Monday, January 20, 2014

Follow Your Bliss

Photo by mrio.
My favorite piece of advice?

"Follow your bliss."

Joseph Campbell offered these words when interviewed by Bill Moyers as part of the 1988 PBS series called The Power of Myth.

Here is a 4 minute video that contains the clip of Campbell speaking those words "Follow your bliss." In particular, watch 1:45 to 2:10. This admonition ended up being the most salient takeaway from the six hour interview with Moyers.


Let me clarify the term "bliss" a bit. I believe Campbell means that we should find our life's mission, our purpose, and that we should have integrity to our core self.

I do not see this as a pleasure-seeking call. Campbell is neither inviting all to seize the day (carpe deim) nor is he shouting a YOLO anthem.  Campbell was adamant that he was not referring to hedonism but to hearing the call to a deep, spiritual, purpose-driven life.

Photo by inoneear.
Consequently, bliss is closer to the idea of self-actualization or closer to the terms enlightenment or nirvana. In fact, Campbell cites an Indian text as his inspiration for the term "bliss."

"Follow your bliss" means "Follow the path that will allow you to express your core identity, one filled with integrity to your internal value system." 

A longer version of Campbell's quote (to the right) gestures towards this view of finding your true vocation.

The path to bliss might be blocked by fear of the unknown, by the desperate pursuit of wealth or fame, by trying to please authority figures, or by pressure to conform to community standards. But walking a path to please others only leads to sorrow.  

When I choose to follow my bliss, I feel grounded, calm, and empowered.  And as a midlife woman, I find myself more capable of the self-validation hinted at in Campbell's words. 

By following my bliss, I moved across the country to live in Washington, DC where I knew no one. Fifteen years later, I moved across the country years to marry someone I hadn't seen in four years. And at midlife I left a hard-earned career to adopt a new vocation.

Outsiders thought these decisions were risky. However, I felt calm because I was following a path that made sense for my personal integrity and for greater abundance in the future.  In each case, the risk of an "illogical decision" paid huge dividends. 

Here is a slideshow that contains some other quotes by Campbell. Whatever advice you treasure, my guess is that it resonates with a deep truth that you already knew and the other person's words merely magnify your own truth. 


I came to know Campbell's work because my mother worked with him. Campbell, an octogenarian at the time, was passing part of his work on to Dr. Roberta Markman, an expert on Latin American masks and the myths that inspired them. 

My mother was a graduate assistant at California State Long Beach with Dr. Markman at that time and offered to work on a schematic of Campbell's myths. In fact, he came to my childhood home to talk with my mother about her index of his myths. I was living in DC at the time and missed meeting him. 

Even though I missed meeting Campbell by one degree of separation, I read some of his works and watched his interviews. I am still trying to comprehend the magnitude of his work, and I'm drawn to authors, such as Dr. Bill Plotkin, who build on Jung and Campbell. 

Whatever path you are walking now, may you be blessed and empowered to magnify your true self.

This is a Midlife Boulevard bloghop! 

The bloghop links at the very end will disappear, so I'm saving a few:
"No more naysayers here" by Kathy M. at 50 Shades of Age aka @50shadesofage
"The best advice I ever received" by Claudia S. at My Left Breast aka @Claudoo
"Be about YOUR business" by Kathy G. at SMART Living 365 aka @gottgreen.

Related:


21 comments:

  1. Yes Karen, my bliss has been working wonders for me ever since I figured out I had it to follow! - Laura Lee

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  2. I adore Joseph Campbell. How wonderful that your mother had the chance to work with him!

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    1. Glad to read that you are a Campbell fan, too. My mom has a couch that he sat on. Maybe if I'm very well behaved, I could inherit that couch?

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  3. I'm a huge fan of Joseph Campbell. Watching the Moyers interview also impacted me. It changes how I view the world.

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    1. It's a great view to help people from multiple cultures to find common ground. I need to revisit those interviews one of these days.

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  4. Such important words, and sometimes hard to remember. Thank you for the powerful reminder!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and for your example of someone really following her own bliss.

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  5. Hey Karen....what a great way of explaining the true reasoning behind Joseph Campbell's statement. I too have been a big fan of his and watched that program several times (I even have the book/transcript!) Thank you for the reminder! ~Kathy

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    1. Ah, I should read the book/transcript as a faster way to revisit the interviews since I read faster than Campbell / Moyers can speak. I should try to get my hands on a copy soon.

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  6. This is new to me, and I find it fascinating. Now I know I need to start following my own Bliss! Thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Welcome to Campbell's view. Although you probably have some familiarity to him, since his work Hero with a Thousand Faces influenced George Lucas when he wrote Star Wars. In anything, Hollywood screenwriters from the 1980s through the 1990s have been criticized for following the hero's journey in a way that became too formulaic. But I still admire the work Campbell did to find common themes in world myths.

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  7. Thanks so much Karen for helping me understand the meaning behind that statement. It's been so overused that I didn't really have the positive feel about it until now. I appreciate your blog very much. Virginia- FirstClassWoman

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    1. Campbell supposedly wished that he said "follow your blisters" to emphasize that questing for a good purpose is not a party; it's work. Thanks for stopping by.

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  8. Thank you, Karen, for sharing this thought-provoking piece.

    As we seek within, may we never forget to look beyond ourselves toward the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). It is He who gives our lives meaning, identity, "bliss"... May we magnify His Name!

    So glad to have met you today via Thought-Provoking Thursday! Thank you for your service to the elders among us.

    God bless you,
    HBHW

    http://inthehandsofthehealer.blogspot.com/2014/01/weaned-from-earth.html

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    1. HBHW: Thanks for letting me join the thought-provoking Thursday LinkUp. I'm fairly new to linkups, and I had a hard time finding one that wasn't dedicated to crafts or cooking (which are fun, but not related to what I blog about). There were many very good posts in the set. I was delighted to see so many people blogging about faith, devotion and testimony. These are important messages that too often get crowded out by more fleeting concerns. Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. Thanks for including my post in your "favorites!" And...for the Joseph Campbell reminder. Have always been a fan of his, and the quote is perfect first thing in the morning. Best, Claudia

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    1. Claudia: No problem-o. My favorite part of blog hops is reading the links to others' posts. It's so interesting to see how others approach the same topic. Have a great week.

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  10. I love how you clarified Campbell's often misunderstood statement; I had a "conversation" about such with a facebook friend of mine, she thinking Campbell meant do whatever makes you happy. She wasn't having my explanation of what Campbell meant by bliss.

    I never thought I would be joining the blogging multiverse, but here I am and am glad to read posts like yours. My blog contains primarily excerpts from a novel I just finished--very "Campbellian" for lack of a better term--the work being the result, I believe, of following my bliss.

    I am having trouble publishing this, so I'm signing off as anonymous, but my blog is titled "Story of the Four" if you'd like to check it out...As a matter of fact, there is a good Campbell quote on the front page....Josh Bertetta

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Josh. All my best getting your novel published. I'll have to visit your blog soon. Enjoy your weekend.

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