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Available
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Publication
viking adult; first edition, second printing edition (april 12, 1972) (no date)
Description
Joseph Campbell famously compared mythology to a kangaroo pouch for the human mind and spirit: "a womb with a view." In Myths to Live By, he examines all of the ways in which myth supports and guides us, giving our lives meaning. Love and war, science and religion, East and West, inner space and outer space - Campbell shows how the myths we live by can reconcile all of these pairs of opposites and bring a sense of the whole.
User reviews
LibraryThing member millsge
Very few understand myth as does Campbell. Even fewer love myths as he does and even less understand how trenchant mythic truth really is. Read this book and attempt to live by these myths and you will affect society more than you can imagine.
LibraryThing member mr.lewis
We've been bombarded with the "hero's journey" and starry-eyed explanations of modern movies with the steps intercut. However, this book still has magic for me, in affirming the heroic nature of our lives, in assuring us our path has been walked before, and in allowing ourselves to make difficult
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decisions. Most of all, it brought about for me that rare feeling of connectivity, of being part of this world, and impressed with it. Show Less
LibraryThing member LTW
At the time he wrote these essays, Campbell was a professor on a campus, surrounded by young people whom he found hard to understand. For example, in his essay "The Moon Walk--the Outward Journey" he relates his own feelings of awe on viewing the Apollo moon landing and contrasts them with the
"Mythologies of War and Peace" addresses the underlying belief systems of participants in the Mideast crises. Campbell says that "killing is the precondition of all living whatsoever: life lives on life, eats life, and would not otherwise exist...it is the nations, tribes, and peoples bred to mythologies of war that have survived to communicate their life-supporting mythic lore to descendents." He suggests that "we" in the West "have been bred to one of the most brutal war mythologies of all time." He cites Deuteronomy and Isaiah and follows with excerpts from the Koran such as Sura 2, verse 216.."Fighting is prescribed for you."
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reaction of a student who wrote "So What" on a photo of the moon landing posted on a campus bulletin board. In another essay "Schizophrenia--the Inward Journey" he contrasts the use of mind-altering drugs by shamans and psychotics (including the LSD induced version) as the difference between divers and non-swimmers in "the waters of the unviersal archetypes of mythology." "Mythologies of War and Peace" addresses the underlying belief systems of participants in the Mideast crises. Campbell says that "killing is the precondition of all living whatsoever: life lives on life, eats life, and would not otherwise exist...it is the nations, tribes, and peoples bred to mythologies of war that have survived to communicate their life-supporting mythic lore to descendents." He suggests that "we" in the West "have been bred to one of the most brutal war mythologies of all time." He cites Deuteronomy and Isaiah and follows with excerpts from the Koran such as Sura 2, verse 216.."Fighting is prescribed for you."
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LibraryThing member Kurt.Rocourt
A good study on the myths that different cultures share and what we can gain from them.
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Original publication date
1972-04-12
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SS
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