Joseph Campbell
c/joseph-campbell
Mythologist and guide to the hero's journey. Campbell revealed the universal patterns in every culture's greatest stories - and how to live our own.
c/joseph-campbell
Mythologist and guide to the hero's journey. Campbell revealed the universal patterns in every culture's greatest stories - and how to live our own.
…fourth motif, which is that of many of the most popular and vivid myths. It is that of the fire or bride theft, Prometheus stealing the fire from the guardians, male or female. This represents a kind of violence. You have come with the purpose of…
…judgment and does not condemn god but gives him praise and worship. No Greek would do that, no Greek ever did that. Consider Prometheus pinned to a rock by a big boy, zeus to wit who could easily have filled leviathan's nose with harpoons. And just as…
…And just as outrageously, this punishment. And then the great easterlian representation of this. A little delegation comes to Prometheus and says: apologize, he'll let you go. And Prometheus's Humanistic answer: he did not abdicate his human judgment he…
…not abdicate his human judgment he says: you tell him I despise him, let him do as he likes. Now we can say of course Prometheus was himself a sort of transcendent being and not a mere human being. But the main point is that he did not abdicate the…
…These two are in conflict in our psyches. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday we are with let us say, Prometheus, and on Sunday We're with job, and Monday We're on the psychiatrist's couch. The conflict of job and Prometheus is…
…us say, Prometheus, and on Sunday We're with job, and Monday We're on the psychiatrist's couch. The conflict of job and Prometheus is symptomatic of two totally different mythologies. You remember god was pretty nasty to job, not because job was bad, but…
…of you? No Greek would do that. When zeus, who was a big fellow too, could fill leviathan's nose with harpoons, pinned Prometheus to a rock because Prometheus had cheated him out of the fact of the sacrifice. A delegation came to Prometheus and said:…
…do that. When zeus, who was a big fellow too, could fill leviathan's nose with harpoons, pinned Prometheus to a rock because Prometheus had cheated him out of the fact of the sacrifice. A delegation came to Prometheus and said: look, say I apologize I'm…
…harpoons, pinned Prometheus to a rock because Prometheus had cheated him out of the fact of the sacrifice. A delegation came to Prometheus and said: look, say I apologize I'm sorry, and he'll let you go. And what did Prometheus say? He said: you tell…
…question and the myth that I think influences my life even to the point of having trouble with my liver is the myth of Prometheus. Could you the myth of Prometheus? Yes could you discuss it a little bit please? Well I see Prometheus as a kind of basic…
…influences my life even to the point of having trouble with my liver is the myth of Prometheus. Could you the myth of Prometheus? Yes could you discuss it a little bit please? Well I see Prometheus as a kind of basic European One could call redeemer…
…is the myth of Prometheus. Could you the myth of Prometheus? Yes could you discuss it a little bit please? Well I see Prometheus as a kind of basic European One could call redeemer figure, just as jesus as it were. The Christ brought redemption from the…
…as it were. The Christ brought redemption from the hoarder of redemption, you know the one who would not yield it. So Prometheus brought the fire of civilization and the beginnings of properly human life, as contrasted with animals, from the hoarder of the…
…that one finds in many, many fields. But I've made the Christ Comparison intentionally, because Christ ends up crucified and so also Prometheus pinned to the rock there. And when one performs a great hero act of this kind there is the crucifixion or…
…victory is won. The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boon on his fellow beings. Prometheus ascended to the heavens, stole fire from the gods and descended. Jason sailed through the clashing rocks into a sea of…
…fourth motif, which is that of many of the most popular and vivid myths. It is that of the fire or bride theft, Prometheus stealing the fire from the guardians, male or female. This represents a kind of violence. You have come with the purpose of…
…decisive victory is won. The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. Prometheus ascended to the heavens, stole fire from the gods and descended. Jason sailed through the clashing rocks into a sea of…
…fourth motif, which is that of many of the most popular and vivid myths. It is that of the fire or bride theft, Prometheus stealing the fire from the guardians, male or female. This represents a kind of violence. You have come with the purpose of…
…You've got to respect them for certain reasons but otherwise you'll end in the coop. But you don't really disrespect them. Prometheus is the counter player to job. He represents the affirmation of the human value system against the gods and when he…
…a little delegation comes and says apologize and he'll let you go. Those wonderful words of Aeschylus. And by the way Aeschylus says Prometheus is almost exactly a contemporary of the book of job. The words were: you tell him I despise him let him do as…
…of the book of job. The words were: you tell him I despise him let him do as he likes. Now of course Prometheus could take it because he was a sort of supernatural himself, but the attitude is that of affirmation of human values against the…
…values against the powers of the almighty. Now look at our case: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday we are with Prometheus and for half an hour on the sabbath with job and the next Monday We're on a psychiatrist's couch trying to…
…bride theft. The one who breaks past all the guardians of the good and seizes what he requires the jewel, the fire, as Prometheus did and then comes fleeing back. All of the great myths require that the individual who has achieved the goal should come…
…have done that. You know what happened to zeus when he didn't behave decently. The greeks despised him. There's that story of Prometheus. Zeus pinned him to a rock because he cheated zeus once in favor of man. And a little company of ambassadors comes…
…to a rock because he cheated zeus once in favor of man. And a little company of ambassadors comes and they say: look here Prometheus, if you'll just apologize, the old boy will let you go. Now zeus was big too. He could fill a violin's nose with…
…just apologize, the old boy will let you go. Now zeus was big too. He could fill a violin's nose with harpoons. But what did Prometheus say? He said: you tell zeus I despise him. Let him do as he likes. I care less than nothing for zeus. We know…
…knows. That is the image that in Buddhism is called the bodhisattva. That is the image of Christ crucified. That is the image of Prometheus to the rock. That is the image of Loki tied to the rock this is the crucified one the one who knows the…
…of man? Now for the oriental, this conflict. Look at us: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday we are with Prometheus and Sunday for a couple of minutes with job and the next Monday on the psychiatrist's couch wondering what's the matter…
…absolutely not. Well that's a different angle on heroes than I got when I was reading as a young boy the story of Prometheus going after the fire and bringing it back and benefiting humanity and suffering for it. I mean Prometheus brings fire to mankind…
…the story of Prometheus going after the fire and bringing it back and benefiting humanity and suffering for it. I mean Prometheus brings fire to mankind and consequently civilization. That's, by the way a Universal Theme. What is the hero? The fire theft…
…of the sacrifice. A delegation came to Prometheus and said: look, say I apologize I'm sorry, and he'll let you go. And what did Prometheus say? He said: you tell him I despise him. When the deity behaves in an immoral way, he loses Face in the Greek…
…a principle beyond it. These are two conflicting points of view. What would they say in India? In India They'd say: Prometheus represents the mind and yahweh, with his power, represents the dynamic of which the mind is simply the observer. The mind's…
…performs a great hero act of this kind there is the crucifixion or pinning to the rock of the visible personality. So Prometheus for me is a major hero figure in a completely European Context. But what you mentioned before, the responsibility of the…
…completely European Context. But what you mentioned before, the responsibility of the artist, what about the responsibility? The way that Prometheus handled the problem in other words this is why the ego devours his liver, which for the greeks represents what…
…of great suffering. It is not. To me, it is not well, how do you see that the problem of responsibility in other words Prometheus? In other words it is a double edged sword isn't it? All action is double edged and all mythic themes can be double…
…think of the way in which Aeschylus treats of this there's a very interesting theme here I would oppose as contraries Prometheus and job. They're of about the same date actually historically, those two statements. Job was miserably treated by his deity. God…
…point is there made: that man's judgment does not reach far enough to touch the ultimate mystery of life. On the other hand in Prometheus case he too was pretty badly treated by a deity. Remember god said to job: who are you to question me? Can you…
…Remember god said to job: who are you to question me? Can you fill leviathan's nose with harpoons? I did try it. And Prometheus is abused by a deity who could very well have filled leviathan's nose with harpoons namely zeus. And when a little delegation…
…nose with harpoons namely zeus. And when a little delegation comes and says to him: apologize, you know and he'll let you go, Prometheus, Instead of bowing and saying you know I have seen you heard of you with mine ears I behold you now with mine…
…you go tell him I despise him. This is the ego, and one of the great powers of our time is to balance Prometheus Against job and job against Prometheus, the submission to that tremendous power which transcends any rational order, and the respect, on the…
…This is the ego, and one of the great powers of our time is to balance Prometheus Against job and job against Prometheus, the submission to that tremendous power which transcends any rational order, and the respect, on the other hand, for the humanistic…
…ring. We have to recognize also what job had to recognize and play these without losing respect for either pole. That's me on Prometheus, Please don't cut me off because this is important to me as you may have guessed I am concerned about another point…
…have guessed I am concerned about another point which is really, I would say, a Universal concern. I mean I equate the fire which Prometheus stole from the god and the story says that he stole it all right he could have just sat there and done nothing…
…right to our discovery of atomic power and in other words, it is not in my interpretation of the myth, it is not that Prometheus suffers at the hands of vengeful gods, but from the guilt of seeing what his gift of this knowledge which he stole which…
…this thing. Yes but the myth is Universal Isn't it? Yes but you have to think of the point of view you've brought up Prometheus and what the Prometheus Myth says if you take job or something like that or Adam and eve in the Garden there you have…
…the myth is Universal Isn't it? Yes but you have to think of the point of view you've brought up Prometheus and what the Prometheus Myth says if you take job or something like that or Adam and eve in the Garden there you have guilt. Nietzsche, in his…
…that or Adam and eve in the Garden there you have guilt. Nietzsche, in his wonderful book the birth of tragedy, contrasts Prometheus with the fall in the Garden, and one is not primordial guilt, but the primordial crime. That's Prometheus and the attitude…
…of tragedy, contrasts Prometheus with the fall in the Garden, and one is not primordial guilt, but the primordial crime. That's Prometheus and the attitude of celebrating the one who has the heroic concern for human life and values, even against the abyss…