"Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human manifestation..." (Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces)
Joseph Campbell is perhaps the
par excellence of comparative religionists of the 20th Century...more pop-ishly his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces is credited by George Lucas as the inspiration behind Star Wars (and for sure the original depth did have some philosophic deapth).
His learning was absolutely prodigious.
There is a DVD set called the Power of Myth which was a series of interviews conducted for PBS (with an unfortunately 'american-christian' interviewer but no matter) which is *highly recommended* for anyone interested in the whole topic (and if myth doesn't move you I don't know what will).
One interesting point he makes (in critiquing the western understanding of religion) is what he calls mistaking the
denotation for the
connotation... a subtle but vital point [for non-native speakers: denote = literal description....connote = imply indirectly].
Another way of putting this is
mythos versus
logos - elsewhere (and this seems to be JC core theme) it has been argued that the internal truth of religion can be found only from the
mythos (the 'finger pointing at the moon').
Unfortunately since the Renaissance with western culture having moved to the logos (a great success re computers/airplanes etc but perhaps less so spiritually) many religions have gone the same way (at which point one gets nonsense like creationism because the evidence notwithstanding 'it says so in the bible').
A great quote by JC in this context:
"Read myths. They teach you that you can turn inward, and you begin to get the message of the symbols. Read other people's myths, not those of your own religion, because you tend to interpret your own religion in terms of facts -- but if you read the other ones, you begin to get the message."
And finally on his own 'faith' which can be a useful reminder for all of us in terms of 'where to go' in life:
"I don’t have to have faith, I have had experience." - Joseph Campbell explains his maxim to Bill Moyers:
BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has
grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.
Mike
Author
Logged
which is I think where that concept rather breaks down lol.
