Campbell: The Power of Myth
Read below. How might we connect these ideas to Life & Times of Michael K? Write a short piece in response to some aspect that engages you (and/or in response to a classmate). Due 11/29
Joseph Campbell: excerpts from The Power of Myth
CAMPBELL: Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life…
MOYERS: You changed the definition of a myth from the search for meaning to the experience of meaning.
CAMPBELL: Experience of life. The mind has to do with meaning. What’s the meaning of a flower? There’s a Zen story about a sermon of the Buddha in which he simply lifted a flower. There was only one man who gave him a sign with his eyes that he understood what was said. Now, the Buddha himself is called “the one thus come.” There’s no meaning. What’s the meaning of the universe? What’s the meaning of a flea? It’s just there. That’s it. And your own meaning is that you’re there. We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about. (p. 5).
CAMPBELL: The dictionary definition of a myth would be stories about gods. So then you have to ask the next question: what is a god? A god is a personification of a motivating power or a value system that functions in human life and in the universe--the powers of your own body and of nature. The myths are metaphorical of spiritual potentiality in the human being, and the same powers that animate our life animate the life of the world. But also there are myths and gods that have to do with specific societies or the patron deities of the society. In other words, there are two totally different orders of mythology. There is the mythology that relates you to your nature and to the natural world, of which you're a part. And there is the mythology that is strictly sociological, linking you to a particular society. You are not simply a natural man, you are a member of a particular group. In the history of European mythology, you can see the interaction of these two systems. Usually the socially oriented system is of a nomadic people who are moving around, so you learn that's where your center is, in that group. The nature-oriented mythology would be of an earth-cultivating people.
Now the biblical tradition is a socially oriented mythology. Nature is condemned … But when nature is thought of as evil, you don’t put yourself in accord with it, you control it, or try to, and hence the tension, the anxiety, the cutting down of forests, the annihilation of native people. And the accent here separates us from nature. (pp. 22-23)
CAMPBELL: The story that we have in the West, so far as it is based on the Bible, is based on a view of the universe that belongs to the first millennium B.C. It does not accord with our concept either of the universe or of the dignity of man. It belongs entirely somewhere else.
We have today to learn to get back into accord with the wisdom of nature and realize again our brotherhood with the animals and with the water and with the sea…
MOYERS: Don’t you think modern Americans have rejected the ancient idea of nature as a divinity because it would have kept us from achieving dominance over nature? How can you cut down trees and uproot the land and turn the rivers into real estate without killing God?
CAMPBELL; Yes, but that’s not simply a characteristic of modern Americans, that is the biblical condemnation of nature which they inherited from their own religion and brought with them, mainly from England. God is separate from nature, and nature is condemned of God. It’s right there in Genesis: we are to be the masters of the world.
But if you will think of ourselves as coming out of the earth, rather than having been thrown in here from somewhere else, you see that we are the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the eyes of the earth. And this is the voice of the earth.
You can't predict what a myth is going to be any more than you can predict what you're going to dream tonight. Myths and dreams come from the same place. They come from realizations of some kind that have then to find expression in symbolic form. And the only myth that is going to be worth thinking about in the immediate future is one that is talking about the entire planet, not the city, not these people, but the planet, and everybody on it.
This is the ground of what the myth is to be. It's already here: the eye of reason, not of my nationality; the eye of reason, not of my religious community; the eye of reason, not of my linguistic community. Do you see? And this would be the philosophy for the entire planet, not for this group, that group, or the other group.
When you see the earth from the moon, you don't see any divisions there of nations or states. This might be the symbol, really, for the new mythology to come. That is the country that we are going to be celebrating. And those are the people that we are one with. (pp. 40 -41)
posted by Randy Barnett @ 1:33 PM
6 Comments:
In the beginning of the section, Campbell mentions the Zen idea of there being no meaning to life, other than to live. He aknowleges that many people are caught up in goals of, and searching for meaning of, "outer value". That applies to most human beings, but not to Michael K. He has freed himself from all attempts to assign meaning to life, and is simply living it; letting himself drift through life and experience what happens. Other people are caught up in constructions such as success, wealth, popularity, etc., while K does not even concern himself with the passing of time. Time has no meaning to him because he has no superficial goals to accomplish in a certain time frame. His only real desire is to stay alive, and to live life.
Ithink K has escaped the confinements of myth....a myth, according to Campell, is a part of meaning. However, also according to Campell, K has no meaning because he lacks goals. K does not strive for "outer" value. But can something with no meaning give meaning to something/one else? If so, and this is kinda like what sam said, has K reached myth status? Is he so far out of the realm of myth that he is myth?
Campbell says: "We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about."
Michael K, however, is different from everybody else. Whereas people search for meanings in all aspects of life, K simply accepts things for the way they are. This is the aspect that intrigues the doctor so much. The doctor, like the vast majority of society, is unable to free himself of meanings, of purpose. People feel that life needs a purpose, because without a purpose, the question becomes.... what is the point? Why should anyone obey the law, help other people or even go to work if it all amounts to nothing in the end. The constant search for "the meaning of life" is really a security blanket for society, a hope that life is not lived in vain. However, Campbell says that we are so engaged with searching for deeper meaning that we forget the beauty of the object itself. Michael epitomizes this conflict. He alone can step outside of meaning, outside of time, and simply exist in the present. Society is preoccupied with preparing for tomorrow, gaining money for the future, having kids to pass your legacy to, or even finding food to keep life going. However, K has no wish to pass on anything, and is able to rid himself from the desire for food. This aspect makes him alone truly free to live in the present, understanding objects to be simply what they are.
Wow... I think that was really confusing and just a long train of thought... I hope you guys understood what I meant though!
Campbell states that there are two different definitions of a myth, and individual driven one and a socially driven one. In response to Jazzy's comment, I do think K had a meaning because he did have goals. K was was determined not to eat food that was given to him when he was confined and he also had the goal of escaping to freedom. K's goals to reject the social world allowed the doctor to created a myth of K. He saw K as something similar to a free soul and he began to admire him. K's ability to not believe in the values of his society, a social myth based on war and survival, propeled him to be the icon of a the doctor's social myth.
I agree with you, Kent and Sasha. Micheal K represents the natural mythology as he "earth-cultivating." I am, however, stuck between your last points. On the one hand, Micheal fails to remain in the natural mythology because through his gardening he tries to control the nature ( as Kent said) but Sasha has a good poiont to. I think a good clue though is the reaction of the doctor. The doctor is stuck in the social mythology and wants to be in Micheals situation but can't because he is confined by the limits of his mythology (this makes me think K only represents the nature mythology). The doctor can never achieve Micheals freedom because he "so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about." Thus he can never be free because he's too concerned in finding it.
I agree with Jazzy in that I believe that K does fall outside of the confinements of a myth, a part of meaning. Michael K’s obvious and innate ability to be unique from everyone else and his indifference towards social norms is what allows him to break the “mold” of myths. While K may not strive for outer value, I do not believe that that necessarily means that he has not goals. In fact I do believe he has some goals. While it is hard to pinpoint exactly what Michael K seems to believe he is doing with his life, he is moving. Backwards, forwards, it is unclear, but he is moving away from various things and into new situation. It is true that the outside world does seem unimportant to him but no conclusion could be made from that. There are many amazing things about Michael K, some aren’t explainable, however, the conditions he is living in or has been living in could kill some one. Some one with absolutely no goals could, in fact, I believe, would die in these circumstances over a short period of time. That is why I believe Michael K does have a goal. Conscious or unconscious, it is unclear, but there was something keeping him alive for that whole time and it was not luck.
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