Masks of Eternity
Masks of Eternity In the episode "Masks of Eternity," Joseph Campbell explains the godliness of self. He explains ideas about the past versus the present and the common ways of thinking that have changed the way messages are viewed and interpreted. He goes over the ideas of the inner Christ, the significance of the circle, and peak experiences. Campbell speaks of an inner Christ in all people. It is not a connection to God, but a oneness with him; meaning that you become a part of God. He explains it as the difference of an individual life, meaning the life of the person, and the all encompassing life, meaning the life that turns the world and all other things. He tells of finding it through meditation, finding that center of yourself that can feel a connection to the life around you and the realization that all things are connected and caused by one another. Campbell interprets the things he was taught as a child, about the angel and the demon on either side of him, as the urges that push our decisions in one direction or the other. These energies, he says, come from the different organs of the body. Each needs something different, and the urges that arise are about what is needed most. Campbell also speaks of the significance of the circle. Each culture has some form of importance in the shape of the circle. He talks about the way Native Americans built their villages in the shape of a circle, the way Aztecs made a circular calendar, and the way that each culture put itself in the center of that circle. He talks about ancient cultures believing that everything generates around a specific point, orbiting around it. Campbell also speaks of time going in a circle. In ancient times, it was seen as a reoccurring aspect of life, summer, fall, winter, spring. All things ended and began anew in a pattern. Now, though, time is seen as a straight line. Clocks make us realize that time is flowing past and will never come again. Before, death was looked at as a