A Soulful Journey

  “Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before.”  - Joseph Campbell

"If you want to find out what it means to have a society without any rituals; read the New York Times, the news of the day....all the destructive and violent acts by young people who don't know how to behave in a civilized society." -J oseph Campbell Better to know who you were created to be.

"The Puritans called marriage "the little church within the Church."   In marriage, every day you love and every day you forgive.  It is an ongoing sacrament  - love and forgiveness."   -Joseph Campbell

“Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life.” - Joseph Campbell

In Sanskrit there are three terms which represent the brink, the jumping off place into the world of transcendent: Sat - being Chit - consciousness Ananda - rapture     Joseph Campbell In Judaism we add the feature of being commanded, which represents a relationship with the Almighty.

In Hawaii, Pali is a place where the trade winds from the north fly through a great ridge of mountains. People go up to feel the winds blow through the hair before they commit suicide. One day, policemen driving up the Pali Road saw a young man preparing to jump. They stopped.  One of the policemen caught the man as he jumped and he began to fall with him. Just then the second policeman arrived to pull both of them back. Do you realize what had suddenly happened to that policeman who had given himself to death for an unknown youth? Everything else in his life had dropped off - his duty to his family, his duty to his job, his duty to his own life – all his wishes and hopes for his lifetime had just disappeared. He was about to die. Later a newspaper reporter asked him, “Why didn’t you let go? You could have been killed.” And his reported answer was, “I couldn’t let go. If I had let that young man go I couldn’t have lived another day of my life.”   -Joseph...

“There’s a Zen story about a sermon of the Buddha in which he simply lifted a flower.  There was only one man who gave him a sign with his eyes that he understood what was said.”   -Joseph Campbell Beauty is not only to beheld but felt.

“The story of Jonah and the whale is an example of a mythic theme that is practically universal, of the hero going into a fish’s belly and ultimately coming out again, transformed. It’s a descent into the dark.  Psychologically, the whale represents the power of life locked in the unconscious. Metaphorically, water is the unconscious, and the creature in the water is the life or the energy of the unconscious which has overwhelmed the conscious personality and must be disempowered, overcome and controlled. In the first stage of this kind of adventure, the hero leaves the realm of the familiar, over which he has some measure of control, and comes to a threshold, let us say the edge of a lake or sea, where a monster of the abyss comes to meet him.  [With] Jonah the hero is swallowed and taken into the abyss to be later resurrected….”   - Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell told of boys he taught coming up to him to help make up their minds what they should do for a career.  He would reply, “Oh, I don’t know. Can you endure 10 years of disappointment with nobody responding to you, or are you thinking that you are going to write a best seller the first crack?  If you have the guts to stay with the thing you really want, no matter what happens, well, go ahead.” – The Power of Myth

A Pawnee Indian said: In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge with the animal. For Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell mankind that he showed himself through the beast.  And that from them, and from the stars and sun, man should learn.”   -Joseph Campbell,  The Power of Myth

As soon as the deity said, "I am," it was terrified. "As soon as it said the, the universe felt lonesome, and wished that there were another, so it felt desire.  It swelled, split in two, became male and female, and got the world.  J oseph Campbell , The Power of Myth

In an Iroquois story, twins -- Plant Boy and Flint are born.  Flint in being born damages the mother so that she dies.  Flint kills the animals: he is the hunting tradition.  Plant Boy is the agrarian principle.  - Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth In Torah, Jacob and Esau represents both extremes: one is the hunter and the other is the farmer. The same can be said for Cain and Abel earlier in the Torah. Maybe the same can be said for the members of your family.

A samurai or Japanese solider had the duty of avenging the murder of his lord.   When the samurai cornered the man who had committed the murder and was about to plunge his sword into him, the man in the corner – in all his terror – spat in the warrior’s face.   The samurai sheathed his sword and walked away.   He was angry.   Now had the warrior killed him it would have been a personal act rather than an impersonal act of vengeance.   –Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth May it be our deepest wish that we banish thoughts of hurting another for the sole purpose of avenging our ego.

" The punishment in hell is that you have for eternity that which you thought you wanted  on earth." -Joseph Campbell

Once a Zen Master stood up before his students and was about to deliver a sermon.   Jut as he was about to open his mouth, a bird sang.   And he said, “The sermon has been delivered.”   -Joseph Campbell

A pygmy legend tells of a little of a little boy who finds a bird.  The bird sings with a beautiful voice so the boy brings it home.  He asks his father to bring food to the bird but the father does not want to trouble himself to bring it food every day.  So the father kills it.  The legend goes that the man killed the bird and with the death of the bird so was the death of its song.  And with the death of the song the man killed himself.  He died forever. -Joseph Campbell A profound old truth for an age when we watch as our planet suffers and loses its song.

There is a story of the Buddha, who encountered a woman who had just lost her son, and she was in great grief.  The Buddha said, “I suggest that you just look around to meet somebody who has not lost a treasured child or husband or relative or friend.” -Joseph Campbell , The Power of Myth

“There ‘s a wonderful story in some African tradition of the god who’s walking down the road wearing hat that is colored red on one side and blue on the other.  When the farmers in the field go into the village in the evening, they say, “Did you see that man go by with the blue hat?”  And the others say, No, no, he had a red hat on.”  -Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth Perspective can make all the difference in the world.  It can start wars, feuds, destroy families, and crush feelings.  On the other hand, recognizing its presence can bring great healing.

"There are three centers of what might be called mythological and folkloristic creativity in the Middle Ages.  One is the cathedral and all that is associated with monasteries and hermitages. A second is the castle. The third is the cottage , where the people are. The cathedral, the castle, and the cottage - you go to any of the areas of high civilization, and you will see the same - the temple, the palace, and the town." -Joseph Campbell , The Power of Myth Is this true of America as a whole?  What about your town?  Perhaps the same exists even in your family?   Roles are divided and played out... It is said that the greatest wisdom is in recognizing truth ; the one that lies before us.  

Trust the energy.   Trust even your pain.   Not only is it real but it is a crossroads toward the light. “One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation.   The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come.   At the darkest moment comes the light.” – Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth