis of sorts. After breaking down in tears one day at my therapists office about how I hate my job and the life im living, he recommended I buy the the Grimms fairy talse, which i thought was a very strange request. Anyways, I left the office and completely forgot about this strange task. A couple days later, i was on a date and the girl i was with recommended i watch the documentary Finding Joe. The next evening, I rented it and watched 2 times back to back. I was fascinated! I then started buying JC's lectures on itunes and watching documentaries on NetFlix. Devouring anything I could get my hands on. A few dfays later i found myself on the JC foundation website where I saw there was a MRT meeting in Santa Monica where I live and the next meeting was a couple days a way. I then clicked on his recommended readings tab, where one of the books on the list was the Grimms fairy Tales. I immediately bought a used version of the book on Amazon and it arrived a couple days later. Upon opening up the package,I immediately saw on the front cover that the foreward was written by JC. Amazing! I believe JC came into my life as soon as I was being called to Adventure. Is it possible that he's my guide or magical helper - the supernatural aid???

Anyhow, he's been a very supporting and comforting influence in my life. Almost like the father I wish i had. Anybody else feel that way???

Cindy B.
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Post by Cindy B. »

Meaningful coincidence rather than mere coincidence, huh, Wozrep. :)

Welcome!

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

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