A Joseph Campbell Companion
   Selected & Edited by Diane K. Osbon
  1991 HarperCollinsPublishers NY USA
   ISBN: 0060167181


Reflections on the Art of Living. Poet Diane Osbon's choices of Campbell's most illuminating perceptions into those fundamental subjects of perennial human concern: the challenge of living in the world; the process of spiritual awakening; the struggle to come into awareness & the art of living in the sacred.

In 1984, Joseph Campbell & students gathered in Big Sur, California, at the famed Esalen Institute, to immerse themselves in an intensive exploration of the mythological dimensions. During this seminar, Campbell shared his insights & elucidated the full range of his life-long scholarly pursuits. From this once-in-a-lifetime month-long encounter, poet Diane Osbon has selected a variety of aphorisms, stories & writings which give a broad view of Joseph Campbell's ebullient range.

In the Field is a harvest of exuberant, insightful & charming aphorisms. ...What you don't experience positively you will experience negatively...
...On the dragon there are many scales. Everyone of them says "Thou Shalt..."
...Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world...

"Being in his presence, one realized that everything he focused on, in nature or in conversation, was a spark that illuminated another volume in the vast library of his mind, a bottomless spring of riches and sustenance. His open countenance revealed that he was his own greatest resource for wonder and magic. It is not surprising that his first deep love was the American Indian, to whom every part of nature is sacred."

In Living in the World we read a simple perspective on the Garden of Eden story. Soon, you realize, you're plunging deep into the symbols of mythology & a curious realization develops: Christianity & Judaism are religions of exile.

As you roam through the unconscious with Diane Osbon gathering up Joe Campbell's crumbs & showing them to you, you find you've thought more in the past few minutes than ever you did in the past whole year. Large, glorious thoughts encompassing centuries, adventures & awe-inspiring concepts.

"Joseph taught me to see beyond the symbols to the riches they represent. Those who cannot see beyond the symbols, he remarked, are "like diners going into a restaurant and eating the menu," rather than the meal it describes. There is a good deal of menu eating in the world, and the result is a feeling of emptiness and an impoverishment of spirit."

A wonderful gift for those you know who are walking an examined life.
(05/30/99)

Rebecca