Reddit mentions of The Power of Myth

Joseph Campbell.


One key thing to remember: Campbell's work is descriptive, not prescriptive. What I mean is that he was describing and interpreting the trends that he found in mostly ancient folklore, myths, and legends. He had no intention of creating a formula for storytellers to refer to, although this is now common practice.


Also, "Star Wars closely follows the monomyth" is really not a topic. You need to answer the "So what?" question. Why did Lucas do that? Where does he deviate from the monomyth? How does he use these common trends to tell a unique story? How does it reflect the time in which it was produced? You don't have to answer all of these questions, but you do need to address something beyond simply plugging in Star Wars characters and situations where appropriate.


You should probably seek out the Joseph Campbell-Bill Moyers collaboration The Power of Myth*. Lots of libraries have a copy. It is much, much easier to digest than Campbell's original work, unless you are already familiar with a great number of myths and extensive academic terminology. The tv series by the same name is pretty good, as well. For a book that uses Campbell's monomyth but updates it with examples from modern media (and a prescriptive purpose), pick this up.


Source: Wrote master's thesis using Campbell scholarship as a resource.

Ahem. Maybe this one is good.

The big guys are all up in that The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

I can't recomend or say this enough.

You need to read three books:

1. Save The Cat. This book will give you the basics of how to write a script, and what points to follow.
   
   
2. Here With A Thousand Faces. This is the same information you would get in Save The Cat, however, it's way more involved. This book isn't about screenwriting, it's about story/myth and how we tell them. READ THIS BOOK!
   
   
3. The Power of Myth. Another book by Joseph Cambell, which explains why we tell stories the way we do, and why you should write your stories using the 'Hero's Journey' (see Hero With A Thousand Faces).
   
   It is important to learn these basics, as you need to learn to walk, before you can fly a fighter jet.
   
   Happy to answer any and all questions for you!!! But these books are a must!!! I read them all, and still have Hero & Power of Myth on my desk.

It's tribalism and uneducated barbarity, really.

If you want some reading material that will blow your freakin' mind, read AND listen to The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. He researched and studied humanity's relationship to myth and story-telling in excruciating detail and was able to write and talk about it in such a way as to make it entertaining and educational. Seriously - reading and watching the interviews will change your life for the better forever.

If anyone is looking for an author that is very, very, very knowledgeable on mythological matters and the historical relations and importance of it all, take a look and read anything by Joseph Campbell.

What about this thesis? United States Evangelical Christians have melded US culture with their perverted version of Christianity to an extent that things like The fruits of The Spirit, spiritual discernment, bearing fruit as demonstrated by good works & repentance are no longer pursued. As you unpack in your 2nd paragraph, American's are infatuated with quick fix thinking and tribalism. I contend that if every one of the R Voters were magically able to take a 2 week trip to a different part of the world, it would change most of their lives. It's isolation that remains a ball and chain on this group.

I am grateful that the Christian college i attended had a literature/writing professor who introduced the notion of "the myth of Christ" and had the audacity to assign Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth reading in his class. It took me a few years to digest Campbell. The notion of death followed by resurrection is a common myth among most religions in the world.

I have a gay brother and over time, have found it easy to dismiss the gay/lesbian dogma evangelicals hold near and dear. Living in Sin?: A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality by John Shelby Spong helped me think outside of the evangelical box on this issue. The 4 gospels are silent on homosexuality, i.e. Jesus said nothing on this topic. Why? If Luther's concept of sola scriptura is applied, the Bible based cases against abortion and homosexuality are weak. Few in this group understand this. It's easier to be bigoted and lazy, which unfortunately is very American.

SO MANY!

["Lies my Teacher Told Me"] (http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281) by James Loewen. This is about how the world really works, basically. It's all about history and politics and economics and how world powers interact with each other and their own population. It's incredibly eye-opening and will make you understand why everything is the way it is today! It's also ridiculously fun to read :D

["The Quantum and the Lotus by"] (http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383171898&sr=1-1&keywords=the+quantum+and+the+lotus) by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan. This is a super fascinating read! It's actually a transcribed conversation between a Buddhist who became a quantum physicist and a physicist who left science and became a Buddhist! It's this AMAZING look into complicated science and it's explained in such simple terms anyone can understand it. But beyond that, it's this really fascinating glimpse into a world where science and spirituality can co-exist. It's like science explaining spirituality, or spirituality giving a wholesome quality to science. It's just so unique and amazing!

["The Power of Myth"] (http://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383172215&sr=1-3&keywords=joseph+campbell) by Joseph Campbell. If you can, read EVERYTHING by this guy that you can get your hands on! This book is especially poignant because it's addressing all of the aspects of our modern day society, from religion to gangs to marriage, even education. It is incredibly powerful and eye-opening and explains so much about the way we work as humans and the way the individual interacts with society. Plus, you'll learn a shit ton about mythology that you never knew before! And you'll be looking at mythology from a ridiculously profound perspective that I've never seen anyone else address before.

I can give you more if you tell me what you're interested in learning more about :)

EDIT: Typos.

Campbell said something similar in The Power of Myth though he was referring to the appeal of the use of Latin in Catholic rites. The idea's the same, though.

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.

It changed my intellectual landscape at a young age. It's about comparative mythology, but it will open your world to the intellectual curiosities of art, religion, sociology, anthropology, mysticism, metaphysics and much more. A beautiful, eye-opening read.

While these are not all specifically about religion, here are a few things that I think everyone should read at some point in their lives.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (this is where the term 'paradigm shift' came from).

Karl Popper on politics

Karl Popper on science

Get some historical perspective on the philosophy of science

The Power of Myth

A History of God

The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell

Disclaimer:

I enjoy thinking about these kinds of things as well, so I will offer some answers and ask some of my own questions. /r/Philosophy might be a better place to start a conversation if you are looking for discussion rather than debate. I don’t see any blatant fallacies in your original post... it would take a more formally structured argument for them to become apparent. If you want to give that a shot, I am more than willing, but it is a bit more relaxing to engage in this conversational style. A lot of what we have been talking about ultimately comes down to what we mean by ‘truth’, which is a fairly deep question, and is worthy of approaching from a variety of different angles.

An answer to your original post:

In my view, art, poetry, lit., music, and even religious teachings all do have some truth to offer, but it is typically truth about US rather than the rest of the universe. I would recommend the book: The Power of Myth - by Joseph Campbell to further suss out how this works in the case of religion.

For example, when a myth personifies the Sun as a deity, we need not assume that this is a literal truth, but that instead it tangentially tells us something deep about human nature, and how we all seek answers, and how our imagination fills in the gaps in the absence of understanding, and how we project ourselves onto the rest of the universe (by personifying non-human nature).

Regarding your last reply:

My answers may come across as a bit reductionistic/deflationary, so feel free to reject that which does not resonate with you.

When an author uses a particular word (like ‘love’, ‘hope’, or even ‘tree’), it carries the weight of all of their previous experiences with it. Since we haven’t had the same experiences as the author, there will be some disconnect between them and us. We usually do seek to communicate as much as possible from ourselves to another through this process, but there is always some loss of information. Even the original author, when they go back and reread what they have written, may not know exactly what they meant at the time, especially if some time has passed, and their views have changed.

The idea of ‘meaning’ itself requires subjects and is therefore subjective. We all generate meaning quite naturally, it is integral to our humanity. Text doesn’t mean anything on it’s own, but it can mean something to the author, and to the reader.

Those especially moving moments of epiphany that we have all experienced when reading a great piece of literature tend to speak to universal statements about human nature - posed in such a way as to elevate the effect. Sometimes these same truths can be stated outright in a sentence or two, but seems small and trivial without context.

Depending on the medium, this effect falls on a continuum from concrete to elusive/vague. In music for example, the effect cannot always be put into words, as the medium itself is wordless. The messages and truths have to do with our shared experiences as emotional beings, who love patterns, consistency, novelty, and pure sensation (among other things). In this sense, a sonata may not be ‘about’ anything, or ‘mean’ anything, but instead it transmits a feeling or emotion. I would still see this as a kind of ‘truth’, but these are very different than truths about the nature of matter, planets, or galaxies.

Before I go on to describe the differences (of truths), I should mention the similarities. I am reminded of a quote:

-----

All truth is one.

In this light, may science and religion endeavor together for the steady evolution of Mankind:

From darkness to light,

From narrowness to broadmindedness,

From prejudice to tolerance,

It is the voice of life that calls us

To come and learn.

• Anonymous
  
  -----
  
  That being said, it would still be a mistake to use music to try to understand truths about the structure of an atom. Yes, both methods do tell us something about reality, and our relationship to reality, but they have different applications and different domains.
  
  
  Perhaps I have gone on long enough for now. If there is a particular point you would like to pursue further, let me know. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about something near and dear to my heart. : )

It's an excerpt from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.

The entire book is a transcript taken from a series of video interviews with Joseph Campbell. The series is called The Power of Myth and it's still available on NETFLIX, I believe. I've watched the entire series and am currently reading the book and it's given me a profound understanding.

"The Power of Myth" https://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868

> impressive

Aw shucks, I don't know about that.

I'd been thinking a lot about Greek afterlife recently (because I've been thinking about the temple a lot and there are some really, really compelling parallels there).

I liked mythology when I was a kid. And when I was an undergrad I went back and read the 'classics' because I wanted to understand those myths - which gave me a great list of questions because beyond those myths and the popular culture I'd absorbed I had zero context for understanding the language and culture. So when I go back over a concept in Mormonism (or Judaism or Christianity or Islam) that doesn't make a lot of sense I look at the etymology of the words involved, read about it on Wikipedia, and ask questions.

Also here are some people who's work undergirds my own understanding

• Jospeh Campbell
  
  
• Carol Pearson
  
  
• E.A. Wallis Budge
  
  
• and Hugh Nibley (right?)

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.

I was maybe a sort-of atheist for a bit. I basically just realized that the only reason I was a Christian was because I was born into that religion, and that if I was to pick the "right" religion, there would have to be another way, like using logic or reason, to figure out which religion was right. I honestly thought that after a class in logic, I'd know how everything works. Naive, certainly, but I've moved past that now.

And as to why I'm not an atheist, I wouldn't say there's really a reason; I simply don't feel compelled to believe it. I'm still largely an agnostic, but I lean in the theistic direction, or the belief that there's something out there. One of my profs was telling us once of a lecture he heard where the man talked about how people all over the world throughout history feel compelled to some sort of religious belief, some sort of spiritual lifestyle that addressed spiritual questions. And the person considered this to be a good argument against atheism. While most atheists are quick to say religion must prove itself correct, this person said that atheism must prove itself, because it seems that the baseline for humanity is a religious mode of life. The in's and out's of this can be debated, but I think it's worth considering.

And beyond that, I'd say I'm still an agnostic; I'm not really a taoist in any strict sense although I do like taoism for the reason I gave you; it recognizes that it's only an attempt to describe something indescribable, be it God, truth, heaven or whatever else you want to call it. This was Campbell's major theme; all the religions and mythologies we have had are attempts to describe God, but they are not intended to be taken literally. I'd recommend The Power of Muth if this interests you. It's honestly one of the best books I've ever read, and completely changed my outlook on life in a way I don't think any other book has. Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any more questions.

Lately, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain...I'm sure on this forum it's well known, and I wrote about it on How did you discover MBTI?

I knew I was an introvert, but I didn't know that that meant, like how we process information, how we verbalize, that we NEED our alone time. So I began to embrace all these things, and better understood how to communicate with extroverts, which is really helpful. I think just this bit of self knowledge has sent me on a reading frenzy.

Currently, I'm reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell which discusses all the archetypal myths from different cultures and religions, and how they play a part for the individual and society. These stories/myths, which many of us discredit because they are not based in fact, actual serve the purpose of being example of how to live. Campbell argues that the loss of these myths in western society is an explanation for the misguided youth. People are seeking how to live their lives, but don't know where to find the answers...therefor it's taking much longer to learn how to grow up. Very fascinating. We no longer have strong adulthood rituals or rites of passage, so fundamentally, young adults still act like kids.
It also talks about some meaning of life stuff which is changing a lot of perspective for me and too deep to summarize here. I highly recommend it.

I am open to the idea that something created the universe, but that something is most likely beyond our ability to fully comprehend. We may see wisps of It in each of us (quite frankly, every human is a walking miracle), but with all the flavors of God out there...

If you're interested in an in-depth analysis of this phenomenon and the role of mythology in the development of Judeo-Christian faiths, I recommend you look into reading anything and everything you can ever get your hands on by Joseph Campbell. I specifically recommend The Power of Myth and The Masks of God series.

Joseph Campbell was himself very spiritual and has a very unique and insightful way of thinking about religion.

Classical Myth by Barry Powell is what my favorite classics teacher taught out of. It is a very readable book that is probably 1/3 primary sources -- which I like.

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Myth-7th-Barry-Powell/dp/0205176070/

And then these two classics on mythology from Joseph Campbell also come to mind as very accessible and packed with information from a guy who definitely knows what he is talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868/

http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/

Emerson's Self Reliance and On Intelligence (for starters)

Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth

John Bridges' How To Be A Gentleman

If you're going into business: Sun Tzu's The Art of War

Jean Jacque Rousseau's The Social Contract

These are all non-fiction reads that are meant to build character. Most fiction is meant to engender culture in their readers or inspire philosophical reflection. Non-Fiction is typically more instructional.

I would work really hard on contextualizing the different perspectives.

Get a grasp on the purposes of myths within a religious belief system before trying to relate it at all to physics.

In contemporary societies, religious myth is designed to teach spiritual concepts (humility, gratitude, respect, etc.), not physical ones.

Some fundamentalists/superstitious types have a hard time dealing with scientific reasoning, but that doesn't mean that people who hold religious beliefs do not also accept scientific understanding.

You may want to narrow down "religion" to "indigenous mythology" - just to keep the scope of your project within reason.

Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking the Idol of Certainty -- Gregory Boyd? The subject matter doesn't seem exactly the same (Boyd seems more focused on Christianity), but other features check out. He has another book, Letters of Skeptic, in the form of dialoged letters?

I also found The Power of Myth -- Joseph Campbell which seems more in-line with myths from various cultures throughout history.

It's a little dry but you might check out The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. It covers a lot of ground, talks about the common themes in all of the worlds religions. Very enlightening stuff.

There's also a video version out there somewhere which covers most of the major stuff. We got to watch it in HS & it's pretty cool.

I'm partial to Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth.

Ancient fairy tales are knowledge. See the works of Joseph Campbell.

I don't think it's a question of whether or not you can think deeply.

When seeing layers of meaning in something, like a book, it usually helps if someone has a lot of the foundational information that the author draws upon in order to craft his/her stories.

Books don't form in a vacuum. They are derived from a lot of influences in the writer's life. Those influences, in turn, are affected by the history of the culture in which the person is living as well as current happenings.

Have you ever read any Joseph Campbell?

http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php

Many of his works on the Archtypes found in story telling and history can really help you understand the intellectual and emotional underpinnings of most human art.


http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868