Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbellwas an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth26 March 1904
CountryUnited States of America
biography difficult distant facts images living myth mythology poetry remote science time whenever
Whenever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a distant time or place. Furthermore, it is never difficult to demonstrate that as science and history, mythology is absurd.
facts doe heroic
The myth does not point to a fact; the myth points beyond facts to something that informs the fact
men imagination facts
Whenever men have looked for something solid on which to found their lives, they have chosen not the facts in which the world abounds, but the myths of an immemorial imagination.
people facts stories
People forget facts, but they remember stories.
thinking important facts
We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that is symbolic of transcendence and mystery. The mystery is what’s important.
conquered demons shut vision
Our demons are out own limitations, which shut us off from the realization of the ubiquity of the spirit...each of these demons is conquered in a vision quest.
experience innermost life meaning people physical plane purely resonance seeking within
People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I think that what we're really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive.
contract strike workers
We do not think the Boeing IAM workers will strike when their contract expires on Sept. 2.
law realize second survival
At such moments, you realize that you and the other are, in fact, one. It's a big realization. Survival is the second law of life. The first is that we are all one.
heroism matter step
Heroism is a matter of integrity--becoming more and more at each step ourselves.
destiny enemies love thine
Love thine enemies because they are the instruments to your destiny.
sacrifice unity
When you make a sacrifice in marriage, you're sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship.
anyone doors follow open
When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else.
depth consciousness myth
A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life.