JC Widget and Facebook!?

Quote :

If ever there was an art in which the whole community of man has worked - seasoned with the philosophy of the codger on the wharf and singing with the music of the spheres - it is this of the ageless tale. Joseph Campbell; Flight of the Wild Gander

This one had me curious. I really felt that I needed to know more about the quote – see it in its context. My first step was to reach for the title, which I did. I keep my JC books in a nearby case. I realized as I was pulling it that it would be helpful to know more about the quote, so I copied it and googled it.

The first thing I came up with was a Facebook page. It was interesting. I could not believe many of the comments. To me, it seemed such a basic thing to look into the context of the quote. I was apparently alone:

https://en-gb.facebook.com/JosephCampbellFoundation/posts/10150223582631722

Here are a few of the comments (just for you, E. Don)

Quote :

XXXX: I can't believe you people can't come up with some better Campbell quotes; to understand this one you need to know what "the ageless tale" is. I'm not even sure it exists except in myth.


XXXX My interpretation is that "the whole community of man" refers to the collective unconscious, from which the archetypes that are transformed into myth by the "codger", the unconscious mind, arise.

XXXX: C'mon, he's talking about myth and how it is shaped by all mankind through the ages. How it comes from our unconscious ( water ), and singing of the music of the spheres ( a true expression of the sublime in and of the physical universe ).

XXXX: My post was removed...evidently because I defended this quote and didn't appreciate what Rick said. OK. So were a few others removed. I found nothing offensive about anything that was said. So, its OK for some people to be sarcastic?? And others may not disagree. OK. If that's the way it is, that's the way it is…..

And that’s just the beginning.

What I couldn’t help but notice was that NO ONE bothered to check and see what the context was.

It wasn’t that hard; a further Google search turned up the book itself- on Google books, and gave me the quote within the text.

http://books.google.com/books?id=oq-xLPfgvJ4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

That gave me enough to know where to look in my own copy. I quickly noticed that the quote was in the chapter called “Fairy Tales.”

Then I even more quickly found the quotation in the conclusion to that chapter, as part of a summation on the importance of the “folk” tale. The quotation is followed by a concluding statement/paragraph for the chapter.

Quote :

“The folk-tale is the primer of the picture-language of the soul.”

I cannot help but wonder why I was the only person to take the time to check that out before replying on Facebook.

Look for my comment to that effect soon. First I have to find out why my old wireless keyboard is acting so screwy. I would try to explain but it is too unbelievable to repeat. It is typing things that I am not writing, and skipping things that I do write.

I should have brought my new netbook up here to my front office, but thought I would save time????? Looks like I got it just in time.

A pleasant evening ahead, I can see.

Ann

Facebook is unreliable. they are spreading rumors about my brother.

My cousin said Facebook users were upset because they had not seen him. I finally called the police and asked them to check on him.

They say the neighbors have seen him. The police feel he is alright.