Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living
Diane K. Osbon, editor
Taken from an intimate seminar of ten people gathered at Esalen Institute in 1983, Joseph Campbell expounds on the art of living and the meaning of myth in our modern world.

1 "The first function of mythology is to sanctify the place you are in."

2 "An old Apache storyteller reminds us: 'The plants, rocks, fire, water, all are alive. They watch us and see our needs. They see when we have nothing to protect us, and it is then that they reveal themselves and speak to us.'" Diane K. Osbon, editor

3 "When you have come past the pairs of opposites, you have reached compassion."

4 "Beyond that world of opposites is an unseen, but experienced, unity and identity in us all."

5 "The divine lives within you."

6 "Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, 'This is what I need.' It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment – not discouragement – you will find the strength is there."

7 "We can choose to live in joy."

8 "The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed."

9 "Our own life lives on the acts of other people."

10 "Running through the field of time is this energy which is the one energy that is putting itself into all these forms."

11 "Heaven is the symbol of the eternal life that is within you. It's a basic aspect of yourself forever. That's the rapture."

12 "We are all, in every particle of our being, precipitations of consciousness; we are, likewise, the animals and plants, metals drawing to a magnet and waters tiding to the moon. Today the planet is the only proper 'in group'."

13 "Mythology helps you to identify the mysteries of the energies pouring through you."

14 "The rational mind stresses opposites. Compassion and love go beyond pairs of opposites."

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite