My definition of a devil is a god who has not

My definition of a devil is a god who has not been recognized. That is to say, it is a power in you to which you have not given expression, and you push it back. And then, like all repressed energy, it builds up and becomes completely dangerous to the position you’re trying to hold.

-- Joseph Campbell
Open Life, An (p. 28 )
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An Open Life: Joseph Campbell in conversation with Michael Toms

In the tradition of The Power of Myth, a conversation with Joseph Campbell that distills the mature wisdom and eclectic spiritual thinking of the world-renowned scholar and mythologist. Toms, host of the radio series New Dimensions, interviewed Joseph Campbell a number of times over ten years. This book is compiled from transcripts of nine of these interviews. While the content is similar to Campbell and Moyers's The Power of Myth, Toms takes a more conversational approach than did Moyers, making the text easier for the general reader. As a result, this is a good book to recommend to younger readers who might find The Power of Myth too erudite.
Other quotations from this Title
To live the heroic life is to live the individual adventure. [share]
My definition of a devil is a god who has not been recognized. That is to say, it is a power in you to which you have not given expression, and you push it back. And then, like all repressed energy, it builds up and becomes completely dangerous to the position you’re trying to hold. [share]
To live the heroic life is to live the individual adventure, really. One of the problems today is that with the enormous transformations in the forms of our lives, the models for life don't exist for us. In a traditional society––the agriculturally based city––there were relatively few life roles, and the models were there; there was a hero for each life role. But look at the past twenty years and what has come along in the way of new life possibilities and requirements. The hero-as-model is one thing we lack, so each one has to be his own hero and follow the path that’s no-path. [share]

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