Mythic Reflections is famous for being one of the times when Joseph Campbell openly criticized the Bible in an interview with Tom Collins saying it was "tribally circumscribed mythology," which meant that it directly claims one tribe to be better than all others. One tribe has a God who loves them; no one else does.
Then, when Collins annoyingly tries to get Campbell to try to reconcile the Bible's "seven-day creation" with evolution, Campbell dismisses the discussion as being as useless as trying to reconcile evolution with the Navajo creation myth.
On these points, a lot of people dismiss this interview and miss the wisdom in it.
This interview was hugely moving for me, however. Not because of the above, but because of why Campbell's explanation. He talks of a "transcendent energy" all humans feel. He explains that humans come up with Gods as a way of personifying that transcendent energy so we can actually talk about transcendent elements. What a concept! What a way to explain why there's a mythology for every culture.
I took something else away from this interview. I stopped being a theologian; I quit looking for answers in scripture and started being a mystic. I decided to listen to my inner-core spirit a little more. Staying away from doctrine, what are my morals? What does this transcendent energy tell me is right and wrong?
Let me know what you think of the interview.
No comments:
Post a Comment