Joseph Campbell's Ten Commandments for Reading Mythology

Fuente:

Campbell, Joseph - 10 Commandments.doc

Información:

Joseph Campbell's

Ten Commandments

for Reading Mythology

1

Read myths with the eyes of wonder:
the myths transparent to their universal meaning,
their meaning transparent to its mysterious source.

2

Read myths in the present tense: Eternity is now.

3

Read myths in the first person plural: the Gods and Goddesses
of ancient mythology still live within you.

4

Any myth worth its salt exerts a powerful magnetism. Notice
the images and stories that you are drawn to and repelled by.
Investigate the field of associated images and stories

5

Look for patterns; don't get lost in the details. What is
needed is not more specialized scholarship, but more
interdisciplinary vision. Make connections;

break old patterns of parochial thought.

6

Resacralize the secular: even a dollar bill reveals

the imprint of Eternity.

7

If God is everywhere, then myths can be generated anywhere,
anytime, by anything. Don't let your Romantic aversion to
science blind you to the Buddha in the computer chip.

8

Know your tribe! Myths never arise in a vacuum; they are the
connective tissue of the social body which enjoys synergistic
relations with dreams (private myths) and rituals (the enactment of myth).

9

Expand your horizons! Any mythology worth remembering
will be global in scope. The earth is our home
and humankind is our family.

10

Read between the lines! Literalism kills;
Imagination quickens.