The Power of Myth

An animal master is Campbell’s term for the revered food animal in hunting cultures that epitomizes the kinship between early hunters and the animals they hunted. Tribes believe the animal sends its flocks to be killed for food but, in return, it asks for reverence and respect through rituals of appeasement and thanks. Animal master myths are the hunting tribes’ attempts to atone for the guilt that comes from killing an animal that is both a divine being and a friend.

The theory of archetypes comes from Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, and it describes the primal set of images and themes that all humans share in the unconscious mind. To Campbell, common motifs and structures in world myths point to this shared set of images hidden in the human psyche. Archetypes can be images, like the snake or the circle, or narrative structures such as the vision quest or father quest.

Buddhism is a religion from India that follows the teachings of the Gautama Buddha, a figure who achieved a release from the cycle of suffering in the world. Buddhism focuses on transforming human consciousness by looking inward and recognizing that suffering is a core aspect of life.