‘Book Club: Campbell and Ehre texts’

     
Bro. Jeph has announced the topics of the next Fourth Manhattan District Book Club meeting of October 16:

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, and The Three Legged Table by Victor T. Ehre, Jr.

The book club will meet in the Wendell K. Walker Room on the ground floor of Masonic Hall at 7 p.m. The meeting will be open not only to all Masons, but also to interested people who are not Masons.

The Power of Myth is not a work authored by Joseph Campbell, but actually is taken from the lengthy interviews of Campbell for PBS by Bill Moyers in 1985 and 1986, which were broadcast in six one-hour episodes in the summer of 1988, shortly after Campbell’s death. They speak in some detail of the definition of myth, of the forms of myths, and, naturally, of Campbell’s work in delineating what he terms the monomyth.

Their interview, perhaps inevitably, turns to Freemasonry. Excerpted:


Moyers: Is the Masonic order an expression somehow of mythological thinking?

Campbell: Yes, I think it is. This is a scholarly attempt to reconstruct an order of initiation that would result in spiritual revelation. These founding fathers [of the United States] who were Masons actually studied what they could of Egyptian lore. In Egypt, the pyramid represents the primordial hillock. After the annual flood of the Nile begins to sink down, the first hillock is symbolic of the reborn world. That’s what [the Great Seal of the United States] represents.


There is more significant talk of ritual and its potential powers, as well as a wealth of other subjects of interest to thinking Freemasons. Professor Campbell is beloved for making the esoteric aspects of mythologies accessible to the general public, and this book often surfaces in conversation in Masonic intellectual circles as the most useful entry point into Campbell’s work. Even if you cannot participate with the Book Club, do make a point of reading The Power of Myth when you can.

I am not familiar with Victor Ehre’s The Three Legged Table: The Three Principles of Life Living, but here is what Amazon says:

Isaac Newton’s Second Law of Inertia postulates that a body in motion tends to continue at the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an outside force. The book, The Three Legged Table, challenges the reader not to accept things in their lives as they are, but presents the three Principles in every person’s life and how one can affect the changes needed to redirect them towards the goals they seek. The Three Legged Table offers eighteen words that, when they are applied to the Personal, Social, and Spiritual principles which govern your life, will give you the choices to redirect the path you are on. This book will not only focus you on how to achieve success through these powerful words, but will also point out the pitfalls in life that often keep people from reaching their fullest potential. How can you achieve your fullest Personal Growth? There are only five words to greater success. How can you achieve greater Social growth? There are only ten words you need to live by to achieve stronger social interactions and success with others. Finally, how can you achieve greater Spiritual Growth and peace in your life? The Three Legged Table offers the three words that will lead you to understanding and recognition of God’s involvement in your Life. The Three Legged Table reaffirms the truth that each and every one has one Most Valuable and Precious Resource. To achieve your Maximum Potential and complete Balance in your life, a commitment to the eighteen words shared here to your fullest abilities and talents will allow you to apply the outside forces of change Isaac Newton postulated to alter your course through life and achieve lasting growth, success and peace.


Those 18 words? They are divided into three axioms, but I will give only the 10-word saying here since you will know it: “Treat others the way you would want to be treated.”

Taking on two titles for a single meeting of a book club is risky, but it should make for a lively evening together.