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There are gaping errors of fact and theory. That is, there are a few instances of what might be penetrating insights. I have to give this one five stars because it's Joseph Campbell and then take one away because it's Joseph Campbell. The last mostly in the areas of anthropology and history. There is ringing and memorable language. There are sweeping generalizations. In general I feel a fool for buying this because it is available at the library and it is not a book I really want to keep and savor. But it is worth reading if you are interested in this sort of thing.
Campbell takes you to the point of first contact. This is a very hard book to read however it was very interesting. I've known for years that many ancient stories and biblical stories all go to one beginning point. Most religion dogma believers could not handle the truth as it is not profitable (pardon the word reference). All Campbell books seem to do this and should be read as a college level historical reference guide in Cultural Anthropology.
"Over and over again," writes Joseph Campbell, "you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons." (133) And the questions remains, "Do I dare." I you do, read this spiritual and clever book. If you don't the journey that awaits you is even more necessary and all the more exhilirating. I recommend Joseph Campbell in any form and colour, in any book.
For one thing it's really a series of lectures, but for some reason the cover and jacket don't say so. Maureen Murdock has answered this in part by writing her book The Heroine's Journey.Here and there, though, we see the Campbell most of us admire. Although Campbell was a man of his time, as all men are, his biases really show in this book. He also remarks that although he admires Abraham Maslow (I do not: I've read his journals), his list of survival values--security, prestige, self-development--"are exactly the values that a mythically inspired person doesn't live for." What does such a person live for. The reader has to get through four lectures--two on the history and purpose of myth and two on Jungian psychology: that's half the book--to get to the discussion on personal transformation. The lectures might be useful to beginners, but I bought this book because I lead classes and workshops on finding one's personal myth (not one's archetype: there's a difference), and all this was was old hat to me. This is a strange book. 88).
In Freud's case it was the story of Oedipus, even down to following his daughter Anna out of Vienna just as the old king followed Antigone out of Thebes. "I think one of the great calamities of contemporary life is that the religions that we have inherited have insisted on the concrete historicity of their symbols" (p. On the web is a piece I wrote about Steinbeck living the story of Lancelot. Campbell's comments about women's psychology are especially culturebound, as when he says women tend not to follow the call of the Hero because of the "natural" and "inevitable" call to duties like childbirth. You have to read the notes at the end to find out why the presentation rambles so.Secondly, the title and subtitle are misleading. "A calling, a dedication," what seizes us, what drives us beyond mere considerations of comfort or biology or "the values for which people live when they have nothing to live for."He also gives a number of important suggestions for finding one's personal myth; we are finding, however, that the myth is often a good deal more specific than previously thought.
His grating stereotyping of "the Orient" as authoritarian and so forth recalls Edward Said's penetrating criticism of Western fantasies of Orientalism: Orient as mysterious, backward, and despotic. This sounds less like mythological inquiry than like Republicanism's ongoing obsession with dynasty and reproduction. Campbell mentions Jung's quest to understand his myth but does not mention Faust. What we do with these stories, how we learn them, deepen them and elaborate them: that is the fascinating part, built on the foundation left by Jung and Campbell.
I thoroughfully enjoyed this book. It changed my view on reality. And it made me appreciate myths and scriptures for what they truly are: bridges between our mundane lives and the Transcendent. They are not to be taken factually, but they have the power to structure and inspire our personality and our society at large.This book also contains an interesting introduction to Jung's work.
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