What if we choose not to do the things we are supposed to do? The principal gain is a sense of an authentic act - and an authentic life. It may be a short one, but it is an authentic one, and that's a lot better than those short lives full of boredom. The principal loss is security. Another is respect from the community. But you gain the respect of another community, the one that is worth having the respect of.
Joseph CampbellThe unconscious sends all sorts of vapors, odd beings, terrors, and deluding images up into the mind - whether in dream, broad daylight, or insanity: for the human kingdom, beneath the floor of the comparatively neat little dwelling that we call our consciousness, goes down into unsuspected Aladdin caves.
Joseph CampbellMythology tells us that where you stumble, there your treasure is ... The world is a match for us, and weโre a match for the world. And where it seems most challenging lies the greatest invitation to find deeper and greater power in ourselves.
Joseph CampbellEvery religion, every mythology is true in this sense: It is true as metaphorical of the human and cosmic mystery.
Joseph CampbellThe essence of oneself and the essence of the world: these two are one. [ The aim is not to see, but to realize that one is, that essence; then one is free to wander as that essence in the world.] Hence separateness, withdrawal, is no longer necessary. Wherever the hero may wander, whatever he may do, he is ever in the presence of his own essence-for he has the perfected eye to see.
Joseph Campbell