just discovered joseph campbell

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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ophelia
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just discovered joseph campbell

Post by ophelia »

Hi... first I watched mythos on netflix and it blew my hair back by a mile... now i am devouring everything i can find and afford.... my (prior) life hit an all time low about 6 months ago... everything, and i mean everything, that glued my identity together dissolved... marriage, goals, home, career, health, you name it.... i have been grief-crazed. i have been layed low. i had been talking to my my therapist about what i perceived as a loss of purpose or meaning in my life, referring to the work of victor frankl, which was the only way i could make sense of what might help me. i'm not dissing frankl but it wasn't working for me. the question was stopping me. i couldn't answer it. i've never been able to answer it. i tried on all these roles and ended up disintegrated, disillusioned, and alone.

well, then comes this... completely unexpected... way of ordering myself, my consciousness... i don't know how to describe it. I'm going through the lectures now... well, they say when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. i seem to be in that situation. I can't soak up enough. i've been in a lifetime study of culture, psychology, politics, literature, economics, art, architecture, history, religion, all the sciences, and then BAM this funny, insightful, brilliant, cogent voice just weaves it all together in this incredibly accessible and personal way... i am profoundly grateful.... i wish i could have met him in person... there is no way i can thank him for his life work and how it has engaged me in this really life-saving, soul-saving way. this is what i've been looking for all my life but i cannot say i would have been ready for it before right now. so i thank the foundation and all of you for making these works available. i don't know that i've been able to adequately capture what effect these talks and essays and books are having on me... i don't fully understand it. all i know is i know exactly what i need to do now, i am excited, and i feel more alive than i have since childhood. thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Post by Cindy B. »

Cool, ophelia, and welcome!

Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called "the love of your fate." Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is what I need." It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength is there. --Campbell

As Jung said, "When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate."


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

ophelia
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Post by ophelia »

somehow when Campbell said "we are [culturally, globally] in a free fall into the future" -- i'd been following mythos and digging it but that's when it started to crystallize like a super-saturated solution. i also love how he quotes Nietzsche, who is my favorite philosopher.

thanks for the welcome :)

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Post by CarmelaBear »

ophelia wrote:somehow when Campbell said "we are [culturally, globally] in a free fall into the future" -- i'd been following mythos and digging it but that's when it started to crystallize like a super-saturated solution. i also love how he quotes Nietzsche, who is my favorite philosopher.

thanks for the welcome :)
Welcome to the Conversations, Ophelia. I can tell you that Campbell's work offers many years of "super-saturated solutions". He changed the world, and we are glad you are part of it.

~
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by cadfael »

Nietzsche? In someways he was just as convaluted as Socrates. Just because a person puts forth ideas intelligently does not mean that all of their arguements are correct. A philisophy book that I once had said that even evil people can sometimes tell the truth. This idea refers to Martin Heidegger. Be a real philosopher and question the philosophers. I would also add that it is good to study their lives beyond their reflections. Nietzsche was never really lucky in love. He wrote things at times that would offend women. He called Socrates ugly but he did not have any looks himself. The artist's idea of Socrates is more appealing. Nietzsches ideas would have been too harsh for a lot of women. As a result, it is no wonder he masturbated all the time according to Wagner. Furthermore, Socrates commited suicide for the herd. It seems that both of these men made the void their purpose. Nietzsche's life seemed to contradict his philosophy. Socrates was more honest in that he said that, "philosophy is the preparation for death." He also said, " Those who love learning and wisdom will someday walk with the gods." Really Socrates? Nietzsche cracked up. Do not take him seriously.
Last edited by cadfael on Mon Feb 25, 2013 3:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Neoplato
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Post by Neoplato »

Just a cotton-pickin minute! Don't call my buddy So-Crates convaluted and lump him in the same boat with Nietzsche...otherwise I can't disagree. :wink:
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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Post by cadfael »

I am guessing,NeoPlato,that you think that Nietzsche was convaluted and Socrates was not.Socrates said in Plato's Apology that,"Those who know the good can no longer do the evil." Really Socrates? There is no morality ultimatly. I learned that reality from Sartre and Nietzsche. Though as Carl Sagan wrote in his book Cosmos we have to have some regularity in life otherwise we could not do anything.

If I had to choose bettween Nietzsche and Socrates I would choose both as that is fine moderation. They are both convaluted as regards extremes. Though deep down I would prefer Nietzsche because he affirmed life more.

NeoPlato you said,"Just a cotton-pickin minute." The African slaves picked for hundreds of years. I don't think that they would sing" Take me Back to Old Virginia." Nietzsche believed that the noble human was capable of being produced in all of mankind.Hee! Hee! Hee!

Cadfael

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Post by Neoplato »

"Those who know the good can no longer do the evil." Really Socrates?
I actually agree with that statement and have often quoted this over my 4+ years on this website. From your comments I think we have different interpretations of the statement.

No offense meant by the "cotton pickin" comment. I was just quoting Bugs Bunny. :oops:
Nietzsche believed that the noble human was capable of being produced in all of mankind.
And so did hundrerds of his predecessors. This wasn't a unique thought to Nietzsche.
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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Post by CarmelaBear »

Yes, but Bugs Bunny is unique.
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

jleelordb
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Post by jleelordb »

There is no such thing as an original thought. The myths guiding all the great philosophers came from somewhere else, often the same somewhere else. While the original source of those myths shall forever remain a mystery, the effects can be readily observed in the philosophies of the masters and the activity of our own lives.
A persons greatest effort must usually serve as it's own and only reward. - My Dad

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

jleelordb wrote:There is no such thing as an original thought. The myths guiding all the great philosophers came from somewhere else, often the same somewhere else. While the original source of those myths shall forever remain a mystery, the effects can be readily observed in the philosophies of the masters and the activity of our own lives.
We are social mind-bodies who are mostly the product of gender-mixed genes, and most of us have usually been nurtured by females or in the dominant company of women. Adult men are usually in either direct or indirect contact with alpha females, and it is highly likely that much of what the greatest men achieved was a result or reflection of the females in their lives.

The source of much female experience and expression opens the field of source material in directions that would be utterly impossible for the male to access without the female as gateway to life, consciousness, will and action in the world. Women are not the source itself, but they open the way that allows the great masters to expose and clarify a common human experience.

~

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Post by jleelordb »

There seems to be a push towards gender neutrality in modern culture, a concerted attempt to debase old myths surrounding perceived superiority. I wonder what new myths are being rationalized in the process? Could some of the creative feminine essence be diluted by the myth of equality, or could the vital masculine thrust be softened? It seems that while myth has the power to give our imperfect and incomplete minds a handle on reality, it also plays a large part in shaping it. How powerful we truly are as individuals with complete control over the myths we forge and adopt as truth.
A persons greatest effort must usually serve as it's own and only reward. - My Dad

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

jleelordb wrote:... It seems that while myth has the power to give our imperfect and incomplete minds a handle on reality, it also plays a large part in shaping it. How powerful we truly are as individuals with complete control over the myths we forge and adopt as truth.
Myth has been used to keep the social order intact for a time, and it gives people courage to be and do what is required to live life. It can overpower truth by being confused with fact, either by religion or by any institution that uses it to control the individual (or vice versa).

Influence, rather than control is an entirely different matter. For example, we can use the myth and metaphor of Psyche to understand the facts of our individual stories without concern about whether Psyche is fact or fiction.

Gender roles are evolving along with our ideas about myth. Right now society is working overtime to clarify gender roles. Assignment of "acceptable behaviors and tastes" satisfy mighty cultures and economies dominated by families held together by male-dominant mythology. Patriarchy appeases and exploits female power through marital ritual, followed by lifelong parenting.

Confusion is being answered with enforced expectations, and the response appears to be a new set of truths symbolized by the more useful and attractive mythology currently being embraced by the young.

It is the social order that tends to "adopt myths as truth" because symbols have power to convey certain forms of consensus. Individuals who become social symbols can be said to have adopted the truth of a social myth. The judge's robes can artificially convey real power in the absence of individual or group approval. Pornography can artificially communicate sex roles and relationships in the absence of overt moral authority. The myth rules.

~

jleelordb
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Post by jleelordb »

This is a very enjoyable topic for me! The myth does indeed rule. I wonder, however, what would happen were a critical mass of individuals to adopt the mythology that they are GOD? I have lived under the assumption that all the circumstances of my life are direct responses to the choices I've made, i.e. I am God. It is a myth, and a ruling one at that, but it imbues the individual with infinite power as opposed to deflecting it onto some unfathomable force. When I suggested the individual having complete control over the myths we forge and adopt for truth, it was based on that all pervading myth I've personally adopted as truth. Also, it appears to me, that while cultural myths and biases can be transferred into any person, the penultimate decision on what to believe and what to discard lies with the individual.
A persons greatest effort must usually serve as it's own and only reward. - My Dad

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Post by Andreas »

I think, I agree with jleelordb. In my opinion also, when individuals assume that they are Gods they are always destined to live defined by unconscious tendencies. Jung said that the experience of the Self is always a defeat for the Ego. Our Ego likes to be in control but experience (at least my own) proves that is not always the case. Myth helps to harmonize these energies, me thinks.
“To live is enough.” ― Shunryu Suzuki

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