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Just as anyone who listens to the muse will hear, you can write out of your own intention or out of inspiration. There is such a thing. It comes up and talks. And those who have heard deeply the rhythms and hymns of the gods, can recite those hymns in such a way that the gods will be attracted.
Joseph Campbell
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of inspiration and intention in the creative process.

Joseph Campbell highlights the dual nature of creation: one can either write from their own conscious intention or tap into a deeper source of inspiration. He suggests that true artists are those who can connect with the divine muse, letting the rhythm of their creativity resonate with greater forces, thus attracting inspiration and divine influence in their work.

Themes

InspirationCreativityMuseArtIntention

In practice

Example use cases

An artist might quote this when discussing the nature of their creative process during an interview.

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No tribal rite has yet been recorded which attempts to keep winter from descending; on the contrary: the rites all prepare the community to endure, together with the rest of nature, the season of the terrible cold.
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Christianity isn’t moving people’s lives today. What’s moving people’s lives is the stock market and the baseball scores. What are people excited about? It’s a totally materialistic level that has taken over the world. There isn’t even an ideal that anybody’s fighting for.
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Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end. The exclusivism of there being only one way in which we can be saved, the idea that there is a single religious group that is in sole possession of the truth—that is the world as we know it that must pass away. What is the kingdom? It lies in our realization of the ubiquity of the divine presence in our neighbors, in our enemies, in all of us.
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The demon that you can swallow gives you it’s power, and the greater life’s pain, the greater life’s reply.
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And if there was no Fall, what then of the need for Redemption? What god was offended and by whom? Some especially touchy cave bear whose skull had been improperly enshrined?
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