The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades.
Joseph CampbellOne cannot predict the next mythology any more than one can predict tonight's dream; for a mythology is not an ideology. It is not something projected from the brain, but something experienced from the heart, from recognition of identities behind or within the appearances of nature, perceiving with love a 'thou' where there would otherwise have been only an 'it.'
Joseph CampbellChristianity isnโt moving peopleโs lives today. Whatโs moving peopleโs lives is the stock market and the baseball scores. What are people excited about? Itโs a totally materialistic level that has taken over the world. There isnโt even an ideal that anybodyโs fighting for.
Joseph CampbellA one sentence definition of mythology? Mythology is what we call someone else's religion.
Joseph CampbellIn the Orient the ultimate divine mystery is sought beyond all human categories of thought and feeling, beyond names and forms, and absolutely beyond any such concept as of a merciful or wrathful personality, chooser of one people over another, comforter of folk who pray, and destroyer of those who do not. Such anthropomorphic attributions of human sentiments and thoughts to a mystery beyond thought is-from the point of view of Indian thought-a style of religion for children.
Joseph Campbell