MonoMyth.org

Here is a list compiled from Joseph Campbell’s work as far as his views on reading Myth. (Note: this list wasn’t compiled by Campbell, but we are told by Ted Tollefson based on Campbell’s lectures)

1

Read myths with the eyes of wonder:
the myths transparent to their universal meaning,
their meaning transparent to its mysterious source.

2

Read myths in the present tense:
Eternity is now.

3

Read myths in the first person plural:
the Gods and Goddesses of ancient mythology
still live within you.

4

Any myth worth its salt exerts a powerful magnetism.
Notice the images and stories
that you are drawn to and repelled by.
Investigate the field of associated images and stories.

5

Look for patterns;
don’t get lost in the details.
What is needed is not more specialized scholarship,
but more interdisciplinary vision.
Make connections;
break old patterns of parochial thought.

6

Resacralize the secular:
even a dollar bill reveals
the imprint of Eternity.

7

If God is everywhere,
then myths can be generated
anywhere, anytime, by anything.
Don’t let your Romantic aversion to
science blind you to the Buddha in the computer chip.

8

Know your tribe!
Myths never arise in a vacuum;
they are the connective tissue of the social body
which enjoys synergistic relations
with dreams (private myths)
and rituals (the enactment of myth).

9

Expand your horizons!
Any mythology worth remembering
will be global in scope.
The earth is our home
and humankind is our family.

10

Read between the lines!
Literalism kills;
Imagination quickens.