Campbell made the mythology of love and its interpretations one of the great passions of his life - from the erotic mysticism of India, to the old testament Song of Songs, from the life of Christ and the teachings of Ramakrishna, to William Blake and Thomas Mann. Campbell speaks of the 12th century troubadors who exalted the individual experience of men and women over the authority and traditions of church and state, and of the image of woman as goddess, virgin and mother earth.