The Greatness of The Soul in All Its Variety

In myths and fairy tales, deities and other great spirits test the hearts of humans by showing up in various forms that disguise their divinity. They show up in robes, rags, silver sashes, or with muddy feet. They show up with skin as dark as old wood, or in scales made of rose petals; as a child, as a lime-yellow old woman, as a man who cannot speak, or as an animal who can. The great powers are testing to see if humans have yet learned to recognize the greatness of soul in all of its varying forms.

Clarrisa Pinkola Estes Cited in Christian Mystics

Matt Fox adds these reflections:

“There is a” greatness of soul in all of its varying forms” Estes insists. Have we experienced these marvels? Deities in rags? With muddy feet? As a frail child or as an old woman? As a mute man or a talking animal? Where have we been hiding? Why are such stories and fairy tales so necessary to wake us up?…”

Joseph Campbell taught a generation of us, or so it seems, that “the fastest way to the truth is through a story.” If we were fortunate enough to have literate parents, they might have read to us from Grimm’s tales, Classic Greek myths, Americana like Paul Bunyan or Ichabod Crane;at the very least who sat with us as we watched Disney as they told the abridged animated stories of the legends, fairy tales, and heroic adventures we could watch together on Sunday nights…

Bruno Bettlehiem spoke of the wisdom and healing insights of fairy tales in his book on Enchantment, and I found it insightful and useful to have read widely about those heroic myths, legends, and fables as a child… We need our simple stories…

NOT to reinforce insidious and skewed teachings that have influenced generations of Americans in their history books, but to enliven the imagination in ways that foster creative expression; ways that introduce possibilities for their lives, and deepen their understanding of how we humans talk, connect, relate and become more self-aware.

My anxiety and fear arrives as we have purged these stories, in favor of literalism and the demands of living in an electronic “black and white” world, that makes no room for wonder:

For awe and for artistic inspiration that simple myths, stories, and legends can teach!

While it is true that Imagination can be encouraged through computer enhancements, it’s just not the same… and for me, the human soul suffers from its disappearance.