Meditating on Yellowstone

I'm going to let a little of the old hippie out and get a little serious here.  I know why I'm taking this trip to Yellowstone, but I should share it with you.  Several years ago I saw Joseph Campbell interviewed by Bill Moyers on PBS.  At the time, I didn't know much about him.  I didn't even know that he had died in 1987 which was a big disappointment.  Sometimes you have heroes that you hope you can meet someday or at least attend a lecture to breathe the air they breathe.  That will never happen, but thanks to television, his books and DVDs, his words will always be available.

Thanks to wikipedia.com, you can learn more about this amazing man who studied and wrote about mythology and comparative religion.  Sounds a bit intense?  Yes.  His books aren't meant for light reading with a bowl of popcorn.  I've never been able to get through one without having my eyes cross a bit, but if you cut to the essence of what he said, you will find your life changed in small or huge ways.

If you notice, at the top of my blog, I say that I will be "Working, Writing, and Following My Bliss."  Joseph Campbell is responsible for "follow your bliss" which many a flower child has chanted, I'm sure.  Here is the full quote and you decide if it isn't the most thought provoking prose you have ever read:

Follow your bliss.

If you do follow your bliss, 

You put yourself on a kind of track

that has been there all the while waiting for you 

and the life you ought to be living

is the one you are living.

When you can see that,

you begin to meet people

who are in the field of your bliss,

and they open the doors to you.

I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,

and doors will open

where you didn't know they were going to be.

If you follow your bliss,

doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.

I have followed my bliss in small ways, but this time, I'm going wide open.  Whenever I question the sanity of my decision, I read this quote and know that it was meant to be.

Have you followed your bliss?  Do you know what it is?  I would love to hear from you now, or tomorrow or months down the road.  I will quote him again, because if you think this is the only amazing thing he ever said, you are so wrong.  I'm taking one of his books with me to Yellowstone for inspiration.  So, until class meets again..."All is well."