A Lesson from Joseph Campbell: We Live In Nature, not On Nature

 

I am reading The Power of Myth, a collection of conversations that Bill Moyers had with Joseph Campbell, who once described mythology as “the song of the universe, the music of the spheres.”  The interviews were the focus of a six-part 1988 PBS television series; the interviews were also published as a book by Anchor Press in 1991.

In the first interview, Moyers asks, “Mother Earth.  Will new myths come from this image?”

Campbell’s answer sets the stage for us to think in new ways about our relationship to the world around us.  He says, “And the only myth that is going to be worth thinking about in the immediate future is one that is talking about the planet, not the city, not these people, but the planet, and everybody on it.  That’s my main thought for what the future myth is going to be. . . the society that its got to talk about is the society of the planet. And until that gets going, you don’t have anything.”

Campbell goes on to talk about Chief Seattle, quoting a version of a speech that this Northwest Native American leader supposedly gave upon learning that the federal government wanted to buy tribal lands to make way for immigrants in the 1850s.

“The President in Washington," he says, “sends word that he wishes to buy our land.  But how can you buy or sell the sky?  The land?  The idea is strange to us.  We do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?”

“We know the sap which courses through the trees,” he adds, “as we know the blood that courses through our veins.  We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters.  The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.  The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family. . .  If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh.”

“This we know,” he says, “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.  Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.  Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

These are the thoughts of a person who lives in nature and not—like some invasive species—on nature.  This summer, when the entire world is suffering from global warming brought about by our short-sighted greed and uncaring treatment of the earth, it is a message that carries new meaning.  It is time for us to find our place in this world and to remember Chief Seattle’s closing words:  “We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heart-beat.  So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it.  Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it.  Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.”

Henry Adams on Pennsylvania in 1800: "The History of the United States 1801-1809"

 

I have begun reading Henry Adams’ History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson.  It covers the cultural and political history of the U.S. from 1800 to 1809.  Originally, the book was published in nine volumes.  I am reading the Library of America edition, which includes 1252 pages. (The Library of America also publishes Adams’ History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison, which is equally long).

Adams, the descendant of two Presidents, had a personal interest in American history.  His grandfather was John Quincy Adams; his great-grandfather was John Adams.  That said, the book is not just about politics.  The first six chapters, covering 125 pages, explores what the United States looked like in the year 1800—a mere 24 years after 1776.  These chapters describe the variety of life in the U.S., with profiles of Northeastern, middle-Atlantic, and Southern states, how they viewed democracy, and how they dealt with political and social trends. I was especially surprised by his analysis of Pennsylvania:

The only true democratic community then existing in the eastern States, Pennsylvania was neither picturesque nor troublesome.  The State contained no hierarchy like that of New England; no great families like those of New York; no oligarchy like the planters of Virginia and South Carolina . . .The value of Pennsylvania to the Union lay not so much in the democratic spirit of society as in the rapidity with which it turned to national objects.  Partly for this reason, the State made an insignificant figure in politics. As the nation grew, less and less was said in Pennsylvania of interests distinct from those of the Union.  Too thoroughly democratic to fear democracy and too much nationalized to dread nationality, Pennsylvania became the ideal American State, easy, tolerant, and contented.  If its soil bred little genius, it bred still less treason. With twenty different religious creeds, its practice could not be narrow, and a strong Quaker element made it human.  If the American Union succeeded the good sense, liberality, and democratic spirit of Pennsylvania had a right to claim credit for the result (pp.80-81).

Jefferson was about to assume leadership of a nation struggling to find a common vision for their new democracy and for ways to take charge of their vast frontier.  I am looking forward to Adams’ telling of that tale.