What shall I say about Joseph Campbell? I consider him my spiritual guru. He was the one who gave a proper direction to my creative side, my right-brain, when it was wandering lost in the forest. His outlook on myth and the human psyche has informed my viewpoints ever since I discovered him in my early twenties.But of late, I have been disturbed - because I found myself more and more in disagreement with Joe, and I didn't like it at all! But deep down, I felt that this disagreement was somehow e...

QUOTE: “As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think.” [p. 298]

This book changed my life. Joseph Campbell has a gift for de-mystifying the hidden meanings in mythological stories. I would kill for another book like this.

A selection of 2 to 3 page excerpts from Joseph Campbell's lectures. Super good. He has a way of looking at tired old worn out concepts in fresh ways that really suck me in. This is a pretty good intro to Joe Campbell. If you take myths and religions as the symbols and psychological archetypes that they are, you can transcend them. If you take them literally, there you will stay as a slave to the rules."Ideals are dangerous. Don't take them seriously. You can get by on a few."

As a fan of Joseph Campbell's writings I was excited to see a book titled "A Joseph Campbell Companion", especially prefixed by the words "Reflections on the Art of Living". It sounded like something right up my alley. How could you possibly go wrong with a title like that? The short answer is that this book is not organized in a helpful way. I was expecting something akin to Anne Charter's "Portable Beat Reader" where each section is well organized and documented and each entry is titled and da...

This book was given to me by the dearest of friends and I am so grateful for its significance it has in my life.“The goal of the hero tripdown to the jewel pointis to find those levels in the psychethat open, open, open,and finally open to the mysteryof your Selfbeing Buddha consciousnessor the Christ.That's the journey.”Campbell illuminates Christian/Buddhist/Hindu myths in a way that makes so much sense in terms of life, the journey, and spirituality. His motifs of the inner journey and the on...

“So that’s what destiny is: simply the fulfillment of the potentialites of the energies in your own system.” “People say that what we are seeking is a meaning of life. I don’t think this is what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.”“Follow your bliss. The heroic life is living the individual adventure.”~ Joseph Campbell from A Joseph Campbell CompanionJoseph Campbell is awesome. He sits in the grandpa slot in my spiritual family tree and he’s one of t...

Rarely does one come across a book as important as this one. A Joseph Campbell Companion is the perfect book to live by. I chose this book because it was recommended to me by my uncle. I am extremely glad that I read it. This book provided answers to all questions I had about life. It put me on the right track on the way to finding my place in the world. I found myself underlining and taking notes on almost every page because Campbell is so insightful. Although almost every line in this book is

Campbell is the first voice I've heard that reconciles what I've been taught about God (religion) and what I feel about God (spirituality). Campbell and his views are a revelation to me that made me feel both justified for my doubts, and confident in where I'm going with my relationship with God. And on top of that, a lot of the typcial guilt associated with not being a by-the-book Catholic disspated.This collection of Joe Campbell writings, quotes and lectures is a bit chaotic and disorganized....

After reading two of his books already, I am sad that I did not start reading them so much earlier in my life. I have used what I have learned so far to go through a Vision Quest of who I am and where I am going and who and what I want in my life. I now have a much clearer picture of who I really am and it has been through a great deal of pain and sacrifice that I am coming out on the other side knowing what I want to truly fight for and how the studies of Myths would have shown me a better path...

Ugh. This book. I love Joseph Campbell. I want to be Joseph Campbell when I grow up. This book is amazing, but I fear the majority of people won't get it, as they are too caught up in the material, competitive Western complex to really let it resonate within them, down to their subconscious where their brain can start to grasp at it, embrace it. Even in saying that, I am sure some people will grow annoyed at me or label me pretentious, but it's true. All we care about is how we appear, all we nu...

Absolutely perfect for when you are going through a big transition in your life. It eases your nerves and puts things in perspective. You don't have to be all stressed out about making the right decision, just follow your bliss, participate in the joyful sorrows of the world, and everything you want or need will come to you.

As I tend to discuss forbidden subjects such as politics and religion with people, a friend at work highly recommended me Campbell's writings on the latter.I guess myth, mythologies, fortune cookies and Bazooka Joes were never my strong suit, and I found this book to be somewhat boring; needless to say I was not spiritually inspired as I guess I was meant to.

In 1984, Joseph Campbell and ten students gathered for thirty days in Big Sur, California at the Esalen Institute to immerse themselves in an intensive exploration of the "mythological dimension". Poet Diane Osbon was one of those students, and as a result of that experience she was inspired to write this book. It's a collection of quotations, excerpts, and her own musings, rather loosely strung together in a stream-of-consciousness manner; more of a diary of random thoughts than a narrative or

Joseph Campbell's books (the power of myth, hero of a thousand faces, the champion) got me through a couple of dark periods in my life. Opened my eyes to things I had already thought to be true and at times felt he was talking directly to me through his books. Crazy, I know!! To this day, when something is bothering me and I can't shake it, I pick up one of the 3 listed above and open to any page and randomly pick a spot and starting reading. Within a few pages my mind is at ease and somehow my

5th read:A book meant for becoming. As Rilke would say, a book to help you live in widening rings.--"You've got to use the advantages that you have cultivated. As you go from threshold to threshold, it must be the same you that makes the jump. You don't go down again, you start from where you are. From that, more and more will blossom." (Joseph Campbell)Each time I reread this book the layers open further and further. I can think of no higher praise.--"The return is seeing the radiance everywher...

This might be a great starting point for reading Campbell. His writing can be very dense, but this presents his big ideas in wonderful and bite-sized chunks.

Joseph Campbell's Art of Living book is quite similar to his Myths to Live By. I liked Myths to Live By better, though. If Campbell's writings were jazz, Myths to Live By would be traditional but Art of Living would be acid. My feelings otherwise are the same for this book as Myths to Live By. Basically, Campbell advocates a kind of religious ideal that blends certain universal features from other world religions and belief systems, with the heaviest blends being from Buddhism and what looks lik...

This is a fantastic view of Joseph Campbell in how he integrated his experience in mythology with building his own personal life. It's more than an autobiography and more than a self-help book, it's his journey and there are lessons that can be found by reading it. Finding a way to put aside the "Thou Shalt"'s is something I can use in my own life; especially in today's world where it can seem that one aspect of life takes over every other element. This is a book I will read again and again.

Is it fair to rate a book you haven't finished? I found it jumbled and disjointed. I got just far enough to find out that Campbell hung around with Steinbeck. Not sure it makes much difference. I couldn't get into this guy's guru-ship or whatever you call it.