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In this talk, Joseph Campbell discusses the four essential functions of a viable mythology. He then turns his attention to the fundamental difference between those mythologies that affirm existence and those that reject it. With this review, he provides not only a basis for a philosophy of mythology, but also a metaphor for the crucial decision each individual must make as well--namely, whether to be reconciled with, or to withdraw from, life in all of its terrible glory.
Campbell next elucidates a seemingly irreconcilable difference between Eastern and Western spirituality: in the East an individual turns inward, seeking identification with the divine powers; in the West one looks outward to the social order for the prescribed relationship to God. He then describes the thresholds at which a vital mythology begins to engage the psyche and elaborates on the psychological function of mythology--that is, the way a myth carries an individual across life's great transitions: from youthful growth to middle-age fruition, and then on to the decrepitude of old age and a final exit. Click below to listen to the Audio Book:
In the imagery of the schizophrenic's experience, Joseph Campbell recognized a synthesis of mythological motifs similar to Jung's archetypes. In this talk, he recounts Dr. John Weir Perry's analysis of an individual's descent into madness: the break away or departure from everyday reality, a retreat inward with dark encounters of a symbolic kind, and finally--in the most fortunate cases--a return journey of rebirth and renewal. He then follows the uncanny parallels between these stages and the "universal formula" of the hero's journey gathered from mythologies of cultures around the world, and reveals how the phases of the schizophrenic's crisis correspond to the separation, initiation, and the return of the shaman's experience during his voyage into other worlds. In later years, Campbell would learn that filmmakers George Lucas and Stanley Kubrick modeled their own work on his monomyth, which reflects the ancient three-act structure of drama itself.
After recounting the four basic responses to a schizophrenic crisis, Campbell moves on to discuss the insights of psychologist R. D. Laing, and poses the question, Can you say "yea" to the final crisis or not? Rather than deny the need to make such dramatic descents, Campbell felt it is imperative both for the individual and for the culture at large. When one responds with a Yea! in the middle of a crisis, the journey changes marvelously, as Odysseus discovered on his twenty-year voyage. Click below to listen to the Audio Book:
back to topIn 1970, when Joseph Campbell delivered this talk, the collision of the East and West was one of Campbell's favorite topics. He saw that the West was deeply mired in disenchantment with traditional religious thinking, and the time was ripe for the cross-fertilization of Eastern and Western cultures. In his introduction, he presents an illuminating analogy to our present situation in the strange plight of the Plains Indian tribes near the end of the nineteenth century, when they realized the old ways were disappearing with the buffalo, and that their old wisdom was no longer effective. For Campbell, the Indian's response was a vivid metaphor for what the modern people must do. Their adoption of the peyote religion encouraged inward visionary experiences and was an example of how a people can find the sacred in themselves even when it has been lost in their society.
Campbell points out that the religious symbols Western societies were built on have lost their authority, and with it their sacred powers. He saw that the reason why people in the West were turning to the East to fill the gap was partly because they realized that in the East people are experiencing God directly. The Eastern philosophy that teaches "the ultimate divine mystery is within you," was for Campbell a "fantastic difference." It is just this distiction that forms the heart of his philosophy, that "life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be experienced." Click below to listen to the Audio Book:
In this talk, Joseph Campbell contrasts his earlier comments on the disintegration of man's modern religious practices with what he calls "symbolic systems of rebirth in time." For Campbell, the most fascinating systems are "myths to live by," beliefs and practices to help individuals with the frustrations in life that come from not living our "true self." The goal of the ancient discipline of yoga was important to him because it emphasizes the discovery and experience of the true self. The heart of this lecture is an explanation of the chakras in the body and the meditation techniques that connect daily consciousness to the eternal self, which has been symbolized for thousands of years by the roar of a lion! Through the practice of rousing the kundalini energy of the serpent coiled up at the base of the spine, it's believed one might go to "the place beyond dream." Campbell was personally intrigued by this "place" because, as he said many times, it is the same generating place of myths. As he was fond of saying, "myth is a public dream, and dream is a private myth."
By contrasting the Western philosophies and religions that divide God, nature, and humanity with oriental techniques of yoga, Campbell is able to emphasize his belief in the need to identify with the divine energies of the universe. "You are the mystery you seek to know," he often said, "and all gods are within." As his last story, borrowed from Shri Ramakrishna, vividly illustrates, the trick is to remember -- again and again -- that we all have a noble hidden nature, a "tiger face" that we each have to find. Click below to listen to the Audio Book:
back to topIn this talk, Joseph Campbell discusses the links between the ancient Hindu practice of Yoga and the modern depth psychology. He then reviews the seven chakras or energy centers of kundalini yoga, and describes how in yoga one may raise the energies up the spine from the first to the seventh chakra by activating the serpent, as it is called, and if this is accomplished, the veil of Maya is raised, and the world of illusions becomes transparent.
For Campbell, Maya is a pivotal point in Hindu thought and is comprised of three distinct powers: The Obscuring Power, The Projection Power, and The Revealing Power. In the language of myth, what is revealed if the illusions of life are seen through is none other that the Mother of the World, the mighty powers of existence in her feminine aspect. The Western counterpart of this image is the sixteenth century statue of the Madonna in the Cluny Museum in Paris. When small doors are opened on the statue, all of the imagery of heaven and hell are represented in a globe that is also her womb. For Campbell, this is one of our prime divine image--the Goddess herself in both creator and consumer aspects, both horrendous and transcendent. In Indian mythology, she is represented as being completely black, an image of the imperceptible abyss that lies at the beginning and the end of life. Click below to listen to the Audio Book:
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