A fascinating analysis of the themes and motifs common to the mythologies and oral traditions of a variety of ancient cultures. Campbell delves into mythology in search of some perennial or fundamental truth.

  • imaqtpieOPAEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Wow. I posted about a book from 1949 and got a response from someone currently reading it within 10 minutes. On lemmy, not reddit. I find the book to be very comforting, because it connects us to thousands of years of human history and tradition in a way that we can understand.

    I’ll post one of my favorite passages here.

    For centuries Daedalus has represented the type of the artist-scientist: that curiously disinterested, almost diabolic human phenomenon, beyond the normal bounds of social judgment, dedicated to the morals not of his time but of his art. He is the hero of the way of thought–singlehearted, courageous, and full of faith that the truth, as he finds it, shall make us free. And so now we may turn to him, as did Ariadne. The flax for the linen of his thread he has gathered from the fields of the human imagination. Centuries of husbandry, decades of diligent culling, the work of numerous hearts and hands, have gone into the hackling, sorting, and spinning of thus tightly twisted yarn. Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

    • mrcleansocks@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      Wow. I’m shook that you chose this passage. It was literally my favorite passage in the first portion of the book.

      My jaw dropped when I read this and I took a photo of it and stored it in my phone. I have an album of excerpts for quick reference and this was one of them. Love that this resonated with you as much as it did for me.

      And yes… all this through Lemmy makes it seem like it is truly the first step in our collective heroes journey. We just have to return to the centralized lands to tell of the federated and decentralized lands ;)

      • imaqtpieOPAEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        Haha, no way! It’s an incredibly beautiful piece of writing.

        I must admit that I’ve been thinking similarly about Lemmy being a sort of collective hero’s journey. We shall one day free the masses from the iron grip of the corporate internet. Glad to be alone together with you fine people :)

        • boydsterMEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Holy smokes, thanks for sharing this book, it’s next on my list to grab for a read. Recently, I’ve been really interested in following the development of culture, civilization, mythology, and religion, and this book seems to really drill down into some of those nearly-universal themes (at least, if the blurbs I’m reading are accurate) like the Hero’s Journey and the cycle of world/universe creation and destruction. I just wanted to chime in, late as it may be after you made the initial post, and say thank you for sharing

          • imaqtpieOPAEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            Wow, it’s good to see you’re still hanging around here! Couldn’t recommend the book any more highly, lots of fascinating scholarship and the prose is a joy to read