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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 201.3019
EAN num: 9781577314714
ISBN number: 1577314719
Label: New World Library
Manufacturer: New World Library
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: October 26, 2004
Publishing house: New World Library
Sale Popularity Level: 8919
Studio: New World Library
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Joseph Campbell is one of this century's great disseminators of the psychological wisdom of mythology. One of the basic functions of myth, he contends, is to help each individual through the journey of life, providing a travel guide to reach fulfillment — a map to discover 'bliss.' In Pathways to Bliss, Campbell once again draws on his masterful gift of storytelling to apply the larger themes of world mythology to personal growth and transformation. Looking at the more personal, psychological side of myth, he begins to dwell on life's more important questions — those that are often submerged beneath the frantic activity of our daily life. With characteristic wit and insight, he draws connections between ancient symbols and modern art, schizophrenia and the Hero's Journey, revealing the way myth helps identify one's heroic path.
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Rated by buyers 
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I was required to read this book for a theology course. Both the teacher and students in the course were apprehensive, because Campbell is not a theologian, and, in fact, has quite evident biases towards particular religions.
I think if you already like Campbell, you are part of the set of people that already "identify" with him, and therefore you are going to like this book. But if you are merely interested in him, be warned that this series of books was published posthumously and consists of several personal interviews, lectures, anecdotes, and unpublished work that were not necessarily academic in nature.
This book is an encapsulation of Campbell's ideas on how to become self-ware. Mr Campbell is not an authority on this topic, merely one of 6 billion people with an opinion, the Joseph Campbell Foundation that has coalesced into his temple not withstanding. I tend to demand a more comprehensive and systematic approach to these matters; I would colour Campbell somewhat of a "charismatic". As such, it is a bit of a paradox to me that Campbell would need to preach at length on this topic.
Rated by buyers 
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This is a strange book. For one thing it's really a series of lectures, but for some reason the cover and jacket don't say so. You have to read the notes at the end to find out why the presentation rambles so.
Secondly, the title and subtitle are misleading. The reader has to get through four lectures--two on the history and purpose of myth and two on Jungian psychology: that's half the book--to get to the discusion on personal transformation. The lectures might be useful to beginners, but I bought this book because I lead classes and workshops on finding one's personal myth (not one's archetype: there's a difference), and all this was was old hat to me.
Although Campbell was a man of his time, as all men are, his biases really show in this book. His grating stereotyping of "the Orient" as authoritarian and so forth recalls Edward Said's penetrating criticism of Western fantasies of Orientalism: Orient as mysterious, backward, and despotic. Campbell's comments about women's psychology are especially culturebound, as when he says women tend not to follow the call of the Hero because of the "natural" and "inevitable" call to duties like childbirth. This sounds less like mythological inquiry than like Republicanism's ongoing obsession with dynasty and reproduction. Maureen Murdock has answered this in part by writing her book The Heroine's Journey.
Here and there, though, we see the Campbell most of us admire. "I think one of the great calamities of contemporary life is that the religions that we have inherited have insisted on the concrete historicity of their symbols" (p. 88). He also remarks that although he admires Abraham Maslow (I do not: I've read his journals), his list of survival values--security, prestige, self-development--"are exactly the values that a mythically inspired person doesn't live for." What does such a person live for? "A calling, a dedication," what seizes us, what drives us beyond mere considerations of comfort or biology or "the values for which people live when they have nothing to live for."
He also gives a number of important suggestions for finding one's personal myth; we are finding, however, that the myth is often a good deal more specific than previously thought. Campbell mentions Jung's quest to understand his myth but does not mention Faust. In Freud's case it was the story of Oedipus, even down to following his daughter Anna out of Vienna just as the old king followed Antigone out of Thebes. On the web is a piece I wrote about Steinbeck living the story of Lancelot. What we do with these stories, how we learn them, deepen them and elaborate them: that is the fascinating part, built on the foundation left by Jung and Campbell.
Rated by buyers 
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I thoroughfully enjoyed this book. It changed my view on reality. And it made me appreciate myths and scriptures for what they truly are: bridges between our mundane lives and the Transcendent. They are not to be taken factually, but they have the power to structure and inspire our personality and our society at large.
This book also contains an interesting introduction to Jung's work.
Rated by buyers -
If you are looking for something more in depth than the Moyers interviews and something less intimidating than Campbell's more academic works- this is a great one to read.
This is a collection of lectures which cover most of Campbell's fascinating work in comparative religion, but in a way that is accessible and entertaining. The editing is fantastic, so it reads very natural and you'll find some of the most complex ideas are clear and easy to understand. Highly recommended for anyone new to the idea of religion as myth.
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I am grateful for having read this fantastic piece of work that brings together mythology and personal transformation in such a profound and articulate manner. I could notice how it strikes multiple harmonics in my mind as I read on, very much along the lines of Jung's view on the unconscious.
Pathways to Bliss provides both a framework and an inspirational context for anyone interested in the Self as Hero. As such, I have utilized it as a prime reference for my forthcoming work in designing board games and processes that would be useful for furthering the usefulness of the Hero's Journey archetypical metaphor as a tool for personal and group learning, growth, and advancement.
Perhaps it is best to bring forth this excerpt from the book: "There's nothing you can do more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way, you will find, live, and become a realization of your own personal myth." (Last paragraph, page 108). In this book, Campbell offers a rich ground for constructing that personal myth, one that would enhance the wisdom, love and inner beauty of a person's Self to mythical proportions!
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