[Johanna Fisher]

Toby and Stephen,

It seems a great force of strength that would allow for an embrace of the world as it is.  I find the words by Campbell -“say, “yes, it’s great just the way it is” to be difficult to incorporate into real everyday life  when what we see is indifference to suffering, mocking of the great forces of nature-[that microscopic virus is powerful] by the behaviour of so many young people who appear to have a death wish, and a physical, social and economic distancing from the world.

Are we to retreat as a way of self preservation? Deny the world?  What are we living as,  really?-or better yet are we living? Campbell’s story. The Tiger King while true [we need to discover who we are] does not say much to what we are all experiencing at this moment -how do we live an authentic life in the midst of a pandemic? I am finding this rather all overwhelming-I have questioned recently why we are trying to “get back it normal”.  Furthermore, what is the purpose in doing so? I fear this all sounds cynical, but it is a question to offer in response to Campbell’s statement about acceptance of the world as it is. This is a kind of existential position -we are alone in a hostile world that gives us no assurance that anything can be really affected by our presence. There have been good people who have tried to respond to the virus, to injustice, to a feeling of utter defeat and yet I see no real and pervasive change. The cases of the virus multiple everyday with no turn in sight.

I know as suggested in this week’s,  Myth Blast that we must find the myths that compel us to say yes to life and will provide as Campbell states in Myths of Light, with the strength to “…this glorious approach to life. What has to be done you do with such a will that you play with it.” {pg88]. How to recapture what Nietzsche expresses as “amor fati.” I guess this is the greatest of challenges.