[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What has Joseph Campbell taught you about becoming an adult?
John Bucher, Writer and Narrative Consultant: Joseph Campbell taught me two key things about becoming an adult that have really stayed with me. He said that the cave you fear to enter often times holds the treasure that you seek. That idea has stayed with me because often times it is that story I’ve been afraid to tell that has the meaning I’ve been looking for. The expression that I want so many times, the cave that I have feared to enter, has been a cave of laziness. It’s been a cave of commitment to my craft. Yet as I have determined to enter that cave I’ve seen magical things appear. When I say magical things I’m referring to magical things within myself.
See in essence that cave we fear to enter is always inside of us. It’s not in the things we do, it’s that place inside of ourselves that we’re afraid to go but this is what becoming an adult is about, being willing to finally enter those deepest caves inside ourselves that we’ve long been afraid to enter.
The other thing that Joseph Campbell talked about and this really was important to my growth as a human being and my own embracing of adulthood, it became a bumper sticker many years later but he used this phrase Follow Your Bliss. It was advice that he used to give his students at Sarah Lawrence College every semester and certainly that idea has had a number of critics that say Well this is just talking about Hedonism and just whatever feels good, do it but that wasn’t at all what he was talking about. The sort of bliss that Joseph Campbell was talking about it’s that which brings you life, that which makes life full of wonder for you, that which draws your curiosity and causes you to think beyond yourself.
Later he joked he said I should have said follow your blisters because so often it’s a painful road. Following your bliss is not always easy. Sometimes it can cost you everything but it really is the only way to fully come into your full self. I mean at the end of the day that’s what all of us are trying to do, we’re trying to become the fullest version of ourselves that we can. Campbell said that he didn’t so much believe people were looking for the meaning of life as much as they were the rapturous experience of …(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
John Bucher is a mythologist, storyteller, and writer based out of Hollywood, California. He serves as Executive Director for the Joseph Campbell Foundation and is an author, podcaster, and speaker. He has worked with government and cultural leaders around the world as well as organizations such as HBO, DC Comics, The History Channel, A24 Films, Atlas Obscura, and The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation. He has served as a producer, consultant, and writer for numerous film, television, and Virtual Reality projects. He is the author of six books including the best-selling Storytelling for Virtual Reality, named by BookAuthority as one of the best storytelling books of all time. John has worked with New York Times Best Selling authors, YouTube influencers with followings of more than 2 million, Eisner winners, Emmy winners, Academy Award nominees, and cast members from Saturday Night Live. He holds a PhD in Mythology & Depth Psychology and has spoken on 6 continents about using the power of story and myth to reframe how individuals, organizations, cultures, and nations believe and behave.
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