Steven's Reviews > The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Page 156 “And there takes place, then, that dramatic divorce of the two principles of love and hate which the pages of history so beautifully illustrate. Instead of clearing his own heart the zealot tries to clear the world. The laws of the City of God are applied only to his in-group (tribe, church, nation, class, or what not) while the fire of a perpetual holy war is hurled (with good conscience, and indeed a sense of pious service) against whatever uncircumcised, barbarian, heathen, “native,” or alien people happens to occupy the position of neighbor.”

I love this book.

It is amazing. It's rare when reading that I have to stop and THINK about what the author is expressing. That happened a lot with this book.

I had taken it with me on a trip, and on several flights I literally read 10 or so pages, and thought the rest of the time.

Page 121 is incredible. He posits that every failure to cope with a life situation is a restriction of consciousness.

Page 64 discusses the criticality of willed introversion. As I read this, I compared it to fasting. Very interesting comparison!