Customer Reviews

A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living

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I was hooked after the first sentence: "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are". Campbell talks to us about work and love and the meaning of life with such clarity that we can't argue, or say "Yes, but..." When Campbell is just talking (and not in college professor lecture mode) he gives tidbits that are reminiscent of Lindbergh's "Gift From The Sea". "Let the world be as it is and learn to rock with the waves." And maybe you can learn something about people in your life. "In choosing your god, you choose your way of looking at the universe. There are plenty of gods...The god you worship is the god you deserve." This is definitely a book to keep and re-read. My favorite thing about it is that you can flip through it, or let it fall open, and you'll find something worthwhile. You don't have to read the whole book all at once to 'get it'.

This is one of the most challenging, thought provoking, mind bending, and soul calling books I have ever read. Campbell is so entertaining in his ability to simplify complex religious and social structures that it is not important to already know about the Far East, the Near East, or your local Baptist church, he brings it all into focus on a common human level. I found this book disturbing in it's ability to draw me into the wonder of being human and how utterly connected we all are. It's the kind of book that you can open to any page, read only a few lines, and be pulled into a thought that will chase you the whole day. Campbell is pithy, humorous, practical, fact filled, and inspiring. If you enjoy thinking about God, the nature of being human, or politics, BUY THIS BOOK!!!! You won't be sorry.

This is a great introduction to, or summation of, Campbell's works. Most of his works are extreemly deep and can be difficult to reach but well worth the effort. If you really want to probe the deapths of Campbell's work but are intimidated by his other books, this will give you a great overview and fire your desire to dig deeper.

I have read all of Campbell's books. The amount and breadth of the information and thier implications is staggering. The most amazing thing about this book is that I would have chosen almost exactly the same summative material for this type of book as did Osborn. My background is steeped in science--Osborn's in poetry. Yet we found the same "song of the universe" within Campbell's works.

Why? Because the song is transparent to the transendent and there for the everyone.

Outstanding. This is my Bible. Unbelievable wealth of things to read and re-read for the rest of your life. His best work by far. Almost as good is his 5-tape series hosted by Susan Sarandon and much, much better than his 6-tape set with Bill Moyers which is an elementary introduction to Campbell. Moyers tried hard but couldn't seem to get his brain around Campbell's message. Anyone who wants to be fully engrossed in Campbell can do so with the Sarandon tape series and this book. A rare jewel.

Within the academic world where he spent the better part of his career, the late Joseph Campbell had a somewhat unique approach to the study, interpretation, and understanding of mythology. Whereas his fellow scholars most often approached the subject with an analytic eye, Campbell suggested an alternative way --using the artistic eye. In "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Campbell suggested myths "were not manufactured" that they were "spontaneous productions of the psyche" and that each reflected the "germ power of the source."

In A JOSEPH CAMPBELL COMPANION, Diane Osborn has assembled excerpts from Campbell's many works, and distilled the central ideas Campbell wrote about over the years concerning the origin and purpose of myths. She has organized these excerpts into topical areas: "In the Field", "Living in the World", "Coming into Awareness", and "Living in the Sacred." Although the topics can be viewed as linear, reflecting the progress of the soul or psyche, I suspect Campbell would have suggested they are also cyclical and that one exists in all four simultaneously.

I feel the last section of the Campbell Companion, "Living in the Sacred", contains some particularly insightful notions regarding the nature of art and artistic endeavor, and the role of art in affecting human lives. In this section, Osborn has quoted heavily from Campbell's "Myths to Live By" and provided quotations from several of the artists who affected Campbell's own life and writing including James Joyce and Walt Whitman.

For example, Campbell describes how the words of the German writer Schiller, in answer to a friend's problem with 'writer's block' -- "Your problem is that you bring in the critical factor before the lyical factor has had a chance to express itself" -- affected his own thinking and writing. Campbell says he had allowed the criticism of other "scholars" to interfere with his artistic processes, and that Schiller's words freed him to get on with "seeing" and "hearing" what myths could teach him.

"Mythologies and religions are great poems and, when recoginzed as such, point infallibly through things and events to the ubiquity of a 'presence' or 'eternity'that is whole and entire in each....The first condition, therefore, that any mythology must fulfill if it is to render life to modern lives is that of cleansing the doors of perception to the wonder, at once terrible and fascinating, of ourselves and of the universe of which we are the ears and eyes and the mind."

After my mom died I needed something. I KNEW inately that this was the way of the world, the way of life but I needed someone to confirm that for me. I knew it was 'fair' and that life is what it is and that we have to be who we are as we move through it. (Maybe I got all that kind of thing from the many many times I watched the interview of JC with Bill Moyers many years ago.) Someone on a book group mentioned this book to me so I ordered it, and I read it. And it helped me to accept the world when it is painful. "... participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world."
Thanks for this book. It's a keeper.
I also want to say that while everyone here seems to mention how good the book is in distilling his work with myths and religion and whatnot, no one seems to mention that it's a darn good book to read when you needed something life affirming.

The world is perfect. It's a mess. It's always been a mess and that's perfect.

I was first introduced to this book after I had knee surgery and was forced to lay on my butt and keep relatively inactive. I have to admit, I was feeling a little sorry for myself thinking and feeling that somehow I was being cheated by the universe in some way. So my friend comes over with this book and starts reading me sections out of it...

He reads outloud, "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are..."

Immediately my consciousness elevated. I said, "What did you just say?"

He repeated, "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are..."

"Oh, my...that's an amazing thought...oh, I really like that..."

And even though he continued to read on, my mind and my heart stayed with that one nugget of pure gold. I let this idea permeate my whole being. It was just what I needed to hear. My surgery was not about punishment, it was about using it in a way that would/could serve me in greater ways than I was able to forsee at the time.

My friend left and I immediately hobbled over to the computer and ordered this book. In about three days (interesting symbology itself) it arrived and I began to not just read this book but devour it with all of my heart, mind, and soul. I really feel that the essence behind the words contributed greatly to my healing...not just with my knee, but in other areas that I might have previously let go unaddressed.

I give copies of this book to people for their birthdays and I always inscribe this message, "....because the privilege of a lifetime is being exactly who and what you are!"

Let this and the other wondrous truths that can be discovered in this beautiful book sink into your mind, your heart, and soul.Remind yourself that it is a privilege of a lifetime to be who you are and then attempt to realize with real eyes that this is the truth of everyone and everything despite what the appearances may look like! Facts change but the Truth lives on forever...

If you've never read anything by Joseph Campbell, this is a wonderful place begin. With the master's illuminating perceptions about the process of spiritual awakening, our struggle to come into awareness & the art of living in the sacred, the poet Diane K. Osborn has gathered a lovely assortment of beautiful & profound writings. Deeply rewarding & makes a great gift.

This is an extremely well edited version of Campbell's Esalen Institute lectures with some well selected supplimental material from other sources thrown in. It would be worth reading simply for the revelation that Campbell hung out with John Steinbeck and Doc Rickets during the Great Depression. In fact, that great, wild party described in _Cannery Row_ actually happened- it was being held in honor of Joe Campbell! Somehow I find it entirely appropriate that Steinbeck and Campbell should be connected.

I personally found another personal revelation interesting, namely, that Campbell never bothered to obtain a Ph.D. He felt that it would "interfere with his reading" and he simply didn't want to waste his time with it. Yet, he still serendipitously found a position as a college professor and became one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. And all because he followed his bliss- and the universe cooperated.

I came to this book having read only The Power of Myth; a transcript of the great Campbell TV series of that name. It motivated me to go out and buy some twenty plus books of Joseph Campbell. Good? It's not good; it's wonderful.

An elderly reverend gentleman's opinion however was "I prefer a linear narrative." It IS largely a book of Campbell's key aphorisms and stories. It is best appreciated as an aide memoire, when the unfortunate lack of an index is disappointing. "Now where did I read that line / story" provides hours of searching.

The good news? After several years they are all internalised and like Brighton Rock they go all the way through; plus you can probably find them quicker.

A negative comment below by Life Long Reader "LLR" is that this book is purely a mishmash of Diane Osbon's views on life. Wrong! The five page introduction could be unfairly said to be so. The other 306 pages are PURE CAMPBELL so don't be misled.