- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Bantam (1 Nov 1984)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553270885
- ISBN-13: 978-0553270884
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.7 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 485,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Myths to Live By (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
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No other academic has had such a far-reaching effect on mass culture. --The Independent
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Joseph Campbell was the world s greatest authority on myth, his monumental four-volume The Masks of God is a definitive work on the subject, and in Myths to Live By he explores how these enduring myths still influence our daily lives and can provide personal meaning in our lives. Myths are a way of explaining the cosmos, the origin of life and Man s relationship with their environment; they play a cohesive role in society. Joseph Campbell analyses myth in psychoanalytic terms to reveal their essential qualities and to demonstrate how they continue to reflect human needs, providing reassurance even in today s world. Ranging from Zen koans and Indian aesthetics to walking on the moon, Joseph Campbell explores how myth and religion follow the same archetypes, which are not exclusive to any single race, religion or region. Campbell believed that all religion is a search for the same transcendent and fundamental spiritual truths. He shows how we must recognise the common denominators between differing myths and faiths and allow this knowledge to fulfil human potential everywhere.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Campbell explores myths and religion in such a way as to challenge our thinking and our understanding no matter what our backgrounds. An incredibly relevant and important book to help us understand the world we live in - both physically and mentally. Campbell's style is lucid and entertaining and the moments where his own personality creep in (his love of the US for instance) they only serve to make the work feel more like a dialogue between friends and less like an academic treatise. I highly recopmmend this to anyone and everyone! Indeed in the 21st Century this hold be compulsory reading in all schools and collges all over the world!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A very clearly written account of myths compared with todays happenings. Chapters start with what is going to be dealt with and at the end of the chapter how the story relates to the start of the chapter.
A clear account of oriental and occidental comparisions especially Buddism.
A clear account of oriental and occidental comparisions especially Buddism.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
29 reviews
178 of 184 people found the following review helpful
The best of all Joseph Campbells books
2 Nov 1998
Format:Paperback
I read this book while on a cruise, and found myself spending a lot of time reading. Of all his works, this is the most down to earth. The others are too 'professorial' as if intended to impress, while this one simply lays it on the line. Psychology and mythology relate to each other very nicely, as Mr. Campbell realized when asked to share his concepts with those of a Psychologist. Jung was a favorite because of his concept of Universal Mind. Contrary to what might be thought, the book is not anti-religious, but it does explode particular Christian beliefs. Rather, it reveals the Universal meaning of 'life' which each community resolves in its own way, frequently as not, in similar ways. Boil away the variety of customs, etc.,and you have the essence of Joseph Campbell's work, and a better appreciation of man's universal mind.
146 of 150 people found the following review helpful
Womb with a view....
13 April 2002
Format:Paperback
MYTHS TO LIVE BY consists of a dozen essays/talks Joseph Campbell prepared between 1961 and 1971. He described the period as a "new age" where "..we are...participating in one of the very greatest leaps of the human spirit to a knowledge not only of outside nature but also of our own deep inward mystery."
At the time he wrote these essays, Campbell was a professor on a campus, surrounded by young people whom he found hard to understand at times. For example, in his essay "The Moon Walk--the Outward Journey" he relates his own feelings of awe on viewing the Apollo moon landing and contrasts them with the reaction of a student who wrote "So What" on a photo of the moon landing posted on a campus bulletin board. In another essay "Schizophrenia--the Inward Journey" he contrasts the use of mind-altering drugs by shamans and psychotics (including the LSD induced version) as the difference between divers and non-swimmers in "the waters of the unviersal archetypes of mythology."
I find Campbell's essays are very relevant, 30 years later. The most obvious example is "Mythologies of War and Peace" which addresses the underlying belief systems of participants in the Mideast crises. Campbell says the cruel fact is that "killing is the precondition of all living whatsoever: life lives on life, eats life, and would not otherwise exist...it is the nations, tribes, and peoples bred to mythologies of war that have survived to communicate their life-supporting mythic lore to descendents." He suggests that "we" in the West "have been bred to one of the most brutal war mythologies of all time." He then goes on to cite Deuteronomy and Isaiah and follows with excerpts from the Koran such as Sura 2, verse 216.."Fighting is prescribed for you."
Campbell does not condemn myths nor does he say myths are not literally true. He suggests creation myths and myths about love and war and peace contain the essence of the truth. Myths are to humans what kangaroo pouches are to baby kangaroos, they provide a "womb with a view." Being born simply isn't enough. We need myths to help us organize and guide our lives. However, our current myths arose in another era and were shaped by tribal mentalities that sustain the notion of GROUP differences. We need new myths for the journey of life.
80 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Campbell's Ancient Themes Live Here and Now
20 Mar 1998
Format:Paperback
Campbell selected and compiled a selection of a talks on mythology from a series of discussions that he delivered between 1958 and 1971. There is an academic quality about his style, but this will not be a barrier to most people who enjoying thinking and reflecting about what humans share in beliefs. The ancient mythic themes come alive as he weaves the observations of 20th Century everyday living with flashbacks of times ago. He storytells and teaches using 13 broad topics such as love, the beginnings of Humankind, War and Peace, schizophrenia, and the moon walk. Campbell's text reads as if he is in your home; quite possibly having a glass of wine; discussing love relationships in the theater of Life; balancing the ideas of such people as St. Paul, Shaw, Sarte, Persian poets, Buddha, and Lord Krishna. He is at his strongest in his chapters on journeys: inward and outward. A word of caution: Your mind's ear will be listening to a Master Teacher. If you liked Bill Moyer's interview with Campbell, you will appreciate Campbell's theme choices and style. His art of making sense of human potential and challenging its boundaries is a stimulating reflective exercise.
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