The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.85 You Save: $9.10 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.50 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Power of Myth
Book Review: Heros and Sacrifice
Summary: 5 Stars
Couple of things, but this one really stands out...all throughout the book Joseph Campbell refers to - out of death comes life, out of life come death. Would this not indicate that birth itself is sacrifice? We are reborn into this life, knowing we will die - knowing that there will come an end to our time of physical being. There are many other sacrifices we make in life - but would birth itself not be the first sacrifice that each and every human participates in? The mother giving birth sacrifices that connection that she had with her child and can no longer have, the child sacrifices the comfort and connection with the mother...and out of that birth the sacrifice of life is being made. Would this not make every new born child a hero? Would this not make every mother a hero? Another thing....on page 90 - toward the bottom - it is said "the animal gives its life willingly, with the understanding that its life transcends its physical entity and will be returned to the soil or to the mother through some ritual restoration." This would be a willing sacrifice - a connection with all that is. An understanding that death is not the end, and that through its death, life emerges and continues...stronger for its death. Then, on page 91, it is said (concerning the Bushmen and their rituals of the hunt) "After the animal has been shot and is dying painfully of the poison, the hunters have to fulfill certain taboos of not doing this and that in a kind of 'participation mystique', [...]" This, to me is a wonderful acknowledgement of the willing sacrifice of the animal - and an honouring of that sacrifice through a willing personal sacrifice of each hunter to honor that. A going without by the hunters to thank the animal for the gift of life. A life given through a life taken. All of it through the understanding that being transcends just life itself. Would this not make the animal a hero? Decide this for yourself, after reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. A worthwhile read. A book that makes you think.
Book Review: Highly recommended book on mythology, collective unsconscious and religion
Summary: 5 Stars
Joseph Campbell was a great story teller and presented myths from different cultures in this TV-series hosted by Bill Moyers. Campbell was a prominent scholar and made great contribution in researching and analysing cross-cultural myths. In this popular TV-series, Moyers insisted on bringing back the subject of relevancy to contemporary society as demanded by the media he used. That, in an interesting way, had stretched Campbell's understanding of his subject matter to its limit, which in a way, shed much light to the possible relevancy of mythical studies to our contemporary society.
To be fair, Campbell was a scholar rather than a shaman. As he explained the "possession" or "shamanship" experience as follows (page 108): "He experiences what we might call a possession. But it is described in a flash, a kind of thunderbolt or lightning bolt, which passes from the pelvic area right up the spine into the head". As Campbell described, it is quintessentially a description of kundalini awakening - unlike Jung (whom Campbell mentioned favorably a number of times in his book) who did meditation and ventured into his own collective unconscious (and wrote his experience in his Red Book), and who had a definite objective: to cure his neurotic patients.
To be fair again to Campbell, apart from being a distinguished academic in the subject of mythology with an interpretation using concepts like archetypes, similarly defined as Jung, he was also interested in the subject of understanding (and coming to terms with) life as experienced by man. Campbell was a nostalgic person and wrote metaphorically (and beautifully) on the contribution of myths in past-times, like (page 100): "When a spider makes a beautiful web, the beauty comes out of the spider's nature. It's instinctive beauty. How much of the beauty of our own lives is about the beauty of being alive? How much of it is conscious and intentional? This is a big question."
Campbell however, as evidenced in this book, didn't seek the solution in the practice of shamanship. And he explained the impossibility of seeking it through today's organized religions. He somewhat envied the seeker of personal god(s), but, at least evidenced in this book, he didn't suggest nor offer a road-map to do the same. When "pressed" by Moyers, he did express his hope on art, and literature in particular, being he himself a Joyce expert and wrote a book on Finnegans Wake. Campbell seemed to understand that literature fans on mythic literature (like FW) will always be far-and-few. He talked about modern myths in terms of judges' wigs, the cowboys, Star Wars...all being weak-comparisons, at the same time, can be studied more fruitfully by other disciplines. And again, sometimes "hard-pressed" by Moyers, Campbell, instead of saying something like "this is not my expertise", turned into styles of some Oriental gurus, i.e. using "broad-brush metaphors" or "mythical language" that made further questioning, exploration or communication rather impossible. A limit that, fair to say, should be fully acceptable to be had by a distinguished retired academic on mythology.
All in all I highly recommend this book to readers who are interested in mythology, the collective unconscious or religion.
Book Review: I question if Mr mje@mich.com actually read the book.
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up this book because I wanted to know more about how mythology relates to the human mind, hoping that this would allow me to be a better storyteller. I haven't gotten through the entire book as of yet, but so far it is pretty good. As a note to somebody like the previous reviewer, it is obvious that he has missed the entire point of the book. There is much in this book about the conflict inside a person and the quest to understand it. If you get nothing else from this book, you should understand that life is about contribution. If you contribute to the general welfare of your nation and people, then you've lived a full life. How is that new age? I especially liked what Campbell had to say about the military in that one should judge the actions of its members, by the responsibility that its society presents to it. Society requires protection and security, and to do so it creates a military culture to protect it. To judge the military as a destructive force within a society because of the job that society requires it to preform, is ludicrous. As a masters student in anthropology and a former Marine, I think this book has something for all people... whether conservative, liberal, intellectual, or lay-person. I wonder if MR. mje@mich.com even read the book. Since he found it so disdainful, I doubt he could have.Book Review: In My Top 10 Books
Summary: 5 Stars
This piece of literary treasure is a launching pad for all of Joseph Campbell's groundbreaking philosophical and anthropological work. First of all a myth is not a lie; rather it is a way for explaining life through symbols and stories. There are basic mythologies that are similar in every civilization - even ones - that have no history or chance of being connected. The Virgin Birth, Puberty, and Death. In some special civilizations there is a fourth - the Wise Man - loosely defined as someone of middle age, who can see their life as a book, with chapters sure to be added, but with an epilogue pretty much written in stone.
The book takes no position, or more preciously is agnostic, to organized religions. Campbell opines that we evolved into a superior species because we recognized that there was a God and the only way to explain this myth is that God is literally and philosophically in our genes. In this way he is probably more aligned to an Eastern way of thinking of religion than a Western One. As I am a Roman Catholic, he does not attack or defend the "Church". Counter-intuitively he explains why this religion lost its way after Vatican II. The Priest having his back to the clergy, the candles and incense, the communal kneeling in groups for communion, the use of Latin, the organs and bells, and formal clothing gave us a powerful transcendental experience that is only vaguely replicated in Christmas Midnight Mass.
If you have one book to give to your children this should be the one.
Book Review: Interesting
Summary: 4 Stars
Joseph Campbell explores many themes in this book. What do religions through the ages hvae in common? What symbols are the same and what do they mean? This book discusses these questions as well as what ancient myths and practices have done for humans thoughout history. What have religous practices done to benefit the evolution of the conciousness? What do we feel from inside. Campbell taught mythology for 38 years at a University level. He is very knowledgeable and offers insights into many questions that a soul searcher asks. Why do humans act like they do today? Are we missing something fundamental? What do the myths of ancient history lack now days? Do they enlighten man as they have in the past? Campbell explores the history of these myths and how society has changed to the point where they may have been rendered uselss in our counciousness transformation even though the sybols of ancient mythology are still everywhere today.
There is a ton of information in this book and a lot of opinion. But opinion from Campbell in this area seems very stable as he is careful to explain how he formed his opinion and also reluctant to express guesses when there is no basis. I think this is enlightening.
On the down side this book seemed hard for me to follow at times because of the question and answer format. At times, I had to reread to find out who was talking. I think the interviewer, Bill Moyer, expressed as much opinion and dialogue as he did pose questions in parts of the book. I would have preferred a straight ahead book with a different set up but this is what we received and I still think that it is a book to be read by anyone interested in Philosophy or mythology.