“One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.”

Share & Save

Meaning

This reads as a claim that change often arrives at the lowest point, when a person feels closest to defeat. It can be taken to mean that crisis is not only an ending, but also the moment when a turning point becomes possible. It lands in a difficult season, when someone is waiting for a way forward and needs to hear that darkness can still carry direction.

When It Was Said

Not documented yet.

Who It Was Said To

Not documented yet.

Historical Context

Not documented yet.

Source

Not documented yet.

Original Language & Translation

Originally said in English.

Did They Really Say It?

Not documented yet.

Did You Know?

Not documented yet.

About Joseph Campbell

American writer and professor of literature

Joseph Campbell was an American writer and professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College. He worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion, and his life dates are not given here. He is best known for exploring myth, story, and the human condition. His best-known book is The Hero with a Thousand Faces, published in 1949. In it, he sets out his idea of the archetypal hero’s journey across world mythologies, a pattern he called the monomyth. His writing ranges across broad questions of meaning, symbolism, and experience.

More from Joseph Campbell (114 quotes) →

READ THE SOURCE

Books by Joseph Campbell

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

2004

VIEW ON AMAZON

The Power of Myth

1988

VIEW ON AMAZON