JOSEPH CAMPBELL

Joseph Campbell was a B.A. and M.A. both from Columbia University. He wanted to be a scholar but evidently with no PhD he had a difficult time getting a job. His family was evidently wealthy and they helped him early on with his odd quest. He applied to many schools for academic jobs and over 100 schools turned him down without even an interview. This because he did not have a PhD I presume. He landed a job at Sarah Lawrence College in the Hudson River area of NYS as a professor of mythology and stayed there for over 40 years. I deeply am moved by Joe's writings and at one point he advocates a formula for success.........summed up as "follow your bliss"...........in other words do what your heart tells you is right for you. The phrase "follow your bliss" comes from Act II Scene VII of Shakespeare's famous play "The Merchant of Venice".........."so follow your bliss and hold on to your fair lady and give her a loving kiss".............that is not a direct quote but it is essentially the message from Shakespeare. Follow your bliss means to embrace your destiny and do what comes naturally for you to do. But directly Shakespeare meant that you should embrace the love in your life as your primary destiny.........and marry and go on. Campbell's take on this is not about marriage so much as it is about pursuing your natural tendencies and expressing your creativity in the World to the greatest extent possible.........in particular Campbell says that you should abandon at all costs a mundane routine in life of working at a job you hate to carve out what will surely turn out to be an unhappy existence and an unfulfilled destiny. Campbell advocates basically to walk off the dead end job and strike out on your own pathway blazing your own unique trail of truth in this World thereby fulfilling your true destiny. This previous sentence is what people have called "Joe's formula". Campbell speaks about "magic hands" that will come out of nowhere to guide you and support you in your quest. Well my response to all of this advice is that I followed my bliss and (1) I did propose marriage to my fair lady and she has turned it around and rejected me in life and (2) I pursued my passions in life, walking off of several dead end jobs, and trying to express my innate creativity to its fullest extent..........I followed Joe's formula just about perfectly..............and by 46 I was living poorly and struggling seemingly with no end in sight........and it is 9 years later and my status has not changed much. My question to Joe is, "All right already I followed your formula perfectly and there is no apparent recognition for what I have done and no kind of security whatsoever..........your formula doesn't always work right Joe?