Photo by mrio.
My favorite piece of advice?"Follow your bliss."
Joseph Campbell offered these words when interviewed by Bill Moyer as part of the 1988 PBS series called The Power of Myth.
This post is part of a Midlife Boulevard bloghop. Other posts by midlife bloggers will appear as links at the end of this post starting Tuesday, January 21st at 9 am Central. Check back later for more posts on the theme "The Best Piece of Advice I Ever Received."
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.
Here is a video that contains the clip of Campbell speaking those words "Follow your bliss," which ended up being the most salient takeaway from the six hour interview with Moyer:
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.
Consequently, bliss is closer to the idea of self-actualization or closer to the terms enlightenment or nirvana. In fact, Campbell sites an Indian text as his inspiration for the term "bliss." Again, for me, "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."
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, I moved across the country years later 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.
Whatever path you are walking now, may you be blessed and empowered to magnify your true self.
Related:
Mature Adults Embrace Their Wild Mind