Joseph Campbell
Lecture I.1.1 - The Celebration of Life
Date: March 1, 1967
Venue: The Cooper Union
Now, I just want to speak about the phases in the development of any mythology. How did it start, and what happens to it?
I think one could say this: that all of the high cultures and low cultures and primitive cultures, and charming simple cultures, and great big enormous ones have grown out of myths. They are founded on myths. And what these myths have given has been inspiration for aspiration.
The economic interpretation of history is for the birds. Economics is itself a function of aspiration. It's what people aspire to that creates the field in which economics works. And people who don't have any aspirations—you know, the problem of a businessman who can't get people to want anything. It's the want; it's the aspiration. And what is wanted is not simply one, two or three meals a day and a bed—that's not enough. It's got to be much more than that to make a life.
Now, where do these aspirations come from? They come from a very wonderful, childlike thing: fascination. You know, if you wanted to make money today… I think I know economists, but I'll bet the thing to do would be to invest your money in something like cameras—things that people play with, things that they are fascinated by. These fascinations are the creations of new activities.
And when we look at the old cultures we can see—and some of it is very strange to see indeed…