5/5 Stars (%93/100)
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
It has been a while since I've enjoyed a book this much, especially a mythological one.
The Power of Myth, however, is not merely a book about mythology. It offers so much more and that is why I loved it. It contains many many things yet it is very easy to read and understand. I had so much reading it because of the form of the book. It is essentially an interview between Campbell and Bill Moyers. Moyers asked every question that I was curious about and Campbell gives brilliant answers with many examples.
"Giving birth is definitely a heroic deed, in that it is the giving over of oneself to the life of another."
The book has eight chapters;
I-Myth and the Modern World
II-The Journey Inward
III-The First Storytellers
IV-Sacrifice and Bliss
V-The Hero's Adventure
VI-The Gift of the Goddesses
VII-Tales of Love and Marriage
VIII-Masks of Eternity
I enjoyed each and every chapter of the book but chapter V was especially interesting and fun to read. On the surface, the book is about myths and mythology. However, through mythology it teaches you many things about life, marriage, women and men, history and more. It is a mythology book with historical, philosophical, psychological and anthropological. On top of all of that, it is an excellent source for various mythologies.
