For those living near or are familiar with Willard Pond, Antrim, NH, the report that Forbes requested (see previous entry) provides an interesting history of the area. [Note: Willard Pond is where Forbes lived in his commune in the mid 70's.]                      This is the intro:

Forbes was always delving deeply into philosophy and the meaning and purpose of life. For years he was involved in seminars at St. John’s College, Annapolis which focuses on reading the works of history’s great (Western) thinkers. After Marilyn died, he told me that he was thinking of moving to Santa Fe. He would not give a reason, but I now believe he may have wanted to be near St. John’s western campus, oriented to Eastern philosophy and the natural world. Forbes taught American Myth and Western Movies at Anne Arundel Community College with long waiting lists. The following might have been his notes from perhaps the last class.

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Myth and American Character

President Kennedy eloquently expressed the relevancy of myth. "The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–- deliberate, contrived and dishonest— but the myth–- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” “We must combat our desire to mythologize our history and our leaders, while retaining our belief in the qualities and ideals those myths often reflect.” [Note: this latter quote is from Stan McChrystal, not JFK.]

In order to define the American character and its values more clearly, it is important to understand the function of myth. Joseph Campbell explains in Hero with 1000 Faces that “myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.”

The metaphysical function of myth is awakening the sense of one[self] before the mystery of being.

The cosmological function is the shape of the universe.

The sociological function is to validate and support the existing social order.

The pedagogical function is to guide the individual through the stages of life.

In the first session of"American Myth and Western Movies,” we followed a modified version of the classic stages of the universal mythic adventure and understood the singleness of the human spirit in its aspirations, powers, vicissitudes and wisdom as expressed in Joseph Campbell's Hero with 1000 Faces.

This modified version was necessary to correlate with Christopher Vogler’s “The Hero's Journey: Twelve-Stage Adventure for the Hero” and is understood in the roles of Marshall Will Kane in High Noon and Sheriff John T Chance in Rio bravo.

The purpose of this course, American Myth and Western Movies, is to highlight and illuminate some of the complexities of American culture, politics and historical perspective through the "Heroes Journey.” Richard Slotkin, who has written extensively about the myth of the western frontier, defines myth as "a set of narratives that acquire through specifiable historical action a significant ideological charge.” Structural anthropologists claimed that all cultural myths are structured according to binary pairs of opposite terms which tend to work reducing conflicts, equivalent of white and black hats.

It is said that the Western Frontier, the myth and reality, defines the American character. It is thought that the American character incorporates fundamental values which are, in part, sound moral principle, uprightness, honesty, sincerity, and respect for human dignity. The American character also incorporates instrumental values which are courage, independence and determination. 

Is it still important to embrace aspects of the Old West’s central myth as seen through the western movie genre of rugged individualism, American exceptionalism and frontier violence? Or is it a myth to be discarded in a culture which has evolved into a reality of “E Pluribus Unum,” a society which favors tolerance, diversity and pluralism and is a model for multi-ethnic, multicultural, multi-religious and polyglot identity in the world?

Thomas Merton eloquently expressed the wisdom: "You don't need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and (AFL: the slender thread of) hope.” In some way, in some form, each of us is on the hero’s journey.