Campbell says so well that literature of the spirit is literature about the "inner life" and about "eternal values that have to do with the centering of our lives." I agree and would add to that that literature of the spirit is about the 'big' questions in life such as who am I and what am I doing with my one precious life and is there a value or purpose to my life and to life in general and is there a soul and am I a spiritual being having a human experience or am I simply a human being with no spiritual side. Literature of the spirit stirs my thoughts and response to such questions and provokes my search. The question about the Power of Myth in my life triggers for me at this moment my identifying with Sleeping Beauty a bunch of times in my life, and some one or some event that woke me up to a vision about me and life that was more than what I had and prompted me to move and pursue in a different direction. I spent the first couple years of college in a seminary. I began to awaken (see things differently) while in the seminary, and after months of agonizing inner turmoil, I chose to leave, which was followed by a weekend of wandering the streets of Pittsburg (where the seminary was) in a state of confusion, most of which I don't remember. What I know is that after about 48 hours of that anguish and darkness, I came out of it into a clear light space and new life that was bigger for me than what I had -- confusion was gone and I was excited and beginning a next chapter. My journey was revised. At that point my inner journey was deepened. I think the theme of many myths is similar to that story about myself.
On Dec 9, 2012 david doane wrote :