Joseph Campbell and the Myth of the Hero's Journey
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2016
- In this video we explore the relationship between mythology and the unconscious, and look at the monomyth Joseph Campbell called the myth of the hero's journey.
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Support us on Patreon: / academyofideas
Recommended Readings:
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell - amzn.to/1rsulJ6 (affiliate link)
Pathways to Bliss by Joseph Campbell - amzn.to/28HSv43 (affiliate link)
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell - amzn.to/1ZUkSGe (affiliate link)
Get the transcript (see the bottom for links to all the paintings used in the video): academyofideas.com/2016/06/jos...
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To me this sounds like every midlife crysis ever. You start with doing things that you think are expected from you, that are normal. You do this the first 30-40 years. You realize that those things aren't actually the things you wanted to do. It makes no sense so you fall into depression. You think about your life, how time is flying by and is gone forever, what you actually want from life. Either it crushes you or you emerge like a Phoenix and become the person you want to be.
Very true. Another variation would be something like what I've been through. At a young age, I did discover my calling, music. I proceeded to take it quite seriously and got quite good. Then alcohol and drugs came along, and it was fun. So I did both, music and party. But I never grew up, and the fun started to be destructive. But I kept at it, and it got worse. Though I continued to work in music, my career was clearly moving backwards, not to mention losing friends and sinking deeper into poverty, unable to care for myself. And this is where many stay, because, although it's painful, it's easier (in the clouded mind) to just continue as is. Well, I got sick of it (many times), but finally did something about it. The last few years have been full of growth and clarity, as I have revitalized my health and passions, and unsurprisingly, this rebirth has made all the difference in my relationships and work situation. Best of all is the strength gained from knowing I did the better/harder thing, and all the joy and creativity I'm able to experience and share. The temptation to get f'd up is always there, but for me, it's clearly not worth it. I love feeling like a boss.
@@jasonwalsh8281 feel ya bro
@Blackpilled Saint I wish you the best of luck my dude. You gonna get through this.
relatable at 17
@@jasonwalsh8281 you be a rockstar bro
These videos for many are mentors and the best sidekicks as we venture forward.
+V Landan Laurusaitis That's awesome.
Iron BUTTERFLY 🦋🦋🦋🦋
That's absolutely true. Thank you very much!
When you are ready, the teacher will appear to you :)
@@ArkansasGamer is this a quote, or are those your words? It really speaks to me. If this is a quote, from whom is it?
Edit: I found it, it's attributed to Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni
As someone who's very familiar with Joseph Campbell's work, this is a terrific summary. Makes me feel good about watching your other videos, as it allows me to be confident that you're not mischaracterising the subjects you talk about in the way that a channel like School of Life does.
Her,here!
In what way does School Of Life mischaracterise its subjects?
The school life often takes a different view on subjects and content rather than misinterpreting them
This channel is Awesome!
I recognise the hero’s journey in my own life, I descended into the dark and unknown, after a period of anxiety, curiosity and silence I found myself enlightened and wiser exploring the unknown and facing your own shadows is scary, you experience ego death, you stay in this formless state for a while, afterwards you feel reborn, fresh and present in each moment, this is what si experienced last year, this year my spirit broke because of the consequences of a physical issue, I once again stand between two choices, descending into my unconscious mind, transcending the archetypes and possibly heal my spirit, or not descend and stay in this broken state, making poor choices, being and not living. Descending into one’s unconscious mind is no small thing, for when you choose that path you are not certain that there will be blissfulness, there is a possibility that you lose your sanity and this might be worse than daring to undertake this journey in the first place. The chances of reaching a stage of blissfulness and rebirth are there when you descent. There are no chances for blissfulness when you don’t.
The question is ; how is this done? Cut the grand words and gestures...
Wow, this pretty perfectly mirrors my path in self-development since last summer. I need to read Jung and Campbell.
Danil Thorstensson I'm about to go into the unknown ,
@@arkman2237 So how did it go? I'd imagine if you haven't done what you want you'd try again :)
@@maxsotelo9518 it happens automatically i think wheter you want it or not, you will be faced with a challenge so great you will be forced to change, it happenend to me like almost 2 years now and im not a new man or whatever i stilll have lots of things to improve, but the myth of the heroes journey is true, specially the death and rebirth part
@@arkman2237 wow. Response after three years! Amazing! :) 👍 Thanks for the reply! 👍
Jung is my dude. Mbti 100% real. I just lived the heroes journey to a tale. I am working on my anima now. How did your research go?
I search many videos about the heroes journey and this is the best one. You go into great depths about it in such a short time.
I moved to Vegas thinking my hometown Covington, Louisiana was why I couldn't succeed. Only to learn that it is not where you are but what you are doing that succeeds.
I did the same thing but in Canada. I moved from Ontario to British Columbia. You have to change yourself ❤
That is completly false. You were born in USA and that isnt the whole world. Try being born in the middle east and "succeding".
That’s wisdom right there
The older I get, the more I realise that the mindset you have is what determines your outcomes (out of all the things that are under your control).
Granted, if you’re born into some god forsaken war torn hell hole, you’re gonna have a way worse chance of ‘success’ relative to someone born in New York. But at the same time, the mindset that you embody should allow you to progress in whatever little microcosm that you inhabit.
Yo, AOI I really should comment on more of your vids to show my appreciation but wow, you are definitely my favorite UA-camr. Everything you post seems to coincide with my same path of interest and each of them grips my soul! Thanks for all the knowledge!! You’re amazing
This channel is a bliss.
Divinely inspired, thank you. Also love how the last word of the whole video is "bliss."
You are my favorite philosophy channel
school of life is great too.
+Marcus Tullius Cicero School of Life is trash :/ I can't stand the pretentious tone of the narrator.
School of life is good and helpful ,too. but this one is sure the best.
+Hayden Smart I thought I was the only one lol
school of life is superficial. They dont explain the theories in detail.
Bro, you actually read the books and got them and summarized them. Thanks for people like you!
I really love how you condensed this so eloquently and powerfully. Thank you for creating this.
Thank you for this valuable work. It makes it so much easier to share these ideas and everyone can tapp into this at her/his own pace 🙏🧡💛🧡
Thank you for the effort and love you put into making this series of videos; really enjoyed this one. Love your channel! Keep it up! :-)
Wow dude, your channel is amazing! Keep it up! Thanks for this.
You're a savior, man. Thank you for all the work you are doing.
I had forgotten so much of this... what a great refresher in Campbell
moral : take chances
Don't take chances, take acid
@@s.a.l.1974 Drugs are a crutch for weakness and damage your brain.
It’s better to regret something you’ve done, rather than regretting something you haven’t done!
I think this is a book with many morals bud
@@Obese_Pterodactyl unless they change your perspective, and enrich your life. Drugs (and I mean ALL psychoactive drugs, which includes coffee f.e.) are just tools, discarding all of them seems ridiculous.
Anyone who dismisses the unconscious element in our human experience does so at their own peril. To deeply experience and understand all the forces that influence our thoughts, feelings and actions is to be whole and free. These forces of shadow and light impact our daily existence at various strengths, dependent on one's current predicament of the here and now. Before I bury the lead here, a powerful way to become acquainted with this space is via a safe, well-considered psychedelic experience. One where set and setting is sufficient, a knowledgeable sitter is used, and the psychedelic substance is of known provenance. Before you settle into some pet philosophy or psychological solipsism, be willing to take a hero's journey into your own being---by whatever means you can allow. Find out all that you are made of...
Well said my friend. The idea of harnessing your unconscious is a daunting task. So few have the courage to unlock their potentially far beyond the surface. I too would like to know thyself beyond the mere opinion of other's structuring my life.
Mark Huslage that was very well said, because you are absolutely right, the responsible use of psychedelics can bring one to the most profound of epiphanies, and enlighten and expand perception like nothing else, but, and I can’t emphasize this enough, it is imperative to keep yourself ANCHORED, please follow his guidelines! Because not doing so, is an iffy gamble, one can easily become fearful and lost there. With an experienced guide you are far more able to comprehend and process what you encounter entering this wonderful gateway into the astral plane.
@@jacquelyndiamond3301 I agree almost entirely, but if I could suggest, to be lost is to know how to be found. And to be lost is to find where to go.
I am made flesh, bones and das spirit of das Big Bang.
Based
Thank you so much for making these video's. They're great.
My call to adventure is the quest to slay my own depression. Negativity is a very real monster.
Thank youuuu for the amazing content and explanations 🙏
You make the subject easy to digest and straightforward. I enjoy that about your work 👌🏼
your voice takes me on a journey, great job I love this video
One of best channel I have ever come across.
6:12 - Descending deeper and deeper into the psyche, overcoming trials and experiencing moments of ecstatic insight, eventually one's previous self begins to disintegrate and a new more impressive self begins to form. In myths this stage is symbolized as a death and rebirth in which the hero enters a dark area.
Psychedelics produce an effect known as ego-death, in which one's constructed identity dissolves and allows one to embrace the cosmic.
wow. brilliant video. love the quotes throughout for supporting evidence. thank you.
This is so excellent. Great insights and summary.
Fantastic as always!
Well taught to listeners. I am pleased to revisit what turned my life journey awareness; self examination is painful as is required to meet the true self. Very good to hear and not an accident, today!
Thank you. Beautifully spoken and well needed at this point in my journey. Very dark night of the soul trip recovering aspects of being. But very fascinating inexplicable help beyond my own capabilities....all written down ready to be put out into the world....but stuck at the how to....your video has helped by stating that it is hard ...I thought I was lacking in something as I have been sitting on this stuff for 6 months. And I am a go-getter normally. Once again thank you!!!
It made me think of the dark night of the soul as well.
Let us do all we can to help this channel financial, I am impressed!
Very good video! Thank you. I based my thesis on the "Hero´s Journey" theory to explain the adventure of a young person who wants to be a doctor - he/she goes to college, tries to find solutions and comes back a different person from the beginning. Some follow their bliss and dome don´t. I think you can be happy only when you are honest to yourself and follow what you want deep in your soul. It maybe a journey of pain, but the reward is worth it. Thank you, Mr. Jung and Mr. Campbell.
Always great videos brother
Very high value content.
Thanks ever so much.
your ideas really helped me a lot
I hope you enjoy our latest video!
Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/academyofideas
Recommended Readings:
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell - amzn.to/1rsulJ6 (affiliate link)
Pathways to Bliss by Joseph Campbell - amzn.to/28HSv43 (affiliate link)
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell - amzn.to/1ZUkSGe (affiliate link)
Get the transcript (see the bottom for links to all the paintings used in the video): academyofideas.com/2016/06/joseph-campbell-myth-of-the-heros-journey
Thanks for the videos!
This is awesome. Thank you!
Thank you. you`re really doing a magnificent job.
I know Joe's work very well...Excellent inspiring presentation...!!
Amazing video.Thank you!
Thanks friend!
Excellent content!
This video helped me a lot ☺️ Thank you so much 🙏
Thank you. I have read about the hero's journey in Joseph Campbell's books. I had forgotten that he based this on Jung.
coreycox2345 based on Jung in part and more at the first.
Outstanding video. Illuminating.
Man keep making this wonderful videous
Amazing work.
Fantastic overview!
I'm utterly humbled by the great minds that came before me and so thankful I live at a time that their works are made so accessible. Thank you Academy of Ideas.
This was very well presented.
I really like the art you use for your videos. Keep up the great work! PS: Maybe you could put a link to all the art that's u use in the description, just an idea :)
Fine presentation. Thank you!
How wonderful is this. I have said it before; I will say it again: How Wonderful Is This.
I love your videos. Thank you
I’m doing the death and rebirth and it feels so good to be landing on my feet…I’m so amazed at what I can do …I am figuring out how to nourish it…it requires isolation right now so for to stand walking in the spirit without distractions. I know distractions may come but I’m going to have to figure out how to continue on this level plane… it’s so exciting to me…maybe extremely boring to others 😂❤🎉
I’m trying to find the balance but it’s hard when I fresh in this new person of the combination of the unconscious and conscious. Finally they’ve come together!
Be blessed ✝️
your work is amazing
Thanks you for teaching
Great video. Thanks!
thank you, you did a great job defining Joe's genius
Brilliant!!!
+Academy of Ideas
Did your voice crack towards the end or was it just me imagining it?
Either way, this is fantastic stuff. I'm torn between binge watching a lot of your videos or learning more about what you talked here.
This was a good one
This video was launched two months before I quit my job because of a existential crysis. It is interesting how true the hero's journey is, just took longer than I expected.
Brilliant and Resourceful. Redd.
Disheartened halls of wretched glory
We stretch our wings in cold despair
The safety of the hearth is holy
Protects us from the midnight air
How often have we heard the ballad
The bards have sung of certain threat
How often have we dreamt of peril
Afraid of subsequent regret
Today shall be the day, we whisper
To free us from this panicked state
But in the face of all the horrors
We doubt ourselves, we hesitate
Don't go alone, take courage with you
A voice within and yet so far
Resolve the echo of the aeons
The chaos of the dancing star
Soon starts the journey up the mountain
For years on end it seems to last
And as we struggle to its summit
The Future turns back to the Past
Alas begins the fight to climb back
Endurance our biggest aid
But once disposed of all that binds us
The triumph withers, starts to fade
For now the entrance is upon us
That leads into the place we dread
Our demons greet us from its darkness
Formed by the fears that we once fed
A coward would reject this treasure
A hero stare into abyss
Prepared to die, accepting failure
We take the leap, follow our bliss
The moment we have slain the dragon
The second we can claim reward
Confusion seeps into our passion
Should we withdraw or seize the sword
A long and weary road ahead
More gruesome as the one behind
With careful steps we're tracing strides
Our eyes wide open, yet so blind
Thus ends the journey and our lives
And with them our desire
The cups filled till the brim with joy
Our bellies full of fire
To share divine complexity
Death favors sweet release
Until the day we rise again
Allowing us to Rest in Peace
@AlyxBeyondthePale Hi Alyx! I wrote it myself, thank you so much. So weird though, I wrote and posted this over a year ago and just re-visited it this weekend, after not having thought about it for many months. 💓
That's one hell of an awesome composition that I've ever read in UA-cam comments 👏👏👏
@@ammararauf4520 Thank you, Ammara! 🥰 So weird again though... I've had almost a complete writers block for a few months now. Hardly got anything done. A few hours ago, I got inspired to start writing again (something about the Tao Te Ching), and have been at it the whole day, and bang! Another loving comment on my poem! So thankful and full of gratitude!
@@dominikrisse8099 good to know that......wishing you to go ahead with full vigor (PS: that poem has inspired me to start writing my research paper) 😇
@@ammararauf4520 Ahhh... research papers... a daunting task! Still got a couple on my to-do list as well... 😅
So glad to hear, you got some inspiration from the poem!
What is the paper about?!
that is fantastic....wow.its like your reading my mind...😇
Love this.
Brilliant..!!
Absolutely love this channel- this vid has cleared up soi much for me 're Joseph Campbell's- The Heroes Journey - of particular interest is The Threshold Guardian - twas enlightening to discover thst it can be the Shadow rejected and laying in the surface layers of the unconcsience - wow so we ourselves in a sense are the Threshold Gardians preventing our moving forward on our own Heroes Journey - it's interesting how in religion we always want to blame an external entity for our blessing and our misfortunes but the closer we arrive to the truth the more we discover the journey is internal and it's all up to us and our decisions and our choices as to where we move to n
Jus so you're aware youre videos are still very relevant!
Without the knowledge of both good and evil, we could not know the good, and that is worse than evil. Life is not all about the light but a harmonious balance, it is only in the dark that you can become enlightened.
We are all willing participants in this game we are playing and helping to co create. Life is a cycle and this one has required darkness, pain, evil, and slavery. Yet it is these very things that have allowed us to know our light, find meaning in pain, given us the choice to be good and to truly know what is to be free. Sometimes the only way you can truly know freedom is if you are free to be enslaved.
This place wasn’t meant to be comfortable, it wasn’t made to be easy, it is meant to be a challenge, it was made to test you, to be the catalyst for your growth. The truth is we can’t always be happy, we can’t always live in peace; we can’t always know what it is to feel true love. We have to experience it ALL to be able to experience any of it; only by accepting the pain and suffering can we overcome the need to experience it. You will look back at all the pain and hurt, all the alienation of our adolescence as a great gift that shaped our beautiful destiny.
If life hadn’t been so challenging we never could have risen to become champions, if it had not been so dark we would never have able to shine like stars, if it had not been so fearful we could never have known this beautiful love we now share.
Even in darkness
there is light,
For those with courage
knows no fear.
www.abridgeofunityacrossachasmofchaos.com/
Well said
So need to read this book
Short and sweet, I’m reading a hero with a thousand faces ASAP
I love you guys
The BEST.
Thankyou.
Very interesting: Don Quixote on his adventures/Christian seeking The Celestial City [Pilgrim's Progress} and Galahad's search for The Holy Grail are all inspirational.
This channel is lit..
Great!
nice vid
5:42 Ah yes, the Inner strenght to face the hardship of life :
The "Persona"
Please speack about Mircea Eliade and his history of religions !!
Seconded
+mariusstana That would be an interesting topic to do. Thanks for the suggestion.
A good life is one heroic journey after another; do I dare ?
satnamo One must.
Finally know why Boon from lost was named as such.
J. C.:"Myths are public dreams and dreams are private myths."
I often thought that the path to making an Artificial Intelligence machine is by starting with an 'unconscious'. First, program into it human myths, stories, etc. Then program fears and hopes: The fear of 'being turned off' and the 'hope that tomorrow will be better than today'.
I think the human mind is like a glacier. Most of a glacier is underwater and can't be seen. The part that can be seen is a tiny part of it. Our unconscious is underwater. Our consciousness is visible, but it's just a tiny part.
Therefore, an AI program should have 100 lines of code with instructions about emotions, stories, fears, hopes, desires, and the like, for every 1 line of code devoted to doing things in the real world.
Only 100 lines of code? Doesn’t seem like very many.
The secret to success is here 💡
That last quote has a relation with Nietzsche's Self Overcoming
I'm going through this right now at age 27, I have Nihilistic/Existential anxiety/OCD (Considered a very pervasive type of obsession about meaning, purpose, infinity, isolation and uncertainties) for months now, and what I did is visualize my self as a fighter facing enormous demons which are my fears and unwanted desires and thoughts face to face instead of running, I want to get out of this misery but I don't want to go back to my old self either for it was a mess, I didn't thought thing is common across millennia I thought I was the only one facing my fears like this.
@narcosisanonymous I am fully recover now I think this is really a malfunction in the anxiety part of the brain, I still have those thoughts but without anxiety now, It was a great opportunity to discover how human mind works and makes me understand the behavior of other people as well, and yes I'm keeping the lessons I've learned from it especially those existential insights like meaning and purpose and acceptance, in my case, the distress was caused by the anxiety itself and not because of those existential thoughts.
@narcosisanonymousare you currently experiencing existential intrusive and pervasive thoughts that it makes you anxious?
“ Follow your bliss”.Joseph Campbell
Walter Russell explains the cross symbol. He was guided to it. He created a motor based on it.
thanks
+Academy of Ideas I think a great series you could do is a series on Baruch Spinoza and his philosophical views on things like God's nature ("Deus sive Natura"), Pantheism/Panentheism, Non-materialistic substance monism, Determinism (compatibilism in a few other cases), Rationalism, Necessitarianism, Principle of Sufficient Reason, Mind Body Problem, views on miracles, prayer and the impersonal nature of God, his views and similarities with the ancient Stoics, his anti-materialism in which he seems to promote a double aspect theory view of the mind (or possibly a property dualism view), metaphysical holism, sub specie durationis, sub specie aeternitatis and his ontological argument for the existence of God as a necessary ontological infinite substance. There are other views he has on other issues as well. Also funnily enough, I think Spinoza's views are phenomenal with what we see in science today, especially I think physics has shown the clear demise of metaphysical atomism and therefore I believe his metaphysical holism is correct and other views he has are correct in the modern view of things.
What is perhaps most striking about Spinoza is that he offers us one of the most intellectually and emotionally satisfying views of reality and our place within it. Both atheistic reductive materialism and theistic supernaturalism are absurd. In their stead, Spinoza gives us an elegant philosophy that takes seriously a legitimate naturalism and mature theological metaphysics.
Anyway thanks Academy of Ideas for your videos, there are phenomenal and keep up the great work! :D
That would be a very interesting video. Unfortunately I haven't read much of Spinoza yet, although I am currently reading Nietzsche's Epic of the Soul (a book analyzing Thus Spoke Zarathustra) which argues that Zarathustra's "solution" was Spinoza's "nature-mysticism".
I would love to get to Spinoza at some point. Thanks for your comment.
Academy of Ideas No problem. :)
I do know that Nietzsche loved Spinoza (Nietzsche called Spinoza his "only predecessor"), and that his "Will to Power" was influenced by Spinoza's Ethics. Also yes, as you made a brilliant video explaining that Nietzsche's "Will to Power" was a challenge to materialism and was a promotion of panexperientialism, these ideas were inspired by his introspection and Spinozian ideas. Spinoza's naturalism itself is extremely unique because it rests heavily on the PSR, which is why he viewed free will as being false and miracles impossible (or a being acting outside of the rules). Also it wasn't materialistic, but seemed to be a dual-aspect theory (some have argued it collapses into dual-aspect idealism) in which he promoted when it came to ontology.
Ironically, the Philosopher Keiji Nishitani simply calls Nietzsche's view “pantheism” ("The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism" page 65). Also pantheists, Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung suggested the same about Nietzsche. And the philosopher Adrian Samuel says:
*"Nietzsche’s psychological reductionism leads to his third principal reason for denying the reality of God. And this is Nietzsche’s pantheism. Pantheism is the belief that nature is divine - that everything participates in the divine reality.* [Adrian Samuel, "Nietzsche and God", Richmond Journal of Philosophy 14 (Spring 2007)]"
Nietzsche, however, opposed Spinoza's theory of conatus, for which he substituted the "will to power" and he replaced Spinoza's formula "Deus sive Natura" (God or Nature) by "Chaos sive Natura".
Awesome, very insightful. Are there any of Spinoza's works or books on Spinoza you would recommend to start with?
Academy of Ideas Sorry, I have just seen this reply. Also remember Spinoza is not a materialist or neutral monist (many people say he is). There are no neutral elements for Spinoza: the mind is purely mental and the body is purely physical, and so he isn't a neutral monist. A better name for his view might be dual-aspect monism (I support this view and class myself also as a dual-aspect idealist). But, Spinoza is a non-physicalist, and espouses a mentalistic view. He is explicit about that. But he is also explicit that the physical ("extension") is real as well. So he isn't a Berkeleyian subjective idealist.
Spinoza's philosophy is largely contained in two books: the "Theologic-Political Treatise", and his magnum opus "Ethics".
Michael Della Rocca is arguably the world's leading Spinoza scholar and I cannot recommend his books and articles on Spinoza highly enough. He is an incredibly clear writer and really fun to read. Rebecca Goldstein has done some work on Spinoza. Also, Steven Nadler is very good. Check out "Baruch Spinoza (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)".
Also check out: www.amazon.com/Spinozas-Ethics-Introduction-Introductions-Philosophical/dp/0521544793?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
I would also recommend watching videos from the channel +Oppositum (in fact his videos on the PSR shows that if you don't accept it, you have an internally incoherent world-view and argues this using Della Rocca's argument). He has amazing videos explaining Spinoza's view on many different issues. There was also a mini series done by the channel "+The Intellection Surge" on Spinoza, so you might want to check that out also.
Also, Spinoza's work can be very dense and abstract. One area is his ontological argument for God's existence. Some people accuse his argument of being circular, but it's not. But more specifically, the accusation is that Spinoza is question-begging. And question-begging is bad because it isn't convincing to those who don't already buy the argument or conclusion at hand. But notice that this is not to say an argument is formally fallacious. Question-begging is an informal fallacy that is in fact perfectly logical and formally valid (e.g., "P therefore P" is question-begging, and it's perfectly valid). Nonetheless: some people's accusation seems mistaken. Some don't even mention Spinoza's ontological argument in proposition 11 of part 1 of his Ethics. But this is relevant to a common argument against Spinoza!
This is it here in a technical form by me:
1. Everything that exists or doesn't exist has a reason or external cause of its existence or non-existence. [PSR]
2. If there is no reason or external cause for why something does not exist, then it exists (by some reason or cause). [1]
3. Suppose that Spinoza's God (an ontologically infinite being, as I call it) does not exist. [for reductio]
4. So, there is a reason or external cause why Spinoza's God doesn't exist. [1,3]
5. If there is a cause or reason why Spinoza's God doesn't exist, then it is either because of (a) an incoherence in its essence (like a triangle that has four sides) or (b) some external cause (or a lack thereof) preventing it from existing.
6. There is no incoherence in the essence pertaining to Spinoza's God, i.e., not-(a).
7. There is no external cause (or a lack thereof) preventing Spinoza's God from existing, i.e., not-(b).
8. So, there is no cause or reason why Spinoza's God doesn't exist. [5,6,7]
9. So, Spinoza's God exists. [2,8]
10. So, Spinoza's God both does and does not exist, which is absurd. [3,9]
11. So, the supposition that Spinoza's God does not exist is absurd. [3-10]
12. So, Spinoza's God does exist. [11, indirect proof]
All this is logically valid. But (7) might need clarification. If we recall what ontological infinitude is, it's easy to see why it's true: Spinoza's God is ontologically infinite, and so there can be nothing external to him, and therefore no external cause preventing him from existing. We might also add that (12) entails monism given an understanding of what Spinoza's God is. Some people make the mistake this way: is to take something Spinoza said before and after this ontological argument and then, without looking at (1-12), say that Spinoza's argument is question-begging. But of course it's question-begging if we ignore (1-12).
I Academy of Ideas I hope my in depth response to you really helps you. I have done my best to guide you and can't wait to see you make a Spinoza video(s). Also there are other Spinozists which have given different arguments (for Spinoza's views) that I haven't much explored. Two such recent Spinozists are philosophers John Leslie and Timothy Sprigge, in case you'd like to check out their work. In fact them two (and including Michael Della Rocca) defend idealistic Spinzoist theological metaphysics.
*"Spinoza (1632-77) is the noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers. Intellectually, some others have surpassed him, but ethically he is supreme"* - Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, page 567
*"I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind".* - Albert Einstein, 24 April 1929
*"How much do I love that noble man. More than I could tell with words. I fear though he'll remain alone. With a holy halo of his own".* - Albert Einstein
*“I am utterly amazed, utterly enchanted! I have a precursor, and what a precursor! I hardly knew Spinoza: that I should have turned to him just now, was inspired by “instinct.” Not only is his overtendency like mine-namely to make all knowledge the most powerful affect-but in five main points of his doctrine I recognize myself; this most unusual and loneliest thinker is closest to me precisely in these matters: he denies the freedom of the will, teleology, the moral world-order, the unegoistic, and evil. Even though the divergencies are admittedly tremendous, they are due more to the difference in time, culture, and science. In summa: my lonesomeness, which, as on very high mountains, often made it hard for me to breathe and make my blood rush out, is now at least a twosomeness. Strange! Incidentally, I am not at all as well as I had hoped. Exceptional weather here too! Eternal change of atmospheric conditions!-that will yet drive me out of Europe! I must have clear skies for months, else I get nowhere. Already six severe attacks of two or three days each!! - With affectionate love, Your friend”.* - Friedrich Nietzsche, found in a postcard to Franz Overbeck in Sils-Maria dated July 30, 1881.
From Wikipedia:
The Hero’s Journey according to Joseph Campbell:
I. Departure
1. The call to adventure
2. Refusal of the call
3. Supernatural aid
4. Crossing the threshold
5. Belly of the whale
II. Initiation
6. The road of trials
7. The meeting with the goddess
8. Woman as temptress
9. Atonement with the father
10. Apotheosis
11. The ultimate boon
III. Return
12. Refusal of the return
13. The magic flight
14. Rescue from without
15. The crossing of the return
threshold
16. Master of two worlds
17. Freedom to live
The Hero’s Journey according to Christopher Vogler:
1. Departure
1. Ordinary world
2. Call to adventure
3. Refusal of the call
4. Meeting with the mentor
5. Crossing the first threshold
II. Initiation
6. Tests, allies, enemies
7. Approach to the inmost cave
8. The Ordeal
9. Reward
III. Return
10. The road back
11. The resurrection
12. Return with the elixir
It's never too late....!
May I add this onto my website/blog and expand on the topic?
Bliss must be appreciated by the second. It never seems to last very long