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Background of Joseph Campbell Suffering vs happiness sacrifice & bliss What is myth? Why do we need myths? What are their types? The language of myths Campbells philosophy Four functions of myths Heros Journey Mono-myth Myths relevance - todays individual/world
Campbells Influences
American Indians Juddu Kristnamurti Columbia, Sorbonne & Universitt Mnchen James Joyce & Thomas Mann Avant Garde Artists Carl G Jung 5 Years Reading/Researching Bastian, Frobenius, Spengler Heinrich Zimmer His Female Students
to suffer"-sub plus ferre (Latin) "to bear or allow." Suffering is: an experience the fullness of lifes diversity a natural process of growth develops psychological and spiritual maturity
To strive for pleasure to the exclusion of pain is, in effect, to strive for the loss of consciousness." - Alan Watts Lifes goal is to increase consciousness; so, the temptation to avoid lifes legitimate pain must be resisted and embraced as a natural part of life.
Happiness is related to the Middle English word "hap," the root meaning of which implies that happiness is more due to luck -- happenstance -than effort. If lucky, we might be happy, at least, for a short time.
What is the significance of the sacred place? How does geography shape ones culture and religion? What is the purpose of sacrifice? What is the mythic idea of self-sacrifice? How does a person find his or her bliss?
May have an historical basis - Legend of Atlantis Fictional with local emphasis - Rip van Winkle Fictional with moral emphasis -Tortoise & the Hare
2. 3. 4.
a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature. any invented story, idea, or concept. an imaginary or fictitious thing or person. an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution.
Stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance
Clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life experience of lifes meaning
Why Myths?
Why Myths?
Types of Myths
Creation, Cosmgeny, Foundation Paradise Lost, Flood Virgin Births Hero Myths Love & Sacrifice Afterlife / Death & Resurection Dieties / Supernatural Entities good & evil End of the World
Compares two dissimilar things - implied Unifies these two things Creates Image suggesting something else Connotes rather than denotes Expresses what otherwise is inexpressable
The best things cant be told; The second best are misunderstood
Heinrich Zimmer (1890-1943)
Communication element intended to represent or stand for a person, object, 40 group, process, or idea 666
2.
the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
Herald - signal change & invite an answer to call Threshold Guardian - ensure readiness/worthiness Hero - not bravery or nobility, but self-sacrifice Mentor - helpers
wise old man: advice & info good mother: nurturing & intuition
Shadow - negative side: helps/opposes Shapeshifter - change character: dazzle, confuse Animals - positive/negative: owl, dragon Trickster - sidekick/troublemaker: catalysts, ego
Ceremonial practices often accompany major myths and allow participants to enter into a personal experience of the story through
dramatic re-enactment
As a metaphor, all myths are true Myths remain meaningful throughout time & place Myths are relevant today and to us Myths spring from a common source All religions have a basis in myths
Texts underlying the worlds major religions are mythical stories rather than logical essays When the myths of religions are analyzed and interpreted logically and literally
only part of the whole truth is conveyed misunderstandings will most likely occur
Campbells Philosphy 1
All spirituality is a search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, currently exists, and into which will return. Ultimately unknowable Cannot be expressed in words - rituals & myths refer to the force using metaphors stories, deities, and objects of spirituality
Campbells Philosphy 2
World religions are culturally influenced masks of the same fundamental, transcendent truths All religions can bring one to an elevated awareness above and beyond a dualistic conception of reality, or pairs of opposites These basic, universal truths are expressed in different manifestations across different cultures
Bastian: Elementargedanken vs. Volkgedanken
Mystical relating to the mystery of life Cosmological relating to the world around Socialogical relating to society and others Pedagogical relating individuals psychologically
Mystical Function
Cosmological Function
Socialogical Function
Pedagogical Function
Separation
Call Refusal Departure Struggle Trials Transformation Master of two Worlds Communicate Boon
Initiation
Return to Origin
Great civilizations have been built on mythologies Their loss of meaning leads to decline A society lacking an active mythology has
a sense of meaninglessness estrangement rootlessness cold life devoid of reverence and awe
Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths. By finding your own dream and following it through, it will lead you to the myth-world in which you life. But just as in dream, the subject and object, though they seem to be separate, are really the same. - Joseph Campbell
Questions?, Comments?
Pandora's box, Oedipus complex, nymph, & olympian. Words derived from mythology include:
chronology (from Kronos) discipline (from Disciplina) discord (from Discordia) eros (from Eros) fate (from Fate) fauna (from Faunus) fidelity (from Fides) flora (from Flora) fortune (from Fortuna) fraud (from Fraus) Hades (from Hades) Hell (from Hel)
hygiene (from Hygieia) jovial (from Jove) liberty (from Libertas) lunar (from Luna) morphine (from Morpheus) mortality (from Mors) mute (from Muta) narcissism (from Narcissus) nemesis (from Nemesis) ocean (from Oceanus) planets, and some of the months