Last year at one point I wrote about Joseph Campbell. At some point my dad watched the Bill Moyers interviews with the great expert on myths and became intrigued by his philosophy. Dad was quite taken with what Mr. Campbell had to say and he bought a few books and tried to talk to others about Campbell’s world-view.

I love my dad and would listen to what he had to say. Sometimes I would miss the point. Other times, I wasn’t ready for the message. Back in the 1970’s my dad’s mentor Al Capen put him on to JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. My sister and one brother read them and really enjoyed the stories. But I had the hardest time getting started with it. Perhaps it contradicted the stories I had in my head at the time and I didn’t have room for Hobbitses and Elves and Gollum.

Eventually I read Tolkein’s stories and loved them. In like manner I have been making my way through Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth. It is a bit of a challenge. One challenge is just reading what Campbell has to say and synthesizing it. Another challenge is deciding what to do about the awareness the book brings.

Last week I finished another chapter and staring me in the face is a new chapter Follow your Bliss. I haven’t started to read it, but I have looked around the Joseph Campbell website. Something tells me that my current job is not going to be where I find my bliss. Just a hunch.