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Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) 


An excerpt from Phil Cousineau's introduction to  The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work: 

Joseph Campbell's long odyseey through the seas of ancient mythology was as much a spiritual quest as it was a scholarly one. Through his prodigious readings, writings, and travels, as well as his crossroad meetings with many of the century's most influential men and women, he discovered remarkable parallels in our world's mythological heritage and reinforcement for the deep conviction he had held since he was a young student: that there is a fundamental unity at the heart of nature. 

"Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names," he often quoted the Vedas. To synthesize the constant truths of history became the burning point of his life; to bridge the abyss between science and religion, mind and body, East and West, with the timeless linkage of myths became his task of tasks. 

"My hope," he wrote in his preface to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, "is that a comparative elucidation may contribute to the perhaps not-quite-desperate cause of those forces that are working in the present world for unification, not in the name of some ecclesiastical or political empire, but in the name of human mutual understanding." 

Campbell's comparative historical approach to mythology, religion, and literature, in contrast to the conventional scholar's emphasis on cultural differences, concentrated on similarities. He was convinced that the common themes or archetypes in our sacred stories and images transcended the variations or cultural manifestations. Moreover he believed that a re-viewing of such primordial images in mythology as the hero, death and resurrection, the virgin birth, and the promised land--the universal aspects of the soul, the blood memories--could reveal our common psychological roots. They could even show us, as seen from below, how the soul views itself. 

"Myths are the 'masks of God'," he wrote, "through which men everywhere have sought to relate themselves to the wonders of existence." The shock of recognition we receive from the timelessness of these images, from primal cultures to the most contemporary, he believed, was an illumination not only of our inward life but of the same deep spiritual ground from which all human life springs. 

So as Albert Einstein pursued a unified field theory for the energies of the outer realms, Joseph Campbell dedicated himself to forging a kind of unified field theory of the equally prodigious energies of the inner realms, the personifications of which we call "the gods." And what physicists call the "fabric of reality" Campbell called "the net of gems," a sparkling metaphor from Hindu cosmology that is also a keen image of his own unique weaving together of myth, religion, science, and art. His teachers in those disciplines, he concluded, were all saying essentially the same thing: that there is a system of archetypal impulses that have stirred the human spirit throughout history. It is, as he synthesized it, "one grandiose song." 

The iconoclast road he took as scholar, teacher, and writer was not unlike the "left-hand paths" he discovered in myriad myths: what the Kena Upanishads call the crossing of "a bridge as sharp as the edge of a razor"; the taking of the "middle way" of the Buddhists; or the entering of the dark forest of the Grail Quest "where there is no way or path." Intuitively he followed his Tao of Scholarship beyond the hallowed halls of traditional academia and into a spiritual and psychological view of mythology, which embraces the transcendent Reality referred to by saints and shamans that can be directly experienced. This form of direct perception of what the mystics called cosmic consciousness is nothing less than a personal encounter with the gods. It is the healing vision of order underlying apparent chaos, the seizure of life-affirming Beauty in the heart of darkness. If "snatching the eternal out of the ever-fleeting is one of the great tricks of human existence," as Tennesee Williams said, then those who can experience eternity now, from Campbell's challenging perspective, become our tricksters, our spiritual guides. 

Campbell's decidedly unconventional career deprived him, he used to joke, of some prestige from his fellow scholars. But it was obvious to those of us who knew him that he took great pride in being the maverick of the "dilettante," "the one who takes delight in," as he once described his own mentor, the Indologist Heinrich Simmer. He could afford to. His enthusiasm--literally his being full of the gods--had won him the hearts and minds of students early on in his career at Sarah Lawrence, and later, scores of artists. His own fascination with the "great stuff of myth" turned thinking into an adventure, translated knowledge into wisdom, and revealed the personal relevance of mythology to those who heard or read him. To them he was far more than the popularizer who trivializes his subject; he was what the French elegantly call the "animateur," the charismatic teacher who not only animates complex material for the average audience, but evokes what Vladimir Nabakov called the frisson, the telling shiver of truth about your own life. For that gift alone he became one of the most beloved teachers of our time. 

Yet after more than fifty years of teaching and more than twenty books, Campbell felt that his contribution was simply that he gave people "the key to the realm of the muses," that marvelous realm beyond the visible one from which imagination and inspiration guide us in shaping our lives. In that role he was a modern mystagogue, a guide through the often inscrutable mysteries of the ancient texts of Beowulf, Gilgamesh, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Egyptian mysteries, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Arthurian romances, the American Indian myths, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, as well as such modern myth-makers as James Joyce, Thomas Mann, and Pablo Picasso. In his rendering of these majestic narratives and images, he taught us the poet's way of "How to Read a Myth" (the original title for The Hero with a Thousand Faces): symbolically, metaphorically, soulfully. 

But beyond his talent for "metamorphosis," that is, his ability to read into these transformative riddles of life and death, Campbell personalized the classics like few scholars before him. To complement the rigorous methods of scholarship, he revived the art of hermeneutics--inventive interpretations in the spirit of Hermes, the soul-guide--and fused them with the glint-in-the-eye-regaling of a wise Irish storyteller. In so doing he breathes new life into the old myths, as Albert Camus said each generation must do. As he did with one of his favorite tales, the Parsifal legend, when he threw down the gauntlet at the end of his Arthurian romance seminars. So is it goiing to be the Grail Quest or is it going to be the Wasteland? he would ask. Are you going to go on the creative soul's quest or are you going to pursue the life that only gives you security? Are you going to follow the star of the zeal of your own enthusiasm? Are you going to live the myth or is the myth going to live you? 

--Phil Cousineau, Introduction, The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, pp. xi-xiv. 


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Joseph Campbell, "The Hero With A Thousand Faces (Commemorative Edition)" Summary:

Bollingen | 2004 | ISBN: 0691119244 | 493 pages | siPDF | 7.8 MB

Joseph Campbell's classic cross-cultural study of the hero's journey has inspired millions and opened up new areas of research and exploration. Originally published in 1949, the book hit the New York Times best-seller list in 1988 when it became the subject of The Power of Myth, a PBS television special. Now, this legendary volume, re-released in honor of the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, promises to capture the imagination of a new generation of readers. The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stages of mythology but also its relevance to our lives today—and to the life of any person seeking a fully realized existence. Myth, according to Campbell, is the projection of a culture's dreams onto a large screen; Campbell's book, like Star Wars, the film it helped inspire, is an exploration of the big-picture moments from the stage that is our world. Offered for the first time with beautifully restored illustrations and a bibliography of cited works, it provides unparalleled insight into world mythology from diverse cultures. It is a must-have resource for both experienced students of mythology and the explorer just beginning to approach myth as a source of knowledge. Originally written by Campbell in the '40s—in his pre-Bill Moyers days—and famous as George Lucas' inspiration for "Star Wars," this book will likewise inspire any writer or reader in its well considered assertion that while all stories have already been told, this is *not* a bad thing, since the *retelling* is still necessary. And while our own life's journey must always be ended alone, the travel is undertaken in the company not only of immediate loved ones and primal passion, but of the heroes and heroines—and myth-cycles—that have preceded us.


PART ONE
The Adventure of the Hero
CHAPTER I: Departure 45

1. The Call to Adventure 45
2. Refusal of the Call 54
3. Supernatural Aid 63
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold 71
5. The Belly of the Whale 83

CHAPTER II: Initiation 89

1. The Road of Trials 89
2. The Meeting with the Goddess 100
3. Woman as the Temptress 111
4. Atonement with the Father
5. Apotheosis
6. The Ultimate Boon

CHAPTER III: Return

1. Refusal of the Return
2. The Magic Flight
3. Rescue from Without
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
5. Master of the Two Worlds
6. Freedom to Live

CHAPTER IV: The Keys

PART TWO
The Cosmogonic Cycle

CHAPTER I: Emanations

1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
2. The Universal Round
3. Out of the Void-Space
4. Within Space—Life
5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
6. Folk Stories of Creation

CHAPTER II: The Virgin Birth

1. Mother Universe
2. Matrix of Destiny
3. Womb of Redemption
4. Folk Stories of Virgin Motherhood

CHAPTER III: Transformations of the Hero

1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
2. Childhood of the Human Hero
3. The Hero as Warrior
4. The Hero as Lover
5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
6. The Hero as World Redeemer
7. The Hero as Saint 
8. Departure of the Hero 

CHAPTER I V : Dissolutions 

1. End of the Microcosm 
2. End of the Macrocosm 


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The Hero with a Thousand Faces: 4 Cassettes, 5 Hours 
(Audio Cassette converted to eight 96kbps mp3 files) 

Language: English 
Creator: Campbell, Joseph 
Co-creator: Blum, Ralph (reader) 
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Inc. 
Publisher 2: Audio Renaissance 
Pub. Year: 1995 
Edition: Abridged 
Category: Audio 
Length Abridged 
Catalog/ISBN 1559273305 
  
 
Description Campbell has transformed forever the way scholars, historians and psychologists view mythology, uniquely interweaving traditional wisdom with the modern struggle for identity and spiritual depth. Campbell's unique perspectives examine the world's complex and interwoven mythology, folklore and religion, providing an understanding of the essence and genesis of humanness. Blum allows the listener to focus on the content of Campbell's words. NOTE: This highly abridged reading of Campbell's seminal work is interspersed with audio drawn from Campbell's lectures. 

The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 1.1 - The Adventure of The Hero.mp3
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 1.2 - The Adventure of The Hero.mp3
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 1.3 - The Adventure of The Hero.mp3
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 1.4 - The Adventure of The Hero.mp3

The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 2.1 - The Cosmogonic Cycle.mp3
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 2.2 - The Cosmogonic Cycle.mp3
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 2.3 - The Cosmogonic Cycle.mp3
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - 2.4 - The Cosmogonic Cycle.mp3