An Introduction to Joseph Campbell

by Jonathan Young

T H E N A U T I S PRO JECT

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Table of Contents

1 Teaching and writing.................................................................................................................. 4

2 Encounters with a storyteller ........................................................................................................ 4
3 Ritual as mythic experience ......................................................................................................... 6
4 A mythic calling........................................................................................................................ 7

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An Introduction to Joseph Campbell
by Jonathan Young

Mythologist Joseph Campbell was a masterful storyteller. He could weave tales

from every corner of the world into spell-binding narratives. His lifelong quest
from childhood days as a devout Catholic altar boy to fame as the world's most
noted scholar in comparative mythology makes for a fine heroic story.

The adventure picks up when young Joe Campbell sees the Indians in Buffalo
Bill's Wild West Show in 1912. The future scholar soon became convinced that he
had Indian blood. One of the striking details of the early years was Campbell's
youthful studiousness. He read his way through the children's section of the
public library and was admitted to the adult stacks at the age of eleven. He
devoted himself to every available fact about Native American life, including
the reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology. By high school, he was already
writing articles on Native American mythology, presenting many of the themes
he would still be working in his eighties.

Campbell's life was a passionate intellectual journey. College years at Columbia

University were spent discovering literature while becoming a track star and
playing in a jazz band on weekends. Graduate study in the Holy Grail legends of
Arthurian mythology took him to Paris and Munich where he discovered the ideas
of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung as well as James Joyce, Thomas Mann and
modern art. This is when he saw the parallels between mythic themes in
literature and psychological lessons such as those revealed in dreams.

Returning to Columbia, Campbell wanted to expand the scope of his dissertation

topic beyond the Grail myth to include parallels with psychology and art. His
advisors made it clear that such a daring perspective would not be acceptable.
The depression had set in and, with no job prospects, Campbell abandoned
doctoral work and went off to Woodstock for five years of intensive study of the
imagination. At every turn, Campbell met the interesting thinkers of the time -
many of whom became friends, from the philosopher Krishnamurti to Adelle
Davis, who was Campbell's first serious romantic interest long before her career
as a nutritionist. During a break from his period of unsponsored scholarship,
Campbell traveled to California, where he met an unknown novelist named John
Steinbeck and promptly fell in love with Steinbeck's wife, Carol. Another part of
his west coast adventure was a trip up the Northwest coast to Alaska collecting
marine specimens with "Doc" Ed Ricketts who was later immortalized in
Steinbeck's Cannery Row.

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1 Teaching and writing

Finally, a job offer came from Sarah Lawrence College. This most experimental
school provided the setting for the next 38 years of Campbell's work. He became
a master teacher and mentor to generations of notable women. He credits his
students for bringing the element of personal application to his writing. His
future wife, Jean Erdman, began as a student at Sarah Lawrence the same year
that Campbell joined the faculty. She went on to star in Martha Graham's dance
company, then became a acclaimed choreographer in her own right and founded
the performance dance department at New York University.

As these two prolific talents energetically pursued their creative careers they
moved among the bright lights of New York's artistic and intellectual circles.
Composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham were particularly
close. Indologist Heinrich Zimmer was such a kindred spirit that, upon his
untimely death, Campbell was asked to edit and complete his works. Through
Zimmer, Campbell met Carl Jung and participated in the Jungian Eranos
Conferences in Switzerland.

It was the publication of The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1949 that
established Joseph Campbell as the preeminent comparative mythologist of our
time. He wanted the book to be a guide to reading a myth. Campbell explained
how challenging experiences could be seen as initiatory adventures. It was this
connection between ancient stories and the emotional concerns of modern life
that was distinctive. As Campbell observed, "The latest incarnation of Oedipus,
the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stand this afternoon on the
corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, waiting for the traffic light to change."

Campbell's prodigious scholarship went on to include the four-volume Masks of

God as well as The Mythic Image and the lavishly illustrated series The Historical
Atlas of World Mythology. As his influence grows, Joseph Campbell seems
destined to join Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung as one of this century's great
disseminators of the psychological wisdom of mythology.

2 Encounters with a storyteller

Coming away from the first seminar I attended with Joseph Campbell, I had a
new sense that meaning could be found in every direction. The weekend had
been filled with Campbell's enchanting storytelling. He had explained that the
great scriptures of the world's religions could be understood as metaphors for

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 psychological changes. It was a major turning point in my life.

One conversation with him that first weekend had been especially significant for
me. We were sitting down to dinner together and I mentioned that I missed the
ritual of saying grace before meals. I said that it just wasn't clear to me at that
time what I should give thanks to. Campbell gently suggested that I say my
thanks to the animals and plants that had given their lives so that my life would
continue. In a few words, he captured the essence of an old ritual and gave it
fuller meaning. It was typical of his way of showing the significance of familiar
details of everyday situations.

It might be worth mentioning that Campbell was also eating meat. He liked to
tease vegetarians by saying they were people who couldn't hear a carrot scream.
His humor illustrated some of the most important points, like the comment that
the mid-life crisis was getting to the top of the ladder, only to discover that it
was leaning against the wrong wall.

The same evening that first seminar ended, I was to lead a discussion group at a
local church. It was something I did often, but this Sunday was different. It
wasn't just the usual personal problems and philosophical questions. We ended
up talking about the symbolic messages available in ordinary life. I realized that
Campbell's vision had really gripped me.

There would be many more seminars with Campbell. Usually I would be his aide,
taking care of details and being his driver. I would seize any chance to spend
extra time with him and ask one more question. Campbell's style was profoundly
natural. He would tell stories drawn from many traditions, often weaving
several stories to show similarities. His lectures were usually illustrated with
slides of the sacred images of each of the cultures involved.

One setting was an ecumenical retreat center. He would occasionally comment

on the images on the walls of the chapel. Noting the crucifix, Campbell would
describe some of the many resurrection stories from different cultures and
comment on how the symbolism suggests personal spiritual integration. His ease
in drawing on a wide range of material was striking.

During his visits to Santa Barbara it was sometimes my responsibility to get him
away from the seminar for a quiet meal. One evening I took him to a restaurant
out on the local pier with Jean Houston who was presenting with him that
weekend. Joseph Campbell was every bit as charming at dinner as at the
lectern. He looked out over the oceanfront and remarked on Santa Barbara's
great beauty and how sad he was about the decline of his native New York City.
He noted that his new home in Hawaii was also a place of abundant natural
loveliness.

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3 Ritual as mythic experience

Campbell believed that participation in ritual could put you into a direct
experience of mythic reality. One day he told a beautiful Native American story
of the buffalo princess who let herself be married to a buffalo so that her tribe
could eat. It showed the deep connection between the Indians and the animals
they relied on for survival. That evening, Campbell suggested that we enact the
story as the Indians had in one of their major rituals. When our group gathered
to prepare it was decided that I would play the princess. I guess it was type -
casting since I am bearded and six-foot-five. Campbell was delighted with our
trickster approach and said none of his groups had taken that angle before.

It sometimes fell to me to take him out to Santa Barbara Airport for his
departure. This was a prized task because I would have time alone to ask more
questions. He was always gracious. One time he had recounted a story from
Arthur's round table in which a horse is cut in half as a knight is entering an
enchanted city. I asked why the horse had to die. He explained that I was being
too literal in my reaction. The horse was a symbol for our physical nature which
was not the vehicle for entrance into the sacred realm. In a few words he
explained a great metaphysical principle.

The last time was in 1985, two years before he died. The topic was the beloved
of the soul. Campbell described the spiritual dimensions of romantic love. When
The Power of Myth television series with Joseph Campbell was broadcast,
millions of people were inspired by the wisdom of the late mythologist. Many
lives were deeply changed by this amazing teacher. The world found out what a
devoted band of Campbell's students had known - that this man's message was a
great treasure of our time.

My training had been in comparative religion and, later, clinical psychology.

Joseph Campbell showed the psychological dimensions of the great spiritual
traditions. For me, Campbell was the one teacher who explained how it all fit
together. My approach to therapy changed markedly to include story and soul.
The seminars on creativity I had been giving became workshops on the symbolic
wisdom of mythic stories. Passing on Campbell's work had become a calling.

A few years later, the college in Santa Barbara that had sponsored the seminars
with Joseph Campbell started a graduate program in psychology with an
emphasis in mythology and religious studies. I eagerly accepted an offer to be
one of the core professors. It was a chance to teach the ideas that Campbell had
outlined to future leaders in the field of psychology. The program grew and now
the Pacifica Graduate Institute has trained hundreds of therapists and has some
four hundred students currently working on Masters and Doctoral degrees.

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 When the Campbell family was deciding where the archives would be located,
Pacifica was chosen. Mrs. Campbell felt that it was the one college that was
teaching the parallels between psychology and mythology in the spirit of
Campbell's pioneering work.

4 A mythic calling

The president of Pacifica knew that Joseph Campbell had been a mentor to me
and offered me the task of building an appropriate repository for the papers and
books. Beginning in 1990, my labor of love as curator of the Joseph Campbell
Archives and Library was to assemble the thousands of books and years of notes
Campbell gathered in nearly seventy years of scholarship. Working in his studies
in New York and Honolulu with Mrs. Campbell to understand how he used each
book and how he arranged his files has been memorable. When I would come
across outlines for the very seminars that had effected me so deeply, it was like
finding lost jewels.

The library is administered by an independent, non-profit, corporation. The

facility, which formally opened in January of 1993, has displays of religious
objects collected by Campbell in his travels and an extensive photo exhibit of
his life and work. Choosing the pictures from the family albums was especially
rewarding. Most of them have never be published and can only be seen at the
archives.

The personal aspects of folklore and mythology has been the theme of the
seminars I've been invited to give around the country for the last ten years. My
notes from the many occasions I was with Joseph Campbell as he addressed
these issues have been the core of my presentations. It is one of those
marvelous turns that life takes that I now have the opportunity to edit these
materials that have had such a personal impact on my inner life.

One of the most rewarding experiences I have as I travel to present seminars on

mythic stories is to meet the many people who have been inspired by Joseph
Campbell and his work. Everywhere I go people tell me stories about studying
with him at Sarah Lawrence College or meeting him after one of his lectures.
Whether through seeing him in person, reading his books or seeing him on
television, people describe the profound impact that Joseph Campbell's ideas
have had on their lives.

Campbell's opus is not yet fully published. His literary executors have nine
additional books in various stages of the editing process. These will be released
over the next several years. Many hours of lectures on video are to be released

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 in newly edited versions. Joseph Campbell's influence on our understanding of
mythology seems to still be on the rise. When the religious history of this
century is written, the impact of Joseph Campbell will surely be a major event
in our collective spiritual development.

© New Perspectives Magazine, July 1994

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