Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

Yesterday I took a look at myths throught the eyes of Bulfinch who had the philosophy that myths should be something to be enjoyed by everybody. And for their sheer pleasure in storytelling. He carefullly recrafted and updated a lot of mythology with this in mind. It is a very successful thing and his versions of mythology have been going strong for over a hundred years.

But there are other ways to look at myths and that’s what I want to talk about today. This other perspective is like a mirror image of Bulfinch’s image. you could say that if Bulfinch is right brain this other perspective is left brain.

It is the perspective of myth given to us by Joseph Campbell.

Campbell built a whole philosophy of living and examining ourselves and our lives that revolved very strongly around examining myths and understanding the clues they give us about life and about us as human beings.

It all began with his book The hero with a thousand faces in which he outlines the twelve steps every mythic hero must undertake in order to become what he was meant to become. You will recognize these steps because they are the formula for lots of books and movies. George Lucas proudly admits that he drew very heavily on Joseph Campbell for his Star Wars movies.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Mythos Books) 

Here are a few of the steps:

-The call to duty: This is where the main character is thrust into doing something he doesn’t want to do (like save the world), is sure it wasn’t meant for him, after all he is just a normal person

-The refusal of the call: The main character flat out declines the call (of course things happen that bring him into his destiny)

-The meeting of the mentor: This is where our main character meets someone older and wiser that will help him find his way through the mess he is in. (Sounds like Galdalf doesn’t it)?

The point that Joseph Campbell makes is usually summarized in his oft quoted “Follow Your Bliss”. And Campbell lays out the groundwork for how you should live your life in a heroic way just as is outlined in mythology. Now he doesn’t say you need to find dragons to slay - what he does say is that every life has it’s dragons and you need to slay those courageously!

Okay, I am not going to give you a big outline on Campbell - what I wanted to do was show you that there is more than one way to enjoy mythology. You can enjoy it of course just for the fun, beauty, and pleasure of it of course, but you can really enjoy mythology for the perspective and insight it gives you into your own life.

“The myth does not point to a fact; the myth points beyond facts to something that informs the fact,” Joseph Campbell.

If you want to check out some of his books I have added a section to the Bulfinch store that is for the works of Joseph Campbell The Mythology Book Store Just click on the Joseph Campbell category in the right column