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VHS - Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (6pc)
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Rating:  -
My husband and I have always loved this series. He showed parts of it to his students in his Phillosophy class before he retired.
As usuaual, the Amazon service was perfect.
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Joseph Campbell was an amazing man full of insight and understanding of the religions of the world and how they all are the same metaphorically, and they all share common themes since the dawn of time. I will share some of his perceptions and thoughts that are reoccurring throughout this 6-hour DVD. Every chapter is spellbinding, delightful and distinctive. There is a wealth of information here that will inspire anyone to a spiritual life and the wonders of the great mysteries of life and God as Campbell sees him. Joseph Campbell was an enlightened man full of the wonder and joy of life. Just watching him I feel a deep sense of connection to God and the mysteries of the universal cosmic truths.
Myths and dreams are transformations of consciousness and are the way to a deep rich life of mystery; transforming thought. The Ego is the dragon holding you in and keeping you small. Following your bliss by doing what brings you vitality within yourself saves the world. The Buddha says that Nirvana is a psychological state of mind that is not compelled by desire, fear or social commitments or acting out of our own center. We are all seeking an experience of being alive; we are not seeking meaning of life since there is none really. It's the inner value we seek and it is not in what we do. The ultimate mystery of being transcends thought and cannot be understood. God is transcendent and God is within our world, others and us. Eternity is here and now. This is it and we must get it from within ourselves not out there and not after we die! We cannot concretize that symbols as fact. Jesus did not ascend up but within us. All the symbols are metaphors and are not fact. We are all manifestations of Buddha consciousness. Jesus is within us all just as are heaven, and Hell and all the Gods. Inward we are the source. All religions are true for their time. Open up to the mysteries of life of all things, and make a choice to stay in your life and realize the truth and depth of your experience of your own being through consciousness and bliss. Experience it here and now.
Do not judge. Open-up and love thy enemy. These, Campbell says, are Jesus' greatest teachings.
We need to shift the perception to joyful participation in the sorrows of life and everything changes. Find the immoveable center within yourself and we can survive anything and float down the stream of life. To save the world we must save ourselves. The influence of a vital person vitalizes the world. The world is a wasteland and we cannot save the world by shifting it around. Bring it to life by being alive yourself.
Choose to affirm life. Life is great say yes to it. It is a childish way of thinking to say no to life with all its pain. We all participate in evil. No matter what we do it's evil to somebody. If all the universe is Divine how can we say no to anything in the world? Brutality, stupidity, thoughtless ness and suffering; we must say yes. Affirm the world and life. We are not to judge anything. This is the greatest teaching of Jesus. Affirm both good and evil. Do not withdrawal from the world when you realize how horrible it is, but see the horror as the foreground of a wonder. Come back and participate in it.
To be spiritual we need a deep sense of mystery of the dimension of the universe that is not available to the senses. Divinity is the realization of wonder that is much larger then the human dimension. Divinity is just what we think. God is a metaphor of what is guiding you and comes from within. The transcendent mystery is where we come from and we do not have to identify it. I am the vehicle radiant of the spirit, as we all are. The virgin birth is the symbol of the birth of the heart to the awakening of the spiritual life in accord with another or a principle. To not be driven by the lower centers of lust, greed, power and wanting but to be driven from the compassion of the heart to open-up to the realization that God is within the other and us; a whole new life comes.
The ultimate mystery is finding God within you. That God is within us just as he is within the earth and all of nature and everything. God is everywhere. This is the real truth- He is not up in the sky separate from us, but within us and around us supporting us always, and we just need to become awake to this fact. I can see why the goal is to die before we die. To die to our animal and material nature and become reborn to the spiritual nature, which is our true nature.
And he often mentions how we are to live our lives in accord with nature and to worship nature just as most of the world does. Western Christian thought sees nature as fallen and our religion is one of exile that nature is fallen and evil. This is ridiculous Campbell says because what else do we have to worship then nature? All other religions but Christianity, teach to live in accord with nature and the God's are much more elemental of the earth. We come from the earth and are a part of the Earth not separate from it.
Here is a quote from Chief Seattle that Campbell dictates and lives by:
"Will you teach your children what we teach our children, that the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. Earth does not belong to man; Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. What he does to the web he does to himself. One thing we know, our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of man? When the view of the ripe hills is blocked by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone. Where will the eagle be? Gone. What is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival."
Rating:  -
I received the dvd and the book years ago, after donating money to my local public TV station. If it were not for the power of the myth I don't believe I would have been unconditioned enough to listen to Alan Watts. Watts said the same thing but he did it back in the 60's. I started to believe that Campbell plagiarized Watts but then I thought some of the things he and Watts were saying I pretty much had came to the same conclusion, the same gist of it all... But then I thought heck yeah he was plagiarizing because he was telling some of the same stories except not as entertainingly as Watts. He was just a lil more palpable to the mainstream so not too many folks caught on.
The Power of the Myth is a great book if your searching; it will definately put you onto the path of finding.
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Another work of art from the extraordinary communicator that Joseph Campbell was! Worth the investment.
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This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. This is a great book on DVD written by a very engaging storyteller. Joseph Campbell describes the monomyth in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces as embodying all the necessary elements of the hero's journey in the many myths in human history. Campbell discovered through extensive research that humankind shares a universal monomyth in its various religions and legends especially pertaining to the creation of the world and humankind. Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from James Joyce's book Finnegan's Wake. Campbell's intuitive insight in human myth proves that for thousands of years these myths display a certain standard structure, which he summarizes beautifully in his book.
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a
region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there
encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back
from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons
on his fellow man (Campbell 30).
There are at least four major stages that a monomyth has however, in his book, Campbell goes on to describe seventeen stages that some monomyth's posses. The four stages making up the cycle of a monomyth are "passage: separation-initiation-return:" In the passage stage the hero is summoned to journey or embark on an adventure by some kind of event that takes place or from a message, he receives. The hero may embark on this passage willingly or reluctantly. During the separation stage, the hero meets with a mentor or wise man who gives the hero either an amulet or some words of wisdom to be of help to the hero on the adventure. It is during this stage that the hero will go through his first transformation, also known as "crossing the first threshold," as he crosses over to another world or dimension leaving behind the old world. In the initiation stage, the hero goes through several trials or tests. The hero often receives help in these ordeals along the way by allies or from a supernatural force. As the hero completes these ordeals successfully, he proves himself more worthy to continue the adventure. Most importantly, during this stage the hero must pass through a major ordeal that will expand his consciousness, and thereby change his character forever. Often, this ordeal entails the death of an ally or enemy. Once the hero successful accomplishes his ordeal he is rewarded with a gift, it could be intrinsic like the "holy grail, or it can be new found knowledge to better the world with. The last stage the hero travels is that of the return whence he came. Often the hero will undergo further trials on his return before he is permitted to cross the threshold back to the world he left. During his return journey, the hero will use his newfound wisdom or gift to make a safe return home. Once home the gift is used to cure some ill in the hero's home or to impart new wisdom to his neighbors.
Campbell points to the significance of the monomyth in the fact that it describes the cycle that Moses, Jesus, and Buddha had gone through according to their religious adherents. This is not to mention the hundreds of other monomyths told throughout human history. The monomyth proves that humankind shares a common creation DNA in a sense. The monomyth is the perfect vehicle for one to study the Humanities by.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy.
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