We can choose to live in rapture, that is not out there in some place or person. We don't have to go somewhere or have something or someone. It is here. It is here. It is here. A shift in consciousness is all it takes.
Eternity is a dimension of here and now. The divine lives within you. Live from your own center.
Your real duty is to go away from the community to find your bliss. On the dragon there are many scales. Everyone of them says "Thou Shalt." Kill the dragon "Thou Shalt." When one has killed that dragon, one has become The Child.
Breaking out is following your bliss pattern, quitting the old place,
starting your hero journey, following your bliss. You throw off yesterday as the snake sheds its skin.
The goal of the hero trip down the jewel point is to find those levels in the psyche that open, open, open, and finally open to the mystery of your Self being Buddha consciousness or the Christ.
That's the journey. It is all about finding that still point in your mind where commitment drops away.
If what your are following, is your own true adventure, if it is something appropriate to your deep spiritual need or readiness, then magical guides will appear to help you.
If you say,"Everyone's going on this trip this year, and I am going too," then no guides will appear. Your adventure has to be coming right out of your own interior.
If you are ready for it, then doors will open where there were no doors before, and where there would not be doors for anyone else.
And you must have courage. It's the call to adventure, which means there is no security, no rules. As you go towards the centre, there will come more aids, as well as increasingly difficult trials.
You have to give up more and more of what you're hanging on to. The final thing is a total giving up, a yielding all the way.
When the world seems to be falling apart, the rule is to hang onto your own bliss. It's that life that survives.
And that's the revelation then, to be grounded in eternity and moving in the field of time. The field of time is the field of sorrow. "All life is sorrowful." And it is. If you try to correct the sorrows, all you do is shift them somewhere else. Life is sorrowful.
How do you live with that? You realize the eternal within yourself. You disengage, and yet, reengage. You -- and here's the beautiful formula -- "Participate with joy in the sorrows of the world." You play the game. It hurts, but you know that you have found the place that is transcendent of injury and fulfilments. You are there, and that's it.
Joseph Campbell
(Selected and edited by Diane K Osborn; Additional editing by Dirk Marais)
From: “Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion” by Diane K Osborn (Editor)
1 REPLY
Constance J AhlbergDec 30, 2024
There are so many times in which I need Joseph Campbell’s words.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
Inner Bliss and the Journey of the Hero
We can choose to live in rapture,
that is not out there in some place or person.
We don't have to go somewhere or have something or someone.
It is here. It is here. It is here.
A shift in consciousness is all it takes.
Eternity is a dimension of here and now.
The divine lives within you.
Live from your own center.
Your real duty is to go away from the community
to find your bliss.
On the dragon there are many scales.
Everyone of them says "Thou Shalt."
Kill the dragon "Thou Shalt."
When one has killed that dragon,
one has become The Child.
Breaking out is following your bliss pattern,
quitting the old place,
starting your hero journey,
following your bliss.
You throw off yesterday
as the snake sheds its skin.
The goal of the hero trip
down the jewel point is
to find those levels in the psyche
that open, open, open,
and finally open to the mystery
of your Self being
Buddha consciousness
or the Christ.
That's the journey.
It is all about finding
that still point in your mind
where commitment drops away.
If what your are following,
is your own true adventure,
if it is something appropriate
to your deep spiritual need or readiness,
then magical guides will appear to help you.
If you say,"Everyone's going on this trip this year,
and I am going too,"
then no guides will appear.
Your adventure has to be coming
right out of your own interior.
If you are ready for it,
then doors will open
where there were no doors before,
and where there would not be doors for anyone else.
And you must have courage.
It's the call to adventure,
which means there is no security, no rules.
As you go towards the centre,
there will come more aids,
as well as increasingly difficult trials.
You have to give up
more and more of what you're hanging on to.
The final thing is a total giving up,
a yielding all the way.
When the world
seems to be falling apart,
the rule is to hang onto your own bliss.
It's that life that survives.
And that's the revelation then,
to be grounded in eternity
and moving in the field of time.
The field of time is the field of sorrow.
"All life is sorrowful." And it is.
If you try to correct the sorrows,
all you do is shift them somewhere else.
Life is sorrowful.
How do you live with that?
You realize the eternal within yourself.
You disengage, and yet, reengage.
You -- and here's the beautiful formula --
"Participate with joy in the sorrows of the world."
You play the game.
It hurts, but you know that you have found
the place that is transcendent of injury and fulfilments.
You are there,
and that's it.
Joseph Campbell
(Selected and edited by Diane K Osborn; Additional
editing by Dirk Marais)
From: “Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion” by Diane K Osborn (Editor)
1 REPLY