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
Our true reality is in our identity and unity with all life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our true essence is found in our connection and oneness with all living beings.
This quote by Joseph Campbell suggests that our understanding of reality goes beyond individual existence and is deeply rooted in our interconnectedness with all forms of life. It emphasizes that acknowledging and embracing our shared identity with others fosters a deeper sense of belonging and a more profound understanding of the world around us.
Themes
IdentityUnityLifeInterconnectionReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of community and connection, you might say, 'As Joseph Campbell reminds us, our true reality is in our identity and unity with all life.'
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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In the long run, the people are our only appeal. The only ones who can free us are ourselves.
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God is better served in resisting a temptation to evil than in many formal prayers.
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This overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great mystic achievement. In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we become aware of our oneness. This is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed.
William JamesRead
A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.
Henry Van DykeRead