I had breakfast with Joseph Campbell, when I was a young man. Campbell understood the deeper elements of Myth and how most of us live out myths unconsciously. Campbell was aware of archetypes, knowing C.G Jung.
All men are living out an archetype , consciously or in most cases unconsciously. Archetypes like warrior, healer, lover, traitor, etc. Warrior societies of the past shared clan and tribal warrior stories connect warriors to their past Heroes. And show pathways of overcoming adversity.
Tolkien served on the Western front, in the trenches during World War One. He experienced, death, destruction, love of his brothers, and Heroism.
The question I ask is how do we help and inspire young men to their heroes journey. There are many war fighters who know this road .
That's part of the mission here at PST. I'm trying to help re-valorize these ancient virtues by pointing people back to these stories, myths, and traditions. What an honor that must have been to share a table with Professor Campbell. I can't imagine what that must have been like. Thanks for your feedback and insights. Much appreciated!
You are on the right track about PTS. Warfare has intinatory qualities, a. physical , emotional, and image based ordeal. What is required for vets to reconstitute their emotional, image , sense memory . Tribal people had pathways of intinatory trials that test their youth. Plain Indians, crying for a vision as an example. The key is a debriefing by a war experienced veteran, who is grounded in Myth , emotions and images. Being not fearful of emotional intensity is important. Dream journaling ,journaling are useful tools. Putting down the experiences in a concrete form. The work has to be witnessed. The fragments of the events are like movie frames in an editors room, dumped on the floor. The challenge is to pick up the frames and make s story.
People of old would gather and share their war experiences in sacred spaces. Warfare is a sacred and Mythic act. Native sweat lodges are such a space.
Fraternal initiation are for the most part an intellectual construct that would not address the physical/emotional bases of the warrior suffering. Later
I had breakfast with Joseph Campbell, when I was a young man. Campbell understood the deeper elements of Myth and how most of us live out myths unconsciously. Campbell was aware of archetypes, knowing C.G Jung.
All men are living out an archetype , consciously or in most cases unconsciously. Archetypes like warrior, healer, lover, traitor, etc. Warrior societies of the past shared clan and tribal warrior stories connect warriors to their past Heroes. And show pathways of overcoming adversity.
Tolkien served on the Western front, in the trenches during World War One. He experienced, death, destruction, love of his brothers, and Heroism.
The question I ask is how do we help and inspire young men to their heroes journey. There are many war fighters who know this road .
That's part of the mission here at PST. I'm trying to help re-valorize these ancient virtues by pointing people back to these stories, myths, and traditions. What an honor that must have been to share a table with Professor Campbell. I can't imagine what that must have been like. Thanks for your feedback and insights. Much appreciated!
You are on the right track about PTS. Warfare has intinatory qualities, a. physical , emotional, and image based ordeal. What is required for vets to reconstitute their emotional, image , sense memory . Tribal people had pathways of intinatory trials that test their youth. Plain Indians, crying for a vision as an example. The key is a debriefing by a war experienced veteran, who is grounded in Myth , emotions and images. Being not fearful of emotional intensity is important. Dream journaling ,journaling are useful tools. Putting down the experiences in a concrete form. The work has to be witnessed. The fragments of the events are like movie frames in an editors room, dumped on the floor. The challenge is to pick up the frames and make s story.
People of old would gather and share their war experiences in sacred spaces. Warfare is a sacred and Mythic act. Native sweat lodges are such a space.
Fraternal initiation are for the most part an intellectual construct that would not address the physical/emotional bases of the warrior suffering. Later
Beowulf : a translation and commentary, together with Sellic spell : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/beowulftranslati0000unse
I've got a couple of translations of Beowulf. This one along with Professor Tom Shippey is a couple more I aim on picking up. Thanks for the link!
Pseudo-myths in Mythic Drag!
Gotta love JMGs ability to bottom line things often too abstract or complex and do it with humor.
The stories of our Ancestors keep them alive and have lessons for us in this day and age.
Truly timeless ideas, values and folkways form a worldview which is every bit as useful to us today as it was to them.
JMG is a treasure - thanks for keeping him in the mix!