What do you think?
Rate this book
Myths to Live By
What is a properly functioning mythology and what are its functions? Can we use myths to help relieve our modern anxiety, or do they help foster it? In Myths to Live By, Joseph Campbell explores the enduring power of the universal myths that influence our lives daily and examines the myth-making process from the primitive past to the immediate present, retuning always to the source from which all mythology springs: the creative imagination. Campbell stresses that the borders dividing the Earth have been shattered; that myths and religions have always followed the certain basic archetypes and are no longer exclusive to a single people, region, or religion. He shows how we must recognize their common denominators and allow this knowledge to be of use in fulfilling human potential everywhere.
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
Joseph Campbell
361 books5,434 followersJoseph Campbell was an American author and teacher best known for his work in the field of comparative mythology. He was born in New York City in 1904, and from early childhood he became interested in mythology. He loved to read books about American Indian cultures, and frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles.
Campbell was educated at Columbia University, where he specialized in medieval literature, and continued his studies at universities in Paris and Munich. While abroad he was influenced by the art of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, the novels of James Joyce and Thomas Mann, and the psychological studies of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These encounters led to Campbell's theory that all myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities.
After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, and then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 40s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He also edited works by the German scholar Heinrich Zimmer on Indian art, myths, and philosophy. In 1944, with Henry Morton Robinson, Campbell published A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake. His first original work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, came out in 1949 and was immediately well received; in time, it became acclaimed as a classic. In this study of the "myth of the hero," Campbell asserted that there is a single pattern of heroic journey and that all cultures share this essential pattern in their various heroic myths. In his book he also outlined the basic conditions, stages, and results of the archetypal hero's journey.
Throughout his life, he traveled extensively and wrote prolifically, authoring many books, including the four-volume series The Masks of God, Myths to Live By, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and The Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Joseph Campbell died in 1987. In 1988, a series of television interviews with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, introduced Campbell's views to millions of people.
Campbell was educated at Columbia University, where he specialized in medieval literature, and continued his studies at universities in Paris and Munich. While abroad he was influenced by the art of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, the novels of James Joyce and Thomas Mann, and the psychological studies of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These encounters led to Campbell's theory that all myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities.
After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, and then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 40s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He also edited works by the German scholar Heinrich Zimmer on Indian art, myths, and philosophy. In 1944, with Henry Morton Robinson, Campbell published A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake. His first original work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, came out in 1949 and was immediately well received; in time, it became acclaimed as a classic. In this study of the "myth of the hero," Campbell asserted that there is a single pattern of heroic journey and that all cultures share this essential pattern in their various heroic myths. In his book he also outlined the basic conditions, stages, and results of the archetypal hero's journey.
Throughout his life, he traveled extensively and wrote prolifically, authoring many books, including the four-volume series The Masks of God, Myths to Live By, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and The Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Joseph Campbell died in 1987. In 1988, a series of television interviews with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, introduced Campbell's views to millions of people.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 323 reviews
March 9, 2015
This is the best introduction to Joseph Campbell, and very accessible. If you are new to his work, this would be the ideal place to start.
December 21, 2023
The essential Campbell in small, yet healthy portions
'Myths to Live By', aside from the book length transcript of the televised interviews he did with Bill Moyers, 'The Power of Myth', is the only one of Joseph Campbell's books that I have read, not only once, but twice now. I still intend someday to read 'The Hero of a Thousand Faces' and his magnum opus, the four volumes of 'The Masks of God.' When I read it the first time in the early 80's at a very desperate time in my life, I saw the title and thought, 'Perhaps I can glean some kind of universal lesson or wisdom or learn of some myth that illustrates this mess I'm experiencing right now.' It didn't quite do that although it did open my mind to commonality between cultures and their religions. Now, over 30 years later, at a much different stage of my life, I have read it again and, although it is a cliché to say it, I am not the same person now than the one that read it 30 years ago and it has receded even further in time from the date of its publication; yet most of the things he says about what our world was becoming then seem very prophetic of what our world is becoming now.
'Myths to Live By' is also coincidentally echoed in another extensive interview he made with Moyers earlier in the decade of the 80's and so many of the nuggets he utters in the interviews have equivalents in this book, a collection of talks he gave between 1958 and 1971 at the Cooper Union Forum, essentially a descendant of the Chautauqua series of the 19th century.
Among these nuggets are the following:
• Most of us are familiar with the Biblical Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge whose fruit Adam and Eve were warned by God to not eat and the serpent from the Tree that tempted Eve and, in turn, Adam to eat that fruit. The serpent is a temptress (temptation is often feminized in Hebrew mythology) and the agent of Adam and Eve's exile and downfall into sin. In the Indian mythology, there is also a Tree, beneath which Siddhartha, later the Buddha, the Wakened One, sits. There is a serpent in this legend as well but it is not evil but, rather, 'symbolic of the immortal inhabiting energy of all life on Earth. For the Serpent shedding its skin, to be, as it were, born again, is likened in the Orient to the reincarnating spirit that assumes and throws off bodies as a man puts on and puts off clothes.' According to the Buddhist view, what is keeping us out of the garden is not the jealousy of an angry God but our attachment to our limited lives in space and time.
• Satan as the great lover of God – according to one Persian tradition, Satan was not cast out of Heaven because of his pride but because he loved God so intensely that he could not bring himself to bow before anything else. 'Now it has been said that of all the pains of Hell, the worst is neither fire nor stench but the deprivation forever of the beatific sight of God. How infinitely painful, then, must the exile of this great lover be, who could not bring himself, even on God's own word, to bow before any other being!' And so what sustains Satan—the memory of the sound of God's voice when he said, 'Be gone!' Campbell calls this an image of 'that exquisite spiritual agony which is at once the rapture and anguish of love!'
• In the same chapter on the mythology of Love, Campbell recounts an incident in which a woman who had suffered great loss and grief came to the Indian sage Ramakrishna and said, "I do not find that I love God." He asked, "Is there nothing that you love?" She answered, "My little nephew". To which he said to her, "There is your love and service to God, in your love and service to that child." This awareness of God as immanent in all things is echoed in a passage Campbell quotes from the Gospel of Thomas: "Cleave a piece of wood, I am there; lift up a stone, you will find me there."
• In his essay, "Schizophrenia: The Inward Journey," Campbell compares the intentional schizophrenia of shamans and mystics with the psychotic schizophrenia of many of those in mental hospitals (as well as many an LSD explorer). They both enter the same deep inward sea. The mystic dives in and can swim back out of the depths. The psychotic drowns in it.
• Campbell delivered his talk "The Moon Walk—The Outward Journey" the year after the first moon landing. He is understandably ecstatic and his professorial detachment abandons him as he waxes rhapsodically on the great milestone of this major accomplishment, after centuries of being bound to this small planet in a vast universe, in which man, propelled in a device and using principles developed in the minds of Kant and Newton, that the laws of time and space that govern humans on Earth can also apply when that human ventures to another location in the galaxy, provided humanity with a perspective that the inner space and the external universe have the same origin. "We know that the mathematics of those outermost spaces will have already been computed here on earth by human minds. There are no laws out there that are not right here; no gods out there that are not right here, and not only here, but within us, in our minds."
Campbell uses the exhilaration of his moon chapter to launch into his rhapsodic conclusion, in which he states that mythologies, as in religions, are great poems that point through events to the ubiquity of a presence or eternity that is whole and entire in each. Each of them has the capacity to place the person ingesting them into the "Mind at Large" as Huxley called it. We are animals and so we are driven by an instinct for survival but, whereas a dog can only be a dog and a cat can only be a cat, humans have imaginations that can enable us to be astronauts, physicists, artists or almost anything else. Myth is a tool for illumination of "the waking of individuals in the knowledge of themselves, not simply as egos fighting for place on the surface of this beautiful planet, but equally as centers of Mind at Large—each in his own way at one with all, and with no horizons."
Although the frontiers of space exploration were off limits due to economic and global constraints and have not, at least at this point in time, fulfilled the expectation that Campbell, like Kubrick and Clarke with their film '2001' hoped, most of what he said 40-50 years ago is as relevant now as it was then. Even as boundaries are maintained and humans are still following the impulses to make war that he delineated in his essay on the mythologies of war and peace, other boundaries have been broken. What Campbell did not foresee was the shrinkage of distance in communication that the Internet has brought and the globalization and interdependence of nations and economies that have developed, in part as a byproduct of technological innovation. What wonders he could see, what mythic potential he could envision if he saw the world of the 21st century! And so I, and the world, are different from the one in 1983 when I first read this book or the world of the 50's, 60's and 70's when these lectures were written. Finally, if one wants a relatively concise introduction to the range of Campbell's mythic concerns, aside from 'The Power of Myth', this volume is as good a place to start as any.
'Myths to Live By', aside from the book length transcript of the televised interviews he did with Bill Moyers, 'The Power of Myth', is the only one of Joseph Campbell's books that I have read, not only once, but twice now. I still intend someday to read 'The Hero of a Thousand Faces' and his magnum opus, the four volumes of 'The Masks of God.' When I read it the first time in the early 80's at a very desperate time in my life, I saw the title and thought, 'Perhaps I can glean some kind of universal lesson or wisdom or learn of some myth that illustrates this mess I'm experiencing right now.' It didn't quite do that although it did open my mind to commonality between cultures and their religions. Now, over 30 years later, at a much different stage of my life, I have read it again and, although it is a cliché to say it, I am not the same person now than the one that read it 30 years ago and it has receded even further in time from the date of its publication; yet most of the things he says about what our world was becoming then seem very prophetic of what our world is becoming now.
'Myths to Live By' is also coincidentally echoed in another extensive interview he made with Moyers earlier in the decade of the 80's and so many of the nuggets he utters in the interviews have equivalents in this book, a collection of talks he gave between 1958 and 1971 at the Cooper Union Forum, essentially a descendant of the Chautauqua series of the 19th century.
Among these nuggets are the following:
• Most of us are familiar with the Biblical Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge whose fruit Adam and Eve were warned by God to not eat and the serpent from the Tree that tempted Eve and, in turn, Adam to eat that fruit. The serpent is a temptress (temptation is often feminized in Hebrew mythology) and the agent of Adam and Eve's exile and downfall into sin. In the Indian mythology, there is also a Tree, beneath which Siddhartha, later the Buddha, the Wakened One, sits. There is a serpent in this legend as well but it is not evil but, rather, 'symbolic of the immortal inhabiting energy of all life on Earth. For the Serpent shedding its skin, to be, as it were, born again, is likened in the Orient to the reincarnating spirit that assumes and throws off bodies as a man puts on and puts off clothes.' According to the Buddhist view, what is keeping us out of the garden is not the jealousy of an angry God but our attachment to our limited lives in space and time.
• Satan as the great lover of God – according to one Persian tradition, Satan was not cast out of Heaven because of his pride but because he loved God so intensely that he could not bring himself to bow before anything else. 'Now it has been said that of all the pains of Hell, the worst is neither fire nor stench but the deprivation forever of the beatific sight of God. How infinitely painful, then, must the exile of this great lover be, who could not bring himself, even on God's own word, to bow before any other being!' And so what sustains Satan—the memory of the sound of God's voice when he said, 'Be gone!' Campbell calls this an image of 'that exquisite spiritual agony which is at once the rapture and anguish of love!'
• In the same chapter on the mythology of Love, Campbell recounts an incident in which a woman who had suffered great loss and grief came to the Indian sage Ramakrishna and said, "I do not find that I love God." He asked, "Is there nothing that you love?" She answered, "My little nephew". To which he said to her, "There is your love and service to God, in your love and service to that child." This awareness of God as immanent in all things is echoed in a passage Campbell quotes from the Gospel of Thomas: "Cleave a piece of wood, I am there; lift up a stone, you will find me there."
• In his essay, "Schizophrenia: The Inward Journey," Campbell compares the intentional schizophrenia of shamans and mystics with the psychotic schizophrenia of many of those in mental hospitals (as well as many an LSD explorer). They both enter the same deep inward sea. The mystic dives in and can swim back out of the depths. The psychotic drowns in it.
• Campbell delivered his talk "The Moon Walk—The Outward Journey" the year after the first moon landing. He is understandably ecstatic and his professorial detachment abandons him as he waxes rhapsodically on the great milestone of this major accomplishment, after centuries of being bound to this small planet in a vast universe, in which man, propelled in a device and using principles developed in the minds of Kant and Newton, that the laws of time and space that govern humans on Earth can also apply when that human ventures to another location in the galaxy, provided humanity with a perspective that the inner space and the external universe have the same origin. "We know that the mathematics of those outermost spaces will have already been computed here on earth by human minds. There are no laws out there that are not right here; no gods out there that are not right here, and not only here, but within us, in our minds."
Campbell uses the exhilaration of his moon chapter to launch into his rhapsodic conclusion, in which he states that mythologies, as in religions, are great poems that point through events to the ubiquity of a presence or eternity that is whole and entire in each. Each of them has the capacity to place the person ingesting them into the "Mind at Large" as Huxley called it. We are animals and so we are driven by an instinct for survival but, whereas a dog can only be a dog and a cat can only be a cat, humans have imaginations that can enable us to be astronauts, physicists, artists or almost anything else. Myth is a tool for illumination of "the waking of individuals in the knowledge of themselves, not simply as egos fighting for place on the surface of this beautiful planet, but equally as centers of Mind at Large—each in his own way at one with all, and with no horizons."
Although the frontiers of space exploration were off limits due to economic and global constraints and have not, at least at this point in time, fulfilled the expectation that Campbell, like Kubrick and Clarke with their film '2001' hoped, most of what he said 40-50 years ago is as relevant now as it was then. Even as boundaries are maintained and humans are still following the impulses to make war that he delineated in his essay on the mythologies of war and peace, other boundaries have been broken. What Campbell did not foresee was the shrinkage of distance in communication that the Internet has brought and the globalization and interdependence of nations and economies that have developed, in part as a byproduct of technological innovation. What wonders he could see, what mythic potential he could envision if he saw the world of the 21st century! And so I, and the world, are different from the one in 1983 when I first read this book or the world of the 50's, 60's and 70's when these lectures were written. Finally, if one wants a relatively concise introduction to the range of Campbell's mythic concerns, aside from 'The Power of Myth', this volume is as good a place to start as any.
February 8, 2020
-١-
العنوان مضلل جداً للأسف.
فقد منيت نفسي بقراءة شيء عن الملاحم والأساطير القديمة الخالدة وفوجئت بأن الكتاب عبارة عن سلسلة محاضرات ألقاها المؤلف في ندوات جمعية كوبر، وهذه المحاضرات لا تنضوي (إلا قليلاً جداً) تحت هذا العنوان الواسع.
-٢-
الأساطير التي قصدها كامبل في محاضراته هي "الأديان" في المقام الأول، ولقد كان للديانات الشرقية وبخاصة الهندوسية حصة الأسد فيها.
-٣-
"لم تعجبني نبرة المؤلف"
هذه الجملة اقتبسها من واحدة من المراجعات الواردة في جودريدز ولامستني بقوة.
لقد شعرت طوال الوقت بأن كامبل متحامل على الشرقيين ويريد بشتى الوسائل أن يبرز نقاط ضعف فلسفاتهم وأديانهم وتقويض إيمانهم بها.
إضافة إلى أنه يظهر في بعض المواضع بصفة الرجل الغربي المتفوق الذي يريد قيادة الجنس البشري إلى جادة الصواب وتصحيح المفاهيم المغلوطة وشرح "الخزعبلات" التي نؤمن بها.
-٤-
قد يرى البعض في مراجعتي شيئاً من "الحساسية" المتوارثة لدينا نحن العرب ضد الغربيين وبأنني "رجعية" أو أو أو..
و لو كنت كذلك فعلاً لتوقفت عن قراءة الكتاب بعد المحاضرة الأولى، ولكنني تحاملت على نفسي بأقصى قدرة أمتلكها لإتمامه
(توقفت عند بداية المحاضرة قبل الأخيرة)
بل وحددت العديد من المقاطع وكتبت إلى جانبها ردودي على كامبل ووجهات نظري التي قد لا تعجب أحداً غيري ليمتلئ الكتاب بالخربشات كدفتر تلميذ مبتدئ.
ربما هذا الكتاب ممتاز ومفيد جداً.. ولكن ليس لي.
العنوان مضلل جداً للأسف.
فقد منيت نفسي بقراءة شيء عن الملاحم والأساطير القديمة الخالدة وفوجئت بأن الكتاب عبارة عن سلسلة محاضرات ألقاها المؤلف في ندوات جمعية كوبر، وهذه المحاضرات لا تنضوي (إلا قليلاً جداً) تحت هذا العنوان الواسع.
-٢-
الأساطير التي قصدها كامبل في محاضراته هي "الأديان" في المقام الأول، ولقد كان للديانات الشرقية وبخاصة الهندوسية حصة الأسد فيها.
-٣-
"لم تعجبني نبرة المؤلف"
هذه الجملة اقتبسها من واحدة من المراجعات الواردة في جودريدز ولامستني بقوة.
لقد شعرت طوال الوقت بأن كامبل متحامل على الشرقيين ويريد بشتى الوسائل أن يبرز نقاط ضعف فلسفاتهم وأديانهم وتقويض إيمانهم بها.
إضافة إلى أنه يظهر في بعض المواضع بصفة الرجل الغربي المتفوق الذي يريد قيادة الجنس البشري إلى جادة الصواب وتصحيح المفاهيم المغلوطة وشرح "الخزعبلات" التي نؤمن بها.
-٤-
قد يرى البعض في مراجعتي شيئاً من "الحساسية" المتوارثة لدينا نحن العرب ضد الغربيين وبأنني "رجعية" أو أو أو..
و لو كنت كذلك فعلاً لتوقفت عن قراءة الكتاب بعد المحاضرة الأولى، ولكنني تحاملت على نفسي بأقصى قدرة أمتلكها لإتمامه
(توقفت عند بداية المحاضرة قبل الأخيرة)
بل وحددت العديد من المقاطع وكتبت إلى جانبها ردودي على كامبل ووجهات نظري التي قد لا تعجب أحداً غيري ليمتلئ الكتاب بالخربشات كدفتر تلميذ مبتدئ.
ربما هذا الكتاب ممتاز ومفيد جداً.. ولكن ليس لي.
March 25, 2016
One paragraph that hooked me very early on:
"...in our present day - at least in the leading modern centers of cultural creativity - people have begun to take the existance of their supporting social orders for granted, and instead of aiming to defend and maintain the integrity of the community have begun to place at the center of concern the development and protection of the individual - the individual, moreover, not as an organ of the state but as an end and entity in himself. This marks an extremely important, unprecedented shift of ground...."
Campbell's lectures elucidate the important social and psychological safety net that mythology represents for human beings. When we lose the ability to correlate what happens in our reality with symbolic representations that ground the unfolding dramas of our lives in a commonly interpreted context, we suffer the isolation and depression that seems to be increasingly pervasive in modern life.
But it is equally important that we keep our mythology fluid and integrated with changing technology and scientific developments. Nothing is more corrupting and psychically damaging than trying to fit a modern sensibility into an archaic mental structure.
He does a great job of explaining why the mythic stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam no longer breathe meaning into most people's present day lives, and the danger inherent in taking these stories out of context and as literal truth in a cross-culturally colliding world.
"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 of "elsewheres" and "outsiders" meets the requirements of this hour."
(This he wrote this long before the Internet, mobile phones and 9/11...)
"...in our present day - at least in the leading modern centers of cultural creativity - people have begun to take the existance of their supporting social orders for granted, and instead of aiming to defend and maintain the integrity of the community have begun to place at the center of concern the development and protection of the individual - the individual, moreover, not as an organ of the state but as an end and entity in himself. This marks an extremely important, unprecedented shift of ground...."
Campbell's lectures elucidate the important social and psychological safety net that mythology represents for human beings. When we lose the ability to correlate what happens in our reality with symbolic representations that ground the unfolding dramas of our lives in a commonly interpreted context, we suffer the isolation and depression that seems to be increasingly pervasive in modern life.
But it is equally important that we keep our mythology fluid and integrated with changing technology and scientific developments. Nothing is more corrupting and psychically damaging than trying to fit a modern sensibility into an archaic mental structure.
He does a great job of explaining why the mythic stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam no longer breathe meaning into most people's present day lives, and the danger inherent in taking these stories out of context and as literal truth in a cross-culturally colliding world.
"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 of "elsewheres" and "outsiders" meets the requirements of this hour."
(This he wrote this long before the Internet, mobile phones and 9/11...)
October 18, 2009
A friend of mine recommended Joseph Campbell to me a while back, and I never got a chance to check him out until this book randomly fell into my lap at the bookstore I work at. This book was right up my alley. Campbell's thesis is that mythology plays a more important role in our lives than we give it credit for - by mythology, I mean religion too. When you get down to it, mythology is ultimately the resting place for dead religions. Anyway, the myths of a culture really go far in explaining who we are and how we think. In this book, there are several different chapters that explore several interesting aspects of mythology, such as the one that ties the study of myths with treating schizophrenia; or how the lunar landings has changed the landscape of human interaction forever. Every time I started a chapter, I'd approach it with apprehension, wondering if it'll be able to capture and retain my interest, but I'd always finish it with a feeling of having read something profound. I will definitely be reading more of Campbell, and I suggest anyone with even a passing interest in religion, mythology, or psychology give him a read as well.
December 12, 2019
هو دراسة وتحليل لأساطير الإنسان أو العالم مع إشارات عابرة إلى ظواهر الأحلام، والرؤى الباطنية، قامت على أساس سيكولوجي، تشكلت من جميع الأساطير التقليدية؛ أي منطومة من الثيمات والأفكار النمطية في جميع الأساطير. شملت الميثولوجيا والأدب- تاريخ الأسطورة و الأديان، بين الأسطورة والعلم، الشخصية الأسطورية، ودور الأسطورة في حياة الفرد والجماعة، وأخرى.
هي محاولة مستفيضة لفهم لغة الصورة الخاصة بالأسطورة وأثرها على الفرد أو الجماعة. ضمن سياق اجتماعي أو في نطاق اللاوعي الشخصي أو اللاوعي الجمعي. وأثرها في الحياة اليومية، وعلى المخيال الاجتماعي .
هي محاولة مستفيضة لفهم لغة الصورة الخاصة بالأسطورة وأثرها على الفرد أو الجماعة. ضمن سياق اجتماعي أو في نطاق اللاوعي الشخصي أو اللاوعي الجمعي. وأثرها في الحياة اليومية، وعلى المخيال الاجتماعي .
April 1, 2018
Knyga apie istorijas, kurias mes pasakojame ir kurias mums pasakoja taip dažnai, kad pradedame pamiršti, koks buvo pirminis jų atsiradimo tikslas, ir nematome, kaip jos paveikia mūsų suvokimą, mąstymą ir savęs vaizdą.
Knyga parašyta iš radijo paskaitų ciklo, skirto kuo platesniam ir įvairesniam klausytojų ratui, tad pavyzdžiai gyvenimiški (mums gal ir kiek istoriški - paskaitos skaitytos pirmojo išsilaipinimo Mėnulyje laikotarpiu) ir suprantami.
Ir čia nėra Bėgančios su vilkais variantas, priešistorė ar kas panašaus - J. Campbell nors ir kabina psichologinius momentus, šioje knygoje daugiau istorikas ir sociologas, padedantis suprasti, kodėl visuomenė galvojo ir gyveno taip, kaip gyveno, ir kodėl toks gyvenimas keičiasi.
Knyga parašyta iš radijo paskaitų ciklo, skirto kuo platesniam ir įvairesniam klausytojų ratui, tad pavyzdžiai gyvenimiški (mums gal ir kiek istoriški - paskaitos skaitytos pirmojo išsilaipinimo Mėnulyje laikotarpiu) ir suprantami.
Ir čia nėra Bėgančios su vilkais variantas, priešistorė ar kas panašaus - J. Campbell nors ir kabina psichologinius momentus, šioje knygoje daugiau istorikas ir sociologas, padedantis suprasti, kodėl visuomenė galvojo ir gyveno taip, kaip gyveno, ir kodėl toks gyvenimas keičiasi.
August 24, 2009
This series of lectures is very interesting and a good read for those interested in religions. Campbell draws on sources from the world religions and shows many similarities. My favorite was the chapter on mythologies of war and peace, as I felt he clearly laid out the similarities and differences between various religions on that topic.
Overall though, Campbell seems to come to conclusions that are unjustified by the data. Perhaps we could say he takes many leaps of faith. He focuses on similarities between the religions, but when differences inevitably crop up it is the Eastern religions that are said to be true while the Western must be thrown out. Most eastern religions teach you to look inside yourself for help or strength while western religions say to look outside of yourself to God; eastern religions are not as focused on historical events as western ones. In both these cases Campbell endorses the eastern view (this comes across most clearly in the final chapter Envoy: No More Horizons). Other than trusting Campbell's feelings and experience, how do we know that is the correct direction to go? Campbell just assumes it, which goes along with a general condescending attitude to western religion in the book. Another example of this tact comes when he asserts that astronauts flying into space and landing on the moon has "refuted" the Biblical God's existence (p. 235-8). It is an affirmation made without any real argument.
Campbell's faith is in the progression of humanity, a progression with "no horizon" (266) that will continue forever in the future. Reason for this optimism are needed as Campbell ignores the horrific atrocities of the 20th century, the most progressed and secular time in human history.
The study of similarities between religions is an intriguing topic. But while Campbell's contributions are valuable I must say that, and I realize I am a flea barking at a pit bull, I was hoping for more analysis.
Overall though, Campbell seems to come to conclusions that are unjustified by the data. Perhaps we could say he takes many leaps of faith. He focuses on similarities between the religions, but when differences inevitably crop up it is the Eastern religions that are said to be true while the Western must be thrown out. Most eastern religions teach you to look inside yourself for help or strength while western religions say to look outside of yourself to God; eastern religions are not as focused on historical events as western ones. In both these cases Campbell endorses the eastern view (this comes across most clearly in the final chapter Envoy: No More Horizons). Other than trusting Campbell's feelings and experience, how do we know that is the correct direction to go? Campbell just assumes it, which goes along with a general condescending attitude to western religion in the book. Another example of this tact comes when he asserts that astronauts flying into space and landing on the moon has "refuted" the Biblical God's existence (p. 235-8). It is an affirmation made without any real argument.
Campbell's faith is in the progression of humanity, a progression with "no horizon" (266) that will continue forever in the future. Reason for this optimism are needed as Campbell ignores the horrific atrocities of the 20th century, the most progressed and secular time in human history.
The study of similarities between religions is an intriguing topic. But while Campbell's contributions are valuable I must say that, and I realize I am a flea barking at a pit bull, I was hoping for more analysis.
March 27, 2021
Компаративисти като Джоузеф Кембъл пишат истински валдините книги за пътищата към реализирането на потенциала. Правят го като помагат на читателя да разбере културното си място в света и личния мит, който го съпъства. Сравнителната митология за мен е единственият работещ селф-хелп и много се радвам, че като читател се сблъсках с Джоузеф Кембъл. Велик учен и изследовател.
July 2, 2018
Mitologijos tyrinėtojo knyga apie mito atsiradimą, keitimąsi ir poveikį XXI a. žmogui. Perskaitę knygą sužinosite kokie yra krikščionybės ir kitų religijų panašumai, kodėl mylintis žmogus patiria mitų įtaką, kodėl karas įtakoja mito atsiradimą ir kaip karo ir taikos sugretinimas atsispindi JAV herbe ir daug kt. Įdomių dalykų.
October 10, 2020
Trumpai: nemažai dalykų buvo kažkur viena ausimi girdėti ir kažko labai naujo aš nesužinojau, tačiau tie, kurie mažiau domisi tokiais dalykais, tikrai ras nemažai įdomybių ir, tikiu, smagiai suskaitys. Be to ir autoriaus tikslas labai gražus - šviesti visuomenę, kad žinodami jie būtų laisvi saąmoningai pasirinkti dalykus, o ne pakliūti į mitų ir prietarų spąstus.Taigi tie, kurie pasiiilgo šiek tiek akademinių dalykų ir nori kažką naujo sužinoti bei praplėsti savo akiratį - bėkit skaityti "Mitai, kuriais gyvename". Gero skaitymo.
Išsami apžvalga mano puslapyje darvienapuslapi.lt --> https://bit.ly/34L49z4
Išsami apžvalga mano puslapyje darvienapuslapi.lt --> https://bit.ly/34L49z4
September 1, 2017
Although I have many other books by Joseph Campbell, this one probably influenced me the most. I think I've read the essay in this book entitled "The Separation of East and West" over two dozen times in the past 30 years I've had this book, going back to its insights over and over and over, deeply ensconcing his ideas into my understanding of our complex human world.
Campbell's work is some of the most important knowledge a modern contemporary person can have - knowledge that helps bring a deep understanding of the fundamental differences (and similarities) between the world's cultures, religions, mythologies, arts, philosophies, worldviews, starting with the essential differences between what constitutes Occidental cultures -v Oriental cultures and ancient from modern. His Masks of God series The Masks of God, 4 Vols and his copiously illustrated 5-vol Historical Atlas of World Mythologies Historical Atlas of World Mythology, Vol 2, Part 3: Mythologies of the primitive planters: the Middle and Southern Americas constitute, in my mind, one of the most important contributions of cultural knowledge of the 20th Century.
Myths to Live By is an essential collection of his essays that will enlighten and bring deeper understanding and appreciation for the many ways culture divides and unites us.
Campbell's work is some of the most important knowledge a modern contemporary person can have - knowledge that helps bring a deep understanding of the fundamental differences (and similarities) between the world's cultures, religions, mythologies, arts, philosophies, worldviews, starting with the essential differences between what constitutes Occidental cultures -v Oriental cultures and ancient from modern. His Masks of God series The Masks of God, 4 Vols and his copiously illustrated 5-vol Historical Atlas of World Mythologies Historical Atlas of World Mythology, Vol 2, Part 3: Mythologies of the primitive planters: the Middle and Southern Americas constitute, in my mind, one of the most important contributions of cultural knowledge of the 20th Century.
Myths to Live By is an essential collection of his essays that will enlighten and bring deeper understanding and appreciation for the many ways culture divides and unites us.
January 28, 2020
جوزيف كامبل في أبهى حلاته الأستاذية, وهو يحاضر بنا عن مواضيع شائقة جدا ترتبط بالأساطير وكيف يساهم أحيانا العلم في أن يردم الهوة التي نشأت عليها تلك الأساطير في تفسير العالم, ومن ناحية أخرى يبين كيف أن الأساطير لا تزال مسيطرة على مجالات مهما فسرها العلم, إلا أن التماهي الطبيعي بين الإنسان والحياة لن يردعه عن عدم التصديق بتلك الأساطير.
February 11, 2021
How do we make sense of our lives? The days when religion could provide comforting answers are long gone, except for the terminally hopeful among us. Perhaps the search for answers is meaningless, and Gertrude Stein was right, “There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer.” If there are no objective truths, no universal constructs, then the only meaning for our life is the meaning we give it ourselves.
Despite all of humankind’s individuality it is perhaps not surprising that a strong thread of commonality runs through our deepest psyche. How else to explain the strange phenomenon of cultures widely separated in time and space that came up with similar versions of the same myths, such as those that horrified the early Europeans in the New World when they saw natives worshiping a twisted but recognizable version of their own religion?
And where is truth to be found? For that matter, what is truth? If it exists how do we find it? Campbell suggests that if you search for immanence you can find it all around you, but you must be prepared for it, to know what you are looking for. Just as Poe’s Purloined Letter said that the best place to hide something is in plain sight, we can search for years to find something that is right before us, and only see it when we are finally prepared to see it. That is the idea in Shakespeare’s lines from Julius Caesar that,
Not only does what you seek need to be there, you need to be ready to see it to grasp the opportunity. T. S. Elliot phrased the same idea similarly:
Science plays a surprising role in this story. Many people would think that science displaces myth, as truth replaces falsehood, but there is a deeper context to consider. Science gives us a framework for making sense of our lives even if we don’t understand the details. You don’t have to be a physicist to accept the implications of e=mc2, or lose yourself in wonder at the mind bending implications that space and time are two manifestation of the same phenomenon.
Myths are not just stories, and if we reject them we do so at our own peril. They inform and contextualize our lives, which feel empty without them. This alienation, from ourselves as well as from society, might be a contributing factor to the anomie of modern life.
This is one of those rare books that stretch the boundaries of your mind, giving you a new vocabulary of wonder for the ways in which we as individuals and as societies confront and assimilate the strange, wondrous, and infinite. It will take you to unexpected places, and it is a trip worth taking.
Despite all of humankind’s individuality it is perhaps not surprising that a strong thread of commonality runs through our deepest psyche. How else to explain the strange phenomenon of cultures widely separated in time and space that came up with similar versions of the same myths, such as those that horrified the early Europeans in the New World when they saw natives worshiping a twisted but recognizable version of their own religion?
And where is truth to be found? For that matter, what is truth? If it exists how do we find it? Campbell suggests that if you search for immanence you can find it all around you, but you must be prepared for it, to know what you are looking for. Just as Poe’s Purloined Letter said that the best place to hide something is in plain sight, we can search for years to find something that is right before us, and only see it when we are finally prepared to see it. That is the idea in Shakespeare’s lines from Julius Caesar that,
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Not only does what you seek need to be there, you need to be ready to see it to grasp the opportunity. T. S. Elliot phrased the same idea similarly:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Science plays a surprising role in this story. Many people would think that science displaces myth, as truth replaces falsehood, but there is a deeper context to consider. Science gives us a framework for making sense of our lives even if we don’t understand the details. You don’t have to be a physicist to accept the implications of e=mc2, or lose yourself in wonder at the mind bending implications that space and time are two manifestation of the same phenomenon.
Myths are not just stories, and if we reject them we do so at our own peril. They inform and contextualize our lives, which feel empty without them. This alienation, from ourselves as well as from society, might be a contributing factor to the anomie of modern life.
This is one of those rare books that stretch the boundaries of your mind, giving you a new vocabulary of wonder for the ways in which we as individuals and as societies confront and assimilate the strange, wondrous, and infinite. It will take you to unexpected places, and it is a trip worth taking.
September 30, 2020
In essays that spin off Campbell's speeches before the Cooper Union Forum between 1958 and 1971, it's unsurprising that most passionate and intelligent piece spins off the first landing on the moon in 1969.
Whether it's human sacrifice understood in plant-based communities that owed their survival to the life-death-life cycle of the natural world, or the modern day's strain to reconcile our stories of godly creation with the evolutionary evidence among us, Campbell convincingly argues that our myths have always come from the truths of the world we live among. And when a new world--that is, literally thousands of new world--opened before us in 1969, who could say what new myths and new truths would emerge? Campbell's almost childish delight at the prospect shook me back into the wonder at the universe that I too often forget.
Packed with fascinating information, ambitiuous scope, and true intelligence, these essays tell stories about stories. At their best, as when he reflects on the narrative implications of humankind penetrating outer space, he fuses fact and myth in their common reality with both respect and wonder.
My enjoyment of the book, though, was tempered by recurring prehistoric assumptions. Campbell perpetually delineates between "primitive" and Western civilizations that by his account are much more evolved (despite his paternalistic affection for the myths of those "primitive" cultures). And he has a solidly patriarchal perspective. The book hinges on "man's" mythological journey, and while one might forgive the use of the masculine pronoun as a neutral reference to all of humankind as merely product-of-his-time sexism (the book was published in the early 1970s), in fact, Campbell's sexist assumptions go far beyond that, making me recoil. In his anecdotes and his asides, his language and his omissions, he limits this book by valuing only one-half of the population (less then that when you factor in his weird "primitive" thing).
Still, there's brilliance, and I join him in taking heart in the myths, so alike even among so many different people and lifestyles, that sustain us to this day.
Whether it's human sacrifice understood in plant-based communities that owed their survival to the life-death-life cycle of the natural world, or the modern day's strain to reconcile our stories of godly creation with the evolutionary evidence among us, Campbell convincingly argues that our myths have always come from the truths of the world we live among. And when a new world--that is, literally thousands of new world--opened before us in 1969, who could say what new myths and new truths would emerge? Campbell's almost childish delight at the prospect shook me back into the wonder at the universe that I too often forget.
Packed with fascinating information, ambitiuous scope, and true intelligence, these essays tell stories about stories. At their best, as when he reflects on the narrative implications of humankind penetrating outer space, he fuses fact and myth in their common reality with both respect and wonder.
My enjoyment of the book, though, was tempered by recurring prehistoric assumptions. Campbell perpetually delineates between "primitive" and Western civilizations that by his account are much more evolved (despite his paternalistic affection for the myths of those "primitive" cultures). And he has a solidly patriarchal perspective. The book hinges on "man's" mythological journey, and while one might forgive the use of the masculine pronoun as a neutral reference to all of humankind as merely product-of-his-time sexism (the book was published in the early 1970s), in fact, Campbell's sexist assumptions go far beyond that, making me recoil. In his anecdotes and his asides, his language and his omissions, he limits this book by valuing only one-half of the population (less then that when you factor in his weird "primitive" thing).
Still, there's brilliance, and I join him in taking heart in the myths, so alike even among so many different people and lifestyles, that sustain us to this day.
April 6, 2010
I couldn't finish this book (and that's pretty unusual for me). I know I'm in the minority (at least review-wise) in not really liking it, but I couldn’t get past the author's condescending attitude toward all people who truly believe in the literal teachings of their religion. I think he makes some interesting points, but I just disliked the tone of the book. He actually says that anyone with at least a kindergarten education can't possibly believe that the events depicted in religions (i.e. the creation, the flood) are true. Even though I don't disagree with him on some points, I don't like the way he approaches them. I know a lot of educated people who manage to believe these things. Whether or not I agree with them, I respect both their right to hold their beliefs and their intelligence. I also really disliked the fact that he supported his opinions with very strong statements that were not backed up with any kind of proof. For example, he says that when a people's religion is proven false their society falls apart. This may or may not be true, but he makes general statements like, "We have seen what has happened, for example, to primitive communities unsettled by the white man's civilization. With their old taboos discredited, they immediately go to pieces, disintegrate, and become resorts of vice and disease." Yet no evidence of any kind is cited to back this up. I think a statement like this could be the basis for an entire book of its own, but here it is just thrown out as fact.
December 2, 2007
One of the first comparative religion texts I ever read. And, yes, Campbell is not really a comparative religion author, but, along with Frazier's The Golden Bough and Hero with a Thousand Faces, it provided me with enough tips (and ammunition) to smart down the dumb fundies in my college classes....
February 27, 2014
When people think of Joseph Campbell, they often think of "The Power of Myth," his series with Bill Moyers that aired over 25 years ago. Campbell was knowledgeable and engaging. On some of the audios of his that you can buy you can hear that same quality that makes him such a fascinating speaker. But his books...the academic in him rears its ugly head here.
This is a good -- not great -- book. It's really about 3 1/2 stars, but as always I give the benefit of the scale. I'd like to call it great, but it seems to meander as so many academic books do. There are flashes in here of that greatness in oratory that Campbell was masterful at, but mostly it reads like the thoughts of a university professor dissecting the subject of mythology. This is not to say that there isn't anything to be learned here. There is a lot. Perhaps too much. And the obligatory references and cites of other learned individuals adds to the feeling that this book weighs heavily on your brain.
For the studious person who wants an introduction to world mythologies beyond the video series, this is a great starting place, perhaps even better than Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." It's not as dense and is an easier read by far. For the academic who wants an insight into the mind of Joseph Campbell, this book is a must. But for the casual reader who knows and remembers Campbell only as the wonderful grandfather-type who conversed with Bill Moyers for 6 hours, this book is likely to disappoint.
A worthy read? Indeed! A must read? Sadly, no.
This is a good -- not great -- book. It's really about 3 1/2 stars, but as always I give the benefit of the scale. I'd like to call it great, but it seems to meander as so many academic books do. There are flashes in here of that greatness in oratory that Campbell was masterful at, but mostly it reads like the thoughts of a university professor dissecting the subject of mythology. This is not to say that there isn't anything to be learned here. There is a lot. Perhaps too much. And the obligatory references and cites of other learned individuals adds to the feeling that this book weighs heavily on your brain.
For the studious person who wants an introduction to world mythologies beyond the video series, this is a great starting place, perhaps even better than Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." It's not as dense and is an easier read by far. For the academic who wants an insight into the mind of Joseph Campbell, this book is a must. But for the casual reader who knows and remembers Campbell only as the wonderful grandfather-type who conversed with Bill Moyers for 6 hours, this book is likely to disappoint.
A worthy read? Indeed! A must read? Sadly, no.
June 20, 2015
Joseph Campbell reveals how mythology redeems the true value of religion, while reconciling it with advances in science, medicine and technology. Mythology, correctly understood, provides an insight into the human experience in ways the modern western worldview never will.
He traces ancient occidental and oriental mythologies and parses out the truth of myth from religion. "I like to think of the year 1492 as marking the end--or at least the beginning of the end--of the authority of the old mythological systems by which the lives of men had been supported and inspired from time out of mind." Campbell continues his argument for the universal power of myth, and the many masks it wears guised within different cultures and geographies. When the Europeans arrived in the Americas, they saw "a hideously degenerate form of their own revelation. And the...explanation was that the devil was here deliberately throwing up parodies of the Christian faith, to frustrate the mission." The alternative explanation asserts that all mythologies and religions, east or west, are derived from our shared humanity--biologically, experientially, and collective unconsciously.
After science has obliterated most of the historical and literal claims of the great mythologies and religions, what do we have left? Where does the modern western mindset find redemption? These are two of the great questions Campbell hopes to answer in "Myths to Live By." Campbell asserts that it is his "belief that the best answer to this critical problem will come from the findings of psychology, and specifically those findings having to do with the source and nature of myth...we must ask whether it is not possible to arrive scientifically at such an understanding of the life-supporting nature of myths that, in criticizing their archaic features, we do not misrepresent and disqualify their necessity--throwing out, so to say, the baby (whole generations of babies) with the bath." Religion and mythology have an essential role to play. Scientists, naturalists, and laypersons who dismiss them altogether reject wisdom that is millions of years in the making. They miss the mark, harming themselves and the rest of humanity in the process.
Campbell continues "it will be more and more, and with increasing urgency, the task of psychologist and comparative mythologist not only to identify, analyze, and interpret the symbolized 'facts of the mind,' but also to evolve techniques for retaining these in health and, as the old traditions of the fading past dissolve, assist mankind to a knowledge and appreciation of our own inward, as well as the world's outward, orders of fact."
Campbell stands out among thinkers like James G. Frazer, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung--though he reconciles mostly with Jung.
We don't know if anything is absolute, another feature that lends power to myth and its connection to the "great mystery" of life. "For the really great and essential fact about the scientific revolution--the most wonderful and most challenging fact--is that science does not and cannot pretend to be 'true' in any absolute sense. It does not and cannot pretend to be final. it is a tentative organization of mere 'working hypotheses...and so, my friends, we don't know a thing, and not even our science can tell us sooth; for it is no more than, so to say, an eagerness for truths, no matter where their allure may lead."
We find ourselves in this post-fundamentally religious world, and we must make sense of it. If we are to maintain a rich life, we must find a new way of connecting to myth. "There is no 'Thou shalt!' any more. There is nothing one has to be believe, and there is nothing one has to do." In our great mythological traditions, eastern and world alike, can be found our answers to the "inward journey."
The metaphysical and philosophical foundations of the oriental and occidental worldviews contrast in important ways, but Campbell seams the two together in a way that allows all of us to enrich our own traditions. No matter the "traditions of our fathers" we can find that "north star" by correctly applying the ancient symbols, archetypes, and stories which erupt from our collective unconscious. This collective unconscious manifests meaning to us through stories, arts, and dreams.
He calls for each of us to leave behind the pre-packaged boxes given to us by our parents and communities. We must become innovation centers ourselves. Once we have taken "the journey inward," then we can "return outward" with the boons that will benefit our fellow earth dwellers.
For me, Campbell's work has provided me with a foundation upon which to stand after taking my own journey away from the faith, rituals, and practices of my family. Whether one is religious (in any sense of the word), atheist, or interested in the creative life, I recommend "Myths to Live by." It will add vibrancy and greater appreciation for ones faith. It is a book of peace, aimed at uniting us, without destroying the uniqueness of our differences. "Everyone must come out of exile in his own way."
I am encouraged by what appears to be a small revival of his work in the past decade.
Campbell concludes, "that when the symbolic forms in which wisdom-lore has been everywhere embodied are interpreted not as referring primarily to any supposed or even actual historical personages or events, but psychologically, properly 'spiritually,' as referring to the inward potentials of our species, there then appears through all something that can be properly termed a philosophia perennis of the human race, which, however, is lost to view when the texts are interpreted literally, as history, in the usual ways of harshly orthodox thought...Our mythology now, therefore, is to be of infinite space and its light, which is without as well as within...We can no longer hold our loves at home and project our aggression elsewhere; for on this spaceship Earth there is no 'elsewhere' any more. And no mythology that continues to speak or to teach of 'elsewheres' and 'outsiders' meets the requirements of this hour."
He traces ancient occidental and oriental mythologies and parses out the truth of myth from religion. "I like to think of the year 1492 as marking the end--or at least the beginning of the end--of the authority of the old mythological systems by which the lives of men had been supported and inspired from time out of mind." Campbell continues his argument for the universal power of myth, and the many masks it wears guised within different cultures and geographies. When the Europeans arrived in the Americas, they saw "a hideously degenerate form of their own revelation. And the...explanation was that the devil was here deliberately throwing up parodies of the Christian faith, to frustrate the mission." The alternative explanation asserts that all mythologies and religions, east or west, are derived from our shared humanity--biologically, experientially, and collective unconsciously.
After science has obliterated most of the historical and literal claims of the great mythologies and religions, what do we have left? Where does the modern western mindset find redemption? These are two of the great questions Campbell hopes to answer in "Myths to Live By." Campbell asserts that it is his "belief that the best answer to this critical problem will come from the findings of psychology, and specifically those findings having to do with the source and nature of myth...we must ask whether it is not possible to arrive scientifically at such an understanding of the life-supporting nature of myths that, in criticizing their archaic features, we do not misrepresent and disqualify their necessity--throwing out, so to say, the baby (whole generations of babies) with the bath." Religion and mythology have an essential role to play. Scientists, naturalists, and laypersons who dismiss them altogether reject wisdom that is millions of years in the making. They miss the mark, harming themselves and the rest of humanity in the process.
Campbell continues "it will be more and more, and with increasing urgency, the task of psychologist and comparative mythologist not only to identify, analyze, and interpret the symbolized 'facts of the mind,' but also to evolve techniques for retaining these in health and, as the old traditions of the fading past dissolve, assist mankind to a knowledge and appreciation of our own inward, as well as the world's outward, orders of fact."
Campbell stands out among thinkers like James G. Frazer, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung--though he reconciles mostly with Jung.
We don't know if anything is absolute, another feature that lends power to myth and its connection to the "great mystery" of life. "For the really great and essential fact about the scientific revolution--the most wonderful and most challenging fact--is that science does not and cannot pretend to be 'true' in any absolute sense. It does not and cannot pretend to be final. it is a tentative organization of mere 'working hypotheses...and so, my friends, we don't know a thing, and not even our science can tell us sooth; for it is no more than, so to say, an eagerness for truths, no matter where their allure may lead."
We find ourselves in this post-fundamentally religious world, and we must make sense of it. If we are to maintain a rich life, we must find a new way of connecting to myth. "There is no 'Thou shalt!' any more. There is nothing one has to be believe, and there is nothing one has to do." In our great mythological traditions, eastern and world alike, can be found our answers to the "inward journey."
The metaphysical and philosophical foundations of the oriental and occidental worldviews contrast in important ways, but Campbell seams the two together in a way that allows all of us to enrich our own traditions. No matter the "traditions of our fathers" we can find that "north star" by correctly applying the ancient symbols, archetypes, and stories which erupt from our collective unconscious. This collective unconscious manifests meaning to us through stories, arts, and dreams.
He calls for each of us to leave behind the pre-packaged boxes given to us by our parents and communities. We must become innovation centers ourselves. Once we have taken "the journey inward," then we can "return outward" with the boons that will benefit our fellow earth dwellers.
For me, Campbell's work has provided me with a foundation upon which to stand after taking my own journey away from the faith, rituals, and practices of my family. Whether one is religious (in any sense of the word), atheist, or interested in the creative life, I recommend "Myths to Live by." It will add vibrancy and greater appreciation for ones faith. It is a book of peace, aimed at uniting us, without destroying the uniqueness of our differences. "Everyone must come out of exile in his own way."
I am encouraged by what appears to be a small revival of his work in the past decade.
Campbell concludes, "that when the symbolic forms in which wisdom-lore has been everywhere embodied are interpreted not as referring primarily to any supposed or even actual historical personages or events, but psychologically, properly 'spiritually,' as referring to the inward potentials of our species, there then appears through all something that can be properly termed a philosophia perennis of the human race, which, however, is lost to view when the texts are interpreted literally, as history, in the usual ways of harshly orthodox thought...Our mythology now, therefore, is to be of infinite space and its light, which is without as well as within...We can no longer hold our loves at home and project our aggression elsewhere; for on this spaceship Earth there is no 'elsewhere' any more. And no mythology that continues to speak or to teach of 'elsewheres' and 'outsiders' meets the requirements of this hour."
November 23, 2009
Campbell is boring, yet amazingly interesting at the same time. Campbell is basically trying to connect primitive mythology, to modern religion/myth, and drug use or dreams, which all have similar context.
Here are a few quotes that stuck:
“things which once were in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed.”
“Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths.”
“the famous conflict of science and religion has actually nothing to do with religion, but is simply of two sciences: that of 4000 B.C. and that of A.D. 2000.”
“And so, what now of our synagogues and our churches? Many of the latter, I note, have already been turned into theaters; others are lecture halls, where ethics, politics, and sociology are taught on Sundays.”
“You don’t ask what a dance means, you enjoy it. You don’t ask what the world means, you enjoy it.”
Igjugarjuk: a Caribou Eskimo shaman of a tribe inhabiting the North Canadian tundras.
“The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can be reached only through suffering. Privation and suffering alone open the mind of a man to all that is hidden to others.”
The story on the Eskimo caught my attention, because I've heard of this story before, but can't remember where I heard it. Anyway, the story is about the Eskimo who was dreaming of monsters and other terrifying creatures. His family didn't know what to make of his vivid dreams, and so a shaman took charge of the boy and instructed him to fast for 30 days in the hard cold winters of northern Canada by himself. He eventually sees a goddess which becomes his protector. The point is to learn from their wisdom, drawn from their inward depths, which is parallel to what a lot of respected mystics describe as god, or the universe. "There is a deep and general human wisdom here, of which we do not often come to know in our usual ways of active rational thinking."
Campbell mentions Dr. Silverman ? who compares these revelations to the same fronts that schizophrenics discover as their condition deepens. He compares the "essential schizophrenia" as a mirror voyage into consciousness, just like a shaman describes the contact with this realm. The only difference is that the primitive shaman does not reject reality. Schizophrenia prevents the person from returning to reality, a radical break-off.
When Campbell went on to describe an acid trip and compares it to these delusions and revelations of primitive shamans, it freaks me out. The Acid trip that he described on p 261 is something that I, me, myself, have experienced and totally freaked me out when I read it. I will quote:
"illusions of horrendous battles, struggles with prodigious monsters, overwhelming tides and waters, wrathful gods, rites of terrible sacrifice, sexual orgies, judgement scenes, and so on."
In this I found extremes of pleasure and pain and so he says too. I found these scenes in my imagination, and at times, I saw myself in this actual picture, as if I was living it, especially scenes of judgement, where I picture (of course) my family judging me for every thing I do. These of course are things that I don't really ponder about when I'm out of this state, but definitely intrigued me because it brought me back to things that I've thought while under the influence, and I never thought anything of it, but new that it was the effects of LSD promoting me to this level. It takes someone with extreme patience to realize that these are effects of a drug that tunes you into a different reality. You hang to reality by a thread half broken. Some people don't know how to hold on, and let themselves go into insanity, which is why I'm a firm believer that LSD is not for everyone.
Other quotes that intrigued me:
"psychological (or as we used to say, spiritual)"
I recommend this book to those who like to read on human consciousness and its parallel universes.
Here are a few quotes that stuck:
“things which once were in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed.”
“Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths.”
“the famous conflict of science and religion has actually nothing to do with religion, but is simply of two sciences: that of 4000 B.C. and that of A.D. 2000.”
“And so, what now of our synagogues and our churches? Many of the latter, I note, have already been turned into theaters; others are lecture halls, where ethics, politics, and sociology are taught on Sundays.”
“You don’t ask what a dance means, you enjoy it. You don’t ask what the world means, you enjoy it.”
Igjugarjuk: a Caribou Eskimo shaman of a tribe inhabiting the North Canadian tundras.
“The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can be reached only through suffering. Privation and suffering alone open the mind of a man to all that is hidden to others.”
The story on the Eskimo caught my attention, because I've heard of this story before, but can't remember where I heard it. Anyway, the story is about the Eskimo who was dreaming of monsters and other terrifying creatures. His family didn't know what to make of his vivid dreams, and so a shaman took charge of the boy and instructed him to fast for 30 days in the hard cold winters of northern Canada by himself. He eventually sees a goddess which becomes his protector. The point is to learn from their wisdom, drawn from their inward depths, which is parallel to what a lot of respected mystics describe as god, or the universe. "There is a deep and general human wisdom here, of which we do not often come to know in our usual ways of active rational thinking."
Campbell mentions Dr. Silverman ? who compares these revelations to the same fronts that schizophrenics discover as their condition deepens. He compares the "essential schizophrenia" as a mirror voyage into consciousness, just like a shaman describes the contact with this realm. The only difference is that the primitive shaman does not reject reality. Schizophrenia prevents the person from returning to reality, a radical break-off.
When Campbell went on to describe an acid trip and compares it to these delusions and revelations of primitive shamans, it freaks me out. The Acid trip that he described on p 261 is something that I, me, myself, have experienced and totally freaked me out when I read it. I will quote:
"illusions of horrendous battles, struggles with prodigious monsters, overwhelming tides and waters, wrathful gods, rites of terrible sacrifice, sexual orgies, judgement scenes, and so on."
In this I found extremes of pleasure and pain and so he says too. I found these scenes in my imagination, and at times, I saw myself in this actual picture, as if I was living it, especially scenes of judgement, where I picture (of course) my family judging me for every thing I do. These of course are things that I don't really ponder about when I'm out of this state, but definitely intrigued me because it brought me back to things that I've thought while under the influence, and I never thought anything of it, but new that it was the effects of LSD promoting me to this level. It takes someone with extreme patience to realize that these are effects of a drug that tunes you into a different reality. You hang to reality by a thread half broken. Some people don't know how to hold on, and let themselves go into insanity, which is why I'm a firm believer that LSD is not for everyone.
Other quotes that intrigued me:
"psychological (or as we used to say, spiritual)"
I recommend this book to those who like to read on human consciousness and its parallel universes.
January 17, 2019
این کتاب، بعد از کتاب انسان 250 ساله دومین کتابی است که میتوانم دربارهاش تعبیر سمّی را به کار ببرم. از آن جهت که راه حلی که ارائه میکند، دارونما اما مهلک است. کتاب مملو از مفردات زیبا و خیرهکننده، استشهادات غلط و گزینشگرانه از ادیان شرقی و غربی مختلف و در نهایت نتیجهگیری مهلک است.
برای توضیح هلاکتبار بودن کتاب، از مثالی از فصلهای آخر خود کتاب بهره خواهم گرفت. نویسنده ابتدا با تبختر شبهعقلی و پایان تاریخی و «هیپسردیگههمهچیزوفهمیدیم» و «طبق آخرین یافتههای علمی» ابتدای قرن بیست و یکمِ یک امریکایی، ثابت میکند زبان همهی ادیان و مسالک اسطورهای و غیرواقعنمایانه است. و نتیجه میگیرد: تاریخی و واقعنمایانه خواندن متون دینی میتواند چقدر مخرب باشد. تا اینجا همه چیز خوب پیش میرود. یک توصیهی کلی در باب زبان دین است و من هم (با وجود مناقشات شدید روی مثالهایش مخصوصا از ادیان ابراهیمی) با کلیت صحبتش همدلم. اما میرسیم به بخش هلاکتبار. نویسنده در یک صورتبندی عاریتی، مدعی میشود «طبق آخرین یافتههای علمی» انسان ۱۲ سال زود به دنیا میآید و تولد دوم و سازگاری ذهنی و مهارتیاش با محیط، در رحم اسطوره شکل میگیرد. وی انسان را به نوزاد کانگرو تشبیه میکند که ضعیف به دنیا میآید و ماهها در حالت نیمهجنینی در کیسهی مادرش میماند تا به استقلال برسد. وی میگوید مشکل نهادهای دینی آن است که می��خواهند شما را تا ابد در رحم دوم نگه دارند در حالی که شما باید بالاخره روزی زاییده شوید اگرنه خودتان و مادرتان از بین میروید. من حتی تا اینجا هم با نویسنده همدلم. این دقیقا همان صورتبندی است که قرآن در آیهی «و أزواجه أمهاتهم» از خود ارائه میدهد و با «و حمله و فصاله في عامين» یا «فی ثلاثون شهرا» رابطه مییابد. و میگوید قرآن، همسر نبی و مادر مؤمنان است. اما مشکل از آنجا آغاز میشود که نویسنده در فصل آخر از ایدهی لزوم زاییده شدن عبور میکند و ایدهی دیگری را مطرح میکند. میگوید در جهانی که ما طلوع کرهی زمین را از افق ماه میبینیم، دیگر زندگی در افقهای محلی، حداقل بیفایده است، اگر نگوییم مخرب است. در واقع ایدهی بعدی، کشتن مادران است، چون امروز جوهر مردانگی/دین بر همهی ما مکشوف شده و باید زنزدایی/سنتزدایی کنیم.
در واقع کتاب، گویای دو گزاره است: اول) اسطورهای بودن زبان ادیان و عرفانها. دوم) بیفایده و منسوخ بودن همهی ادیان و عرفانها در زمانهی ما. که من با دومی مخالفم. پیشنهاد من تعمق اصحاب هر دین در سنت و زبان خود است، نه سنت و زبانزدایی به بهانهی بلوغ و گردنکلفتی.
برای توضیح هلاکتبار بودن کتاب، از مثالی از فصلهای آخر خود کتاب بهره خواهم گرفت. نویسنده ابتدا با تبختر شبهعقلی و پایان تاریخی و «هیپسردیگههمهچیزوفهمیدیم» و «طبق آخرین یافتههای علمی» ابتدای قرن بیست و یکمِ یک امریکایی، ثابت میکند زبان همهی ادیان و مسالک اسطورهای و غیرواقعنمایانه است. و نتیجه میگیرد: تاریخی و واقعنمایانه خواندن متون دینی میتواند چقدر مخرب باشد. تا اینجا همه چیز خوب پیش میرود. یک توصیهی کلی در باب زبان دین است و من هم (با وجود مناقشات شدید روی مثالهایش مخصوصا از ادیان ابراهیمی) با کلیت صحبتش همدلم. اما میرسیم به بخش هلاکتبار. نویسنده در یک صورتبندی عاریتی، مدعی میشود «طبق آخرین یافتههای علمی» انسان ۱۲ سال زود به دنیا میآید و تولد دوم و سازگاری ذهنی و مهارتیاش با محیط، در رحم اسطوره شکل میگیرد. وی انسان را به نوزاد کانگرو تشبیه میکند که ضعیف به دنیا میآید و ماهها در حالت نیمهجنینی در کیسهی مادرش میماند تا به استقلال برسد. وی میگوید مشکل نهادهای دینی آن است که می��خواهند شما را تا ابد در رحم دوم نگه دارند در حالی که شما باید بالاخره روزی زاییده شوید اگرنه خودتان و مادرتان از بین میروید. من حتی تا اینجا هم با نویسنده همدلم. این دقیقا همان صورتبندی است که قرآن در آیهی «و أزواجه أمهاتهم» از خود ارائه میدهد و با «و حمله و فصاله في عامين» یا «فی ثلاثون شهرا» رابطه مییابد. و میگوید قرآن، همسر نبی و مادر مؤمنان است. اما مشکل از آنجا آغاز میشود که نویسنده در فصل آخر از ایدهی لزوم زاییده شدن عبور میکند و ایدهی دیگری را مطرح میکند. میگوید در جهانی که ما طلوع کرهی زمین را از افق ماه میبینیم، دیگر زندگی در افقهای محلی، حداقل بیفایده است، اگر نگوییم مخرب است. در واقع ایدهی بعدی، کشتن مادران است، چون امروز جوهر مردانگی/دین بر همهی ما مکشوف شده و باید زنزدایی/سنتزدایی کنیم.
در واقع کتاب، گویای دو گزاره است: اول) اسطورهای بودن زبان ادیان و عرفانها. دوم) بیفایده و منسوخ بودن همهی ادیان و عرفانها در زمانهی ما. که من با دومی مخالفم. پیشنهاد من تعمق اصحاب هر دین در سنت و زبان خود است، نه سنت و زبانزدایی به بهانهی بلوغ و گردنکلفتی.
June 1, 2017
As I age I think my mind is becoming like my body less limber unable to reach the markers of my youth, perhaps when I was young I could grasp the deep thoughts brought out in this book perhaps not. It makes me feel stupid, I'm able to follow the pantheon of great minds as they are paraded before me, Kant, Freud, Joyce, Whitman, these I know or at least know of, but eastern thought and religion left me confused. Show me the faces of your Parents before you were born, what is the sound of one hand clapping. Man I can't even figure out Schrodinger cat much less this stuff. Otherwise the book hit on themes familiar to his book "Thou art that" several of the stories so similar in fact that I was wondering did I read this chapter already? I was also struck by what I perceived as his personal antipathy towards the youth culture of the 60's, I guess it was to be expected from someone who grew up in the 1920's but I found it surprising given his writings, also he waxed on poetically (literally) and in allusion to a whole new mythological age beginning with the event of man first walking on the moon. Well coming up on 50 years after that event and I don't see this sea change of thought the dissolving of the state maybe certainly in the current politics yes things are dying and coming to an end but cause and effect I see nothing coming from the moon landing. Overall it was a difficult read and not all that enjoyable some really good points but 65% of it flew over my head and the rest wasn't life changing information.
November 2, 2009
I've read parts of just about all Joseph Campbell's works, and since I haven't read too much literature on comparative spirituality, I always learn really interesting facts I didn't know. Lots of these essays had fascinating topics, and I loved learning that decapitated heads are an important part of some people's wedding rituals. . . yum!
But, instead of a real review, I'd much rather reflect on the interesting ways in which this book is dated. F'rinstance, one of these essays (originally lectures) is written shortly after the first moon walk. Campbell was very excited about this, and talked about how some children presently alive were likely to live on the moon, or even walk on Mars.
One of the less humorous ways in which Campbell guessed wrong is that he seemed confident that the time of fundamental religions in the West was winding down. However, since the time of that lecture, there's actually been a marked increase in fundamentalist religious groups in the U.S. If only we were walking around on Mars and less dogmatic . . .
Anyway, this is a good read, and much less of a time investment than the Masks of God series. The essays aren't really connected, other than the fact that they all make connections between mythologies and our way of relating to the world in modern times. I always find Joseph Campbell fascinating.
But, instead of a real review, I'd much rather reflect on the interesting ways in which this book is dated. F'rinstance, one of these essays (originally lectures) is written shortly after the first moon walk. Campbell was very excited about this, and talked about how some children presently alive were likely to live on the moon, or even walk on Mars.
One of the less humorous ways in which Campbell guessed wrong is that he seemed confident that the time of fundamental religions in the West was winding down. However, since the time of that lecture, there's actually been a marked increase in fundamentalist religious groups in the U.S. If only we were walking around on Mars and less dogmatic . . .
Anyway, this is a good read, and much less of a time investment than the Masks of God series. The essays aren't really connected, other than the fact that they all make connections between mythologies and our way of relating to the world in modern times. I always find Joseph Campbell fascinating.
September 23, 2008
Pretty good; definitely some interesting content here.
However, as a reader, I thought not all of the lectures were particularly linked, and sometimes it seemed like certain topics weren't covered that should have been. It seemed like he was trying to say that the myths of all cultures are the same, but he didn't ever do a good job of showing this in my opinion. Also, the title was misreading and irrelevant, and even the subtitle wasn't particularly appropriate.
The later lectures were definitely better--they seemed better thought-out and also worked better as stand-alone pieces. I particularly liked the early 1970s lectures "Schizophrenia--the Inward Journey" and "The Moon Walk--the Outward Journey".
I think I might like his other, more cohesive works better, but altogether this was a good and enlightening book, and one whose ideas I can't get out of my head.
It gets four stars only because the later lectures were so good and because this research as a whole is so enthralling. I definitely think the earlier ones were lacking.
However, as a reader, I thought not all of the lectures were particularly linked, and sometimes it seemed like certain topics weren't covered that should have been. It seemed like he was trying to say that the myths of all cultures are the same, but he didn't ever do a good job of showing this in my opinion. Also, the title was misreading and irrelevant, and even the subtitle wasn't particularly appropriate.
The later lectures were definitely better--they seemed better thought-out and also worked better as stand-alone pieces. I particularly liked the early 1970s lectures "Schizophrenia--the Inward Journey" and "The Moon Walk--the Outward Journey".
I think I might like his other, more cohesive works better, but altogether this was a good and enlightening book, and one whose ideas I can't get out of my head.
It gets four stars only because the later lectures were so good and because this research as a whole is so enthralling. I definitely think the earlier ones were lacking.
April 13, 2017
previse postmoderno za moj ukus, Kembel ne moze da se odluci za pristup kojim objasnjava mit, vecina knjige je o tome koga i kako zna i koliko je dobro upucen u detalje odredjenih rituala, sto jeste sve impresivno ali ni u jednom trenutku se ne dodiruje sustine opisanih rituala i zasto su relevantni iil neophodni za danasnje drustvo. Naslov je misleading zapravo.
January 12, 2019
Dnf b/c i remembered i don't trust campbell's interpretations. he obviously knows his myths & their history quite well. how he takes that info. & applies it to the whole of what was modern-life for the time he was in is what i can do without. It seriously dates the work, & some stuff was just off-base even for the times. When I arrived at p. 155, wherein he stated that the 'copter pilots (of that era) in Vietnam flew in & then flew out other soldiers from the ground as an act motivated by nothing other than pure love, I clearly remembered why I gave up on Mr. Campbell in the past. That was when i called the time of death for my foray w/ this book. I'd overlooked quite a bit before I arrived at that point, so I feel like I made a good faith effort before I reached my verdict to discontinue. In the end, I'd have to say it was all just a disappointing experience. (Side note: he seriously has a major thing for James Joyce. I mean, he's so hung up on Joyce it's a little weird. That's fine I guess, but I'm not into interpreting the modern world through Joyce, so that was another pass.)
March 2, 2019
Manau, kad šios knygos aktualumą galima apibūdinti ir citata iš pačios knygos:
Todėl norint, kad mitologija suteiktų gyvybingumo šių laikų žmogaus gyvenimui, pamatinė sąlyga yra ta, kad suvokimo durys atvertų švarų vaizdą į stebuklą, podraug baisingą ir nuostabų, tai yra į mus pačius, į visatą, kurios esame ausys, akys ir protas. Kai teologai, savo apreiškimus skaitydami, taip sakant, prieš laikrodžio rodyklę, kreipia prie praeities nuorodų, o utopistai siūlo apreiškimus, tik žadančius ką nors norimo ateityje, - mitologijos, kilusios iš psichikos, kreipia atgal prie psichikos, ir kiekvienas, rimtai įsižiūrintis savim, jų nuorodas iš tikrųjų vėl atras savyje.
Todėl norint, kad mitologija suteiktų gyvybingumo šių laikų žmogaus gyvenimui, pamatinė sąlyga yra ta, kad suvokimo durys atvertų švarų vaizdą į stebuklą, podraug baisingą ir nuostabų, tai yra į mus pačius, į visatą, kurios esame ausys, akys ir protas. Kai teologai, savo apreiškimus skaitydami, taip sakant, prieš laikrodžio rodyklę, kreipia prie praeities nuorodų, o utopistai siūlo apreiškimus, tik žadančius ką nors norimo ateityje, - mitologijos, kilusios iš psichikos, kreipia atgal prie psichikos, ir kiekvienas, rimtai įsižiūrintis savim, jų nuorodas iš tikrųjų vėl atras savyje.
January 7, 2016
Joseph Campbell's Myths to Live By is a reminder that "there are more things in heaven and Earth... than are dreamt of in [our] philosophy." Human understanding of the world has been increased through the sciences, including mathematics, the natural sciences like physics and chemistry, the social sciences like economics, sociology, and history, and the humanities like literary and religious studies. Humanity needs these fields for the purposes of advancing what is beyond our natural ways of thinking. Yet at the same time, there is a way in which people can become in tune with themselves by exploring for themselves what universals exist within the mythologies they create for themselves, the mythologies being a way of understanding the world that cannot (perhaps as yet) be captured by the sciences. Campbell's essays are about the importance of mythologies and how these mythologies influence and shape human's lives.
I think this is an important book, and I only apologize that I have not been more lucid in this review. Readers will not be disappointed, though.
I think this is an important book, and I only apologize that I have not been more lucid in this review. Readers will not be disappointed, though.
March 3, 2008
I read half of this book in 2003. Since then I read the Hero with A Thousand Faces and a little of the Masks of God series. I really enjoyed both these works, particularly Hero. I enjoy how Campbell finds common themes and stories in all the worlds myth/belief systems.
In Myths to Live By, however, I felt like Mr. Campbell unabashedly attacked organized religion and those who choose to follow the precepts of a religion. His assumption that anyone who subscribes to a formal belief system is unintelligent wore on me. I once again tried to read this book within the last two months, only to put it down again remembering why I didn't finish it the first time.
I am not against questioning my belief and value system. I agree with Plato's maxim that an unexamined life is not worth living. I have read and enjoyed a number of books critical of religion. However, when criticism turns to veiled hostility, I have no use for the book.
In Myths to Live By, however, I felt like Mr. Campbell unabashedly attacked organized religion and those who choose to follow the precepts of a religion. His assumption that anyone who subscribes to a formal belief system is unintelligent wore on me. I once again tried to read this book within the last two months, only to put it down again remembering why I didn't finish it the first time.
I am not against questioning my belief and value system. I agree with Plato's maxim that an unexamined life is not worth living. I have read and enjoyed a number of books critical of religion. However, when criticism turns to veiled hostility, I have no use for the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 323 reviews