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Joseph
Campbell: Ideas
An exploration of the seminal ideas in Campbell's
works
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Joseph Campbell's
oeuvre fills volumes of books and hours of audio and
video. However, like any good teacher, Campbell had certain ideas
that he repeated throughout his work. I am attempting to
compile a list of the most important of these (for an exhaustive
list, you'll just have to read, listen to, and view all of his
work!) As time goes by I will add a page for each idea, with
quotes and comments. Also, check The
Journal for frequent comment on one aspect or another of
Uncle Joe's teaching. |
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A
Preliminary List
(in no particular order)
- Comparative mythology: exploring the myths of various
cultures, finding "common ground"
- The Four Functions of Mythology: the Mystical (opening us
to wonder), Cosmological (placing us in the universe),
Social (organizing our lives in community), and Pedagogical
(teaching us how to live a human life)
- Metaphor: All words
about "the Other" are metaphorical, and less than
the "real thing"
- Becoming "transparent to transcendence":
allowing the energies of the universe to work through you
(largely by avoiding a concrete, scientific, historical
reading of myths)
- Archetypes: Drawing heavily on Jung, finding keys to
understanding widely varying myths through their resonance
in the human psyche
- The "Hero's Journey": A cycle of Call,
Departure, Attainment, return, and Transformation underlies
the world's hero stories
- "Follow Your Bliss": Campbell's best known (and, I suspect, least understood) dictum, crystallizing the wisdom he gained from a lifetime of studying myths
- Native American stories: Along with stories of other
primal cultures, these pre-literate stories held special
meaning for Campbell
- Arthurian romance: In contrast to the Native American
tales, these are some of the most sophisticated of stories
- Eastern thought (Hindu and Buddhist): Campbell "went
East," as I have, and found there some of the purest
soundings of the themes of world mythology
- Art and creativity: Throughout his work, Campbell often
returns to the nature of the creative process, saying that
in the past the shaman was the poet and artist of the tribe,
and that today the poet and artist is our shaman
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Contents
(C) 2006 James Baquet
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