“It's a wonderful, wonderful opera, except that it hurts.”
Episode 2, Chapter 15
The Power of Myth (1988)
Quotes from work
The Power of Myth
The Power of Myth is a book based on the 1988 PBS documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. The documentary was originally broadcast as six one-hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers. It remains one of the most popular series in the history of American public television.
Episode 2, Chapter 12
The Power of Myth (1988)
“Our life evokes our character and you find out more about yourself as you go on.”
Episode 1, Chapter 12
The Power of Myth (1988)
Source: The Power of Myth (book), p.193
Source: The Power of Myth (book), p. 120
Context: Moyers: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?
Campbell: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time — namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.
Episode 2, Chapter 4
The Power of Myth (1988)
Context: People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That's what it's all finally about.
“This thing up here, this consciousness, thinks it's running the shop. It's a secondary organ.”
Episode 1, Chapter 12
The Power of Myth (1988)
Context: This thing up here, this consciousness, thinks it's running the shop. It's a secondary organ. It's a secondary organ of a total human being, and it must not put itself in control. It must submit and serve the humanity of the body.
Episode 1, Chapter 12
The Power of Myth (1988)
Context: The achievement of the hero is one that he is ready for and it's really a manifestation of his character. It's amusing the way in which the landscape and conditions of the environment match the readiness of the hero. The adventure that he is ready for is the one that he gets … The adventure evoked a quality of his character that he didn't know he possessed.
Episode 1, Chapter 15
The Power of Myth (1988)
Source: The Power of Myth (book), p. 28
Episode 1, Chapter 12
The Power of Myth (1988)
