Recently, I completed by reread of Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth. It was interesting to go back, because in high school I verged on worship of Campbell. At the time, religion and mythology fascinated me, so to find a whole body of work by such an obviously intelligent person focused on comparative mythology felt like hitting the lottery. I lived in San Antonio, and about once every couple of months, my mom would take me to the downtown central library (no, I didn’t have a license…I’ve always been young for my grade, and then I didn’t want to potentially kill people with tons of fast-moving metal…yes, I eventually got over that) and I would stock up (the limit was fifty books per patron). There was always at least one Campbell in the pile!

I read this one, which is the book version of an interview-style PBS series Campbell did sometime in the late eighties/early nineties (do you sense some laziness here?) for the first time just after high school graduation. I’d already read his more in-depth works, so it was kind of nice to relax and enjoy the lighter approach to his scholarship! Upon rereading, (and the copy I bookmooched is the awesome oversized one with a ton of pictures) the same chapter remained me favourite, but it seemed kind of superficial. Of course, that’s probably because I haven’t read his heavier works lately!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The book is divided into eight chapters: “Myth and the Modern World,” “The Journey Inward,” “The First Storytellers,” “Sacrifice and Bliss,” “The Hero’s Adventure,” “The Gift of the Goddess,” “Tales of Love and Marriage,” and “Masks of Eternity.” These are rough guidelines, that directed the subjects Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyer (his interviewer) discussed in each segment of the PBS series. Within each subject, Campbell jumps around a bit, incorporating his extensive knowledge of world religions with his experience as an older man. In so doing, he offers advice for how people, especially young people, might incorporate mythological lessons into their lives.

I enjoyed both aspects. Of course, it was fun to hear all the different myths and watch Campbell tie their various themes together, but the most valuable part was when Campbell became more personal. I especially appreciated his discussion of marriage, which he describes as very different from a love affair, a life-long committment to join yourself with another person into a new thing: a couple. I know that makes it sound creepy and codependent, but it’s not. It’s just an (admittedly) idealistic account that I think is very helpful to someone like myself, growing up in today’s society.

Which brings me back to my very favourite chapter: “Tales of Love and Marriage.” The title itself gives away the game. It was neat to read descriptions of love, and lovers, from various centuries and countries. I’ll share with you my favourite story from this part of the book:

Why was Satan thrown into hell? The standard story is that, when God created the angels, he told them to bow to none but himself. Then he created man, whom he regarded as a higher form than the angels, and he asked the angels to serve man. And Satan would not bow to man.
Now, this is interpreted in the Christian tradition, as I recall from my boyhood instruction, as being the egotism of Satan. He would not bow to man. But in the Persian story, he could not bow to man because of his love for God-he could now only to God. God had changed his signals, do you see? But Satan had so committed himself to the first set of signals that he could not violate those, and in his-I don’t know if Satan has a heart or not-but in his mind, he could not bow to anyone but God, whom he loved. And then God says, “Get out of my sight.”
Now, the worst of the pains of hell, insofar as hell has been described, is the absence of the Beloved, which is God. So how does Satan sustain the situation in hell? By the memory of the echo of God’s voice, when God said, “Go to hell.” that is a great sign of love.

I don’t really have too much else to say. I think this would be a good general introduction to Campbell, as long as you keep in mind that he’s usually much more rigirous in his scholarship. As for me, I want to go reread the Masks of God series.