The Power of Myth, Programs 1-6 by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Power of Myth, Programs 1-6
Book Review: One of the best storytellers of our time!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. This is a great book 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.
Book Review: Intellectual stuff
Summary: 3 Stars
I have tremendous admiration for the author Joseph Campbell and also for Bill Moyers, who did the interview. Both are tremendously intelligent, well-read and capable of verbalizing opinions and explanations in a very concise way. One would glean more from reading this book if a bit of "reqired reading" had been done previous to the reading. Our book club found the book challenging because we lacked the necessary background. Having such background would have made the book read faster and also would have enlightened our understanding as we read. However, we were all glad we did read it.Book Review: Probably THE Most Important Book I Have Ever Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read the book no less than ten times. I have given the book as a gift no less than twenty times. I have watched the DVD no less than five times. Each and every hour that I have spent with this wonderful book has brought on further enlightenment and empowerment.
When I heed Campbell's words; I stay on my path and follow my bliss. Thereby creating that which is intended for me.
Campbell does a tremendous job relating my world to that of the ancients. He crosses cultures and history with aplumb. Leaving the reader completely aware that all is connected and we have a role to play as creator.
Book Review: A "slow-burning rapture"
Summary: 5 Stars
Five stars seem inadequate to rate a book that changed my life so profoundly. It gave me the courage to do the things I always dreamed of doing, but dared not do, as they were contrary to what society considers success.
"Go where your body and soul want to go." Campbell urged. "When you have the feeling, stay with it, and don't let anyone throw you off."
His words spurred me on. As did these,
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. To refuse the call means stagnation."
(Stagnation! Who wants that? A stinky, smelly swamp of a life.)
I worried that the life I wanted held no hope for financial security. But Campbell said not to pity people who have no visible means of support, rather those who have no invisible means of support, nothing to sustain them from within. Furthermore, he added:
"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you . . . you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. . . . doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. It's miraculous! Invisible hands will guide you the entire way. "
I found this to be true with amazing accuracy. Everything he writes has been true for me.
Finally, Campbell suggests,
"Read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time."
This is one of those books. Start here.
Book Review: a powerful look at life, love and all things in between....
Summary: 5 Stars
THE POWER OF MYTH is a companion piece to the wonderful documentary, done in the mid-1980s, with journalist Bill Moyers and the late, great philosopher, Joseph Campbell. I was a small child when I first saw the documentary series, and when I was read the book as a bedtime story (!), yet many images still linger in my mind. For starters, from the very beginning, Joseph Campbell encourages and dares us all to dream bigger than ourselves, in this world. He presents world myth and imagery to us in a very original and vibrant way, and really makes storytelling and mythology an inclusive journey for all to experience. The subject matter includes love, valor, and compassion (and no, I am not making reference to that film by the same name). Even those who have never even really been formally introduced to mythology, previously, will find this book interesting and thought-provoking, because Joseph Campbell makes the whole process of philosophical discernment so provocative and intriguing. This is definitely a book I would reccomend to all philosophy scholars and scholars in training!