All Three?

“Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” 

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” 

“Where you stumble and fall - there you will find gold.”

Joseph Campbell is the legendary author, thinker, philosopher, sage that I quote in all three of the above. They make a juicy Sicilian blood orange seem dry by comparison. I have read several of his books and studied his ideas on mythology, especially interested on his take of the hero and his quest. But never, until now have I listened to him present his fascinating topics to a live audience. He is a phenomenal orator, obviously witty, a master of his material and gifted with the same uncanny connectivity to his audience as Alan Watts, Kurt Vonnegut, the 14th Dalai Lama or Michelle Wolf ever were. 

Whoa. Hold it right there Bucko. What possible connection to audience do you reference by the inclusion of a comedian on this prestigious list of great thinkers? 

This one: That the mission statement of philosophers, authors, seekers in all sects, leaders and spiritual comedians is to, 1) Tell the truth, 2) Be funny and 3) Make those in power uncomfortable. 

As we progressed through a stupidly hard session this morning (attempting to experience the physiological phenomenon known as fatigue), I used the three above quotes from JC as motivational cues, in the quest for improvement, slow, daily, tiny bits of positive change, micro exponential growth and physical preventative maintenance. The regulars are conditioned to indulge when I head for these lofty realms and most often the newbies follow suit, recognizing after a classic rock tune or two, that I intend no harm in my choice of metaphor. 

It was at the point of no return (48 minutes) as my delicate psyche was engaged in a fire-fight with my runaway heart rate and aching lower back, that I crossed the line. I asked if anyone wanted to conduct YET ANOTHER experiment. I could read the body language suggesting that the current one (the fatigue one) was probably enough for one class, and maybe just some volume on the Bob Seger tune would be sufficient, thank you very much. 

Laughing out loud as I formulated the mission statement into something I could use didactically, the line crossed was total ad-lib. Could I, as Campbell suggests, Vonnegut seconds, the Dalai Lama lovingly allows and Michelle Wolf jokes, do all three?

If I ride into the cave of fear will the treasure of truth be found, after falling, finding gold to pay for therapy, falling again and finding joy - will that pain be burnt by humor, and most importantly will it irritate those in power?