The Mythological Toolbox™ Playshop

JCF's Mythological Toolbox™ Playshop is an annual workshop held at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. On March 21-26, come experience Everything Old is New Again. [Read more...]

David Darling wins a Grammy

Congratulations to JCF Fellow David Darling, the jazz and classical cellist who was awarded the Grammy for Best New Age Album for his Prayer for Compassion at the 52nd annual Grammy awards!

Play a snippet of Prayer for Compassion's title track!

JCF Fellow David Darling's 2009 album, "Prayer for Compassion," with its themes of social and environmental consciousness, has earned David his first Grammy. Ten years in the making, the instrumental "Prayer" strikes David as more an example of "contemporary classical" or "world-ethnic music" than "New Age."

Why so long to complete?

In David's words, ""It's like sculpting something: it just takes us a long time to figure out what we want each piece to do."

In addition to a successful career as a recording and performing artist, David Darling is also the co-founder of Music for People, a nonprofit organization that promotes a humanistic approach to the way music is taught, performed, and appreciated. (Music for People is especially noted for their improvisational workshops.)

JCF congratulates David Darling, who embodies in his art the wisdom of Joseph Campbell's advice to "follow your bliss."

Read customer reviews of Prayer for Compassion in the JCF Bookstore.

Conversations: Avatar

In the past 30 days, in CoHO's Conversation with a Thousand Faces forum, there have been over 100 posts so far in the thread titled Avatar: A Mixture of Myth and Symbol. JCF Associate stncald opens the discussion by noting mythic themes found in this popular film. Later posts have explored reactions of the Native American community to the movie, and others have found the film superficial and biased against conservative values, or relying too much on "borrowed" themes.
 
Meanwhile, a thread in our Mythology and Religion forum - Avatar and the sense of loss of mythology in modern times - raises the question as to what this film conveys about the lack of a working mythology in our lives today. This discussion has been active only two weeks, so has fewer participants but is just as thought-provoking in its analysis.
 
JCF Associates have so far contributed over 56,000 posts in our Conversation of a Higher Order forums! Every Associate is automatically registered and able to participate in these discussions, so visit the above threads and weigh in with your thoughts - and while onsite, see what other topics draw your attention (including threads that may seem to have petered out months ago - it only takes one post with an expanded perspective to re-animate an intriguing topic!).
 

Large Print Edition of Pathways to Bliss

Pathways to Bliss Large Print Edition We are excited to announce the publication of a new large-print edition of one of the most popular titles in the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell series, Pathways to Bliss.

This new edition, published by ReadHowYouWant, will make this wonderful book available to our vision-impaired associates in easy-to-read 16-point Verdana type.

The book is available now at the JCF Bookstore!

 

Our new Contributions Area

JCF would not exist without the support of our visitors and Associates. Unfortunately, in the weeks since January's Associate UpDate we've received only six donations toward our General Operations, for a total of $248.12 - which is not enough to keep this website afloat (especially after we subtract the cost of thank you gifts). Please take a moment to visit our Contributions area and help out if you are able.