"Myths to Live By" is a collection of essays based on public speeches given by Joseph Campbell from 1958 through 1971. Campbell's goal is to show how human mythologies throughout the ages all have similar themes, a continuity that runs far deeper than coincidence or chance could ever explain. It's one of those books that can change the way you see the world forever.
"Myths To Live By" begins with the idea that the staggering progress of human knowledge has lead to the loss of the primacy of ancient symbols and legends, of myths which have proven essential to the human animal. Campbell proposes that humanity's primary psychological motivation is clearly to mythical concerns rather than economic or physical. This explains why millions of Hindus could refuse to eat herds of perfectly edible cattle surrounding them and why a destitute people would bother erecting extravagant cathedrals (eat your heart out, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs). Campbell postulates that the historical record shows that the loss of these myths and symbols threatens to begin the crumbling of society and offers a solution that might save human civilization. So, the premise is a bit grandiose and based on questionable assertions (since human civilization still exists 50 years after the book was written) but the premise maintains a fascinating wisdom and clarity. Campbell tends to cherry pick his examples to fit his preconceived notions, but these weaknesses might just be something that, like the primacy of myths, form a part of human nature.
Campbell asserts that the primacy of mythology in human beings is a symptom of humanity's unique recognition of its own mortality coupled with the realization that "society" still lives on after the individual dies. Humans are born, again unique in the animal world, about a decade too early. We need mythology and ritual and the influence of a distinct culture to shape us into the cultural beings we have become. Our instincts are more of an open book than the scripted impulses of less evolved life forms. We are made to allow other people and the stories they tell to help make us.
In "Myths to Live By" Campbell claims that a proper mythology should 1) instill awe and reverence for the mysteries of the universe, 2) present the universe in accord with general knowledge of the day (so, there go most modern religions), 3) validate and reinforce the cultural norms of society, and 4) help guide citizens through every stage of their lives. He is clearly of the opinion that Western religions do not meet humanity's need for satisfying mythology. He urges you to look Eastward and inward and skyward. Humans can create new mythologies based on our own potential for enlightenment and bolstered by our own extraordinary ability to reach beyond our home planet and possibly colonize the very heavens we once believed ruled our fates.
Towards the end of the book he suggests that Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, was right when he claimed that humans have an instinctive drive to construct subconscious archetypes, to crave and create myths. Our founding mythologies, from the Greek Pantheon, to the animistic religions of aboriginal peoples of the New World, to the Old Testament are not real, Campbell argues. But that doesn't mean they aren't true or important. In fact, if we give the story of Genesis a metaphorical meaning it might become even more powerful than any literal meaning ever could. What if the Garden of Eden exists within each of us? What if the point of the story is that we are all unable (without divine intervention) to return to that perfect ideal existence? We all have eaten of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eternity is Eden and we are all Adam and Eve. Creation myths across all people groups and throughout the ages share much in common. Campbell explains that "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths." There is a truth to these stories more powerful than the patently allegorical "facts." If there weren't we would have ceased to repeat them long ago and we certainly would not ever fashion new ones, which means there would be no Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. No one wants to live in a world like that.
Campbell takes his cues from famous psychologists like Freud and Jung when describing the operations of the human mind, but he only lets them inform his descriptions. He gives these philosophies of mind great significance, but only as a means of discovering deeper truths. He does not allow Freud or Jung to usurp the wisdom of millenia of human social evolution or his own observations. In Eastern religion, for example, he refers to the overarching social structure as the Superego and the individual's compulsion to adhere to that superseding structure as the Id.
Around 4,000 years ago, one of the greatest shifts in human consciousness took place. Some humans began telling themselves stories that implied they themselves possessed free will, not just the gods. This idea of "the individual" is extremely new and wholly foreign to the way most human societies had previously been shaped. When Yahweh destroyed the Earth in a great flood (or when the Sumerian god, Enlil did the same thing around the same time) he did so because the people were so wicked, implying they could have chosen to be something other than what nature intended them to be. This was a new concept in human history and it affected everything west of Iran. You can see this difference reflected in our subsequent mythology and literature. In the Oddesy, the Aeneid, and Dante's Devine Comedy, the heroes who enter into the underworld are able to recognize dead friends and love ones who have passed from the world of the living. Souls retain their individuality even after death. In Eastern storytelling, the heroes only find faceless dead in the afterlife. Once a soul has departed, it assumes the role of the new society of the dead it has been transplanted into. The individual is lost to the fabric of the universe.
But there is even greater diversity within the storytelling traditions of the world than the rise of the concept of individuality. In Judaism's mythology, we are on God's side. He is good and we are subject to sin. In Greek mythology however, we are on humanity's side. Humanity is good and powerful and the gods are the capricious and flawed ones. In Eastern religions on the other hand, we are the gods! Humans are capable of both creation and destruction, but always within the greater framework of the nature of the universe. In this last version, Campbell finds a truth he spends much of the rest of the book trying to convey.
"We in the West have named our God; or rather, we have had the Godhead named for us in a book from a time and place that are not our own. And we have been taught to have faith... in the absolute existence of this metaphysical fiction... In the great East, on the other hand, the accent is on experience; on one's own experience, furthermore, not a faith in someone else's... The Buddha is one awakened to identity not with the body but with the knower of the body, nor with the thought but the knower of the thoughts, that is to say, with consciousness; knowing, furthermore that his value derives from his ability to radiate consciousness - as the value of a light bulb derives from its power to radiate light. What is important about a light bulb is not filament or the glass but the light which these bulbs are to render; and what is important about each of us is not the body and its nerves but the consciousness that shines through them."He is saying that we all have the power to make our own story into The Story, to make ourselves into Gods by realizing our connection to the very fabric of the infinite universe. Consciousness itself is a miracle that is simply written into the mathematics of reality and we are the beneficiaries of that miracle. We are designed to allow mythology, art, storytelling, and religion to remind us of that miracle every day.
Campbell explains further what he identifies as a weakness of modern Western religions, specifically. "Where synagogues and churches go wrong is by telling what their symbols "mean." The value of an effective rite is that it leaves everyone to his own thoughts, which dogma and definitions only confuse." That sounds a lot like some of the Christian books you have been reading in Bible study lately. It also sounds like something you might have said before. But sometimes Campbell's teachings are maddeningly circular, leaving you wondering if there really is any wisdom in them at all. "Clarity of the mind is the ultimate goal and when you achieve it you discover that there is no one mind to begin with, so what exactly was cleared in the first place?" That kind of thing. But that absurdity is often intentional in order to allow the mind to release classical logical thought and bring it closer to achieving enlightenment.
"Myths to Live By" reminded you of the central duality of all things. Darkness can only exist if there is also light, evil if there is good, bliss if there is agony. It reminded you that there are more things to be inspired by out there (and in yourself) than you usually acknowledge, that hope is not naive, that suffering can be overcome, and that stories and art are intrinsically important. It also taught you that there are not only different religions, but different ways of thinking about religion, about individuality, about the miracle of human consciousness. And above all the book reminded you that "...the greatest steps in the progress of mankind have been the products... of acts inspired by awe."
On to the next book!
P.S. This guy, Jason Silva, has undoubtedly read some Joseph Campbell, and he is pretty awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAY60dY-irY
and another one from Jason Silva..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZMTdYmfBl4
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