MAN ONE ALL UNITY REASON RACE BIOLOGY SPIRIT SYMBOL MYTHS RELIGION

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Note: Joseph Campbell believed religions were "masks" of the same transcental truths, the theme of his book "The Masks of Gods".  In essence, Campbell was a student of human psychology and therefore "ideology", and religions. Campbell focus became comparative Mythology and his guiding principle, "Follow Your Bliss". As many other talented youths born in the New York area, Campbell was influenced by the American Museum of Natural History in New York featuring collections of Native American artifacts. He developed a lifelong passion for mapping myths in disparate cultures. However, while at Dartmouth College he was impacted by his studies of mathematics and biology. He continued with studies of literature at Columbia University and of Sanskrit in Europe which led him to abandon the pursuit of a doctorate. In 1938 he joined the Sarah Lawrence College where he taught for 38 years. Campbells mind "became prepared" by impacts of many sources but in particular those linked with John Steinbeck, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Oswald Spengler, Leo Frobenius, and the Bardo Thodol (or "The Profound Dharma of Self-liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones", a compilation form Tibet). and Wilhelm Steckel, among many others.