With Jeff”s extended comment under the post below (#40) about how he got involved with Joseph Campbell and the comments following it, we should be able to generate some kind of converstaion about Campbell. I admire his work, but do have some questions. I am sure Jeff has heard these in some form or orther. Questions like is Campbell’s work really relevant to today’s world since he focused on “primitive” cultures? Or what does the “Bumper Sticker” philosophy “Follow Your Bliss” mean? So I would like to try to come at this from a different angle.
Is anybody familiar with Spiral Dynamics? Or go here for more info.
How does Campbell fit into this concept? Any comments are more than welcome.
I know the concept of “meme” comes from Richard Dawkins.
I bet there will be professors at West Georgia’s Psychology Department who will be up on this, also.
Just visited the Northeast Georgia Joseph Campbell Foundation RoundTable (Ty Collins heads it up in Clarkesville). I was their guest speaker. What a magical group of people!
I would like to do a monthly RoundTable here (we did weekly meetings in Rome, but that was a bit much). Anyone who is interested, please let me know. I’ll probably begin in June.
As to Terry’s questions …
I’m not really sure that Joe really defined “Follow Your Bliss” in a precise way, but I don’t think he intended it as a license to Epicureanism. But he did mention that if your primary work is something you do “just for the money,” you’re on the wrong track.
As for his focus on “primitive” cultures … is our “culture” today really so far removed?
Here are some of my favorite Campbell quotes, if you all would indulge me:
“Computers are like Old Testament gods: lots of rules and no mercy.” (I have this one taped to my Apple at work).
“Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?”
“One way or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to that.”
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.”
“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive. That’s what life is all about.”
“What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique personality or experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.”
“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life so much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”
“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty ‘yes’ to your adventure.”
There are many more. Too many to list.
Check out the video on my myspace page.
(hanging head down, Jeff says:)
Yes, I have a myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/wjeffbishop
You might want to heck out the video on my myspace page.
(as he hangs his head in shame, Jeff sheepishly admits:)
Yes, I have a myspace page.
http://www.myspace.com/wjeffbishop
“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.”
Wouldn’t this indicate that Campbell wanted people to explore the abyss, rather than just get to the edge and peer into it, or talk about it?
If I recall my monomyth correctly, the hero was called. He didn’t go plunging off the cliff in order to seek his bliss. That was the older brothers, who came to ruin, every one.
Of course, this is metaphor.
And we have to be careful not to literalize the metaphor, particularly by taking one out of context and comparing / contrasting it rationally with another (maybe apparently similar but, again, out of context).
In other words, an “abyss” is not necessarily an “abyss.” This is a reference point in a schematic. But look at Schematic B, try to find the same reference point … it may not translate.
Or, as Whitman said, “I contain multitudes.”
Or maybe I’m just full of shit.
But maybe, Terry, you’re referring specifically to the proclivities of this particular group of assassins.
OK … guilty.
Sometimes.
Sometimes I hear the call, so I descend. Most often I do not.
I do not often come back with treasure, and when I do, it almost always turns to ashes before it can be passed on.
It can make one a bit depressed after a while.
I mean, why bother?
But I’m not THAT old. At least not yet. When I hear the music, I will dance. When the bird calls, I will follow it into the wood.
But every year I am weaker. Maybe I ain’t so special. Maybe I was never meant to dredge up anything of significance.
So be it. I’ll probably write the damn stuff, anyway.
If none of this makes sense … I’m mostly talking to myself, anyway.
I was just trying to stir up a litle discussion of Campbell. Maybe I need to try to make Jeff’s Round Table discussions when they get started.
Please, do!
Damn you people for conjuring up all this tasty goodness when I have stupid errands to do and must put off reading through till later…
It keeps.