Follow Your Bliss: The Genius Of Joseph Campbell

How mythology and folklore play a part in your own hero's journey.
Brown Concrete Hallway

“Myth is what we call other people's religion.”
― Joseph Campbell

This quote explains myth to me in a way that dictionaries could not. Is my religion a myth, just a bunch of stories to help us understand the Divine?

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers has had a huge impact on my life, offering introspection on subjects I once had blind faith in.

Filmed shortly before he died at Skywalker Ranch, his teachings on following your bliss and reevaluating religious doctrine was nothing short of a revelation to someone raised in strict Catholicism. 

Myths attempt to bring man to a level of consciousness that is spiritual. Campbell thought that religions were relevant in their time, but have gotten stuck in the metaphor. He believes we need new myths to keep up with an ever-evolving society; the metaphors need to be updated for the new age.

Joseph Campbell devoted his life to the study of myths and religions and how they can help us in our everyday lives. He was a scholar who turned his back on academic glory to bring his findings to the masses in books like The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Pathways to Bliss, and the Masks of God series. His work has inspired generations of artists; among them George Lucas, The Grateful Dead, and countless authors and screenwriters.

Since the beginning of time, man has tried to make sense of the world and its place in it. But how do we explain the unexplainable, know the unknowable? Campbell says that myths are “clues” to the “spiritual potentiality” of human beings. While people identifying with religious groups are on the decline in our society, it doesn’t mean mankind has ceased to look for spiritual fulfillment.

The indication is … of a plane of being that’s behind the visible plane, and which is somehow supportive of the visible one to which we have to relate. I would say that’s the basic theme of all mythology.

-Joseph Campbell

Religion has always been a way to explain what happens after we die, and how to live a meaningful life. Campbell says we must break through the ceiling of organized religion to have a personal relationship with God.

Being a devout Catholic, it had never occurred to me to have a personal relationship with the Creator. He was up there and I was down here (hoping to get up there someday!)

Life is always on the edge of death, always, and one should lack fear and have the courage of life. That’s the principle initiation of all of the heroic stories.

-Joseph Campbell

Campbell believed each and everyone one of us has a hero’s journey in our lifetime. And the way to find it is by following your bliss. 

Or, in other words, love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life. Whether you feel the pull to be a mechanic or a classical pianist, follow that calling for your best life.

Finding your bliss is, Campbell says, a personal journey we must all undertake. Seek out things that excite you and give you joy. Start there. Search your childhood memories for times when you were your happiest. What were you doing? 

Campbell tells the story of his friend Carl Jung, how in midlife Jung began to worry that he'd never found his bliss, so embarked on a course to find and fulfill it. After much exploration and soul searching, he remembered what made him happiest when he was a child- creating buildings with stone. In his forties, he built Bollingen Tower on Lake Zurich, his home until his death.

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.   

Joseph Campbell

That doesn’t mean the journey will be easy. The whole world will tell you that you cannot be what you want because it isn’t practical, you won’t make any money and you need to grow up and get a real job, yada yada yada. But just moving slowly in the direction of your bliss will allow miracles to unfold as the universe supports you in your vision.

“We're not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.”


Joseph Campbell

And that's the icing on the cake, by being your best self you're saving the world in the way that only you can do. Your light will be a beacon for others, encouraging them to find their Holy Grail, the thing that illuminates their soul. Being your true self is an act of bravery that encourages others to do the same.

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

Joseph Campbell

Looking back through history, rituals and myths serve many functions in society.

Early man’s painting on cave walls showed how they revered the animal they killed, telling stories of the animal’s willing sacrifice and how they would give thanks to the animal before eating it. Eons later, American Indians have the same kind of rituals and reverence for the buffalo. While we pray to thank God before our meal, they prayed to thank the animal for his sacrifice.

Life lives off death, and while we're removed from that now due to the advancement of civilization, it's still true. Killing those magnificent animals was so hard on the psyches of the tribesman that rituals and myths were created to absolve them of the creatures’ death and appease the gods so they may be able to hunt more in the future. The circle of life, indeed.

Throughout his lifetime, Campbell found many similarities in the themes and rituals of different civilizations in their search for answers about God. He calls this the Monomyth (one myth) in as much as all mythic stories from around the globe are just varying forms of one single glorious story. 

Campbell laments the lack of rituals in our society today, especially for boys becoming men. Women have a biological function that lets them know they have achieved womanhood and would go into a hut to meditate on their likeness to the earth goddess and her life-giving function.

Boys, however, have to transcend their childhood in other ways. Tribes would create elaborate rituals to help them do that, and although they were often harsh by today's standards, they turned them into functioning members of society, serving something bigger than themselves.

Since male teenagers have no such ritual today, Campbell believes the result is the restlessness and violent crime that plagues cities from these young men and their lack of transformation and mentoring.

While Myths are man’s attempts to search for meaning and connect with the divine, they also help us find ourselves, and as Campbell says, the experience of being fully alive. The Knights of the Round Table and their search for the Holy Grail is an example of what myths can teach us: each person must leave the wasteland of an unfulfilled life and search out and find that which fulfills him.

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

Joseph Campbell

The knights, like us, must battle themselves and must come to a place without fear or desire, a place of becoming who you were meant to be. That is how myths assist us in living our lives to the fullest.

Opinions and Perspectives

What a fascinating perspective on Campbell's work. I've always been intrigued by how he connects different cultural myths and finds common threads across civilizations.

The idea that we need new myths for modern times really resonates with me. Our society has changed so much, yet we often cling to outdated metaphors.

I struggled with this concept at first, but after reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces, I began to see how all these different stories connect to universal human experiences.

His work with Bill Moyers was groundbreaking. I remember watching those interviews and feeling like my whole worldview was being transformed.

I disagree with Campbell's take on organized religion. While personal spirituality is important, there's still value in shared religious traditions and community.

The part about teenagers lacking proper initiation rituals really struck me. It explains so much about the challenges young people face today.

Following your bliss sounds great in theory, but it's not always practical in reality. We can't all just abandon our responsibilities to chase dreams.

Actually, I think you're misunderstanding what Campbell meant by following your bliss. It's not about abandoning responsibilities, but finding meaning in what you do.

The comparison between ancient hunting rituals and modern mealtime prayers is really insightful. Shows how we've maintained similar patterns of gratitude.

Campbell's influence on Star Wars is incredible. Once you understand his hero's journey concept, you see it everywhere in modern storytelling.

I love how he explains myths as clues to spiritual potentiality. Makes me look at ancient stories in a whole new light.

The Skywalker Ranch interviews were amazing. You could really see how his ideas influenced George Lucas's storytelling.

Some of his ideas about gender roles and initiation rites feel a bit dated to me, though I understand the broader point he's making.

This article really helped me understand why I find certain stories so compelling. We're all on our own hero's journey.

His work on comparative mythology opened my eyes to how similar human experiences are across cultures.

The quote about the cave you fear to enter really speaks to me. I've found it true in my own life many times.

I wonder what Campbell would make of modern superhero movies? They seem to be our current form of myth-making.

The concept of breaking through the ceiling of organized religion resonates with my personal spiritual journey.

Anyone else find it interesting how he connects Carl Jung's tower-building to following one's bliss? Such a powerful example.

While I appreciate Campbell's scholarship, I think he sometimes oversimplifies complex religious traditions to fit his theories.

His ideas about personal transformation really helped me through a difficult time in my life.

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