The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure. Joseph Campbell More Quotes by Joseph Campbell More Quotes From Joseph Campbell Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. Joseph Campbell mind-your-own-business true-friend inspirational The myth is the public domain and the dream is the private myth. If your private myth, your dream, happens to coincide with that of the society, you are in good accord with your group. If it isn't, you've got a long adventure in the dark forest ahead of you. Joseph Campbell dream inspirational life The function of ritual, as I understand it, is to give form to human life, not in the way of a mere surface arrangement, but in depth. Joseph Campbell depth giving way In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person. You are sacrificing yourself to the relationship. Joseph Campbell sacrificing-yourself sacrifice persons Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths. By finding your own dream and following it through, it will lead you to the myth-world in which you live. But just as in dream, the subject and object, though they seem to be separate, are really the same. Joseph Campbell myth dream world We are the consciousness of the earth. We are the eyes of the earth. The voice of the earth. Joseph Campbell voice eye earth We are kept out of the Garden by our own fear and desire in relation to what we think to be the goods of our life. Joseph Campbell garden fear thinking Sin always finds it's root in our own selfish desires and self-gratification. Joseph Campbell selfish roots desire In the field of consciousness research-and also in physics and astronomy-we are breaking past the cause-and-effect, mechanistic way of interpreting things. In the biological sciences, there is a vitalism coming in that goes much further toward positing a common universal consciousness of which our brain is simply an organ. Consciousness does not come from the brain. The brain is an organ of consciousness. It focuses consciousness and pulls it in and directs it through a time and space field. But the antecedent of that is the universal consciousness of which we are all just a part. Joseph Campbell space brain past When people get married because they think it's a long-time love affair, they'll be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is a recognition of a spiritual identity. Joseph Campbell marriage disappointment spiritual We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that is symbolic of transcendence and mystery. The mystery is what’s important. Joseph Campbell important facts thinking The notion of this universe, its heavens, hells, and everything within it, as a great dream dreamed by a single being in which all the dream characters are dreaming too, has in India enchanted and shaped the entire civilization. Joseph Campbell dream character civilization The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure. Joseph Campbell departure biographies hero Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies, the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. Joseph Campbell ocean eye sleep At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred space and use it, eventually something will happen. Your sacred space is where you find yourself again and again. Joseph Campbell finding-yourself yoga space I always feel uncomfortable when people speak about ordinary mortals because I've never met an ordinary man, woman or child. Joseph Campbell inspirational men children Follow your bliss. The heroic life is living the individual adventure. Joseph Campbell heroic life-is adventure The principle of compassion is that which converts disillusionment into a participatory companionship. This is the basic love, the charity, that turns a critic into a living human being who has something to give to - as well as to demand of - the world. Joseph Campbell compassion principles giving It's characteristic of democracy that majority rule is understood as being effective not only in politics but also in thinking. In thinking, of course, the majority is always wrong. Joseph Campbell majority-rule democracy thinking There is no way you can use the word “reality” without quotation marks around it. Joseph Campbell quotation-marks knowing-who-you-are reality
