Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls
Today I want to talk about someone I regret I never had a chance to meet. Someone who initiated my spiritual journey. I want to talk about Joseph Campbell.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was a literature professor at Sarah Lawrence College. He was a leading author in comparative mythology and religion. He created a movement, by which he united all mythological cultures, all the heritages of humanity, and thens made it into one. Today we know it as monomyth.
(I do not own rights on this picture, source: Pinterest)
In his most popular book, The hero with a thousand faces, he took all of our stories, no matter where we come from, and made it into one story, and he called it a hero’s journey. A hero is a prototype of any person, and a journey is a path that this hero must take, and it has three stages: separation, initiation return.
It all starts in a Sleepy Land, when a hero lives an ordinary life, and he receives a call for adventure, and he takes an uncomfortable, unknown, scary journey. This is separation. On this journey he slays the dragon, enters the caves, finds treasure, helps demsel in distress, finds a magical potion, and so on. This is initiation. And then the hero always comes back to give back to the community. This is return.
Obviously this is a very simple explanation of the genius of the monomyth. My humble goal here is to attract your attention to this idea. It is funny how small things, like a reference, a joke, a book (one of million you might grab at the next bookstore), a movie, or maybe even someday this blog for someone can initiate your journey. Because of course as you understand it, dragons and treasures and caves are metaphors, they are stories that we can relate to, even though we live in a completely different life and circumstances. The battle, the fight, they are all happening primarily if not only inside of you. So the metaphor is your clue, and why you ask? Well the difference between a story and explanation is that the story is richer and is more pleasant to follow.
For a fuller demonstration refer to the image below (note: I do not own rights for the image, source: Pinterest) and to the resources in the end of this post.
I personally discovered Joseph Campbell on a very ordinary Sunday, in may 2013, after I spent a day helping a friend to pack boxes for moving. Same night I was browsing through Youtube and came across Kerry Washington’s commencement speech for George Washington University. In over one hour speech, she mentioned how Joseph Campbell influenced her life and work. And this is how very randomly I discovered Joseph Campbell.
But the interesting thing is that this was my call. Me finding out about Joseph Campbell, ordering his book, and finding out as much as I could about this man and his works changed the course of my life forever. First of all, at the time I felt very lonely and different and after I read The hero with a thousand faces, I was never alone ever again. Joe presented me to the community of like-minded. How? Well, I didn't stop with just Joe's books, a preface of one of editions to his books introduced me to other authors, then from the movie about Joe (see reference below) I "met" Deepak Chopra and Gay Hendricks, and so on, which led me into completely transforming my way of thinking, seeing things and acting, and which eventually led me to start this blog. Because this is my return.
I really can't tell you everything I would want to tell you about Joseph Campbell in one 2-page long post, but I will sure talk more about him in the future.
Below, if you're interested, you will fin some references to Joseph Campbell's works.
Memorable quotes:
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.
When you are in accord with nature, nature will yield up its bounty...and every sacred place is the place where eternity shines through time.
Excerpt from The meeting with the Goddess of The hero with a thousand faces: "She is the paragon of all paragons of all paragons of beauty, the reply to all desire, the bliss-bestowing goal of every hero's earthly and unearthly quest. She is mother, sister, mistress, bride. Whatever in the world has lured, whatever has seemed to promise joy, has been premonitory of her existence - in the deep of sleep, if not in the cities and forests of the world. For she is the incarnation of the promise of perfection; the soul's assurance that, at the conclusion of its exile in the world of organized inadequacies, the bliss that once was known will be known again; the comforting, the nourishing, the "good" mother - young and beautiful - who was known to us, and even tasted, in the remotest past. Time sealed her away, yet she is dwelling still, like one who sleeps in timelessness, at the bottom of the timeless sea".
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