Myths to Live By

“Myths, according to Freud’s view, are of the psychological order of dream. Myths, so to say, are public dreams, dreams are private myths. ” “There is no one quite like Joseph Campbell. He knows the vast sweep of man’s panoramic past as few men have evern known it.” – The Village Voice What is a properly functioning mythology and what are its functions? Can we use myths to help relieve our modern anxiety, or do they help foster it? In Myths to Live by, Joseph Campbell explores the enduring power of the universal myths that influence our lives daily and examines the myth-making process from the primitive past to the immediate present, retuning always to the source from which all mythology springs: the creative imagination. Campbell stresses that the borders dividing the Earth have been shattered, that myths and religions have always followed the certain basic archetypes and are no longer exclusive to a single people, region, or religion. He shows how we must recognize their common denominators and allow this knowledge to be of use in fulfilling human potential everywhere.