The Shoulders We Stand On

By: Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every circumstance, myths of man have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration of whatever else may have appeared out of the activities of the human body and mind. It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into the human cultural manifestation.”

–Joseph Campbell

The following is a segment of the introduction to Joseph Campbell’s timeless book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (2004 edition), written by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It’s a profound book that the modern world so desperatly needs to have close at hand. Always. I hope you enjoy the following words as much as I did.

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In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell speaks about how Freud and Jung were deeply committed students of the continuum of human behavior and the unconscious.

He points to their special interest in the plausible call that rises within human beings—the call that causes individuals who have been living highly externalized lives to stop, take notice, and redirect themselves to a higher self—or else suffer becoming more and more lackluster and world-weary.