tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post5007798519909820535..comments2024-03-29T12:03:37.344+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: There are many myths - there are even new mythsBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-14479169867557469252014-10-24T17:53:18.242+01:002014-10-24T17:53:18.242+01:00Don't know too much about Campbell, I read one...Don't know too much about Campbell, I read one or two of his books years ago. But what he says makes a certain sort of sense. As far as Judaism goes, the hero is the Jewish people collectively, as far as Christianity goes, Jesus. <br /><br />The hero idea is very powerful, and was specially for the Romantic era. The German Romantic hero of Goethe, Faust, was I think the model for both communism and Nazism. <br /><br />The Romantic existential hero was a powerful idea up through the fall of communism, but hold quite as much interest today. The progressive hero has been the vanguard social-political-cultural leader, the activist or protester. The progressive hero of today is more likely to be a tech billionaire like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg. A generation ago the revolutionary billionaire was conservative/libertarian/Randian hero, ironically, but that's how society has changed. <br /><br />Really all human heroism is futile and deep down we know it. There is only one real hero, Jesus, and while we do well to emulate him at best it will be pretty weak. Most people can't be heroes, and they need a hero, and even heroes need a hero, and him we have. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-1017906206368340302014-10-24T13:03:11.686+01:002014-10-24T13:03:11.686+01:00Very good.Very good.Adam G.http://www.jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-89229772799395246292014-10-24T12:58:51.346+01:002014-10-24T12:58:51.346+01:00You are correct about the role of mythic narrative...You are correct about the role of mythic narrative to place the reader / viewer / listener "inside the myth". That is the point, without regard to the specific narrative in question. It is to produce a state of deep association through symbols with what lies beneath the symbols - i.e. what is primary and real and hence common even as the tale itself and its cultural origin is unique. The unity within myth is not in the story but in it placing the participating people in a state of common-unity within the story. Great mythic narrative does that. Great mythic music also does that. They unveil the common heritage of humanity in what is hidden within the myth and that is its transformative power to evoke those who participate through active experience inside the myth. <br /><br />There are characteristics of mythic tale which are similar between peoples - the hero's quest being one, and the one that Campbell placed greatest emphasis upon. <br /><br />An emphasis on underlying unity is not facile, it is primary. We are more similar in fact than we are different. We are common as a species, sharing the same general genetic characteristics and having the same evolutionary heredity. Yes, there are substantial variations of expression, but those are minor in comparison with how much is common, including the ability to be placed inside mythic narrative via deep and intimate association.<br /><br />To be a great storyteller requires having made the journey inside myth many times, to then having been so intimately familiar with it as to begin creating other trails and markers into it. It requires being a Shaman because the role of the Shaman is to draw people inside through his telling of a story - to commune-icate the core heritage of his people.Nicholas Fulfordnoreply@blogger.com