Joseph Campbell has always been someone who has inspired me influenced some of my beliefs spiritually. The way in which I came across Joseph Campbell’s work is an interesting story. In the summer of 2000 I was visiting a friend of mine for the weekend that lived in Ohio. I was 20 yrs old at the time and either still afraid of flying or it just was more economical because I took the Greyhound bus there. I knew it would be a long ride to Warren, Ohio, so I took a book to read for the trip. The book I brought was a biography on the life of Marcus Garvey, the Harlem Renaissance icon. I remember thinking at the time that the guy sitting in the seat next to me was a bit strange. He was tall lanky guy with a full head of wild red hair and a full grown out beard. To paint the picture a bit clearer, he resembled the images of Jesus that you see in paintings. To add to the mystery, he introduced himself to me as Moses. I was certainly a skeptic and was pretty weary of his behavior. Here was a guy who appeared to be practicing yoga stretches the whole trip, looked like Jesus and told me his name was Moses (which I didn’t believe). Was I being prejudice and stereotyping? Probably so, but again, I was 20 years young and just beginning to explore the beliefs of others. One thing that has always remained with me throughout my years has been my ability to make connections. By connections I mean seeing similarities in things and seeing how they relate. Paulo Coehlo, the author of The Alchemist refers to them as “omens”. One of the major connections I made then was a coincidence in names. My strange bus rider buddy being named Moses and Marcus Garvey is also referred to by many as “The Black Moses”. Somehow I just happened to be reading that book at that time. Perhaps I could be reading too much into things, but I like to think some things are meant to happen and we just have to make sense of them.
I was a natural skeptic at the time and when Moses asked me what book I was reading, I took a peek at what he was reading. He was reading a book by Joseph Campbell and he told me that it was mythology. Up until that point I saw mythology as something for nerds. Something that you had to engulf yourself into in order to understand it. The type of subject, that if a hobby, would put you in your own world isolated from reality. My ideas of what I thought mythology was, didn’t appeal to me. Needless to say, I made it a point to make a mental note of the name Joseph Campbell to look up later. Not because I was interested in him, but so I can find out what type of cult this guy Moses was a part of. Yea…I guess I was pretty bad. Now this was before the days of Google and mobile phones with high speed internet connections. So I couldn’t just google his name and find out quickly who he was. In fact, it wasn’t until I returned from my 4 day trip that I was even reminded to look his name up. Never did I think my ignorance and curiosity would lead me to open a world of knowledge.
A friend of mine had already been familiar with Campbell, having studied him in college. Somehow his name came up in casual conversation and my greyhound bus trip came to mind. I had to know more about him. Eventually he gave me a copy of one of Joseph Campbell’s most well known video series – The Power of The Myth. It was on 6 VHS tapes, the only way to get this type of archival footage at the time. I didn’t exactly watch the series right away. Mythology as a subject still didn’t quite grasp my attention. Over the next couple months I began to watch this series, which was an in depth conversation between Campbell and PBS journalist Bill Moyers. It intrigued me. A great deal of the conversation was a bit over my head, but I was fine about that. In most cases, when something doesn’t quite make sense but sounds interesting I know there can be an infinite amount of knowledge gained. What intrigued me the most was the interconnectedness of different cultures. He was analyzing different cultures and religions in the world throughout history and making the connections between them. I thought it was a genius concept and one that was more in tune with my beliefs. I’d never been much of a religious person, but I did believe that there were was some source from which all people are connected to. The fact that there is no specific description for it, but the underlying theme is evident in all cultures. This is what Mythology was about. Campbell delivered this concept in story form, much like the griots i’d read about with the oral tradition. Most importantly, the stories were delivered with conviction. An important component to the equation is that he spoke as if he believed in what he said. I believed him.
