Myths to Live By

by Joseph Campbell

Other authorsJohnson E. Fairchild (Foreword)
Paperback, 1993

Status

Available

Publication

Penguin Books (1993), 288 pages

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.

Language

ISBN

0140194614 / 9780140194616

Library's review

What is a properly functioning mythology and what are its functions? Can we use myths to help relieve our modern anxiety, or do they help foster it? In Myths to Live By, Joseph Campbell explores the enduring power of the universal myths that influence our lives daily and examines the myth-making
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process from the primitive past to the immediate present, retuning always to the source from which all mythology springs: the creative imagination.Campbell stresses that the borders dividing the Earth have been shattered; that myths and religions have always followed the certain basic archetypes and are no longer exclusive to a single people, region, or religion. He shows how we must recognize their common denominators and allow this knowledge to be of use in fulfilling human potential everywhere.
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Rating

½ (187 ratings; 3.9)

Pages

288
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