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.
Joseph CampbellRead
How teach again, however, what has been taught correctly and incorrectly learned a thousand thousand times, throughout the millenniums of mankind's prudent folly? That is the hero's ultimate difficult task.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the ongoing challenge of teaching knowledge that has often been misinterpreted or misunderstood over centuries.
Joseph Campbell's quote explores the complex and often daunting task of educators who must grapple with the accumulation of both correct and incorrect knowledge that has been passed down through generations. It highlights the significant challenge faced by teachers who strive to convey accurate truths in a world where misconceptions and errors have persisted throughout human history. The 'hero's ultimate difficult task' suggests that effective teaching requires not only the transmission of knowledge but also the rectification of long-standing misunderstandings.
Themes
EducationKnowledgeTeachingLearningMisunderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on historical misconceptions, this quote can serve as a reminder of the importance of critical thinking in education.
More from Joseph Campbell
All quotes →Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies.
Joseph CampbellRead
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.
Joseph CampbellRead
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.
Joseph CampbellRead
The demon that you can swallow gives you it’s power, and the greater life’s pain, the greater life’s reply.
Joseph CampbellRead
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?
Joseph CampbellRead
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Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
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Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
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