I prefer the gradual path My feeling is that mythic forms reveal themselves gradually in the course of your life if you know what they are and how to pay attention to their emergence. My own initiation into the mythic depths of the unconscious has been through the mind, through the books that surround me in this library. I have recognized in my quest all the stages of the hero's journey. I had my calls to adventure, my guides, demons, and illuminations.
Joseph CampbellI think of compassion as the fundamental religious experience and, unless that is there, you have nothing.
Joseph CampbellA schism in the body social, will not be resolved by any scheme of a return to the good old days (archaism), or by programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future (futurism), or even by the most realistic, hardheaded work to weld together again the deteriorating elements. Only birth can conquer death -- the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new.
Joseph CampbellThere's something inside you that knows when you're in the center, that knows when you're on the beam or off the beam. And if you get off the beam to earn money, you've lost your life. And if you stay in the center and don't get any money, you still have your bliss.
Joseph CampbellThe heroโs journey always begins with the call. One way or another, a guide must come to say, 'Look, youโre in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, thatโs not been touched. So youโre at home here? Well, thereโs not enough of you there.' And so it starts.
Joseph Campbell