We cite Joseph Campbell quite a bit at MEA, but it wasn’t until I read Rick Moody’s insightful monthly “Human Values in Aging” newsletter that I saw Campbell’s beautiful piece of wisdom (you can ask to see the newsletter by emailing Rick Moody at [email protected]). In some ways, it’s not surprising to read that Joseph Campbell saw midlife not as a crisis but as a chrysalis, a time for transformation.
Midlife can feel mythical, a Hero’s Journey through a dark, solitary, liminal landscape. But, at the same time, it’s also when we get “slapped up the side of the head” and regain consciousness. It’s when we can see the painful and laughable patterns of our lives to distill some wisdom moving forward. And, if we’re truly modern elders, we’ll share that wisdom with those younger than us.
Thanks for MEA alum Kim Kennedy for finding this clip from Bill Moyers’ PBS series with Joseph Campbell in which Campbell talks about midlife and even uses a car analogy (which I loved to hear since I’ve suggested our body is a rental vehicle).
-Chip
PS.
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