Joseph Campbell - JCF Audio Recordings All 71 Lectures

Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. Campbell's best-known work is his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), in which he discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero shared by world mythologies, termed the monomyth.

Since the publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's theories have been applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. His philosophy has been summarized by his own often repeated phrase: "Follow your bliss." He gained recognition in Hollywood when George Lucas credited Campbell's work as influencing his Star Wars saga.

Campbell's approach to folklore topics such as myth and his influence on popular culture has been the subject of criticism, including from folklorists.

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Series I – lectures up to 1970

Always at his best as an impromptu speaker, Campbell shines in these recordings, both as a scholar and as a master storyteller. These lectures are from early in his career, including recordings of his famous lectures at the Cooper Union.

Series I consists of six volumes, each with five audio lectures (at about 60 minutes each).

Volume 1: Mythology and the Individual

These five talks, recorded early in Campbell’s career as a public speaker, explore the ways in which mythology serves and shapes the individual. They were among those that Campbell kept in his study and used as the basis for later investigations of myth, symbolism, the psyche, and spiritual awakening. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.

Volume 2: Inward Journey: East and West

These five talks, recorded early in Campbell’s career as a public speaker, explore the roots of myth, its psychological manifestations, and the ways in which it has expressed itself differently in India and East Asia on the one hand and Europe and the Middle East on the other. These recordings, which have been remastered, were among those that Campbell kept in his study and used as the basis for later investigations of myth, symbolism, the psyche, and spiritual awakening. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.

Volume 3: The Eastern Way

These five lectures, recorded early in Campbell’s career as a public speaker, explore the myths and symbols of the religions in India and East Asia. They were among those that Campbell kept in his study and used as the basis for later investigations of myth, symbolism, the psyche, and spiritual awakening. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.

Volume 4: Man and Myth

These five lectures, recorded early in Campbell’s career as a public speaker, examine the way in myth and symbols affect and serve the individual, tying together lessons from religion, anthropology, art and modern psychology. They were among those that Campbell kept in his study and used as the basis for later investigations of myth, symbolism, the psyche, and spiritual awakening. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.

Volume 5: Myths and Masks of God

These five lectures, recorded early in Campbell’s career as a public speaker, explore what it means to approach and experience the divine. They were among those that Campbell kept in his study and used as the basis for later investigations of myth, symbolism, the psyche, and spiritual awakening. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.

Volume 6: The Western Quest

These five lectures, recorded early in Campbell’s career as a public speaker, explore how the modern European cultural explosion from the Middle Ages to the present, with its emphasis on the individual’s quest for fulfillment, has expressed itself mythologically. Provocative and exhilarating, full of wit and wisdom, they are windows into one of the greatest minds of our time.


Series II – lectures from 1970 to 1978

Lectures from the middle of Campbell’s career, starting just after the moon landing in 1969 and counting to the late 1970s.

Volume 1: A Brief History of World Mythology

In Series II.1 Joseph Campbell provides a “brief history of World Mythology” by introducing us to the functions of Mythology and how the functions differ from East to West. Lectures include an interpretation of the sound of AUM, how Buddhism works in China, Jung, Thomas Mann, James Joyce, Grail Mythology, the relationship of schizophrenia and shamanism to the Hero Journey, and other topics. This tour de force is Joseph at his best.

Unique among the volumes in the Joseph Campbell Audio Collection, this collection includes eleven separate recordings from a single week-long workshop — all recorded at the renowned Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. “A Brief History of World Mythology” provides over twelve hours of Campbell covering his subject as no one else could.

Volume 2: Mythological Perspectives

In this series, Joseph Campbell offers an overview of world mythology through a variety of lenses. The topics range from Christianity to the East, including a lecture that ties Carl Jung and Buddha into similar realms. The final question is “What is Your Myth Today?”

Volume 3: Christian Symbols and Ideas

In this series, Joseph Campbell offers an overview of world mythology through a variety of lenses. The topics range from Christianity to the East, including a lecture that ties Carl Jung and Buddha into similar realms. The final question is “What is Your Myth Today?”

Volume 4: Psychology and Asia Philosophies

In Volume 4, Campbell delves deep into the relationships involving Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and the concepts involved in Kundalini Yoga. His thoughts on aesthetic realization, Dante’s “La Vita Nuova” and his thoughts about women as the goddess, the universe. Whether it’s Yoga in relation to modern psychology or the chakras of transformation, he is unparalleled in his clear concise blending of these ideas. In the last lectures of this Volume, he relates the archetypes to mythology and closes out by offering a detailed look at the four aims of Indian life.

Volume 5: Your Myth Today

The ever changing story of mythology is brought to us with a modern perspective by Joesph Campbell. In this volume, he talks of mythology of today, his thoughts on how it relates to violence in America. Whether it’s life, literature, art or “The Way of Beauty” you don’t want to miss his 20th century perspective on the ageless story of man!

Volume 6: Mythic Ideas and Modern Culture

Joseph Campbell presents mythic ideas and concepts with a unique perspective of modern cultures. As he discusses art and it’s relationship to mythology today, he explores the confrontation of religion and society and addresses the concept of “The Psychological Basis of Freedom.” These lectures continue to illuminate and enlighten us as we move forward in the 21st century.


Series III – lectures from 1983 to 1986

Lectures from the end of Campbell’s career, starting in the early eighties.

Volume 1: The Mythic Novels of James Joyce

Recorded over 3 days in November of 1983, these lectures (Series III.1)…


Lecture I.1.1 The Celebration of Life
Lecture I.1.2 The Individual in Oriental Mythology
Lecture I.1.3 Symbolism and the Individual
Lecture I.1.4 New Horizons
Lecture I.1.5 The Vitality of Myth
Lecture I.2.1 The Thresholds of Mythology
Lecture I.2.2 The Inward Journey
Lecture I.2.3 Confrontation of East and West in Religion
Lecture I.2.4 Imagery of Rebirth Yoga
Lecture I.2.5 The World Soul
Lecture I.3.1 Oriental Mythology
Lecture I.3.2 The Mystical Traditions of India
Lecture I.3.3 Hinduism
Lecture I.3.4 Buddhism
Lecture I.3.5 Creativity in Oriental Mythology
Lecture I.4.1 Man and Myth
Lecture I.4.2 Mythic Living
Lecture I.4.3 Society and Symbol
Lecture I.4.4 The Necessity of Rites
Lecture I.4.5 Personal Myths
Lecture I.5.1 Interpreting Symbolic Forms
Lecture I.5.2 Mythic Vision
Lecture I.5.3 Experiencing the Divine
Lecture I.5.4 History of the Gods
Lecture I.5.5 The Religious Impulse
Lecture I.6.1 Origins of Western Mythology
Lecture I.6.2 The Mythology of Love
Lecture I.6.3 The Arthurian Tradition
Lecture I.6.4 The Grail Legend
Lecture I.6.5 The Forest Adventurous
Lecture II.1.1 The Function of Mythology
Lecture II.1.10 Birth of the Modern
Lecture II.1.11 Mythological Conclusions
Lecture II.1.2 Mythology East and West
Lecture II.1.3 The Sound Aum and Kundalini Yoga
Lecture II.1.4 Buddhism in China
Lecture II.1.5 Shift to Western Psychology
Lecture II.1.6 - C.G. Jung - Myth and Shadow
Lecture II.1.7 Thomas Mann and James Joyce
Lecture II.1.8 Grail Mythology
Lecture II.1.9 Birth of the Perennial Philosophy
Lecture II.2.1 Mythic Themes in Literature and Art
Lecture II.2.2 Hermes, Alchemy and the Voyage of Ulysses
Lecture II.2.3 Psychosis and the Hero's Journey
Lecture II.2.4 Mythology in the Modern Age
Lecture II.2.5 Creative Mythology
Lecture II.3.1 The Symbols of the Christian Faith
Lecture II.3.2 Tarot and the Christian Myth
Lecture II.3.3 The Mythic Image
Lecture II.3.4 The Mythic Goddess
Lecture II.3.5 Mythologies of Alienation and Rapture
Lecture II.4.1 Freud Jung & Kundalini Yoga Pt. 1
Lecture II.4.2 Freud Jung & Kundalini Yoga Pt. 2
Lecture II.4.3 Freud Jung & Kundalini Yoga Pt. 3
Lecture II.4.4 Archetypes & Mythology
Lecture II.4.5 Four Aims of Indian Life
Lecture II.5.1 - Mythologies - New Old & Today
Lecture II.5.2 - Myth & Violence in America Vol. 5 Your Myth Today
Lecture II.5.3 - Androgyne as Mystical Symbol
Lecture II.5.4 Cosmology and the Mythic Image
Lecture II.5.5 The Mythic Approach to Life Literature and Art
Lecture II.5.6 The Way of Beauty
Lecture II.6.1 Modern Myths of Quest
Lecture II.6.2 the Psychological Basis of Freedom
Lecture II.6.3 Mythology of Today
Lecture II.6.4 Confrontation - Religion & Society
Lecture II.6.5 Mythology & Art
Lecture III.1.1 On the Wings of Art
Lecture III.1.2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Lecture III.1.3 Ulysses Pt. 1
Lecture III.1.4 Ulysses Pt. 2