Abogado del Diablo
Ferally Decent
In his book "The Way of Myth" mythologist/anthropologist/philosopher Joseph Campbell offers the following observation:
"In our world today, all of us are stuck to our folk inflection of the elementary idea, but all we have to do to have a world culture is to turn our folk into a metaphor for the elementary, to realize the universal humanity in your folk tradition, which isn't peculiar just to you."
In his interviews with Bill Moyers he offered some advice on how to do this:
"Read myths. They teach you that you can turn inward, and you begin to get the message of the symbols. Read other people's myths, not those of your own religion, because you tend to interpret your own religion in terms of facts - but if you read the other ones, you begin to get the message. Myth helps you to put your mind in touch with this experience of being alive."
I have followed that advice over the last fifteen years or so and found the truth of his statement regarding the "elementary idea." Has anyone else had a similar experience? Any comments regarding that notion or Campbell's advice on how to grasp it?
"In our world today, all of us are stuck to our folk inflection of the elementary idea, but all we have to do to have a world culture is to turn our folk into a metaphor for the elementary, to realize the universal humanity in your folk tradition, which isn't peculiar just to you."
In his interviews with Bill Moyers he offered some advice on how to do this:
"Read myths. They teach you that you can turn inward, and you begin to get the message of the symbols. Read other people's myths, not those of your own religion, because you tend to interpret your own religion in terms of facts - but if you read the other ones, you begin to get the message. Myth helps you to put your mind in touch with this experience of being alive."
I have followed that advice over the last fifteen years or so and found the truth of his statement regarding the "elementary idea." Has anyone else had a similar experience? Any comments regarding that notion or Campbell's advice on how to grasp it?
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