The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Joseph Campbell’

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This is what we talked about on The Invisible Mentor Blog this week: The First 30 Days by Ariane de Bonvoisin, Mythologist Joseph Campbell and Interview with Leadership Coach and Career Consultant David Gray.

Mondays at the Salon

To master a topic of interest requires reading to further knowledge, and if you are interested in the topic for your personal interest, you would be reading for information. But to learn as much as possible about a subject, whether it be for information or to further your knowledge, Adler and Van Doren recommend that you read syntopically, which is reading several books at the same time about a specific topic, and looking at them in relationship to each other.

How to Fill the Information Gap Part Two

Booked on Tuesdays

According to Ariane de Bonvoisin, The First 30 Days: Your Guide to making Any Change Easier is about “a different way of looking at change; it’s about the creation of a new mind-set. The First 30 Days will guide you toward the positive in every change and will inspire you to love your life even more.” This book is important because change is a reality in our everyday lives. Change is never easy but we all have to learn to embrace it to move forward and The First 30 Days helps you to do that.

Review: The First 30 Days by Ariane de Bonvoisin

Wisdom Wednesdays

Joseph Campbell’s lifelong fascination with mythology can be traced back to his visits to the local library where he immersed himself in reading Arthurian legends and Native American mythology. Campbell’s visits to the American Museum of Natural History where he encountered Indian religious art and ethnographic literature being collected by anthropologists stirred his imagination and deepened his interest.

Joseph Campbell, Essayist, Mythologist and Author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces 

Perspective Thursdays and Workshop FridaysThis week we featured leadership coach and career consultant David Gray. Once in a while I interview the same person more than once and you get to see their evolution, David Gray is one of those people. The two interviews are fairly consistent though. David is a straight shooter, so he deals honestly with people and treats them with respect. He offers some very practical advice in his interview. Here are Part One and Part Two of David Gray’s interview.

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Interviewee Name: David Gray

Company Name: DSG Associates

Website: http://www.dsgassociates.ca

 Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

David Gray: The concept of integration is an interesting one.  In my opinion, there can be no distinction between who you are as a business leader or as an individual on a personal basis.  In other words, your ‘Self’ has to be an integrated whole.  Otherwise, by definition it would be impossible to lead with integrity and conviction.  However, one’s personal life is one’s own.  In an era of celebrity worship this concept of the private Self can be a difficult one for some people to grasp.  My solution is to advise people that I am available as a Coach during a quite broad number of hours.  Beyond that, my time is my own. 

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

David Gray: I spend my down time reading, walking my dog, Eddie, and doing mundane household chores.  I find all of these activities quite relaxing and conducive to engaging in a meditation of sorts.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

David Gray:

1. Be humble
2. Listen actively and intently.
3. Practise empathetic understanding.
4. Reflect intently.
5. Act decisively.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

David Gray: I try to cast a wide net in the initial research and planning phases and then take everything I have learned and turn it on its head.  This combination of broad search and contrarian analysis tends to enable new and innovative thoughts to emerge.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

David Gray: “Seek first to understand and only then to be understood” from Covey’s “7 Habits.”  I find that the world can be understood with any degree of accuracy only if one first casts aside one’s own inevitable prejudicial perspectives.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

David Gray: Success for me is defined in terms of relationships.  One is successful if one tries to give back to others more wisdom, more empathy and more joy than one takes for oneself.  We do not define our own reputation, our personal brand.  Other people do this for us.  And so, if our self-awareness and our reputation are to have any real congruency, then success can only be defined on a social rather than an individual basis.  Our success is inextricably entwined in what we give to others and what we share of ourselves with others, rather than what we take for ourselves and what we hold on to of ourselves solely for our own enjoyment.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

David Gray: I worked, and continue to work half days.  Sometimes it’s the first half of the day, sometimes the second.  Sometimes I break the day into quarters.  But I always try to work at least 12 hours a day.  Except on Sundays.  Then I generally only work six hours or so.  In other words, I worked hard and continue to do so.  However, one can only really work hard on a sustainable basis if one truly enjoys the work.  So the first key is to identify your life’s work, your true mission or ‘vocation’ as it used to be called.  After all, each of us is only here for a very brief period of time.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

David Gray: Figure out what you want to do in the way of a career.  Meantime, while life throws other opportunities your way – which probably on the surface appear to have very little to do with that desired career – work like the devil himself to succeed at whatever work you are doing at any given time.  There is no such thing as bad honest work.  Nor is there any such thing as undignified honest work.  So work hard and prosper.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

David Gray:

1. Sir Winston Churchill:  Thank you, thank you, thank you Sir, for staying the course throughout the wilderness years when lesser men succumbed to grovelling group think.
2. Robert E. Lee:  What were you thinking when you decided in favour of the Southern cause?  Far too many men died and far too much unnecessary suffering was caused by this fatally flawed decision which prolonged the failed Southern War of Secession.
3. Prince Charles Stuart:  Stay in France.  The Highland Scots have sufficient problems without your intrusion into their already difficult lives.
4. Julius Caesar:  Beware the Ides of March!
5. Socrates:  Just drink the damn hemlock old man!  You have poisoned enough young minds with your hypocritical musings – and will continue to confuse a sufficient number of older ones over the course of human time.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

David Gray: Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  This book brought me face-to-face with human mortality and our shared human journey, thus making clear the urgent need to become oneself, identify and follow one’s own ‘bliss’ and make a contribution to the human family, regardless of how humble or great that contribution might be.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

David Gray: The movie would be, The Natural.  I would seldom watch the film as I have already seen it at least three times.  But it would act as a constant reminder to focus on whatever is both relevant based on my own gifts and yet ‘doable’ based on circumstances at any given time.  The five books would include The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss so as to retain my sense of humour; Cervantes, Don Quixote (Penguin Classics) to ensure that I remember the absurdity of civilization; Foucault’s History of Madness  so as to understand the process as I would surely go slowly quite mad;  Kodokan Judo: The Essential Guide to Judo by Its Founder Jigoro Kano  to give me a structure that might enable me to retain some degree of physical fitness, as well as the anthology, The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged so as to nurture my soul even as my brain inevitably went a bit sideways.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

David Gray: The possibilities for self development and testing one’s own capabilities and limits.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

David Gray: Quiet reflection, exercise, and good wholesome food.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

David Gray: Enlightenment.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

David Gray: I am happy when…I am doing what I do best…practising Leadership Coaching.

David Gray:  I am unusually direct in speech, as I consider trust to be a condition most quickly built upon a foundation of honest communication.  At the same time, I take pains to be empathetic and non-threatening in my overall approach.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Name: Joseph Campbell

Birth Date: March 1904 – October 1987

Job Functions: Essayist, Mythologist, Author and Professor

Fields: Mythology and Education

Known For: The Hero with a Thousand Faces

A leading exponent of the idea of “myth”’ as an inherent characteristic of humanity, Joseph Campbell was born in New York City in the early twentieth century. His lifelong fascination can be traced back to Campbell’s visits to the local library where he immersed himself in reading Arthurian legends and Native American mythology. Campbell’s visits to the American Museum of Natural History where he encountered Indian religious art and ethnographic literature being collected by anthropologists stirred his imagination and deepened his interest.

Campbell attended Dartmouth College 1921 – 1922 then transferred to Columbia University where he attained his Bachelor of Art and Masters of Art in 1925 and 1927 respectively. For his Master’s degree, Campbell compared the Arthurian legends with Native American myths. In 1927, he traveled to Europe to prepare for his dissertation work. Campbell studied medieval French literature at the University of Paris in 1927 – 1928, and Sanskrit and Indo-European philosophy at the University of Munich in 1928 – 1929.

In Europe, Campbell also discovered modern art, literature (Campbell was intrigued by the fictional heroes of novelists, James Joyce and Thomas Mann) and psychology (Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung). For Campbell, Freud and Jung opened up questions about the “unconscious structure and the quest for a meaningful life.” Jung’s theory of collective archetypes and their role in self-integration impacted Campbell’s thinking. He was also influenced by cultural mythologist Adolpf Bastian’s notion of elementary ideas and ethnologist Leo Frobenius’s idea of culture circle.

Campbell’s experience in Europe changed the focus of his doctoral work and when he returned to New York in 1929, he proposed to Columbia that he study mythical themes in literature, which they resisted. He abandoned his doctoral work. During the Great Depression, Campbell moved to Woodstock, New York. For the next five years, living on the funds he earned as a jazz band musician while in college, Campbell read widely and traveled from Woodstock to Carmel, California and sailed up the Alaskan coast. While in California, Campbell met John Steinbeck (Won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath) and biologist Edward Ricketts.

Campbell taught for a year at Canterbury School, New Milford, Connecticut, before joining the faculty of literature at Sarah Lawrence College in 1934, where he stayed for 38 years. He liked the tutorial-seminar system practiced at Sarah Lawrence College because it allowed him to develop his interpretive style in the classroom.

In 1943, Campbell provided commentary on the first volume of the Bollingen Series, Where the Two Came to Their Father: A Navaho War Ceremonial, and with Henry Robinson, Campbell co-authored A Skeleton Key to Finnegan’s Wake (1944), an interpretive James Joyce’s novel. These two works, showed brilliance in his ability to use disparate works of literature to study mythic analysis of themes. While working on A Skeleton Key to Finnegan’s Wake, Campbell heard lectures by the German refugee Indologist Heinrich Zimmer, which deeply moved him.

Campbell began his literary work as editor of the writings of Heinrich Zimmer, after his sudden death in 1943. Campbell dedicated 12 years to turning Zimmer’s lecture notes into four volumes: Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization; The King and the Corpse, Philosophies of India, and The Art of Indian Asia, which were published from 1946 to 1955. Before Zimmer died he had introduced Campbell to editors of the planned Bollingen Series, which resulted in his eventual editing of Jungian Conference’s Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks (1954–68). Campbell was a skilled editor, which allowed him to work on projects such as The Portable Arabian Nights (1952), The Masks of God (1959–68), and The Portable Jung (1971).

Campbell’s first solo work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces was first published in 1949. Campbell drew on Freudian and Jungian psychology to argue that hero myths worldwide use a universal narrative formula to describe rites of passage. In the book, he “examines a number of ‘hero’ tales from around the world in which Campbell discerns the same basic outline. He offers a thesis that myths provide instruction on how we should live, and says that the common themes of mythology throughout the world show these ideas are inherent in human biology. He also launches his search for what he terms the ‘mono-myth,’ the single underlying story all the myths tell.”  Still immensely popular today, Campbell was awarded the National Arts and Literature grant because of the success of The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

YouTube Video

The Hero’s Journey/Monomyth as Defined by Dr. Joseph Campbell/Star Wars

If you cannot view this YouTube video please click here.

Campbell followed The Hero with a Thousand Faces with the four-volume The Masks of God (1959–68), which traces the development of ancient mythology and argues for the need of a new worldwide mythology adaptable to the emerging worldwide culture. He started the six-volume Historical Atlas of World Mythology, of which only two volumes were completed – the editors completed the other volumes and published them posthumously in 1988, the year following Campbell’s death. Campbell also did a series of interviews with Bill Moyers, which was broadcast posthumously over the Public Broadcasting Service as The Power of Myth, and later published as a book with the same name.

His library and papers have been deposited at the Pacifica Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Though several people criticized Campbell for his work, many people have stated that The Hero with a Thousand Faces profoundly impacted their lived. The book inspired George Lucas who made the Star Wars movies.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Sources of Works Cited/Referenced

Encyclopedia of World Biography

New Catholic Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia of Religion

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology

Contemporary American Religion

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Interviewee Name: David Gray

Company Name: DSG Associates

Website: http://www.davidgraycoach.com

Avil Beckford:  How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

David Gray: My personal and professional life are seamless in the sense that I work almost every day and I set my own hours, so one blends into the other in that respect.  On the other hand, I make a very clear distinction between clients and friends.  Sometimes one becomes the other and vice versa, but for the most part my private life is just that.

Avil Beckford:  What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

David Gray: I regret not having traveled the world when I was in my twenties instead of jumping right into a career.

Avil Beckford:  What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

David Gray:

1. Treat everyone as a friend unless or until they give you reason not to do so
2. Seek to understand and only then to be understood
3. Be completely trustworthy, as trust is the foundation for all true relationships
4. Be true to yourself
5. Treat everyone with dignity and respect, but be especially gentle with the old, the young, the weak and the less fortunate

Avil Beckford:  When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

David Gray: I spend my “down-time” in one of four ways:  thinking/reflecting on my own; working out physically at the gym or at home; reading; with close friends, usually one-to-one.

Avil Beckford:  What process do you use to generate great ideas?

David Gray: Take the situation, consider the conventional wisdom and then try to turn it on its head and see what comes up.  In other words, think in a consciously contrarian style.

Avil Beckford:  How do you define success?

David Gray: Success as I define it is an intensely personal and individual reality.  For me personally, success fundamentally consists in being true to my own ideals and life philosophy while engaging in a genuine way with clients and friends such that they feel enriched for having spent time with me.

Avil Beckford:  In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

David Gray: The formula for success is simple:  Chase your dreams, not other people’s ideas of success.

Avil Beckford:  What does it take to succeed in your field?

David Gray: To be successful in my field one typically needs empathy, compassion, a conscientious work ethic and a background in HR.  However, to be truly outstanding one additionally needs a great degree of life history in a variety of business settings as well as a high degree of intuitive and innovative intelligence in order to be able to work with people from numerous diverse backgrounds who are each struggling with very individual career and life challenges.  In a word, one needs wisdom.  And typically, that can only be accumulated over a long period of time after encountering a variety of challenging situations in one’s own career and life.

Avil Beckford:  Which one book had a profound impact on your life?

David Gray: Hero of a Thousand Faces by the great mythologist, Joseph Campbell.  He taught me to ‘follow my bliss.’

Avil Beckford:  If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Give a brief summary of each book.

David Gray:

• Don Quixote, by Miguel De Cervantes:  The first modern novel, this book revolutionized the imaginative approach to the then core myth of Chivalry, itself a central concept in most European’s self-construct.  This book reminds us never to take at face value the assumptions of the society in which we happen to live because of vagaries of our birth in a particular geographical space, social context and time.
• The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History, by Philip Bobbitt.  An erudite and sweeping review of European history until the 19th century and then an analysis of world history in the 20th and early 21st centuries viewed from the dual perspectives of Law and War.  This book provides a context within which to grasp the complex geopolitics of the world we currently live in.
• The Poetry of Robert Frost: All eleven of his books – complete, edited by Edward Connery Lathem.  This book reminds one that the only life worth living is one including a degree of reflection.
• The Measure of a Man: a Spiritual Autobiography - Sidney Poitier.  This book teaches a man how to live as a man.  In a day and age when men are increasingly out of touch with their essential masculinity, Poitier’s story of his personal challenges, triumphs and philosophy of life reads like a melodic breath of very fresh air.
• Lincoln’s Melancholy:  How Depression Challenged a President and Fuelled His Greatness, by Joshua Wolf Shenk.  A biography that reads like a detective novel. The real Lincoln is far more fascinating and inspiring than the manufactured American myth of the man.  Like Poitier’s book, this one provides insights into what is possible to achieve and, far more importantly, what it means to live life as a man who is true to his own vision, come hell or high water.  Interestingly, in Lincoln’s case it was the hellfire of a bullet, whereas for Poitier it was a near-death experience with high water.

Avil Beckford:  If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

David Gray: If I could have one wish granted, it would be to have all of my future wishes granted on a reversible (if unintended consequences ensued) basis.  But seriously…it would be to see President Obama lead the world, by astute understanding and management of long-range American foreign affairs interests, out of the political and economic bankruptcy created by the current American Administration and into a new era of relative peace and stability.

Avil Beckford:  Complete the following, I am happy when…..

David Gray: I am happ(iest) when surrounded by a few very close friends, discussing world affairs, telling jokes, enjoying the warmth of each other’s company and generally having a good laugh while stretching our minds.

About David Gray

David has advised executive clients based in Canada, the UK, Europe and Asia. In addition to his own consulting practice, David serves as President of the Board, Toronto Chapter of the Association of Career Professionals International (ACP International), and is a member of the Strategic Leadership Forum (GTA).

Prior to working as a career and strategic leadership consultant, David held management positions in Canada and the UK in business & technology consulting, and started up and managed two Divisions in Canada for a blue chip, global financial services organization.

David’s quiet, incisive, highly personalized approach has inspired many executives and entrepreneurs who are in process of redefining strategic paradigms to realize growth opportunities on both a business and personal level.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Which book has had the most profound impact on your life, and why? If you asked successful leaders which one book had the most impact on their lives, it’s highly unlikely that they would name a business book. Most would name a book that provokes thought. Is your one book thought provoking? I have culled from the interviews, seven books that have influenced the successful leaders which I have presented to you on this blog.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron with its stepwise approach, and again it’s about honoring the childish side of yourself, to play, to have time that’s just for you, that’s not trying to be better, or doing your duties was a huge revelation for me when I saw how difficult that was to do. Carolyn Barber

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It taught me to embrace life, and no matter what to always appreciate the moment, live your life in the moment and not to let the other things get in your way. It’s an amazing book. Sean MacDonald

Steven King’s The Stand, mostly because of the creative writing and the descriptions he used to set scenes, describe characters and make you, as the reader, feel like you were in this world. Don Martelli

Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I love that book and it’s probably the one that I have read more than any other book. I’ve read it about a dozen times. It really speaks to me in terms of living your true life and stepping to your own drum. It’s very emotional and if reincarnation is true I feel like Henry David Thoreau was one of my past lives. John Kremer

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by the great mythologist, Joseph Campbell.  He taught me to ‘follow my bliss.’ David Gray

David Copperfield, (Charles Dickens) – I first heard this book serialized on the radio aged 9. I read the book aged 10 and still find it an inspiration. The exploration of family life, friendship, love, hardship, death, human greatness/imperfection, as well as personal evolution encompasses just about every human emotion … Rodger Harding

Tom Peters – Brand You 50. This was one of the very first books on personal branding and started my journey. As soon as I read it I realized what he was talking about was what I had done in my career and explained a lot. It was probably more emotional because it spoke to my belief that you can do what you want to do if you put your mind and efforts to it. Paul Copcutt

How many of these seven books have you read? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.