MythBlast | Myths of Light
The Joseph Campbell Foundation will soon be releasing an ebook publication of Campbell’s Myths of Light, an utterly charming little book in which the attentive reader will be able to discern Campbell’s joy and...
Category: MythBlast
MythBlast | Mythopoetry in April
This month, in honor of the re-releases of Mythic Dimension and Primitive Mythology in eBook and audiobook forms, the Joseph Campbell Foundation is celebrating how we use mythology in our lives.As a form of knowing that is deeply...
MythBlast | The Communitas of Story
As the Joseph Campbell Foundation explores ideas about how people use myth this month, I am reminded of one of the deep purposes of story: building community. As humans have done for thousands of...
MythBlast | The Use of Myth: The Power of the Fleeting Apparition
This week I want to continue the exploration of what, in her MythBlast last week, Dr. Melander called “the use of myth.” The uses of myth are as various as they are abundant, and...
MythBlast | The Uses of Myth: Disengage Your Arrows
In the month of April, the Joseph Campbell Foundation is celebrating the impending release of several new editions of two Campbell classics, The Mythic Dimension and Primitive Mythology, both coming soon as eBooks and...
MythBlast | Myth, Campbell & Film
Mythology and the Hero’s Journey became pervasive throughout film culture and history as generation after generation turned to Joseph Campbell and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. With his guidance, countless filmmakers have come...
MythBlast | The Rush, and the Pull, of Spring
Today, March 20th, is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere! Here in Flagstaff spring will arrive at exactly 9:15 AM, in accordance with a common tradition in the Northern Hemisphere of...
MythBlast | Practical Campbell Essay: Spirit Wind
Editor’s Note: This month, we are celebrating the breath of spring in the air in the Northern Hemisphere. In this Practical Campbell essay, Stephen Gerringer follows a single mythic image, letting it take him...
MythBlast | The Thin Ice of a New Day
“Skating away — skating away — skating away on the thin ice of the new day.” – Ian Anderson, “Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of a New Day)” War Child...
Mythblast | The Secularization of the Sacred and Mythic Identification
Last week JCF, through its new arrangement with Amazon, made available a new digital edition of Joseph Campbell’s The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension. As I have remarked recently in this...
MythBlast | The No in Inspired Learning
A few days ago, I came across this sentence from Joseph Campbell in his essay “Symbol Without Meaning” in The Flight of the Wild Gander. “The highest concern of all the mythologies, ceremonials, ethical systems,...
MythBlast | Temenos and the Power of Myth
Editor’s note: As we celebrate inspired teaching and learning this month, we are excited to share the ideas and work of one of JCF’s Board members, Kwame Scruggs, PhD, exploring his extraordinary work with...
MythBlast | The Flight of the Wild Gander: The Teacher as Midwife
The Joseph Campbell Foundation and New World Library are, later this month, releasing The Flight of the Wild Gander, one of Campbell’s most important, and popular, collection of essays. In these essays, Campbell is at...
MythBlast | A Community of Inspired Teachers
What makes an inspired teacher? As we step into February, the Joseph Campbell Foundation is celebrating teaching that breaks open our ideas, challenges our assumptions, and invites us to see the world full of...
MythBlast | Campbell and Esalen: An Enduring Quest for Meaning
After the stock market crash in the late 1920’s and struggling to find a job, Joseph Campbell decided to seek adventure in travel. He found himself on the coast of Northern California. Bob Walter, Joseph Campbell Foundation...
MythBlast | King, Campbell, and the Ecstasy of Being
Yesterday, January 15th, we in the U.S. celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This federal holiday, declared by Ronald Reagan, was established in 1983. Other cities in the U.S. had been honoring Dr. King...
MythBlast | Dancing in the New Year
For those of us following the Julian calendar which probably includes most anyone reading an e-mail on the Internet, I imagine, a new year has just begun; an opportunity to turn the page, to...
MythBlast | The Hearth of Community
In the birth of a new year and in the darkness, and for a lot of us in North America right now, serious cold of winter, I am struck by how people have for...
MythBlast | The Coming of the Light
The title of this MythBlast is borrowed from the title of this Mark Strand poem: ______ Even this late it happens: the coming of love, the coming of the light. You wake and the...
MythBlast | The Divine Wisdom of Play
Editor’s Note: This week, a very special message on the divine wisdom of play in a holiday season from philosopher, theologian, and founder of A Network for Grateful Living, Brother David Steindl-Rast, who for many years at...
MythBlast | Attitudes of Gratitude
Meister Eckhart, a German theologian born in the mid-13th century, once remarked that if the only prayer one ever uttered was “thank you,” that would be enough. Eckhart reminds us of how important it...
MythBlast | Play and The Ecstasy of Being in Times of Sorrow
Animal exuberance, this mystery of play, is very close to (if not identical with) the basic impulse of genius in the arts. The power of great art to purge us—to release us, for a...
MythBlast | The Ecstasy of Being: Mythology and Dance
Our theme at the Joseph Campbell Foundation this month is gratitude. We are celebrating both Campbell’s ideas and works, and all of the people around the world who have brought their own particular genius...
