Reddit mentions of The Power of Myth (25th Anniversary Edition)

CAMPBELL: A couple of years ago, I had a very amusing experience. I was in the New York Athletic Club swimming pool, where I was introduced to a priest who was a professor at one of our Catholic universities. So after I had had my swim, I came and sat in a lounging chair in what we call the "horizontal athlete" position, and the priest, who was beside me, asked,

"Now, Mr. Campbell, are you a priest?"

I answered, "No, Father."

He asked, "Are you a Catholic?"

I answered, "I was, Father."

Then he asked -- and I think it interesting that he phrased the question in this way -- "Do you believe in a personal god?"

"No, Father," I said.

And he replied, "Well, I suppose there is no way to prove by logic the existence of a personal god."

"If there were, Father," said I, "what then would be the value of faith?"

"Well, Mr. Campbell," said the priest quickly, "it's nice to have met you." And he was off.

I felt I had executed a jujitsu throw.
But that was an illuminating conversation to me. The fact that a Catholic father had asked, "Do you believe in a personal god?" meant to me that he also recognized the possibility of an impersonal god, namely, a transcendent ground or energy in itself. The idea of Buddha consciousness is of an immanent, luminous consciousness that informs all things and all lives. We unthinkingly live by fragments of that consciousness, fragments of that energy. But the religious way of life is to live not in terms of the self-interested intentions of this particular body at this particular time but in terms of the insight of that larger consciousness.

There is an important passage in the recently discovered Gnostic Gospel According to St. Thomas: " 'When will the kingdom come?' Christ's disciples ask." In Mark 13, I think it is, we read that the end of the world is about to come. That is to say, a mythological image -- that of the end of the world -- is there taken as predicting an actual, physical, historical fact to be. But in Thomas' version, Jesus replies: "The kingdom of the Father will not come by expectation. The kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth and men do not see it" -- so I look at you now in that sense, and the radiance of the presence of the divine is known to me through you.

The Power of Myth (25th Anniversary Edition)

A few recommendations for those who want to sort themselves out and revive their dead father.

On Myth:

Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers - The Power of Myth Series

Sample Episode:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9bj6HlMlrDIaXFpaWtBcUtkRmc/view
Full Series:
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-25th-Anniversary/dp/B00A4E8E1O
(also available at many public libraries)

On Art:
Kenneth Clark's Civilisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6qYjisp51M

On Science:
Carl Sagan's Cosmos
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ibbh1_cosmos-a-personal-voyage-episode-1-carl-sagan-the-shores-of-the-cosmic-ocean_tv

The Great Courses Plus (has a fourteen day free trial):
Incredible selection of courses from top lecturers on every topic. The trial will give you the opportunity to watch lectures from any of them. For Peterson fans, I recommend Life Lessons from the Great Books with Rufus Fears, Heroes and Legends with Tom Shippey (only watch the lectures about the characters that interest you), and the course on Ancient Greek Civilization with Jeremy Mcinerney.
https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/

This alone will give you a better grounding as a person than many of the softer undergraduate degrees.

I was JUST watching The Power of Myth and I came to /r/Psychonaut to share that everyone should watch it--- then I saw this post! Love it.

If you haven't seen these interviews, do yourself an immense favor and buy it and watch it and keep it. It is SO GOOD.

Jospeh Campbell and the Power of Myth is good. It is a very well made miniseries with Bill Moyer from PBS.

Available at Amazon to buy, its also on YouTube.

Edit - that YouTube link is terrible, you will just have to look around.

have you seen this ? it is a 6+ hour documentary on anthropologist Joseph Campbell's views on religion and mythology (which are inseparable in his view). Toward the end he states that he doesn't believe in a 'personal' God but does believe in a higher power. http://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-25th-Anniversary/dp/B00A4E8E1O/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1457311986&sr=1-1&keywords=the+power+of+myth