Joseph Campbell's Definition of the Word "Religion"

Rapunzel

Campbell states: "My favorite definition of religion is 'a misinterpretation of mythology.' And the misinterpretation consists precisely in attributing historical references to symbols which are properly spiritual in their reference. What a mythic talks about is not something that happened somewhere or will happen somewhere at some time or another; it refers to what is now, and was yesterday, and will be tomorrow, and his forever."

I find this notion interesting in that the common "recived idea" concerning this relation is the converse, namely that mythology is a spurious and degraded form of religion.

Campbell also offers an interesting quote from Heinrich Zimmer who once said: "The best things can't be told; the second best are misunderstood; the third best have to do with history."

Any comments on the above?

Narkissos

This certainly applies to the so-called "Abrahamic" monotheisms (with important nuances though, since their different avatars -- Western and Eastern, in particular -- probably do not give the same weight to the "historical" aspects of the stories). Whether it can be extrapolated to other "religions" in the rest of the world (Hinduism, Buddhism, or native symbolical/rituals systems from America, Africa or Oceania) is another matter...

Perhaps a single word like "religion" is not enough to embrace the worldwide variety of mythical/ritual systems.

Satanus

That has been my opinion. Good to hear it coming from campbell. To rephrase it,the mystics/shamans are those who are able to peer into the other dimension. The average person is not able to. And so, the wannabes turn the shamanic's/mystic's utterances into religion, a set of stories, rules, reasons, explanations. So results the torah, bible and koran. The east is also subject to this, although, not as much. For example, buddhism has some useless rituals, which Siddharta Gautama (buddha) never advocated. At least, in the east, the procedures for spiritual attainment are in place. In western religion christianity, the christian is taught to wait pateintly on god for a 'revelation'. God will hand out the 'revelation' if and when he feels like it. Thus, religion is a second hand, psuedo spirituality. Thus, the perpetual need for intercesors (jesus, priest, pastor, gb, bible) w god. In the east, the teachers point the way, and the student procedes on his own.

S

hillary_step

Where did I read, "when two or more are gathered together in my name, we shall call it a religion".

HS

Terry

We bite the pizza to taste it.

We separate the flavors on our taste buds.

We swallow it and draw out the energy and nutrition and poop out the waste.

The same is true of "meaning" in the words we "taste".

The number one problem of human consciousness (in my opinion) is the failure to keep accurate track of what is objective and what is subjective).

RELIGION wants it both ways simultaneously.

The dissonance between subjective and objective creates contradiction.

Our intellect cannot integrate contradiction.

Neither can science.

Neither can logic.

What is the fallout?

WE SPLIT OUR CONSCIOUSNESS into a false dichotomy.

We FAIL to categorize precisely the objective and the imaginary. We hybridize the Universe itself.

ALTERNATE REALITY appears!

The "numinous"

The "transcendant".

The "supernatural"

The "spiritual"

OUR VOCABULARY collapses.

We fail rigor.

Energy becomes ethereal. Concrete and metaphor intermix.

History, mythology and mystification become a soup of indiscernable flavor.

RELIGION is "binding" of the mind" into a straitjacket of weasel words, mush and fantasy science called THEOLOGY.

It is the shadow of thinking.

nvrgnbk

Thank the gods for Joseph Campbell.