Spirituality In Politics

  • Home
  • Intro
  • Articles Index
    • Introductory
      • 1. Metaphysics in a Spiritual Society
      • 2. The Spirit of Guidance
      • 3. Divination
      • 4. Raynor C. Johnson: The Imprisoned Splendour
    • Articles 2: Headline Policies for a Spiritual Society
      • Education
        • The Importance of Fairy Tales
        • The Importance of Fairy Tales, Part 2 – Fairy Tales and Feminists
        • Fairy Tales and Feminism – the Story of Psyche
        • Fairy Tales and Feminism — the Story of Psyche, Interpretation
        • Save Our Fairy Tales — Concluding Remarks
    • ARTICLES 3: MORE DETAILED IDEAS
      • Politics from a Taoist Perspective – Arguing for the Centre
      • Politics from the Centre — Is that the only way forward?
      • Changing the World – Spirituality or Socialism?
      • The Superorganism – a Challenge to Materialist Science
      • Is the Earth a Superorganism?
      • Humanity as Part of the Superorganism
    • Articles 4 The Role of the Citizen
      • The Role of the Citizen in a Spiritual Society
      • Reflections on Eastern and Western Spirituality
    • The Superorganism Question and the European Union
    • A Vision for a Spiritual United Kingdom Outside the European Union
    • Consciousness
      • Is the Self an Illusion – Series Introduction
        • Is the Self an Illusion? – Neuroscience, Gurdjieff and Buddhism
        • Is the Self an Illusion? – The Opposing Viewpoint
        • Is the Self an Illusion? — Yes and No
        • Is the Self an Illusion? — Summary and Conclusions
      • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Introduction
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Freudian Slips
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Dreams
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self – Synchronicity
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Automatic Writing
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self – Divination
    • Why Christianity Must Change or Die – Introduction
      • Christianity Must Change or Die — Gnosticism and Carl Jung
      • Significant Moments in Church History – Introduction
        • Number 1, The Council of Nicaea, 325AD
        • Number 2 – The Anathema Against Origen, 553 A.D.
          • Reincarnation and Christianity
    • Was Jesus Divine? – Introduction
      • Was Jesus Divine, the Son of God? – 1. The Adoptionist Problem
      • 2. The Jewish Messiah
      • 3. The Eschatological Prophet
      • 4. Shakespeare’s Heretical Play
      • 5. The Resurrection of Jesus – part 1
      • Was Jesus Divine, the Son of God? - Summary and Conclusions so far
      • 6. Was Jesus Married?
      • 7. Was Jesus Married? — part 2
      • 8. Was Jesus Married? — part 3
  • Blog Introduction
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Save Our Fairy Tales — Concluding Remarks

    An interesting question from my perspective is, where do fairy tales come from, what is their source? Are they the fruits of single authors, who fully understand what they are saying, or is their origin more mysterious? They are described as simple folk tales; Joseph Campbell says that the Grimm brothers collected theirs from “simple folk of the farms and villages round about, and in the spinning rooms and beer halls of Kassel”; Wilhelm’s wife and her five sisters “had been grounded in fairy lore by an old nurse” (1).

    Now, if these tales perform the subtle psychological functions that Bettelheim (from the first article) describes, if their creators knew what they were doing, they would have to have had a very subtle appreciation of child psychology. It is hard to believe that the Grimms’ sources had the sort of things Bettelheim talks about in their minds when they spoke. If they didn’t, where do the stories come from?

    Fairy tales make use of a highly symbolic language. The same is true of myths and dreams. It is reasonable to assume that, although there are differences, there is some connection between them. They all contain subtle wisdom, seemingly superior to that of the conscious mind. It is obvious that dreams have a source that is completely independent of the conscious ego, and we suspect that this is also true of myths. Is it also true of fairy tales?

    There is a definite overlap between fairy tales and myths, especially those which focus on the journey of a hero figure. It is certainly possible for a spiritually knowledgeable author to create a profound fairy tale solely on his or her own initiative. For example, the author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, was a member of the Theosophical Society, and his story has been described as a Theosophical allegory. The same can also presumably be said of Apuleius (articles 3 and 4 above), who is said to be the author of the whole of the novel Metamorphoses. These would seem to be exceptions, however. My suggestion, which is obviously purely speculative, is that the tales might be the creations of some kind of collective Higher Self, a world soul, the anima mundi. Like myths, fairy tales are creations of the psyche, the purpose of which is to inform and educate. How they make their way into human consciousness remains a mystery.

    If that is true, it would explain why Bettelheim was so insistent that the stories should be told in their original form. That would be why it is so important that we do not meddle with them, changing them in order to appear more politically correct. Who are we to interfere with such wisdom, thinking we know better? We cannot change a dream; why would be therefore want to change a fairy tale?

Footnote:

(1) Flight of the Wild Gander, New World Library, 2002, p2

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