I am, debatably, the greatest mythologist to ever live.My passion for mythology began when I was a boy and started studying Native American mythology. When I was young, I was admitted to the stacks at the local library and began realizing that Native American myths represented the harsh reality of life, and myths are a way to reconcile the psyche with reality.I returned from Europe in 1924 and went back to study again in 1925. When looking at abstract art, I realized that it resembled the primitive mythological images that I had studied.While in Europe, I was interested in the work of Carl Jung, who connected myths and dreams. This work played a major role in convincing me of the parallels in myth, dream, and art.I came back to the States two weeks before the Wall-Street crash, and I couldn't find a job. So, I "retired to the woods" and read for five straight years. I was invited to St. Lawrence, where we decided to follow the interests of the students. My female students forced me to answer the question "What does the material mean to LIFE?"I was raised Irish-Catholic, but found, after the study of biology and science, that religion should accept modern science and relate it to the religious myth. The problem with modern Christianity is that its followers interpret all of the Bible's stories as facts. By the time I was in college, I desperately wanted to reconcile science and religion.By chance, I was, as a young man, handed a book about The Buddha. I quickly found that Christian and Buddhists' stories are essentially the same. I quickly began studying Eastern philosophy/mythology. Hinduism is the thing that "saved me" because the Hindus realized that myth is INSIDE the believer: not up in the clouds or anywhere else. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the focus is on the relevance of the philosophy to the believer's life: not on the historical aspects of the religions. Christianity is more concerned with historical fact, but it can easily be read like Hinduism or Buddhism. Christ and Buddah are two ways of saying the same thing: a transcendent energy consciense informs the world and the individual. And this transcendence is literally beyond categories of thought, which is the mysticism of all things. All things are one, but they appear in many forms.After reading about every mythology in the world, no one can convince me that there is more than one mythology. All mythologies are the same and manifest themselves in different forms. This is part of the premise of my book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." The book outlines a hero's journey, which is basically the same regardless of which culture the hero comes from. The hero, regardless of if he is a warrior or a scientist, responds to the call of adventure; something is missing from the hero's life, and the hero is separated from his comfort zone and finds a mentor to provide wisdom while on his journey. The hero is always blocked by obstacles, tests, and trials. The hero eventually confronts death and must follow his heart: not his logic. This is because all great things come from within the individual. Great things do not come from outside forces, such as the government, but must come from within the spirit of the man.I find that people often misunderstand myth. Myth is a metaphor, which is not a lie. Myth (or God) is a metaphor that transcends all categories of thought. People must ask if their personal mythologies are putting them in touch with existence and humanity. People should not interpret their myths as facts, but as metaphors. And if a person finds his or her myth and follows it through, the person will find the myth world in which he lives and doors will open where they never would have opened before.Today, humans live in a world of mythological rubbish. But a person can find mythological stimulation if he listens to his inner being."When you follow... the DEEP sense of being in it... doors will open where there wouldn't be a door for anybody else... it is where the inner and outer worlds meet where we find mythos... The problem of making the inner of meeting the outer, of today, is the function of the artists."(All the above material is sourced from "The Hero's Journey," 2003, Joseph Campbell Foundation)
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Here, we have the modern tradition of the West. And how terrible it is. The sorrow is not joyful, the domination is from the male, nature is fallen, God is absolute and real, and the world is experienced in pairs of opposites. Does this leave room for the transcendent? Yes, if you can find the myth world that lives within YOU.
These are nature worshipers, because, what else do you have to worship? Some imagination that you put up in the sky?
