In this 1966 lecture, "Mythology and Folklore", recorded at the Cooper Union, Joseph Campbell presents mythology as humanity’s oldest response to the awareness of death and selfhood. Across cultures, myth arises not as history but as symbolic language - shaped by shared human concerns about mortality, belonging, and the mystery of existence. While societies differ, the core mythic themes remain constant, revealing a common psychological ground beneath cultural variation. Campbell contrasts Weste

In this clip from a Q&A session following a lecture, Joseph Campbell discusses the "left-hand" path of mythology as the journey into our own depths. This Q&A session is unreleased footage from lectures featured in the Mythos series. For more on Mythos follow the link below; https://www.jcf.org/works/titles/mythos/ During the final years of his life, Joseph Campbell embarked on a speaking tour in which he drew together all that he had learned about what he called the “one great story” of humanity

From where are laws passed down: by word of God or gods, or from humans themselves? This week's video clip is from a lecture Campbell gave about the origins of the rules of the land that guide us and bind us to -- or, perhaps, separate us from -- one another across cultures. | Joseph Campbell