Unity of Sebring

The Power of Myth offers an exhilarating journey into the mind and spirit of legendary teacher Joseph Campbell. In conversations with Bill Moyers, Campbell argues that mythology defines and guides lives and culture, challenging viewers to find the heroic journey in their own lives. He explores the enduring myth of death and rebirth, the primitive rite of passage, the role of mystical Shamans, and the decline of rituals in today’s society.

Reaching back into early history, Campbell claims that heroic adventures were a part of all world cultures, then challenges viewers to see the presence of a heroic journey in their own lives. He explores the enduring myth of death and rebirth, the rite of passage in primitive societies, the role of mystical Shamans, and the decline of rituals in today’s society. His subjects range from the changing images of women to the concepts of God and the role of sacrifice in myth. Titles are: “The Hero’s Adventure,” “The Message of the Myth,” “The First Storytellers, Sacrifice and Bliss,” “Love and the Goddess,” and “Masks of Eternity.”

Campbell’s big question was: ‘How can myth be powerful for a person living today?’ Are our lives really comparable to the amazing characters that appear in these old stories? He believed that mythical characters act as archetypes of human possibility; they are confronted with problems, and their ensuing action gives us an idea about how life might be handled. To identify ourselves with, for instance, the young warrior Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita, is not an inflation of our ego, but is an acceptance that this figure has something to teach us. In mythology we could never really feel alone, for within it were guides for the human spirit belonging to everyone, providing a map for every cycle of life or experience we may go through. He called mythology ‘the song of the universe’, put into tune by a thousand different cultures and peoples. With myth, all experience can be empowering; without it, life can seem just a meaningless series of ups and downs.

The Power of Myth calls us to ‘follow our bliss’. Our bliss is an activity, work or passion with the power to endlessly fascinate. It is unique to us, yet may come upon us as a total surprise, and we may resist it for years. In modern psychological phraseology, bliss is the state of ‘flow’ (see Cziksentmihalyi) that we experience when we are doing what we are best at; time seems to stand still, and we feel effortlessly creative. This is about joy, as distinct from merely pleasure. Campbell portrays bliss as the track that has always been waiting for you, with ‘hidden hands’ seeming to help you attract the right circumstances for the fulfilment of your work. In mythological terms, bliss is represented by the Cosmic Mother, who guards an inexhaustible well offering solace, joy and protection from mundane life.

We don’t look to myth to find the meaning of life, Campbell said, its purpose is to make us appreciate ‘the adventure of being alive’. Without some sense of ourselves within a larger history of human imagination and experience, our life would inevitably lack romance and depth. The stories and imagery we have in our heads are only a tiny fraction of what is available to us, and in increasing our knowledge of past culture and art, life is enriched immeasurably.

Following your bliss

In The Power of Myth Campbell talks about the medieval idea of the Wheel of Fortune, a metaphor for life that has had us in its thrall for millennia. The wheel has a hub, radiating out to its rim. As it turns through time, we hang on to its rim, either going up or down, experiencing the great highs and lows. In modern terms, chasing rewards like a higher salary or power or beautiful bodies are all rim-hanging things. We hang on, sometimes for dear life, in this relentless cycle of pleasure and pain.

The Wheel of Fortune idea, though, contains its own solution: the possibility of learning to live at the hub, centred, focusing on what Campbell calls one’s ‘bliss’. Our bliss is an activity, work or passion with the power to endlessly fascinate. It is unique to us, yet may come upon us as a total surprise, and we may resist it for years. In modern psychological phraseology, bliss is the state of ‘flow’ (see Cziksentmihalyi) that we experience when we are doing what we are best at; time seems to stand still, and we feel effortlessly creative. Here is joy, as distinct from merely pleasure. Campbell portrays bliss as the track that has always been waiting for you, with ‘hidden hands’ seeming to help you attract the right circumstances for the fulfilment of your work. In mythological terms, bliss is represented by the Cosmic Mother, who guards an inexhaustible well offering solace, joy and protection from mundane life.

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