I remember the Bill Moyers PBS series “The Power of Myth” when it first aired. It had a tremendous impact on me. I became a big fan of both Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) and Bill Moyers and was spellbound by their insightful dialogue.
Joseph Campbell was a mythologist, writer and lecturer. When he spoke about “following your bliss” it resonated with me – and millions of other people. That phrase became the most memorable part of the show, as is reflected in the attached video.
MOYERS: Do you ever have this sense, when you are following your bliss, as I have at moments, of being helped by hidden hands?
CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as the result of invisible hands coming all the time – namely, that if you follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.
(Excerpted from “The Power of Myth,” by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, p. 150).
Read more about Joseph Campbell and bliss in my next post.