A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living

by Joseph Campbell, Robert Walter (Editor), Diane K. Osbon (Introduction)

Celebrated scholar Joseph Campbell shares his intimate and inspiring reflections on the art of living in this beautifully packaged book, part of a new series to be based on his unpublished writings.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Mythology, Spirituality, Psychology, Religion, Self Help

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Joseph Campbell was an American author and teacher best known for his work in the field of comparative mythology. He was born in New York City in 1904, and from early childhood he became interested in mythology. He loved to read books about American Indian cultures, and frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles.

Campbell was educated at Columbia University, where he specialized in medieval literature, and continued his studies at universities in Paris and Munich. While abroad he was influenced by the art of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, the novels of James Joyce and Thomas Mann, and the psychological studies of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These encounters led to Campbell's theory that all myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities. 


After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, and then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 40s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He also edited works by the German scholar Heinrich Zimmer on Indian art, myths, and philosophy. In 1944, with Henry Morton Robinson, Campbell published A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake. His first original work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, came out in 1949 and was immediately well received; in time, it became acclaimed as a classic. In this study of the "myth of the hero," Campbell asserted that there is a single pattern of heroic journey and that all cultures share this essential pattern in their various heroic myths. In his book he also outlined the basic conditions, stages, and results of the archetypal hero's journey.


Throughout his life, he traveled extensively and wrote prolifically, authoring many books, including the four-volume series The Masks of God, Myths to Live By, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and The Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Joseph Campbell died in 1987. In 1988, a series of television interviews with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, introduced Campbell's views to millions of people.


Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 essential to our relationship.

Then came the pandemic and the lockdown, and all of us were left with a chance to reassess our life - and I suddenly found myself writing again. In the terms of Campbell's Hero Journey, I had finally "heeded the call to adventure". I was "following my bliss".

Then, a fortnight back, I was diagnosed with hernia and needed a surgery. This made my withdrawal even more acute. In a world going to hell on a handcart, I needed some spiritual solace, and I came back to Joe. From across the gulf of years, my guru told me:

"When we talk about settling the world's problems, we're barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. We're not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives."

No, he is not advocating callous indifference - he is just telling us the only way to set the world right is to take that journey inward and find our own still centre, the place of Nirvana, where the Buddhahood awaits each and every one of us.

This book is a collection of his essential thoughts from across many books and lectures. For anyone not familiar with the person, it is good introduction. For a Campbell aficionado, it something to be dipped into at leisure, reading a bit here, a bit there.

And the biggest takeaway was - though I now disagreed with a lot of what he said, the creative flame lit in my mind was still by him. He was still my guru, because it is not the function of the teacher to pour things into the student, but draw his essence out.

"From the darkness of ignorance,
With the lodestone of truth,
He who has opened my eyes:
To him, my guru, I bow."

Joe says - "Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world."

Yes. I suddenly realised that over the years, I had lost the joy. Now to bring it back!

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

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]

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

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. Inside his philosophical musings are poems by Whitman, speeches by famous Native American chiefs, gospel passages, the Gospel of Thomas, and small rants. However, this mural of wisdom seems to lend to the man's train of thought and instead of being frustrating show a glimpse into the mechanics of his mind. And most amazingly, he pulls a common thread from amongst all those voices.
I'm a fan of this era of writing, so was not suprised to hear that Campbell and Steinbeck (my all-time favorite) were friendly and shared many deep conversations about God, women/relationships, struggle, art and life.
While Campbell is certainly no Steinbeck when it comes to building words on a page, he has a wonderful soul coupled with an incredible mind.
A must-read if you feel a rift between what your church/temple preaches as dogma and what you are feeling in your heart: "Life has no meaning. We have meaning and we bring it to life." J.C.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.”

This book is a gathering of Joseph Campbell’s ideas, talks, and writings, put together by Diane K. Osbon (Goodreads incorrectly credits Robert Walter). Diane was part of a month long intensive seminar Campbell led at the Esalen Institute in 1983, and while she compiled this mostly from that seminar, she also includes quotes from his many books and lectures. It’s separated into three parts that take the reader through levels of consciousness, culminating in living the creative life.

I’ve been a fan of Campbell for most of my adult life, from when I was first captivated by his mythology lectures on public television. I learn so much every time I hear or read something he said, but this book … it makes you feel like he’s sitting across the table from you, coming up with all of these illuminating things just for your benefit.

Campbell is my favorite teacher, but I take everything he says very personally, so there isn’t much to say in a review, except that I bet there are things in here for every reader, that they too can take personally.

When I started this, I thought it would be a gathering of some of Campbell’s thoughts that I could breeze through and enjoy. Six months later, I have to say it’s the densest book I’ve ever read. And I cannot say I’m finished--I’ll be reading it forever.

“This is it! This is Life! Look at it! Isn’t it bubbling?”

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 then what I had taken. I wish Joseph Campbell were alive today so I could thank him for showing me that things like Love are worth fighting for, even when Everyone tells you to give up and walk away. His understandings about how if you really look at the clues that are presented to you, the right path is much easier to walk. I have collected several more of Joseph Campbell's books and will continue to read and even re-read them as I feel they are a great source of enlightenment. I cannot give a stronger review then to say that reading his work is being aligned with true genius and you will close the end of the book a better person for reading it.

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Darth Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 nurture is our ego. At least, most of us do. I'm sure the rinpoche's up in the Himalayas don't give a damn what anyone thinks of them.

Ego death isn't for everyone.

There are so many things I can write about this book, so many things, but all I will say is that though Joseph Campbell, along with many other authors and video game developers, helped make me who I am, Campbell taught me how to be, how to relate to the world around me.

In making folklore, both ancient and modern, more palatable for the lay person, Campbell has combined philosophy with gospel-like archetypes and created truths that are more akin capital T Truth than any other writer I know of. I know, I know, even I was told time and time again by multiple advisers and professors that capital T Truth doesn't exist, but a part of me thinks it does, and Campbell has found it hidden away in the stories we tell ourselves.

Campbell has many points. Most people don't want to renounce all worldly goods and live a life of simplicity. And I mean true simplicity, a shire-like existence. Most people would definitely sell out their morals and truths for a little bit of cash and fame, making art they don't want to, promoting things they don't even like or need. Most people are constantly Otherizing, competing, one upping, starting pissing contests. They live in the scarcity mindset: me vs them. The majority of the human race lives against nature, trying to control it rather than letting it be, learning for it.

This book has once again shown me that one of the things I despise most about the Western scarcity mindset is competition. I hate it. Sure, I've played literally hundred of hours in competitive online shooters and mmorpgs, but those are games. I'm talking about people being competitive in life for no reason other this twisted belief we have created that says if you compete with someone and win (and winning is subjective, for some people it's gaining attention, others accolades) than you are better than said other person. What utter crap. You are no better than the child slave who made the phone you now use to check how many followers you have on youtube or pinterest or to read this review. No. I refuse to believe that competition is a good thing anymore in our society. We need to evolve past thinking that competition is healthy. What's really healthy is supporting others, having compassion.

I'm probably getting into some dangerous territory here, so I will just say this.

I'm realizing more and more that the main trait I look for in a person is humility, the ability to admit fault and apologize. This book helped identify why that is as well as solidify it as the number one trait that indicates a good, honest person. And you know what, people like that are few and far between. But everyone sure is good at wearing that mask of humility and understanding, at faking it, when they are actually too afraid to be up front. Passivity is the new norm.

I know too many people who would read reviews on goodreads, look at pictures on FB, or occasionally surf to tumblr and judge the ever living crap out of everyone they see. Base their entire opinion about that person on soundbites of their life. Not understanding that everything on the internet is fake. Not understanding that every person is a multifaceted gem that only shines with certain kinds of light.

I fear the way our society is heading. I despise that everyone has this fake, ridiculous persona online and a different mask for every person they see offline. That these fake people change their personality based on the people around them, feigning interest in something they claimed to hate just for a little bit of attention and ego stroking. I hate this constant judgement and fear of being judged. I am sick of hiding my education, my interests, and my passion just so others can feel comfortable with themselves. I am tired of keeping secret the fact I write and I love to write because people immediately label writers as egotistical and inane. Am I stupid to think that for humans to evolve, truly evolve, into a space faring race we either need a common enemy we can all rally against or,more difficultly, be kind, compassionate, empathetic?

Well, in studying Joseph Campbell I have learned that there are two types of people: those who want progress and those who want validation from others. The latter truly holds us back as a species.

Ugh, I would write more, and edit, but I am late. So it goes.

And with that I think I will do to my goodreads what I did to my FB, and delete it.

[Kristi Hovington · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 review
I have loved this book since i bought it at the urging of my wonderful aunt, a Jung scholar and Campbell enthusiast, when I was about 19. I was young and dumb, but fascinated with mythology and psychology after taking a few classes in uni. She introduced me to Campbell , who I was unfamiliar with at the time. I bought this book and the hero’s journey, and still love them both now, over 20 years later.

I’ve read this book all the way through too many times to count, mostly in my 20’s. I’ve dipped in and out of it many, many times since, going to sections that always give me insight. But I haven’t re-read it all the way through since i was in my early 30’s.

Reading this again was quite the experience, noticing what I highlighted and made notes on so long ago, and also noticing that while many of those still resonate, entirely different passages mean more to me now.

I still love this book, the connection of our lives to the universal stories of mythology, the different perspectives he offers on so many stages of life, his vast knowledge of literature and religion/mythology/psychology/anthropology and how they are all related. I noticed this time around that as enlightened and wise as he is, there is sexism and a dearth of female writers referenced; he is a product of his time and not one that broke through those areas. But, the wisdom is still there, the playful amalgamation of so many different -oligies and cultures in an attempt to illuminate the whole. He still, after all these years, helps me make sense of my own life, and of others, and each time I read him, I come away with something new.


*********2007 review
this is my touchstone book, the one always in the bag, the one always on my mind when i am confused in life or when something perfect happens. joey campbell quite simply rocks.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 dated so you know where it came from -much like an encyclopedia. Instead what you get is a long series of sound bites and miscellaneous quotes that you have to look up in the reference pages in the rear of the book for clues as to how to put things into any sort of context. Although much of the writing is superb, it is often hard to tell where passage starts or stops.

The result makes me think of the sort of book that's good for the bathroom. You can pick it up and read a random passage and get something out of it, but reading it from front to back is often frustrating.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 trip
down to the jewel point
is to find those levels in the psyche
that open, open, open,
and finally open to the mystery
of your Self
being Buddha consciousness
or 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 oneness of all things really spoke to me, and though I am constantly encountering these themes in the wisdom I pursue, there's something about the way Campbell writes that makes them even more tangible and striking. That's my ultimate takeaway: I am so struck at the truths that Campbell reveals again and again. This book is extremely important.

[Tammy Sadorus · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 questions get answered. If you are in a zen like mindset and looking for answers within yourself, here's a good start.

[Zach]

7th read

A book that can always pull me back from the edge and remind me that I am the light.



6th read:

A book for bodhisattvas, lost souls, wastelanders, and everyone in between. A book to point the way, but one must still do the hard work to transform and transcend. A sacred book with few peers.

Another favorite quote:

So you can experience the downward pointed triangle two ways: one, as an obstacle; and the other, as the means by which you are going to make the ascent. So, everything in your life that seems to be obstructive can be transformed by your recognizing that it is the means for your transformation.


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 everywhere." (Joseph Campbell)

This is the third time I've read this book in the last year and a half, and each time I finish it, I want to dive back in.
--

An incredible book. This is Joseph Campbell as spirit guide -- even more so than the previous Campbell books I've enjoyed.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite quotes is "If you really want to help this world, what you will have to do is teach how to live in it." I remember this from the Bill Moyers TV show with Joseph Campbell, "The Power of Myth." I wanted to see where the quote came from and somehow was directed to this book. I kept reading and not finding the quote. I found lots of other useful insights, but not the quote. Finally on page 289, after I'd pretty much given up on finding it, the quote appears, lost in a paragraph about the real point: "We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy." The teaching that you can do is by being an example of joyful living. And that teaching is the helping that you can do. Good enough.

This book seems like outdated mumbo-jumbo in some ways, but the content is timeless. It's the cumulative wisdom of the world throughout history as told by a sage who spent 80 years trying to figure it all out. What a gift.

[Brian Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible collection of some of Joseph Campbell’s most inspiring wisdom.

“So that’s what destiny is: simply the fulfillment of the potentialites of the energies in your own system.”

~ Joseph Campbell from A Joseph Campbell Companion

Joseph Campbell is awesome.

If you’ve seen the Bill Moyers PBS series, The Power of Myth , you know how incredible Campbell is—the glow in his 80+ year old eyes… the giddiness with which he talked about the spiritual truths. Simply amazing.

Alright. I can get all misty-eyed and ramble, but let’s just jump in and celebrate the man who brought us “the hero’s journey” and the wise, wise words: “Follow your bliss.”

I’ll share a bunch of Big Ideas with you here, and won’t even scratch the surface of this ridiculously densely-packed book of wisdom. If it resonates, me thinks you’ll love the book.

Some of my favorite big ideas from this book include:

1. Follow Your Bliss - Three very big words.
2. Excitement - Have fun not knowing
3. Phone Call from God - Answer it.
4. Hero’s Forest - Enter it.
5. Shedding Skin - Shed your skin! Or perish.
6. Crucify to Rise - You must die to the old if you want the new.
7. Omelets - Break some eggs.
8. Jump! - It’s not that wide.
9. Say “Yes!!” - Go ahead. Say it.
10. Love Your Fate - It’ll make you stronger.
11. Your Hair & Fire - Here’s a match.

I’ve summarized those Big Ideas in a video review that you can watch here: https://youtu.be/wHnuEiJsuKQ?feature=...

I’ve also added A Joseph Campbell Companion by Joseph Campbell to my collection of Philosopher’s Notes--distilling the Big Ideas into 6-page PDF and 20-minute MP3s on 600+ of the BEST self-development books ever. You can get access to all of those plus a TON more over at https://heroic.us.

[Emilie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Vache · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 genius, I must pick only one. "Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning. Love is a friendship set to music." This quote reveals so much truth in such little words. I love how Campbell is able to explain such big ideas in very few words and make these complex ideas easy to understand. The way which Campbell writes is genius. It is pure genius. I have not read anything this truthfully magnificent in an extremely long time. I am very glad I read it. This is the kind of book that I will always keep coming back to later in life, when I actually have real problems. This is the kind of book that will guide me through hardships in life. I wish I could recommend this book to everyone, but many stupid people out there will read this book and finish it thinking why I wasted their time with such a pointless book. Close-minded people will not appreciate the true genius of this book. I recommend this book to anyone who is trying to make something of their lives, but is struggling in doing so.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

Always liked reading about Campbell’s myths, and this Companion is filled with very delightful quotable quotes. The latter chapters felt quite esoteric and boring, one needed a prior understanding of his philosophy and Hinduism. And the part about how women are the force and men are the action (?) seems shady. But overall a good read that reminds us to see the divine in life and to be grateful for each of our hero’s journey.

Quotes:

Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.

The warrior’s approach is to say “yes” to life. Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. […] When we talk about settling the world’s problems, we are barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It’s a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.

What we are really living for is the experience of life, both the pain and the pleasure. The world is a match for us. We are a match for the world.

Negativism to the pain and ferocity of life is negativism to life. To take a righteous attitude toward anything is to denigrate it. Awe is what moves us forward.

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. You can’t have an omelet without breaking eggs. Destruction before creation. Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up.

You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there is a path, it is someone else’s. If you follow someone else’s way, you are not going to realise your potential.

As Schopenhauer says, when you look back on your life, it looks as though it were a plot, but when you are into it, it’s a mess. Then later you see it was perfect. If you are on your own path things are going to come to you. Since it’s your own path, and no one has ever been on it before, there is no precedent, so everything that happens is a surprise and is timely.

Every carrier is charged with an individual destiny and destination, and the realisation of this alone makes sense of life. — Jung

Jean and I have been married for 46 years, and we have a back and forth of feelings and intelligences, so that we’ve experienced “the one that is two and the twin that are one”.

The fourth level of love is that of spouse to spouse, of identification with the Other. You have found the god in your heart, and now the god is found in this intimate and most enduring kind of relationship. That’s why marriage is regarded as a permanent affair. There is only one chance to have this type of experience.

Marriage is not a love affair, it’s an ordeal. It is a religious exercise, a sacrament, the grace of participating in another life. The realisation of the interlocking of the psyches and the mutual education that comes out of that acquiescence and relationship.

I wouldn’t have thought of marrying anyone unless, in committing myself to the marriage, I understood that I was taking that person’s life in my hands. Committing yourself to anyone, turning your destiny over to a dual destiny, is a life commitment.

She is the same person, the same river, all the time. Joyce makes it so you can feel the old woman in the little girl and the little girl on the old woman.

The considerable mutual attraction of the very young and the very old may derive something from their common, secret knowledge that it is they, and not the busy generation between, who are concerned with a poetic play that is eternal and truly wise.

Everything was opening up. My question then was, “Am I going to go back into that bottle?”

The really serious one is when you’ve gotten to the top of the ladder and find it’s against the wrong wall. And that’s where so many people are. And then, Jesus, to descend the whole ladder and start up another. Forget the ladder and just wander, bump around.

One has to know how and when to put on and to put off the masks of one’s various life roles. The aim of individuation requires that one should find and then learn to live out of one’s own center, in control of one’s for and against. And this cannot be achieved by enacting and responding to any general masquerade of fixed roles.

The goal of the hero’s journey is yourself, finding yourself.

Joyce says in Ulysses, “If you can put your five fingers through it, it is a gate, if not a door.” The difficulties one encounters may be looked at as having the possibility of transformation.

In choosing your god, you choose your way of looking at the universe. There are plenty of Gods. Choose yours.

One great thing about growing old is that nothing is going to lead to anything. Everything is of the moment.

If you are at peace with eternity, the blowing up of the universe is perfectly acceptable — just as your own death has to be acceptable. It is going with organic processes. Everything that comes… goes. An Aztec prayer to be said at the deathbed… “Dear Child! Thou hast passed through and survived the labors of this life. Now it hath pleased our Lord to carry thee away. For we do not enjoy this world everlastingly, only briefly; our life is like the warming of oneself in the sun.”

What is the Kingdom? It lies in our realisation of the ubiquity of the divine presence in our neighbours, in our enemies, in all of us.

[When looking at escetic art] The heart in such an environment is at home in its own place: removed from the chaotic spectacle of the world of waking consciousness, at rest and at peace in the recognition of a harmony (which is of one’s own nature) informing the whole terrible scene of lives forever consuming lives. The function of this ritual is to bring one’s manner of life into accord with this non-judgmental perspective in the way, not of crude ego-maintenance in a world one never made, but of synergetic participation in a phantasmagoric rapture.

Fame is of no importance. The light of fame comes past, but fame is not what the artist is working for.

Awe is what moves us forward.

[Danna · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 informational text. I found reading the whole thing in large chunks a bit tedious; it is most enjoyable as something to pick up, browse a bit, find a specific idea that captures your fancy, then put it down and ponder that idea for a few days.

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 like Jungian psychoanalytic theory about archetypes. If you are going to read any work by Campbell, I'd recommend Myths to Live By instead just because it makes a better case for Campbell's blends.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

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."

[Barak · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Adam Fleming · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Rjb · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Bible.
A collection of the insight and wisdom of Joseph Campbell edited by a poet. What could be better?!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, this one deserves six stars.

[Rosa Ramôa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"O privilégio de uma vida é ser quem você é".

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t consider myself spiritual or religious in any sense of the word, but this is the closest I’ll get. The quotes in this book are like testaments and proverbs that speak to the linking forces between artists, specifically writers, and for that reason I somewhat consider it my writing Bible when it comes to structuring my stories and how I view my pieces as a whole. I think all fiction writers need to read Joseph Campbell.

[Steph Wylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some nuggets of pure gold in this book. After finishing it, I was left with the feeling that I'm glad such a person as Joseph Campbell had existed, and that he had so freely shared (and continues to share through his works), his accumulated life's wisdom with others.

[Pratyush · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! Mind opening to say the least!