The Privilege Of A Lifetime Is

From A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living (1991), edited by Diane K. Osbon and drawn from a month-long workshop Campbell gave at the Esalen Institute in honor of his eightieth birthday. The remark encapsulates Campbell's reading of the hero's journey as ultimately an inward quest: the treasure the hero wins is not gold or a kingdom but self-knowledge and authentic selfhood. Campbell argued throughout his career that mythology's deepest function is to guide individuals toward this recognition — that the life most worth living is the one that expresses who you actually are rather than who society expects you to be.