Joseph Campbell - You Have to be Caught By It
by: Jedi Kidohdin
Subject: Joseph Campbell
Not many people know that the inspiration for Star Wars, George Lucas' fabulous movie series, came from the life work of Joseph Campbell. His monumental and awesome book, 'Hero with a Thousand Faces' is perhaps the best-known work on mythology, and inspired much of the magic in the Star Wars story.
During the last two years of his life, Joe Campbell spent hundreds of hours at the Lucas ranch recording his life's findings, and many tidbits about Star Wars.
During one of these interviews on tape, with Bill Moyers, Mr. Moyers asks Mr. Campbell, nearly 80, this question. Remember that by now, Mr. Campbell, already world renowned, has spent almost 65 years doing nothing but learning about stories that define cultures, ancient to present.
Bill Moyers: Why should we care about myths? What do they have to do with my life?
Campbell: Go on and live your life as it is. It's a good life. YOU DON'T NEED THIS. I don't believe in being interested in subjects because it's said to be important and interesting. I BELIEVE IN BEING CAUGHT BY IT SOMEHOW OR OTHER. But you may find that with the proper introduction this subject will catch you. And so, what can it do for you when it DOES catch you?
When I heard those words, I played it several more times. You don't need this. You don't have to be interested because someone says it's important and interesting. You have to be 'caught by it.' And then...maybe the 'subject will catch you' if it's introduced properly.
Then the finale: "What can it do for you when it does catch you?" What a wonderful question. Think?
Campbell is just such a hero himself to so many millions of people, including me. Without him we might never have seen any Star Wars movies, to say nothing of his precious books. They are loved throughout the world for what they have taught us about each other, both the 'us' in the distant past and the many 'us' today around the world, different as we are.
To hear him say this in the twilight of his life, about his own work, was just stunning to me.
"All imaging of God, if the word is going to mean anything besides, "This is what mother taught me," is suppose to refer to that which transcend all knowledge, all naming, all forming and, consequently, the word has to point past itself. In our tradition, the idea of God is so personified as a person that you get stuck with that problem whenever you think of God."
God is not an illusion, but a symbol pointing beyond itself to the realization of the mystery of at-one-ment." Joseph Campbell ~ Reflection on the Art of Living ~
Lucas had already written two drafts of Star Wars when he rediscovered Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1975 (having read it years before in college). This blueprint for "The Hero's Journey" gave Lucas the focus he needed to draw his sprawling imaginary universe into a single story.
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