Campbell-influenced Shrink Counts on Folklore's Faces
By Dan Ord, Missoula Independent
There are those whose life stories seem to exemplify their lives.
Such is the case with Jonathan Young, a psychologist, archivist for Joseph Campbell and adherent to the theories of psychologist Carl Jung-who believed that there are global myths which could tell us things about our lives, no matter what the age or condition of society.
For Young, it would seem the exposure to such a teacher story teller as Campbell, who in the last years of his life became renowned for influencing filmmaker George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, led to his own interest in telling stories, which in turn reflected not just his interest in the narrative tradition, but his curiosity about how our lives and the tales we tell are connected.
This week, Young-who visits Missoula on Monday, Sept. 29-told the Independent, "Joe Campbell completely changed my thoughts on life and the universe. Through him, I rediscovered a purpose. Working on his archives was a dream come true. I got to see how his mind worked."
With Campbell's passing in 1987, Young says, the major areas of his vast work broke down into a variety of topics. Young himself picked the fairy tales and their meaning as an area of study when the master scholar died.
It was a choice, he says, begin to bring forth some sacred stories of his own. This year, Young edited a book called SAGA: Best New Writings on Mythology, which includes work by such diverse and well-known authors as African-American novelist Toni Morrison, the recently deceased beat poet Allen Ginsberg, Jungian psychologist James Hillman and his student Thomas Moore, author of the best-selling book Care of the Soul.
"My last main project at Pacifica (Graduate Institute)," Young recently told the British press, "was to start a Department of Mythological Studies. After that was completed, I left to do what I really want to do which is go out and tell stories just like Joe did."
Young explains that the way stories-fairy tales as well as myths or television comedies, for that matter- work is to provide a map of sorts to where people have been and where they can go. Morals, he maintains, are just one of the byproducts which can help us to divine the meaning of any given tale.
In the introduction to Saga, Young states that when someone is lost on the path of life a fairy tale or myth can provide insight. "Stories can keep us company through long nights," he writes, "and sometimes give courage to carry on in the face of difficulties, both obvious and unseen.... Just as the great sorcerer Merlin counseled the knights and ladies of the court, we can receive the assistance of the sages as handed down in great teaching stories."
During his talk with the Independent, Young said that the role of stories hasn't changed much over time, even in the face of rapid technological advances. He apparently has adopted the computer and its attendant trappings as a useful tool for the dissemination of information, referring curious reporters and others to his homepage on the World Wide Web-and notes that Campbell too, in the last year of his life, used television to spread his ideas.
Young says that the key to understanding fairy tales is not to fit them with contemporary concerns, but to look for underlying, universal meanings. Young strongly believes in Jung's idea of the Monomyth, an overarching concept which connects forkloric traditions, such as creation myths, as manifestations of common psychological concerns around the world.
But for Young, whose current tour takes him through Canada's British Columbia and a variety of climes in the Pacific Northwest, the need for stories is not just an esoteric, self-help approach to life's problems.
Rather, he says, fairy tales and the like can unlock a spiritual, historic code which can assist in solving the world's crises.
As part of his current series of engagements, including Missoula, Young says, he has been focusing on tales that deal with the forest. His home in California, he explains, has only the barest remnant woods, and the need to understand the dark, confusing wilderness is one of not just spiritual, but physical, necessity.
"It's such a rich vein, this place where I'm working," Young says. "I've been focusing on several stories that speak of our being lost in the dark forest, such as Robin Hood and Little Red Riding Hood."
"I'm coming to a place now that's rich with forest, and it's so apparent the forest is bigger than us-we really are lost in it in many ways. But one of the constant themes of these stories is their awareness of the wonder of nature."
Young goes on to say that talking animals and plants in many fairy tales represent a sort of life force. They tend, he says, to break down the wall civilized people have used to keep nature at an arm's length. The environmental ethic, he concludes, is deeply ingrained in these stories, and by recognizing this separation, humanity can not just resolve emotional conflicts, but correct the practices which threaten to destroy the source of much knowledge.
September 25, 1997
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Looking for a Message
Jonathan Young believes children's stories are relevant to adult lives
by Tom Kisken/Ventura Star Staff writer
The "Little Engine That Could" had it wrong. In addition to chanting, "I think I can, I think I can," the locomotive should have asked itself whether the extra mileage was worth the stress.
Jonathan Young, who trained with famed mythologist Joseph Campbell, earns his living by turning children's stories inside out. He dissects the most common, shopworn fables and finds symbolism that makes the tales relevant to adults today.
When the Santa Barbara psychologist hears about the engine chug-chug-chugging its way up a mountain, he wonders about workaholism.
"It seems to suggest that the maximum effort is always the best, instead of describing what the optimal would be, that is, a more balanced life," Young said. At some point he should say, "Is this enough yet?"
The founding curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives and Library in Carpinteria, Young will unwrap his thought on timeless stories Saturday and Sunday at the Church of Religious Science's Center for Positive Living in Ventura.
He’ll talk about how "Cinderella" is a story of rebirth and finding your true nobility. The cruel stepmother and sadistic stepsiblings represent self-doubt. It is as if people go through life with imaginary characters perched on their shoulders -- some yanking at the strings of insecurity and others rallying us to believe any goal is attainable.
If the participants are anything like Margaret Broughton, who heard Young wax mythical in Santa Paula, they'll eat it up.
Broughton, 72, and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, was so inspired by Young she visited the library afterward and checked out "Cinderella."
There was so much he covered that I didn't get in the original story," she said. "For the first time, I could connect. I saw myself as Cinderella, the stepmother and the stepsisters."
There are skeptics.
Young maintains "Little Red Riding Hood" can be viewed, in part, as a caution against addiction. The little girl felt an urge to pick flowers on the way to grandmother's house. If she had been able to conquer the compulsion, maybe the wolf wouldn't have feasted on Granny.
Try that one out on Judy Fickes Shapiro, owner of Adventures For Kids bookstore in Ventura. She groans.
Shapiro may not buy the theory of an addict-in-hiding, but she agrees with Young that fairy tales are timeless tales and can be used on occasion as guides to living.
And if the Santa Barbara psychologist sees obsessive compulsive behavior in what Shapiro views as a story about avoiding unsavory wolves, that's fine.
That's his take on it," she said. "Maybe it tells you more about him than it does about the story.
Beating his drum
Young speaks with his hands, molding the air into thoughts. He loves to talk about finding a spiritual missing in life and said his ex-wife quipped that living with him was like going to church seven days a week.
He watches"Ally McBeal," beats on drums in men's movement conferences and likes to roller-skate.
His impressions on workaholism come from experience. He once juggled jobs as professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, mythological studies department chair and curator of the Campbell archives.
Now, he leads seminars for psychologists on how mythical stories can be used in therapy. On weekends, he's a traveling bard who goes from conference to conference, telling and exploring timeless stories.
"I'm following my bliss," he said with a smile, using a phrase Campbell favored.
Young already was studying mythology when he heard Campbell in a weeklong seminar in 1981. But the 78-year-old scholar explored myths as no one else did. He searched for links between different belief systems, including Islamic stories and American Indian folklore. He used his knowledge of literature and Jungian psychology to find hidden nuances in myths, Bible stories and Asian legends.
Campbell, who died in 1987, became almost a cult figure after interviews with Bill Moyers on public television. He was a pioneer whose thoughts were linked to the "Star Wars" trilogy and author Robert Bly's work on the men's movement.
Young spent three years assisting Campbell at his seminars.
"He gave me back the sense of illumination I had in my childhood faith," Young said. "Some of that sense of the magnificence of life and its significance came back in his teaching."
Like his mentor, Young uses myths and stories to help people sense the meaning in their lives. If you can detect the symbolism in, say, "Hansel and Gretel," you'll find similar meanings in everyday existence.
It's a way to find out your reason for being. Young calls in re-enchantment.
We are not supporting players in someone else's story," he said. "Each person is the star of a grand theatrical production that is their life story."
Going overboard
Young calls Alice in Wonderland a way of learning the importance of fantasy. In "Hansel and Gretel," as in many stories, the forest is synonymous with danger. It's a place, he said, "that seeks to swallow you up."
"The Princess and the Frog King" often is told as a story of a princess two turns a frog into royalty with the power of her kiss. Wrong. Young said the original story tells of a young woman's betrayal of her father's wishes by refusing to repay a frog for a great service with her love. She becomes enranged and hurls the amphibian against a wall. Only then is it transformed into a handsome young king.
They live happily ever after.
"It's a lot like contemporary relationships," Young said. "Many important issues are worked out through argument and conflict."
The Wizard of OZ is another of Young's favorites. The wicked witch and flying monkeys represent our inner fears. The wizard symbolizes the phonies and frauds encountered every day.
The journey to OZ is a quest for what we all want -- wisdom, courage, compassion and a sense of home.
Young said he has learned to spot cynics. If so, he may know Julie Albright. She's the children's librarian at Ojai Library and loves fairy tales. But she's not sure the stories were intended to be peeled like an onion. What you see, she said, may be what you get.
"I'm afraid that people who take children's books and try to get these deeper, darker meanings are just going a little bit overboard," she said.
Young acknowledged he and other mythologists find meanings that an author may never have intended. That doesn't mean the symbolism isn't there.
In "Cinderella", "Rapunzel", and countless others, the imagery is too thick to ignore. All Young does is find ways of using the stories as tools to ignite the imagination.
"I think one of the biggest challenges in an industrial culture is boredom. We're compulsively practical," he said. Mythical stories "give daily life vitality and color... It just makes life so exciting."
The Star (Ventura, California), Tuesday 27 October 1998
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Once Upon a Time
How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives
by Jonathan Young, Inside Journal (Fall 1997)
When the people of Hamelin refused to pay the Pied Piper what they had promised, he led the children of the village away with his magical music. This key moment in a familiar fairy tale carries many insights. It is, at once, a commentary on social values, a vivid example of family tragedy, and a bit of personal psychology. Folklore is compacted wisdom literature that yields more information with each reading.
There is much we can learn by reflecting on the stories heard in childhood. Magical characters such as the Pied Piper, the talking frog and the fairy godmother are likely to remain in the imagination for a lifetime. The adventures these stories describe often reflect challenges we face in our journeys. The tales hide a wealth of insights just below the surface. They are clearly more than mere entertainment for children.
My own first hearing of many of the old stories was in the places where they originated. Throughout my childhood, our family traveled abroad for several months every few years. There were six children. Keeping all the kids quiet took some imagination. My parents came up with an ingenious, and life-changing, idea, which was to have us study the local tales.
When we were in Denmark, we visited the home of Hans Christian Andersen, and discussed his stories, such as The Little Mermaid. In Germany, we went to the village of Hamelin, where the tale of the Pied Piper takes place. In each location, we would thoroughly examine a story and the sites associated with it. In Baghdad, it was the Arabian Nights. While visiting Greece and Egypt, we would discuss mythology. In the temples of India and Japan, the tales of Asia came to life. Seeing how the adventures reflected their settings and how the stories are still alive in those places was a powerful experience. It shaped my sense of the world.