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He tells stories of virgin births-as of Jesus and Buddha-and the belief that women bring enlightenment into the world.

Campbell highlights the importance of opening the self to personal adventure while also maintaining a degree of harmony with society.Ĭampbell delves into the mythologies of Mother Goddess cultures, exploring the ways female images of divinity impact perspectives and values. Using Star Wars as an example, Campbell asserts that hero myths are still relevant today, although modern people have difficulty seeing how heroes relate to their lives. Campbell explains the structure of the hero’s journey, employing the lives of Jesus, the Buddha, and Moses to exemplify the similarities among mythic quest stories. Sacrifice expresses compassion and the recognition one’s connections to another, which, Campbell argues, opens a person to the transcendent realm. Campbell states that, in previous epochs, sacrifice was celebrated rather than feared. He tells stories of shamans as mythological interpreters, and he explores the loss of sacred spaces and spiritual awareness in the West.Ĭampbell and Moyers next focus on rituals and stories of sacrifice and the belief that death is necessary to bring about new life. Campbell describes the concept of an animal master and rituals that alleviate the guilt of killing revered animals. The men then explore the earliest mythologies from both agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies, examining how these myths viewed divinity and where they sought wisdom. They note the important motif of affirming the necessity of death for the experience of life. Exploring myths as metaphors, the men dissect stories such as the Garden of Eden, the ascension of Jesus, and the Hindu tale of Indra. The men move into a conversation about universal mythological symbols, incorporating multiple creation myths and Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious. Campbell defines the two main functions of myth as pondering life’s mysteries and offering guidance through life’s stages. Using Star Wars and a letter attributed to Chief Seattle as examples, they argue that new myths for the modern era will have to view humanity through a global and ecological lens. The men begin by discussing how myth and ritual have been lost in the modern era, leaving the American cultural landscape full of apathy, superficiality, and violence. The book divides Campbell and Moyers’s conversation into eight chapters that each have a central theme.