Over the past month, I've watched quite a few interviews and talks given by Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist. The most memorable was perhaps the series of six interviews with Bill Moyers. Besides his brilliant, wide-ranging mind, I'm most impressed with Campbell's youthfulness. One would never guess that he was in his eighties when the interviews with Moyers were taped, for Campbell's exuberance about the power of myth made him utterly glow.
In the natural world, it seems that it is the OLDEST things which glow the most during sunrise and sunset. Here I'm thinking of buttes, mesas, towers and mountains, all of which are at least millions of years old. Trees glow too, but do so most spectacularly when their leaves are the most advanced in age. Or, we might think of seed heads, which often glow more brilliantly than their younger counterparts - flowers - in first and last light.
When someone has a curious mind and an adventurous spirit, they remain youthful throughout their lives. As Pablo Picasso once said, "The path to youth takes a whole life." That is definitely true of Campbell, and it can be true of us as well, if we remain curious, adventurous, passionate and forgiving.
Photo: Mesas fluoresce with alpenglow at sunset; Needles District, Canyonlands National Park, UT; November 24, 2012
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