“A woman in her late thirties or early forties approached Joe [Joseph Campbell] and, speaking very rapidly, with great emotion began to outline her plan for going to Greece to ‘find the spirit of the goddess that you spoke of tonight.’ She pulled out a notebook and showed Joe her itinerary. She had made precise calculations of the best times to visit every major cultural attraction and just where and hen she would make her salutations to the various deities whose statues remained. ‘Do you think I’ll find the spirit of the goddess?’

“Joe had been staring at her while a parade of mixes emotions played over his features. Now he took her one free hand in his and with great kindness and solemnity said, ‘Dear lady, I sincerely hope that all does not go as planned.’ With that, he slipped on his overcoat and we left the building.

“Sitting in the backseat of the car on the drive home, I could barely contain my curiosity. Finally, mustering all the courage of my seventeen years, I leaned over the front seat and said, ‘Mr. Campbell, that woman who was going to Greece – why did you tell her that you hoped things did not go as planned?’

“Joe paused as if trying to sort through all the encounters of the evening, and then threw back his head and laughed with a mystic’s glee. ’How will the gods ever find her when she has done everything in her power to make sure that they never will?!’ he exclaimed. Then, very soberly: ‘Unless you leave room for serendipity, how can the divine enter in? The beginning of the adventure of finding yourself is to lose your way!’”

Carry on, Kim!

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