Joseph Campbell and Jiddu Krishnamurti

My ongoing reading of Joseph Campbell's life has taken me into new directions and into new literary terrain I have not frequented; it's exciting. Joseph Campbell--on a steam boat from Europe to America in 1924--prodigiously encountered Jiddu Krishnamurti, a famous speaker of religious and spiritual material, and later said that the serendipitous meeting changed his life.

Campbell would encounter Krishnamurti several more times during the 1920s but his last visit occurred in 1929 when he went to hear Krishnamurti speak in Eerde, Holland. Krishnamurti was considered by some theosophists to be the "World Teacher," but he later disbanded the group (Order of the Star) in 1929 which had sprung up around him.

Campbell was so inspired by Krishnamurti's words while at Eerde, he offered the following to his journal:

"So here I hang between my past and my future--trying to fan a spark to flame--a spark which came as the final gift from my past. And now I feel that the old shell of the Joe who was searching and never quite finding lies somewhere in the woods which are about Krishna's castle. --But through the shell was a fairly huge thing, the creature which stepped out of it is microscopic in size! Sometimes I lose him amidst all the rubbish of my old feelings--and I never have seen him stand up on his own feet and walk. But this tiny spark of what I hope to be--this glimmer of gold which I've discovered at last in the midst of disillusions--this thing is what I'm going home now to nourish, and to build into something" (An Open Mind, p. 113).

I think this is why I am so drawn to Campbell's words -- they soothe me and validate my own experience of growth and expansion into the world and into myself. I make it a habit to follow synchronicity whenever it shows up in my life, so when Krishnamurti's name began to pop up rather frequently on my radar, I decided to follow in Alice's footsteps and investigate. I'm beginning with Krishnamurti's "Total Freedom," which is a collection of his work and one which seems to echo my quest for greater self-discovery and awareness.

Krishnamurti writes in his essay "What I Want To Do":

"What I want to do is to help you, the individual, to cross the stream of suffering, confusion and conflict, through deep and complete fulfillment. This fulfillment does not come through egotistic self-expression, nor through compulsion and imitation. Not through some fantastic sentiment and conclusions, but through clear thinking, through intelligent action, we shall cross this stream of pain and sorrow. There is a reality which can be understood only through deep and true fulfillment" (Total Freedom, p. 10).

I'm not entirely sure where this new direction is taking me, but I'm game to find out. Besides, I think it's a tad thrilling to read Campbell and Krishnamurti simultaneously given that they were friends in real life. Perhaps they will look kindly upon my search as I plow through their literature and point out what I need to know and tuck away for future exploration.